Chapter 14

THE MINERVA MINK STORY
"General Hospital"

Chapter 14

        Tuesday Afternoon:

    Cory stuffed the last bite of a tuna sandwich into his mouth and out stretched both his hands over his head. “Look Ma. All gone!”

    Nurse Pennymint, who had been instructed to over see Cory’s meal times and insure that he ate everything, sighed irritated.

    She got up from her chair and swept away his food tray from his lap and just as quickly left the room.

    Alone, Cory couldn’t help but feel a small smirk crawl across his face. ‘Ya, I know. I’m a total butt nugget aren’t I?’

    He sat back into the mound of pillows the nurse had placed behind his back to help him sit upright and rubbed his bandaged eyes. They still burned immensely, but every day the swelling went down a little and he felt less and less like gouging them out with his dinner fork.

    His room was small, or so he thought, for no more than three people ever came in at one time and the doctor often told his staff to wait outside till he was done examining him. However, it was quiet for the most part, and he did have to admit, that despite his noxious attitude in recent days, the staff had been pretty good to him.

    Cory’s ear twitched involuntarily as he heard the room’s door squeak and several sets of foot steps entered the room. He knew the doctor was going to be coming in sometime that afternoon.

    “Hey, now that’s service. Is it time for my anal probe now Doc?”

    But there was strangely no answer. Just as suddenly as the door had opened, Cory was getting some bad visions of Dan ‘Duckies’ Hampton and some of his boys sneaking into his room so they could ‘re-establish a relationship’ with him again. Funny how the mind likes to conjure up the worst case scenario.

    H-hello? Who’s there?”

    Pa-pa? PA-PA!” With three large bounds, Stephanie was across the room and leapt up the side of the hospital bed, burrowing her face into her fathers neck.

    “Hey hey! Princess? What are you doing here?” He wrapped his arms around the little girl and covered her cheeks and back of her ear with kisses.

    “Aunt Minerva brought me! Are you okay Pa-pa?!”

    “I’m just fine sweet heart. Don’t tell me you were worried?”

    “Corse not!” She hesitated and wiped a tear from one of her eyes. “Well... Maybe just a little.”

    Cory sat up and cradled Stephanie in his lap. “Who else is here honey?”

    “Hey Cory.” Trudy’s voice piped up.

    “Me too.” Then Dee Dee’s.

    “And me.” Minerva bent over and placed a small kiss on Cory’s nose. “How are you feeling?”

    “Wow. Looks like the gang’s all here. I’m fine Sis. Nothing I can’t handle.”

    Minerva tucked her skirt under her legs and sat on the edge of the bed. “Uh huh. That’s not what the doctor said.”

    “Oh?” Cory cocked his head toward the sound of her voice. “What did Dr. Faust say about me?”

    “He said your being a Grade A turd, and from experience, I’m forced to believe him.”

    The other two girls giggled behind their hands and Cory smiled broadly.

    “Well, with what they’re going to charge me to stay here for the week, they can put up with all the excrement sandwiches I toss at um.”

    “Like, whatever...”

    “So, has Ste.......” Cory suddenly stopped mid sentence and bent his nose down to sniffed his daughters hair.

    “Hey Pa-pa! Hehehe Stop!”

    “Do you have perfume on?”

    “Heheheh Maybe!”

    “Why you shameless hussy.” Cory’s hands darted around Stephanie’s belly and under her arms, tickling her with uncanny precision for someone who had five layers of bandages over his eyes. “I can’t leave you for one week with that Aunt of yours and already she’s turning you into a big girly girl!”

    “Pa-pa! Stop! Stop!” The little mink did her best to swat away her fathers hands, but with little success. “Aunt Nerva said I could wear some parfume if I wore a yucky skirt. So there! Ptttttit!”

    Minerva smiled over at her niece and mouthed. ‘Snitch.’

    “I should have guessed as much. So how has she been behaving herself Sis?”

    “Just fine. She’s been helping around the house and keeping me entertained as well.”

    Cory’ eyebrows lifted up above his bandages. “Help? My daughter? Woah, like you better check the basement for pods.”

    “Ha ha.” Stephanie said with a scowl.

    “I’m only teasing you brat.” And he planted a big raz-berry kiss on her cheek.

    “And how is the rest of the ‘Hair Spray Three’ doing?”

    Trudy flipped a lock of hair out of her face and sighed. “Getting along. Like, can’t complain, too much.”

    “So how is the staff treating you Cory?” Dee Dee asked with a smile.

    “Oh, they don’t hurt me too much. The cattle prods and acid baths take some getting use to, but I can take it.”

    Dee did her best not to giggle and remarked, “That’s all? I thought I left specific instructions for them to use thumb screws and only feed you bread and water?”

    “Which reminds me... Squirt? Would you go over into my pants pocket over there and fish out a couple of dollars?”

    Stephanie hopped off the bed and pulled her fathers wallet out of his old stonewashed jeans that were hanging on a hook by the bathroom door, removing two dollars from the inside. She crinkled the dollars in front of him so he could hear.

    “Cool, now go down the hall here, take a right, and ride the elevator down to the first floor, soda machines are on your left, and if you get lost....”

    “Pa-pa please. Right, first floor, left, and ask a nurse if I get lost. I’m not a baby.”

    “That’s true, you only look it.”

    Stephanie stuck her tongue out and skipped out into the hall. When he was sure she was out of earshot, Cory’s nonchalant face fell into a very tired, very grave scowl.

    The look on his face was so alien that it made Minerva feel a bit uneasy, as if it was no longer her brother sitting there. He looked old and sick, and all the girls felt a dry twist deep in their bosoms.

    Okay gals. Shall we get down to brass tacks or what?”

    The three girls exchanged looks and grunted some form of consent.

    “Good. Now, the doctor told me he doesn’t know what to expect till Friday when they take the bandages. I might be able to see, might not.”

    Cory shrugged and rubbed his eyes absently.

    “If I can see.... well, that’s good, on with my life. If I can’t, Dee Dee, I want you and Terry to take care of Stephanie for me.”

    “WHAT?!” All three girls shouted in unison.

    “You heard me. I’m not having the Man take Steph and put her with some family she doesn’t know, or worse, one that I don’t know. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that if I go legally blind, that they’re going to take her away from me again. I’d much rather have her be with someone who has a stable home and life, and is close by so I can still visit her. You guys are the only ones I can ask.”

    Dee Dee looked flustered, her mouth hanging open for a moment. “Cory, that’s.... wow, that’s a lot to ask.”

    Cory put his hands up to stop her. “You don’t have to answer now. Run it by Terry first see what he thinks.”

    “No no, it’s not that. Terry and I would be more than happy to have her live with us. It’s just, kind of sudden.”

    “Sorry.”

    “Don’t be. But, like how come you don’t want her to stay with Minerva?”

    Cory opened his moth to answer but his sister cut him off. “Easy. I’m not married, and I don’t have a steady job. And my parents are too old to take her full time anymore. Case you were going to ask.”

    Dee and Trudy exchanged bewildered looks. “Oh, right.”

    The door swung open and Stephanie came back in, Orange Crush soda in each hand.

    “Hey, that was quick. Did you run the whole way?”

    Stephanie popped the tab on one soda and stuck in a big red straw she produced from her pocket. “Duh Pa-pa. There’s a soda machine just down the hall on the left! I didn’t need to go down stairs.”

    Cory did his best to hide his uncomfortableness. “Oh really? Guess I hadn’t noticed.”

    She set the soda on the night stand next to the bed and lead her father’s hand toward it with veteran ease. When he had it firmly in grasp, she opened her own and sat back next to him on the bed to sip at it.

    “Thanks Squirt. Where did you get the straws from?”

    “The nice Fox lady in the pink uniform down there.”

    “Must be one of the girls we have volunteering from the high school.” Dee Dee said absently.

    “Pa-pa? Can I get something to eat here? My tummy keeps growling.”

    “Sure Squirt. Cafeteria is right down stairs.”

    “I think we should all go get a bite to eat. It’s time for your medications anyway, isn’t it?” Dee Dee checked her watch then motioned toward the door.

    On cue, the nurse came in with a little cup of colored pills and a bottle of water.

    “Okay. See you in a bit Pa-pa!”

    ***************

    The four Minks sat in the semi-busy hospital cafeteria, amid the gentile hustle and bustle of other visitors and hospital staff, who were eating an array of different foods and either chatting on cell phones, or reading news papers.

    Stephanie took a bite out of her cheese burger and grinned happily. Minerva and Dee Dee sat across from her and Trudy and smiled back with the knowing of adulthood. ‘Eat like that while you can sweetie, because someday every bite is going to go right to your butt.’

    Dee chuckled to herself and sipped her water, suddenly noticing for the second time that day that Trudy looked very tense.

    “You okay there Trudy? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or some junk.”

    Trudy jerked as if she had been day dreaming and laughed. “What? Me? Oh, no way. I’m fine. Just have a big account at work going through and it must be wearing on me.”

    “If you say so.”

    Again Trudy looked nervous, and suddenly burst out. “Oh crap! I left my purse up in Cory’s room! I better go get it!”

    It was Minerva’s turn to notice her odd behavior and comment. “Well, we’ll be going back up there in like, ten minutes. Can’t you wait?”

    “N-no! I have to have it now! My cell phone is in there as well as.... some personal items. I better go get it.”

    And the red haired Mink jumped up and walked off toward the hospital elevator.

    “What’s wrong with Aunt Trudy?” Stephanie asked finishing her fries.

    I’m not sure sweetie. Maybe it’s that time of the month or something.”

    But Dee Dee wasn’t so sure.

    ***************

    Cory yawned, and settled back into his pillows for a quick nap, his daily dose of medications resting like rocks in his gut. Chugging down fifteen different pills of all shapes and sizes, took a lot out of a guy. Hell, he didn’t even know what half of them were, or what they were for, but he played like a good doggie and ate whatever the nurse brought.

    ‘One pill makes you bigger, one pill makes you small, and the one that mother brings you, don’t do nothing at all... Heh…’

    He closed his swollen eyes under the bandage and heaved a large sigh, but just as he felt the dancing fingers of sleep start to work over his mind, he heard the room door open again. He knew that Minerva and the others wouldn’t be back yet, and he wasn’t particularly in the mood to chat with his doctor at the moment.

    “Go away will ya? Can’t a guy get any sleep around here?”

    But like before there was no answer. Only the hollow sounds of foot falls getting closer to his bed.

    When the foot steps stopped, he felt the side of his bed dip as someone sat on it. Again, his mind was eager to think of who his visitor might be, and like usual, the first pick was one of ‘Duckies’ boys, maybe even Tad Nevers with his favorite ivory handled straight razor, that he use to carve cocaine and deadbeats with.

    ‘Stop it! Stop it brain. Duckies is in jail and Tad is dead. So just stop it!’

    The bed sagged a little more in his direction, and he could now feel some ones breath on his face. He burst into near panic mode, and it was all he could do to keep from yelling for the nurse. “W-who’s there?!”

    From the darkness that had been Cory’s world for the past several days, came a soft, female voice, in the form of a whisper. “Someone who loves you.”

    Warm lips suddenly pressed against his own, and he was trapped in the gentile embrace of an unknown visitor.

    Her hands drifted up to caress his face and hair, while she shifted herself closer to him.

    It took Cory a few moments to get over the shock of what just happened, before he started to return the kiss. ‘Hey, when in Rome right?’

    The kiss continued for several moments, one of her hands guiding his to her thin waist, letting him hold her. All the while Cory’s mind swam in a strange almost dream like nirvana. ‘This has been a very interesting day I must say.’

    The vision of Tad Nevers and the straight razor was in a heart beat shattered, and replaced with a sudden struggle for his mind to identify this mystery woman.

    Naturally, the easy way was out, so it was up to his other four senses to pick up his eye’s slack.

    Her breathing was gentle and her voice had been too soft to positively identify, but with it came the faint and exotic smell of Lilacs.

    He also felt a small sharp object pressed into the upper part of his chest, that was probably some kind of small gem stone necklace, cut to a very sharp point. Nothing as bulky as that ugly crucifix that had belonged to his grandmother and that Minerva often carried around like a bad memory.

    The last thing he was able to notice before she abruptly broke away from him was that, as he slowly lifted his hand up toward her head, he felt no hair, until he had almost touched her shoulder. ‘Short hair huh? Hmmmm...’

    With the equal suddenness of her arrival, his mystery guest broke their embrace and hopped off the bed. “Sorry, I have to go now.” She whispered again, Cory’s ears straining to recognize the voice, but with no such luck.

    “Hey wait! Who are you?!”

    She bent over and gave him one more soft kiss and breathed in his ear. “Sorry.”

    And then she was gone........

    The hospital room door swung shut, leaving Cory alone in his bed to curse is weak eyes. ‘Damn........ that was.....’

    His ears twitched and strained as he again heard his room door open and someone trot inside. ‘What is this?! Music hospital rooms?’

    “Hello!” It was Trudy.

    "Hey Red. What are you doing in here?”

    Trudy crossed the room and picked up her purse from the chair by the window she had set it in. “Just left my purse here. My cell phone is in it, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss a call.”

    But Cory wasn’t really listing to her, rather all available brain power had gone into trying to figure out who had just swept into his room, kissed him like an old lover, then dissolved into thin air.

    “Trudy? Did you see anyone just leave my room before you came in?”

    His sister’s friend cocked her head slightly and shrugged. “No. Not really. That Chipmunk nurse is out there walking around. Why?”

    Nurse Pennymint? Hmmmmm... Oh, no reason.” Again he was lost in his own thoughts. ‘Could it have been Nurse Crotchet? After how crappy I’ve been to her? Ugh! This is going to be a major headache.’

    “Okay then. I’m going to go, like find the others, then we’ll be back to see you, ‘kay?”

    ****************

    Minerva, Dee Dee, and a very full Stephanie all got off the elevator to see Trudy waving at them from down the hall. “Hi-eeee!”

    It was more than obvious to all of them, that she seemed to be feeling better.

    Find what you needed?” Dee Dee asked eyeing her suspiciously, as they all walked down to Cory’s room.

    “Yup. Sorry to have run off on you guys like that, but you know.....”

    Minerva waved her hand at her in a dismissal gesture. “We know. Just glad your feeling better.”

    “Ya.” Trudy brushed some of her hair behind her head, and Dee Dee was sure that she caught just a hint of blush on her face. ‘Odd.’

    They approached Cory’s door, and Dee caught nurse Pennymint wheeling a blood work cart down the hall. “Sandy? Is it safe to go in? I know it’s after visiting, but we just want to say good-bye.”

    The chipmunk woman seemed to jump at Dee’s voce and then blush, very flustered. “Wha..? Oh, sure! N-no problem Dee. The doctor wont be in for a while yet.”

    “Thanks Sandy.” Was she blushing a bit too? What was going on?

    ****************

    “*Sinff* Bye Pa-pa.....”

    “Bye Sweetie. You be good for your aunts okay, and I’ll be home on Saturday.”

    “Okay....”

    Stephanie grudgingly let go of her father and snuggled her face into Minerva’s hip, doing her best not to cry.

    “Bye Cory. You better take care of yourself and get out of here soon.” Minerva bent over to hug her brother.

    “Don’t worry about me. I’m tough as a tank.”

    “Heheheh A septic tank!” Stephanie piped up.

    “Shad-ap!” And father and daughter exchanged loving raz-berries.

    Soon, all exchanges were finished, and again Cory was alone in his darkness, and despite how happy he had been that his daughter had come to visit him, he couldn’t help but feel a bit depressed at his situation.

    “Pathetic man.... just pathetic.”

    However, he did have himself a bit of a personal mystery, in discovering who his secret admirer was. And he drifted off to sleep, his eyes feeling irritated again, with her voice in his ears. ‘Someone who loves you....’

    ‘Sounded a lot like Becky didn’t it?’

End Of Chapter 14