“We don’t serve alcohol. This is a hospital cafeteria,” The girl behind the cash register said. Meredith trudged away, thoroughly disappointed.
“Tea, please,” Karen ordered as she took her place at the front of the dreary hospital’s cafeteria line. She handed over $2.00 in exchange for a cup of lukewarm, stale coffee. She took one sip and made her way over to where Kelly, Meredith, and Phyllis were sitting.
“So what do you think really happened to Jim?” Kelly gossiped, leaning over her peppermint mocha latte.
“He was hit by a drunk driver,” Phyllis stated.
Kelly was confused. “But I thought he said--”
“I read it on the chart on his door when we headed out… It sounded like he was in a pretty bad state when they brought him in.”
Karen paled a bit and tightened her clutch on her coffee cup. “How bad?” she asked softly.
Phyllis gave her a motherly look. “It said there was internal bleeding and that his leg and a few of his ribs were fractured. But it seems like he’s doing really well now, don’t you think?” Phyllis added when she saw Karen’s face; she looked like she was about to cry and was throttling the cup like it was the driver who had caused Jim so much pain.
Phyllis nudged Kelly. “Yeah, totally,” Kelly chimed in. “Much, much better.”
Karen gave a meek smile and sipped her coffee so she wouldn’t have to say anything. Kelly took the silence as an invitation to talk about all of the celebrities she could think of that had been arrested for drunk driving, which turned into a long rant about Paris Hilton.
“And now, she said she found God. Well, that’s according to People magazine, which totally called that Vaughniston had split, so I completely trust them…”
Karen found that she couldn’t listen to more than two minutes of Kelly’s drabble. She zoned out and thought of the people in her life that had been in the hospital.
“Only my dad and my cousin have been in the hospital, and I didn’t even visit my cousin, so this is kind of new for me. Seeing someone who’s in the hospital, I mean. And I’ve definitely never seen anyone who’s been in an accident before, except for those really graphic videos they show you in Driver’s Ed, so I’m kind of nervous to go back in there with Jim.” Her eyelashes were sticking together in triangles and it was obvious that she had been crying. Karen paused. “I wonder how P-- Michael… how Michael is dealing with this.”
“Come on, Pam! They do it in all of the movies, and it never hurt anyone. Except for the people who laughed too hard,” Michael said, grinning.
“Michael, that’s because they’re actors.”
“But--”
“No.”
“I had to tell Michael three times so far that pulling on the cords that hold Jim’s leg up isn’t funny in real life,” Pam said. “I don’t think he listened.”
“Have you ever seen that episode of Saved By The Bell? Where Zach was in the hospital bed?”
Andy started to sing, “When I wake up in the morning’ and the ’larm lets out a warning’ I don’t think I’ll ever make it on time.” Kevin nodded vigorously.
“I love that show. I own all four seasons. They wear belly shirts and leggings.” Kevin’s smile grew bigger and bigger.
Michael paused to laugh. “And that kid Screech pulls on the cords and everything goes crazy? The best episode ever, and I don’t see how you don’t find that funny, Pam.” He sighed, exasperated.
“Because it’d hurt Jim,” Pam said defensively.
“Yeah, I don’t think that would be such a great idea. My leg’s still a bit sore, not to mention broken,” Jim tried to reason, a smile tugging on the edge of his mouth; Pam had a hand on Jim’s right shoulder, protectively.
“Jim, where’s your sense of humor, huh?” Michael said, playfully punching him on the left shoulder. Jim grimaced, it hurt pretty bad.
“Michael, maybe you should go get some coffee,” Pam said, standing up and deliberately pushing Michael in the direction of the door.
“Fine,” Michael said grumpily and headed out the door.
“Does that mean I can leave, too?” Stanley asked, looking up from his crossword puzzle.
“Uh… yeah,” Jim said, trying to keep a straight face since Pam was imitating Stanley into his ear.
Toby jerked his thumb towards the door Michael just exited. “I should probably go with… just to make sure Michael doesn’t do anything…”
Just then a nurse who appeared to be fresh out of medical school walked past the door. “I’ll go, too,” Kevin said, inching towards the door.
“I think I’ll go wet my whistle, as well,” Andy commented. “Feel better, Big Tuna,” Andy said. Oscar got up to leave with him.
“Thanks,” Jim said. “I’ll see you guys soon.” The door closed, leaving Jim and Pam alone.
Jim looked over at Pam, raising his eyebrows. “An HIV test?”
“Poor Oscar,” Pam laughed. Jim started to chuckle with her, and they both kept laughing, gaining steam until they were both doubled over.
It felt so good for Pam just to laugh, to let all of her worries from the past two weeks just evaporate. Her spirits were high that Jim would make a full recovery. What could be better?
Pam stopped laughing long enough to walk over and open the door for the person knocking on it persistently. Her grin slid off her face completely when the open door revealed Karen with tear streaks down her face standing right in front of her.
