0165

The next day, Bill Angle went to visit his estranged wife, Mary, at the mental institution at which she was "resting."

"What are you doing here?" she asked scornfully, as he stood by the door to the ward waiting for her.

"I... I came to see you."

"Why? You never cared before."

"That's not fair. And it's not true."

"Isn't it? I meant no more to you than our furniture."

"I know you're angry, but there is nothing you or I could have done."

"We could have loved!" Mary Angle yelled, causing both the patients and attendants to turn and look.

"We did love."

"No. We never loved. I loved you, but you didn't love me. I did everything you wanted, but when we had Jane I died inside. I stopped loving.

"I didn't love you, I didn't love myself, and, worst of all, I didn't love my baby. Didn't you even notice the change? Or were you just so wrapped up in your own life that you couldn't see it?"

"I always wanted the best for you and our daughter. Is that wrong?"

"You liar!" she yelled, causing a nurse to start walking toward them. "You wanted what was best for you, not me. Not your child. Don't you see you destroyed me and our daughter? You killed her. I killed her. This whole thing is our fault."

Mary was sobbing. Her husband walked over to her and put his arm around her. She shoved him away and then punched him square in the face.

With a loud thump, Bill Angle fell to the floor. He rolled over to get up, but Mary started to kick him. She was quickly restrained by the nurse and two attendants that ran down after she landed the first blow, but not before Bill was spitting up blood and grabbing at his chest.

"Are you O.K.?" one of the orderlies asked.

"My, my heart," he sputtered.

"Get a medical doctor," the attendant yelled. Running out of from the nurse’s station came a woman, scrambling to put on a white jacket.

"What's going on?" she yelled, as she ran down the hall.

"This guy's having a heart attack."

The doctor dropped to the floor by Bill and instantly yelled down the hall that they needed an ambulance. She did what she could for him while his wife was restrained and drugged.

They took Bill to White Plains Hospital. His condition was stabilized in the emergency room and before nightfall he was in the intensive care unit.

When Sabastian walked into the living room that night, he found Susan waiting in a pretty dress. Claudia was next to her, putting a bow in her hair.



[Copyright Reuben Gregg Brewer, 2005. All rights reserved.]
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