Scattered Scribblings

There weren’t many chairs left in the crowded emergency department waiting room. They were filled with people in various states of distress or boredom. Kevin assumed the bored ones must have been waiting for ages. He followed Dave over to the only two empty chairs that were next to each other and they did their best to get comfortable. There was a nasty smell in the air, almost like someone had stepped dog poop.

Dave didn’t look so hot. He sported a knot on the top of his bald head and the remains of a bloody nose above his upper lip. He used his good arm to cradle the broken one.

“So what happened to you anyway?” Kevin asked his buddy. “You look pretty rough. How did you bust the arm?”

“Well you see, what happened was I was out looking for Josephine. You know, Jen’s cat? Jen’s visiting her parents and I’m cat-sitting, and JoJo got out, and Jen would kill me for losing her cat. And I spotted JoJo up in the tree because that’s just my luck. So of course I had to climb the tree to rescue the at. Then I passed out and woke up on the ground, and my arm was killing me!”

Dave talked about passing out as though it was nothing, but it wasn’t what Kevin would consider normal.

“What do you mean, passed out?”

“My head was already throbbing from earlier, and I was a bit dizzy too. Then I passed out.”

“You were already dizzy, so you climbed a tree?” This guy was not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

“I had to get JoJo!” Dave said defensively.

“I figured the bump on your head was from falling out of the tree.”

“Well you see, what happened was, when I lost my balance and fell over, I spotted JoJo under the picnic table. She kept staring at me like she was annoyed I was in her private space. I reached to grab her and the neighbor’s dog started barking. Scared both of us. She ran off, and I jumped and whacked my head on the bottom of the table. I was seeing stars, man!”

Kevin rubbed his own head in sympathy.

“How did you fall that time? Stepping on your shoelaces?”

“Nah, my shoes didn’t have laces. You see, what happened was, my nostrils was throbbing and still dripping blood, so I wasn’t paying a lot of attention. My neighbor’s dog has a bad habit of pooping in my yard and I stepped in it. I was trying to wipe it off on the grass and I fell.”

That explained the smell. 

“Let me guess, now you wanna know about my nose.”

Kevin nodded. They had nothing else to do while they waited.

“Well you see, what happened was, I could hear JoJo meowing and I couldn’t sleep. She was probably mad I hadn’t fed her yet. Jen gets up earlier than I do. Anyway, I saw JoJo on the back patio and I was half asleep and thought the sliding glass door was open for some reason and I walked face first into it.” He gestured to his face.  “Bloody nose.”

“Wow…That’s… quite the day. All me there’s nothing more.”

“Nope. That was my whole day.”

It was late evening before Dave and Kevin arrived back at Dave’s house. Dave’s lower arm was in a cast, and the doctor had also given him a sling for a shoulder injury on the same arm. The nurse had given him an ice pack for his nose, and Kevin thought that the swelling had gone down some.

The two friends said good night. Kevin watched from his car to make sure Dave got into his house. He watched as Dave turned both pants pockets inside out, then turned around and walked back to the car. 

“Uh…any chance my keys are in here somewhere?” Dave’s shoulders sagged in defeat as he added one more thing to his day.

They turned Kevin’s car inside out in the hunt for the keys, but came up empty.

“Do you have a hide-a-key?”

“Nope. Gave the spare to Jen when we got serious. And she’s not exactly in town for me to call and ask her to come let me in.”

“Maybe the slider is unlocked?”

“I don’t think so, but it won’t hurt to check.” 

The sliding door was indeed locked, but Kevin noticed a window that wasn’t quite closed all the way. The drug over a patio chair to stand on and managed to get the window open a little more.

“I think I can climb in,” he told Dave then disappeared through the window.

As soon as Kevin went home, Dave got ready for bed. It was a little awkward only using one arm, but he managed to make it work. Tomorrow he would look for Josephine. He really didn’t want to have to tell Jen that her cat was missing. For now, all he wanted was some sleep.

He had just dozed off when he felt something hop onto the bed next to him. Turning on the bedside light, he saw JoJo there, blinking at him as though to ask, “Where have you been all day?”