Page 10 of Sparking Sara

“I don’t know. I don’t have his number. What do you know about her condition? They wouldn’t tell me much over the phone except that it was critical.”

“Why don’t we take a seat?” I motion to the bench. “I don’t know much either. She has a head injury and they gave her medicine to keep her asleep while she heals.”

She gasps. “As in, she’s in a coma?”

I shrug. “You’ll have to ask the doctor. He’s in with her now. Maybe he’ll have more information when he comes out.”

“So you were at the accident?” she asks.

“I was with Sara. I held her hand for about thirty minutes while they extracted the driver. Did you know the girl who was driving?”

She shakes her head. “Like I said, Sara and I aren’t very close. I don’t really know her friends. I used to babysit Sara when she was ten or eleven and I was in my early twenties. And we spent a few weeks together about four years ago, but that’s about it.”

“I’m sorry you weren’t close,” I say, feeling bad that Sara doesn’t have any family who truly cares about her wellbeing.

She shrugs. “Well, aside from our age difference, Sara’s not exactly the kind of girl who makes friends easily.”

“What do you mean? What kind of girl is she?”

“You know, the arrogant artist type.”

I raise an eyebrow. “She’s an artist?”

“A painter. And when her parents died four years ago, she shut everyone out and poured herself into her paintings. Then, a year later, when people started to notice her work, things got even more distant between us.”

I register what she said and my heart sinks. “Her parents died?”

“Yeah, they were much older than most parents of a twenty-year-old. They were more like grandparents. They adopted Sara when they were in their fifties.”

“Do you mind if I ask how they died?”

“My uncle, her dad, died of a heart attack, and then her mom suffered a stroke a few months later.”

“Wow. That must have been hard on her.”

“It was. You have no idea.”

“Actually, I do. I lost both parents as well.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Thanks. So, will you be able to stay with Sara in the hospital?”

“Me?” She looks at me like I’m crazy. “No. I don’t mean to sound selfish, but I just don’t have the time. I told you my mother is in a facility, and between her and my eighteen-month-old twins, I don’t have a spare minute.” She looks at her watch. “In fact, I have to be home in an hour. I got my neighbor to watch the twins because my husband is out of town on business. I mean, I’ll try to pop in when I can, but they won’t let kids up here, so …”

“So she’ll be alone.”

“There’s always Oliver. I don’t know his last name, but maybe the police can track him down.”

The doctor opens the curtain surrounding Sara’s bed and walks out of the room. “You’re Sara’s family?” he asks Joelle.

“I’m her cousin,” she says. “Her parents are dead and she doesn’t have any siblings. Can I see her? Can you tell me what happened?”

“Sure, come on in.” The doctor looks at me but talks to Joelle. “Do you want to discuss her case alone?”

Joelle looks at me. “It’s okay. He’s the firefighter who saved her. He can be here.”

“Okay, then. I’m Dr. Miller. Your cousin has been in a serious car accident. She hurt her head pretty badly. She’s got what we call a diffuse brain trauma due to cerebral edema with a coup contrecoup injury pattern.”

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