Page 10 of Grumpy

“All I’m saying, dear, is that if you’re able to love my son beyond his faults, then you’re a stronger woman than I ever was.” Margery patted Kelly’s arm as she walked past. “I won’t hold it against you if you stay or leave. The choice is yours.”

* * *

Six Days Later

The foggy haze lessened but did not dissipate completely as Grumpy blinked. His body was both numb and in agony, which made no sense. This wasn’t the first time he’d woken up in the hospital. He remembered a little more each time he did. So while waking was good in that aspect, it did not change just how much he wished he didn’t wake up. Anything to escape this hazy void of uncertainty.

Just as before, he couldn’t speak. He wasn’t sure how long his jaw was going to be wired shut, but at least this time he remembered that it was. He’d been a bit too combative when he’d woken once and found he couldn’t move his mouth.

Grumpy was still in denial about his eye. He’d lost his fucking eye! Maybe it wasn’t as bad as they thought. Maybe it could heal itself. Miracles happened, right?

His fucking hair hurt. He had no idea how that was even possible, but he’d swear on Scotty’s life that he could feel every single strand as it pulsed in pain. Grumpy winced as the bed automatically moved beneath him as the mattress readjusted to prevent bed sores. At this point, he’d take the fucking bed sore over the mattress shifting under him like that.

The room looked slightly different. He didn’t know how long he’d slept this time. Why were there so many fucking flowers in his room? Grumpy hated flowers. The ol’ ladies should take them and do whatever it was they did with flowers. The kids could have the balloons. Why was there a teddy bear on the window sill? Grumpy didn’t want or need that shit.

Something sounded to his right. The visitor chair was there, always on his right side. It prevented him from moving his head too much to see who was next to him. Usually it was his mom. She must have flown down from Maine when he’d gone into the hospital. Grumpy didn’t remember why he was in the hospital. He knew he’d asked before, knew he’d been told, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember. It was like he’d watched a movie, knew he’d watched it, but couldn’t think of the lines.

Kelly had been in that chair when he’d gone to sleep. He had mixed feelings about her presence. He liked seeing her, liked knowing she cared, but he also didn’t want her seeing him like this. Weak, helpless. A fucking tube stuck up his dick. He didn’t even want to think about the other end. Then again, his jaw was currently screwed shut. How was he eating or drinking? Was shitting himself in bed even a concern right now?

Seeing Grumpy shift his head on his pillow, Pirate smiled over at him. “I’d just like to go on record that there can only be one ‘Pirate’ in the club. You may borrow my eye patch, but I am the OG Pirate. Understand?”

Grumpy shakily lifted his right hand, forcing his middle, ring, and pinky fingers up and then switching to just pointer and middle fingers pressed together.

Pirate laughed at the signed F-U. “And they were worried your brain was damaged. Good to see you still kept your sense of humor, brother.”

Though the hospital had given Grumpy a notepad to write on, his hand was so unsteady, it was practically illegible. Fingerspelling short words in American Sign Language was faster and easier for him to communicate with his brothers. Most of them recalled the alphabet from their military days, and it wasn’t like they were having advanced mathematical conversations.

It took several minutes for him to get his fingers to move again to spell K-E-L-L-Y. Though Pirate likely knew who he was asking about the moment he’d form a K, he still waited patiently for Grumpy to finish the thought. Grumpy appreciated that, knowing he wouldn’t have liked to be cut off.

“She’s with Sophia and Jazz in the cafeteria. I gotta say, man. I really like her. I mean, I knew you had your eye on her for a while, but it takes an extraordinary woman to stay by your side as she’s done.”

Grumpy wanted to frown, not understanding. Instead his face just ended up twitching painfully. He took his pointer finger and drew an invisible hook in the air, hoping Pirate would understand the makeshift question mark.

Pirate watched him for a few seconds before he asked, “Do you remember why you were in the bar?”

The bar? As in the club’s bar? Grumpy wasn’t sure why Pirate was bringing up the bar. He touched his pointer and middle fingers to his thumb to signify his reply of “no”.

“You asked Kelly on a date, man. You were at the bar waiting for her when it exploded.”

Exploded? Did he just say the bar exploded? Fuck! What had happened? Why? Was Kelly there? Was she hurt too?

“Hey, hey! Calm down!” Pirate stood up. “Don’t make me get that nurse back in here to sedate you.”

The threat worked, and Grumpy froze. He wanted answers, not sleep.

“So clearly you don’t remember Ghost talking to you yesterday. That was my bad. I’m sorry. The doctors said some things might retain and others won’t. So I’ll start at the beginning, but you can’t freak out. You can’t stress yourself out. Understand?”

Grumpy made a fist and shook it up and down several times.

Pirate didn’t look like he believed him, but he continued talking. “About three weeks ago, a bomb was planted in the bar. The police are still investigating who did it.” The pointed expression on Pirate’s face told Grumpy that the club knew damn well who had done it and they’d taken care of it their way. Good. But that didn’t answer Grumpy’s question about Kelly. Was she okay? “Of the club, you and Ghost were the only ones in there. He’s fine. Got some minor injuries, but he was up and moving that night. Your injuries were more extensive. Do you want me to repeat them?”

Grumpy put his pointer and middle fingers to his thumb again before he switched over to spelling out Kelly’s name again.

“Kelly’s fine,” Pirate told him calmly. “She wasn’t in the bar when everything went down. She was running late for your date.”

Date? He’d asked Kelly out. Grumpy didn’t remember that. What had changed his mind? Kelly hadn’t been the hold up. He was. His past, his desire to be left alone. But he’d had his eye on Kelly since moving to Mount Grove. He kept thinking that she’d meet someone better than him, that she’d stop looking at him with that seductive smile…but day after day, month after month, year after year, it never changed. They never changed.

If Grumpy was in the hospital, who was looking after her? Was she taking out her own trash cans? She better not be getting up on any ladders to clean her roof or gutters. What about her cage? She loved that old beater, but it was old. Grumpy tried to keep it in as pristine condition as he could, but some days it felt like the ole gal was working against him.