“Tom? Can you hear me?”
The voice seemed far away. Miles and miles away.
“Tom, please wake up!”
He wondered how long the voice had persisted. It seemed like he’d heard it for the last hour or so. He wished it would go away. He was so damned tired “Please, Tom! Open your eyes!”
He realized now that the voice was not going to go away. He was going to have to get up, damn it!
Tom opened his eyes. His vision was so blurry that all he could see were blobs of random shapes. And it was bright-he had to shut his eyes immediately to avoid being blinded.
“He’s awake!” the voice cried. “Tom, honey, can you hear me? It’s Peg!”
Peg? he thought. Figures. He had probably overslept again and she would have none of that!
He opened his eyes again, blinked a couple of times and shut them promptly. “It’s so bright!” he said.
His throat felt raw. Great, he was getting a cold.
“My throat. Dry. Sore.”
“Have some water, honey. Pour your father some water, Kelli.”
“Okay, mommy.”
“And can we turn down those lights down some?” Peg said.
Another voice replied, “Surely, Mrs. Grayson, I’ll get them. I’ll page the doctor, too.”
“Thanks, Nancy. Here, drink some of this, dear.”
Tom felt something touch his lips and opened his eyes. It was not as bright now and he could see the Styrofoam cup that his wife was holding to his mouth. He parted his parched lips and sipped the water. It felt like heaven going down.
As his senses sharpened, he realized that he was lying in bed in a hospital room, causing him to suddenly panic “Jesus, what happened?”
Peg took his hand and squeezed it. “You passed out, honey. In your car.”
“Passed out! What do you mean?”
“At the supermarket. You were overcome by what the doctor said was a mixture of raw gasoline fumes and carbon monoxide.”
Tom tried to get a grip of this. The supermarket? When had he been at the supermarket? His eyes were wide open now and everything was in focus. He saw Kelli and Tyler standing near the foot of his bed and suddenly all he wanted to do was hug them.
“Come here, you two!” he called, reaching out his arms toward his children.
Kelli got there first and he gave her dad a big bear hug. Then came Tyler, who seemed a little embarrassed as Tom held him tight.
“I can see where I stand now,” Peg mumbled from the bedside.
“Aw, let me hug you too, sweetie,” Tom said emotionally. He wasn’t sure why he felt so sensitive toward his family now but for some reason he was extraordinarily grateful for their company.
“You could have died, Tom!” Peg cried passionately after they kissed. “I am so glad they found you in time!”
Just then, the doctor came into the room and went over to Tom. Peg arose and stood off to the side as he examined him.
“I’m Doctor Wheeler, chief resident on call. And you are one lucky man, Mr. Grayson,” he said as he shone a penlight into his eyes.
“That’s what I hear. So what happened? I don’t really remember.”
“Well, apparently you drove to the store in the snowstorm and left your motor running while you were inside. By the time you returned to your car, fumes had built up inside to a fairly dangerous level. I was surprised you didn’t smell the raw fuel until your wife informed me that you had sinusitis and couldn’t smell much of anything. Carbon monoxide of course is odorless.”
Tom struggled to remember. He could vaguely recall being at the supermarket but couldn’t remember why he would have gone there without Peg.
He looked over at Peg. “What was I getting at the store?”
“Pop and cigarettes, remember? We were playing euchre with Frank and Jules.” Peg was visibly alarmed that he couldn’t remember.
Tom thought back for a moment and it came to him in bits and pieces. The Warrens had been over to play cards, euchre of course, in the family room. The kids had been playing in the living room. It had been snowing hard. He’d gone to the supermarket to pick up more Seven Up and smokes for Julie.
“I remember now. So where are Frank and Julie now?”
“They went home about an hour ago. They’ve been here all evening but finally decided to take Brittany home and put her to bed.”
“So exactly how long have I been in the hospital?” Tom inquired.
Peg glanced at her wristwatch. “About six hours.”
“Jesus! And I’ve been passed out all this time?”
Doctor Wheeler replied, “You’ve been totally unconscious from the effects of the poisoning. Fortunately, you were not exposed to enough CO to do any permanent damage. We’ve given you oxygen to raise your O2 level. Basically, you have been in a very deep sleep all this time.”
“So I can go home now?”
Peg and Tom both stared at the doctor expectantly.
“Actually, I don’t see any reason why not. Let us get a few more readings and if everything looks okay, we’ll turn you loose.”
“Great, doctor!” Tom said, elated. “Thanks for everything.”
“My pleasure.”
Dr. Wheeler did a check of Tom’s vitals, spoke briefly to the nurse then left the room.
“I can’t believe this!” Tom declared. “I wonder how long my Jeep has been trying to kill me.”
Peg glared at him accusingly. “I don’t know, but I hope this has taught you a lesson, Tom. How many times have I told you that I smelled gas when we were out in that thing? And every time you said I was just imagining it.”
“Hell, I was telling you the truth-I really haven’t ever smelled gas in it.”
“Which is exactly why you need to do something about your sinuses! This just shows how important it is to be able to smell properly. It almost cost you your life!”
Christ, Tom thought, does she ever let up on the I-told-you-so’s? “Okay, dear, you’ve made your point. I’ll go see an ENT specialist next week. So where is the Jeep now?”
“At the dealership. I told them to tow it there so it could be getting repaired.”
“Thanks. Will they give me a loaner, you think? I need a car.”
“I’m sure they will.”
The nurse returned with the discharge papers and went over them with Peg and Tom. He was to get plenty of rest and call 911 immediately if he felt any shortness of breath, heart palpitations, became nauseous, got a headache that wouldn’t go away or if he started hallucinating. Twenty minutes later, the Grayson family left the hospital with Peg driving her Accord.
Tom was surprised at how exhausted he felt by the time they pulled into their driveway. He could barely keep his eyes open but insisted on helping Peg put the kids to bed. After kissing them both goodnight, he undressed to his shorts and undershirt, climbed into their king size bed and promptly fell into a deep, fitful sleep.