Westpoint Tales
by Kiwi
Entangled Tales - 13 - Justin
Saturday was another dull, gray day with a little misty rain falling. Justin went out anyway for his now usual morning run around the Square before breakfast. He was late back, the breakfasts were finished and Kathleen, Connors and Lisa Strong were starting to clean up the kitchen. "Justin hasn't been in for breakfast this morning. It's not like him to be late."
"Right, Connors, it's not like him at all." Kathleen was interrupted by the telephone at her side. She stopped and picked it up. "Hello, Adelphi Hotel, Kathleen Reynolds speaking.....What?...Oh no!! Right, I'm on my way, we'll be right there."
"What is it, Boss? Was that Justin? Is he all right?"
"Justin's in the hospital. There's been an accident - he was hit by a truck. Ohmigod! I've got to go. You'll be all right here?"
"No, I won't be all right here. I'm coming with you. Come on, I'll drive. You get in the car and I'll go and get Bob."
Connors drove Bob's car to the hospital and they hurried inside, trailing along behind Kathleen. They ran straight down the long corridor to where Dr.Miller was standing.
"Hello again Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds, Betty. Justin will be fine, don't worry. He just had a slight disagreement with a coal truck in Brigham Street outside the council offices. He's had a knock on the head and I think there's broken bones in his foot. He's down in X-Ray now. We'll probably keep him in here until tomorrow in case of concussion, hopefully he'll be fine by then. He's not conscious at the moment, I've given him a shot to knock him out for a while. Come on down to the X-Ray department and we'll have a look."
As they approached, a policeman stood up from the small group of people waiting outside the X-Ray room. "Good morning Mrs. Reynolds, Bob, Betty."
"Paul Jamieson, what are you doing here? What's going on? Will someone please tell me what happened?"
"Whoah, calm down Mrs. Reynolds. Everything's going to be fine, your boy's in good hands. It seems to be my mission in life lately to bring Justin in to the hospital."
"But what happened with the truck? Who was driving that?"
"I was Mrs. Reynolds, George Harding. There was nothing I could do, it all happened so fast. I was coming up Brigham Street when this little girl came out of the back of a car and ran out across the road in front of me. I jammed on the brakes, but it was wet and a fully laden truck takes a lot of stopping. It was too late, I yelled but there was nothing I could do - I fully expected to run right over her. But then your Justin came from the other side of the road - he literally dived right across in front of me, scooped up the little girl and carried her out of the way. He got her out safely, but he was a split second too late for himself. The front corner of the truck hit his foot and he spun around and cracked his head on the side door. But he saved the girl, held on to her and she's fine, not a scratch on her."
"Mrs. Reynolds, I'm Gaylene Craddock and this is my daughter, Dulcie. She was going to die, Mrs. Reynolds, I thought we'd lost her, but your grandson snatched her away and saved her. He was just amazing! Like something out of the movies. I do hope he's going to be all right."
"He'll be fine, don't worry," Marcie Sheridan came out of the X-Ray room with an unconscious Justin laid out on the trolley she was pushing. "There's a lot of blood, but there's no cuts on him - it's just those bloody eyes leaking again. I'll clean him up and get him into a bed. This all seems like a re-run, we've been here before."
The group started to follow her, but stopped when Dr.Miller came out carrying an X-ray plate. "Just as I thought, he's got a fractured ankle. We'll set it with a fibreglass cast and he'll be back on his feet with a 'rocker-shoe' and crutches for a few days."
Bob asked, "A fractured ankle? How's that going to affect his running? He loves to run. He lives to run. I'd hate to see him lose that."
Dr.Miller said, "No problem there. He won't be running for a few weeks of course, but it's a clean break and he's young and strong. He'll soon be as good as new. I don't see any problems there, it's the other I'm concerned about - this Kajinski's Syndrome that he has. That is why I have sedated him, to keep him quiet for today and we can only hope that nothing serious flares up. I still don't understand this bloody syndrome."
"Well Doctor, we can only trust in your judgement, but you just better be careful with him. When will you let him wake up though?"
"Not until tomorrow, I think, just to be safe. We'll keep him quiet and sedated until then. Don't worry, I will watch over him like he was my own grandson."
"You see that you do, Reuben Miller. You see that you do."
"Mrs. Reynolds, apart from anything else, Dulcie is my niece. Gaylene is my baby sister. I am not going to let anything more happen to the boy who just saved my little niece's life. Nothing but the best for our hero of the day."
"He's always my hero," Kathleen snapped "Everyday he's a hero and a star. The world doesn't know it but we do."
"Well the world will know about it now, I'm thinking. Here comes the rest of Dulcie's family."
Tom Craddock, the supermarket owner and mayor of Westpoint, led the charge down the corridor, closely followed by his wife and his son, David, the father of Dulcie.
"Dulcie, my baby!" Mr.Craddock swept the little girl up in a hug. "Dulcie that was a very silly thing to do - running out on the road like that. You could have been hurt bad, baby. You mustn't go out on the road unless you're holding on to mummy's hand. Oh, Dulcie!" He hugged her again and then passed her to her father. "Thank God she's all right. Bob, Kathleen, how is your boy? I heard that he was injured. He saved our baby's life and got hurt himself."
"They say that he'll be fine, Tom." said Bob. "A fractured ankle, possible concussion and a few bumps and bruises, but he'll be fine. They're keeping him sedated for today and he'll get the best of care, under the watchful eye of his grandmother of course."
"Sedated? Reuben, what would you sedate the boy for a fractured ankle for? That's a bit extreme isn't it?"
"He also has a medical condition, a serious illness. I'm just trying to keep the bashing he's had from aggravating that. Excuse me now everybody, I've got a patient to see to." He disappeared into the room where Marcie had taken Justin and closed the door behind him.
After the doctor and nurses had finished with him, everyone was able to look in at the small, pale, sleeping figure on the bed. Kathleen promptly sat down beside him and refused to move. The group dispersed and Bob and Betty returned to the hotel.
Kathleen was soon joined at the bedside by reporters from the local newspaper and radio station who had been contacted by the mayor. They interviewed Kathleen, photographed the boy, and then left to find the others involved in the story.
Although Justin was sleeping quietly she had no time to be bored as there was a constant stream of visitors coming in. Claire and Carl, Lucas and Shelley and Dee, other pupils and staff from the school and friends of the family were constantly coming in to see the town's hero. By the late afternoon his room looked like a florist's shop with all the gifts of flowers, fruit, and cards etc.
The story of the rescue was reported on the local radio news at 9.30am. It was on the national radio news by midday, which was about the same time that television reporters and cameramen flew into town. It made front page headlines in the town's evening paper - the Westpoint News, and was featured on the six o'clock news bulletins on both the major TV networks.
When the news had moved on to other items Bob switched off the small, portable TV that he had brought into the hospital. "Who was it said that everyone should be famous for fifteen minutes? This must be Justin's time, I don't think that he's going to enjoy it somehow, but I can't see him fading into the background for some time yet."
"He won't like it at all, Robert. You don't think that he'll be recognised from those horrible videos and things do you?"
"No. I'm sure he won't. He was much younger then and it's hard to see what he looks like behind those dark glasses. No-one's going to recognise him."
"Why do you think that his story is getting so much news coverage?"
"Well it's probably a slow day for news. It's Saturday night and the politicians have all gone home for the weekend. Besides, everyone loves a good-news dramatic child-rescue story. They are certainly making a big deal of it."
"Justin's going to hate it."
"It's happened now. He'll just have to cope with it. It won't go on for too long, today's news is tomorrow's fish and chip wrappings."
Later in the evening Bob returned to the hospital again and insisted that Kathleen come home to spend the night in her own bed. She was back at the hospital before 8.00am., the following morning.
"Good morning, Mrs. Reynolds," said Reuben Miller when he arrived. "Have you seen the Sunday Times newspaper yet? Our boy has made front page headlines in there too."
"It's 'our' boy now is it?"
"Yes. Sure it's 'our' boy. He's my patient and he's the town's hero. He's really put Westpoint on the map. They're probably talking about him in London and New York this morning."
"I can't see that. It's not that big a story. Anyway, it's not even morning in those places yet."
"Well, I'm going to give him a shot and wake him up. We'll check him over, and all going well, you'll be able to take him home shortly."
After he regained consciousness, Justin reported that he had a slight headache and a 'bloody sore' foot. Other than that he felt fine.
Marcie helped him to get dressed, strapped the wooden 'rocker shoe' on to his injured foot, and showed him how to use the long, wooden, under-shoulder crutches. He would need them to keep the weight off his foot for a few days. Then he was free to go. The staff saw him off with smiling warnings that they didn't want to see him around there again.
As he limped out of the front door and headed for the car, Justin was looking around warily, but there was nobody there looking to see him. He was soon utterly dismayed however, to find that there was a big crowd waiting at the hotel for his homecoming: reporters, friends and their families, school pupils and staff, hotel regulars, and generally lots of people hoping to get on television. They were all waiting and applauding as an embarrassed, red faced boy hobbled inside.
"Hello Son,' Bob greeted him inside the door. "How are you doing? Look at this crowd eh? You're a hero today. Pity it's Sunday and I can't open the bar, we could've been making a fortune here."
"Good morning, Sir. I am fine thank you. Or, rather, I will be when I can go and hide in my room."
"You can do that shortly, Son. But first you need to talk to the media people for a few minutes. Let them get a conclusion for their stories and then they'll leave you alone. Plus there's a little girl and her family waiting to say thank you. Come and sit in the guest's lounge."
Kathleen added, "Be patient and be gracious Justin. It will soon quieten down. Just for now you're the man of the hour and everyone wants to applaud and say thank you."
As he hobbled through to the lounge, Justin grumbled, "So much fuss. It is not a big deal really."
"Wrong Justin," said his grandfather. "It is a big deal. A little girl's life is a very big deal, thanks to you.'
He was seated on the big couch in the crowded room, and cameras filmed as three year old Dulcie Craddock and her extended family thanked him for saving her from certain death. Still red-faced, he smiled at Dulcie and told her to be more careful on the roads in future.
Seriously, she replied, "Too bloody right me will." Which got a burst of laughter and a certain place on that night's TV news.
Then Justin was grilled by the group of reporters there. One woman asked, "How does it feel to be a hero, Justin?"
"I am no hero, Ma'am. I am just - me. The same person I was last week, last month, and always."
"If that's the case, then you've always been a hero. A hero waiting to happen. It was certainly a heroic thing you did. You can't argue with that."
"But it was not. It was just, necessary. I did not plan on anything. I was simply there in the right place at the right time. Dulcie appeared on the road and the truck was skidding towards her. No-one else was close enough to help, but I was. I saw that something horrible was going to happen and I thought that I could prevent it by diving across the road. I almost made it, but my big feet got in the way. I got a knock, but that was nothing, at least Dulcie was not harmed, that is all that matters."
"That's nothing is it?" asked mayor Craddock. "My granddaughter's safe and unharmed, but you got broken bones and a night in the hospital. And you think that is nothing? You're a big man, Justin Reynolds. For a young boy, you're a really big man and a genuine hero. Thank God you were!"
"Well that about sums it up," said the reporter moving back in front of the camera. "I do like a happy ending for once. The world has not got enough real heroes, but thankfully, there's one right here in Westpoint. This is Dianne Mason, reporting for One News."
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