Page 5 of Flamingo Christmas

Terrified but defiant, Sue added, “Look, a man whose little girl is in the hospital reached out to me, asking if I could make him a new flamingo… for his daughter. That’s what I do. Make stuffed toys. She’s been hurt… in an accident. He might email me again. I need to have my phone in case he does.”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass, lady. Just shut up and close your eyes, or you’ll be sorry.”

Not thinking clearly, unaware of just how much danger she was in, she lifted her hands in a begging way. “Please. It’s all I’m asking. I won’t even call the police if you’ll just give me back that one item. Please.”

She didn’t see the butt of the gun as it descended toward her head. But she did feel the pain before she blacked out.

Chapter Five

When Sue stirred, the sound of the siren brought her fully awake. The pain in her head warned her not to move. And so, she lay there with her eyes closed wondering if she should be glad to be alive or angry for having had this experience at all.

Living in Victoria, British Columbia, a safe place by all accounts, she never expected anything like this to happen. Although, she’d been warned recently that the Saanich neighborhood had been changing. A lot of gangs had recently started to appear in the high schools, and there’d been more arrests reported in the papers every day.

Her parents had been adamant about her relocating her business to a better section of the city, but costs everywhere had risen to where the thought of moving had become a huge nightmare.

Sure, her business had been making money over the last year, but things weren’t that solvent for her to make such a huge change, and she’d been waffling about what to do.

Seems her mind had been made up for her tonight. Bad enough she had to go through such a nightmare, she never wanted any of her employees to suffer the same way.

Upon reaching the hospital, the ambulance attendants stayed with her until the hospital staff took over. Once they’d finished examining her in the emergency area, she asked to be able to leave.

“Not likely, honey.” The nurse seemed sympathetic but not hopeful. “You got quite a smack on the noggin and lost a good deal of blood before they found you. Unless you have someone with medical experience to be with you, I’d say the doctors will insist on you staying here with us overnight.”

“I don’t. Have anyone experienced. But I’m sure a friend will stay with me. Would that be okay?”

“Look, take my advice, and let us look after you. It’s really late now, and surprisingly, it’s been a slow day. We do have a bed for you. In the morning, they’ll take more CT scans to be sure you have no lasting damage, and then we can talk about you leaving.” She tapped at the portion of Sue’s face where they’d put needles to freeze it and nodded with satisfaction. “You’re ready. I’ll get the on-call doctor to put the stitches in. We don’t want any lasting scars, do we?”

Considering that Sue would be the one with the scars, she had to smile at how the warm-hearted nurse had looped herself into the equation. “Okay. You’re right. I won’t bother anyone tonight. Other than a vicious headache, I think I’m fine. I’ll behave.”

“Good.” The nurse patted her arm gently. “I’ve given you some medication that will help with the pain soon. And I’ll be in to check on you a lot over the night.”

True to her word, the nurse did visit Sue often and made sure she didn’t pass out for any length of time though her body seemed to have a mind of its own and she kept drifting off. Sleep would overcome her, but only for a short time before she’d be woken by the nurse calling her name.

Finally, toward morning, she decided to get up and use the washroom and found out just how weak her body had become when she slid to the floor. Instantly, the nurse appeared, brought over a wheelchair, and helped her to sit. Feeling silly, Sue apologized. “I don’t know why I collapsed. I didn’t understand how weak I am.”

“It’ll be better soon. I know you haven’t been able to sleep and that makes you exhausted.” Eventually, with the nurse’s help, Sue used the facilities and then returned to her bed. Almost at the same moment she crawled in, the doctor appeared on morning rounds and did a full neurological exam, checking her functions and reflexes. Then she examined her vision, eye movement, and reaction to light.

Once she finished, Sue admitted, “I felt quite weak this morning, doctor. And my head aches terribly.” Feeling a bit weepy, she tried to make her voice strong and only managed to have it come out in a strangled whisper.

“I can understand the pain, Sue. You really did take quite a knock. Look, I want to send you for more scans. And though we’ve been holding off the police from their investigation, they are waiting to get your statement.”

“Can I have something to drink first? I’m so thirsty.”

“Of course. We’ll provide you with some smaller meals and lots of juice.”

By the time Sue had given all her information to the police and had settled down after her latest scans, she felt somewhat better.

Searching through her belongings, she suddenly remembered she had no purse and therefore no phone. How could she make a call to her folks for them to come and get her? And to call her staff and let them know she wouldn’t be there for the next few days.

Suddenly, she moaned. Tears dripped down her face at such a seemingly insurmountable problem and only when a voice at the door questioned if he could help, did she stop weeping and wipe her eyes.

The man appeared uncomfortable for his snooping. “I’m sorry. I was passing by and heard you suffering. Is there anything I can get you?”

Sue quickly sniffed away her upset and swiped at her eyes. “No, please don’t apologize. You’re very kind. I was just feeling sorry for myself. You see I was attacked last night—”

When she saw the shock the man didn’t hide, she reiterated, “I’m fine. I mean, he hit me on the head and took my purse, but that’s all. I guess I could be considered lucky because that’s all he did.”

The handsome man approached her bed slowly, looking a bit discomforted by her admission. “I’m sorry. That you were hurt and no doubt frightened. How horrible.”

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