RUIN(18)

I pull a few bills from the wallet as I watch Ben sprint through the doors of a dark building on a tree lined street. I hand the money to the driver telling him to keep the change. I reach behind me to grab my purse. My heart is racing. Ben's disappeared inside the entrance to the building and I have no idea what awaits me when I follow him in. The only thing I do know is that I have no choice.



***



The moment I pull open the curtained glass front door I know what I'm stepping into it. Children's voices pierce through all the other noise in the building. Two youngsters race past me at break neck speed. A woman nods in my direction from where she's perched on a wooden rocking chair, an infant nestled tightly in a blanket in her arms. The faint purple hue of a lingering bruise covers the entire left side of her face.

"I'm looking for Dr. Foster," I say to her because beyond this point I have no idea which direction I need to take to find Ben.

"Dr. Ben?" A little boy with brown hair and blue eyes pops up in front of me. "I can take you to Dr. Ben."

I accept the tender, unspoken, invitation to grab his tiny hand in mine. He pulls his feet along the tile floor to a room in the corner. "Dr. Ben is in there."

The faint sound of crying greets me as I push the wooden door open. I see him. Ben's next to a stretcher where a teenage boy is resting. He's talking to a woman in Spanish. Even though I can't comprehend the words, I can hear the comfort in them. He's consoling her. She's nodding fiercely as she stares down at the child.

"Kayla." He turns when he hears the creek of the old door as I shut it. "Come."

I walk slowly to where he's standing. "I've called for an ambulance. I'm taking Peter to the hospital."

I glance down at the boy. He's awake but his face is awash with pain. He's hooked up to an IV. Ben's bag sits atop the foot of the bed. "What's wrong?" I ask, not because I'll have any grasp of the details Ben will offer, but because I can see the sheer fear in the boy's face and in the face of his mother who is clinging tightly to Ben's hand.

"It's his appendix. It needs to be removed." He taps his hand against my thigh. "I'm ride in the ambulance with him. Can you bring his mother to the hospital in a cab?"

I nod. "Your hospital?"

His eyes dart to the mother before they settle back on my face. "No. There's a community hospital a few blocks from here. We're taking him there."

The boy raises his hand to get Ben's attention and he turns towards him. I watch in silence as he speaks to the boy in Spanish, his hand caressing the young man's forehead.





Chapter 13




I can't distinguish much of what transpired between Ben and the doctor in the ER at the community hospital we just arrived at. I'd hailed a taxi as they were loading Peter into the ambulance and the driver saw the thrill in a good chase so we were on the ambulance's bumper almost the entire way here. The emergency room in this place is swelling beyond its capacity. If it's even possible, it's busier than the hospital where Ben works.

I'll never understand medical jargon and as Ben explains in Spanish what is happening to Peter's mother I stand to the side watching him trying to calm her down.

"Dr. Foster?" A woman carrying a clipboard approaches all of us from the left. "We need to talk."

He glances down at Peter's mother. His hand flies through the air towards the waiting room as he says something quickly to her. She nods in response and turns on her heel in search of a chair in the over cramped, obviously, under-funded small space.

"What is it?" He turns back towards the woman with the clipboard.

"Insurance?" She cocks a brow and dots the tip of the pencil in her hand against her tongue. "I need that for the patient you just brought in."

"No." It's curt and direct.

"No?" She parrots back. "He doesn't have any?"

"Where is Melody?" He looks past her to the reception desk where several women are trying to quell the growing line of people waiting to see a doctor. "I usually deal with Melody."

"She's left for the day." She taps her foot against the tile floor. "You need to deal with me today."

He turns towards me without notice. "Kayla, I need my wallet."

I reach into my purse and pull it out, handing it to him without question.

He opens the billfold and yanks free a credit card. "This will take care of it."

"You're paying for his surgery?" The woman stares at the credit card. "Is this even going to cover the entire cost?"

Ben's head snaps in her direction. "Use the credit card, get me a lab coat and get out of my way."

"You don't work here." She's on his heels as he walks towards the reception desk.