Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Crisp blue drapes framed the window looking out onto a partially filled parking lot and filtered the morning sun streaming into the brightly painted yellow room. The occupants were sitting in plastic bucket type chairs, leaning close together as they kept watch over the sleeping form inhabiting the bed.

Kate had been sitting on one of the uncomfortable chairs for a few minutes when she realized what was missing. The beep. She stood and inspected the machines that surrounded the room. Everything seemed to be working, but there was no sound. She looked at her dad who picked up on her train of thought.

“You watch too much T.V.,” he whispered.

“But why doesn’t it make any sound?” she whispered.

“How would anyone get any sleep with all that beeping going on?” he said. “The machines are being monitored at the nurse’s station.” He pointed out the door.

Kate turned back to the bed. She watched as Mr. Shaw slept. The door opened and a doctor and nurse entered. The doctor picked up the chart from the end of the bed and just as quickly replaced it. Mr. Shaw stirred on the bed and opened his eyes. He looked at the faces surrounding his bed. His eyes landed on Kate and he smiled. Kate began to say hello, but was cut off by the doctor.

“How are we feeling today, Mr. O’Callaghan?”

Kate froze, hearing the wrong name spoken by the Doctor. Was this one of those hospitals where they took the wrong patient for a gall bladder surgery, when all they really needed was a nose job? She thought.

“This isn’t Mr. O’Callaghan,” she informed him. “This is Mr. Shaw.”

Kate’s dad put his arm around her shoulder. “No, honey the doctor is right. This is Mr. O’Callaghan.”

Kate frowned, eyebrows knitting together, as she looked at him. What was he saying? He knew good and well that this was not Mr. O’Callaghan.

“Let’s you and me step outside while the doctor examines our Mr. Shaw.”  Her Dad led her from the room to the waiting room around the corner.

As they walked down the hall, out of earshot from the doctor, Kate's concerns came flooding out.

“What was all that Mr. O’Callaghan talk in there?  Dad, they have the wrong chart!  Mr. Shaw is really sick and they are going to amputate his leg or something. We need to get back in there and straighten this all out and now!”

Kate’s dad gently shook his head, quieting her, and sat down on one of the squeaky, vinyl-covered chairs and patted the one next to him. Kate reluctantly sat on the edge of the seat and faced her father.

“Dad...?” she said, the rest of her questions unvoiced, seeking his explanation.

“Kate, the man in that room. His real name is Mr. O’Callaghan,” he started, and seeing the confusion on Kate’s face continued. “Let me start from the beginning.”

Kate rolled her eyes as her dad gathered his thoughts.

“When Mr. and Mrs. Shaw met, his name was O’Callaghan, and it still is, but then...I’m not doing very well, am I?”

Kate shook her head, agreeing with him.

“One more time. Mrs. Shaw, that is her maiden name, worked in her parents’ dog kennel, ‘The Shaw Kennels.’ She met and married a man named Mr. O’Callaghan.” Kate started to interrupt but he held up his hand for her to wait. “When her father died, Mrs. Shaw’s mother decided to retire and give the business to her only child, our Mrs. Shaw. Instead of changing the name of the kennel to ‘O’Callaghan Kennels,’ they left it ‘Shaw Kennels.'”

Kate began to understand where this was heading.

“After a while,” her dad continued, “Mr. O’Callaghan became tired of explaining that he was Mr. O’Callaghan and not Mr. Shaw. He found it easier to let people believe that he was Mr. Shaw and avoid the confusion between the name of the kennel and his own.”  He let out a big breath, “How did I do?”

“So that man in there that I have been calling 'Mr. Shaw' for the last, oh, I don’t know, since we have been in this country, is really a man named 'Mr. O’Callaghan'?”

“Yes.”

She calmed down. “Well then, you did a good job. So Mr. Shaw is like a nickname.”  Her dad bobbed his head.

Kate stood up and walked to the window, relieved Mr. Shaw wouldn't lose his leg or his spleen to a bookkeeping error. She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. She crossed her arms to ward off a chill. Why would he keep his real name a secret?  Secrets...big secrets. Josh had his secrets and now Mr. Shaw or Mr. O’Callaghan, she corrected herself. What about her mom? She looked at her father. Was he keeping secrets?

Mr. Shaw was awake, but looked weary when they entered the room. Kate felt her stomach tighten and her throat burned. He looked so frail and helpless. Kate had never known anyone who was seriously sick in a hospital like this before. She wanted to help him, to make him feel better again, make him smile again.

“Zo,” she said in her best German accent. “I hear you have been keeping zecrets from me Mr. O’Callaghan, if dat ist your real name?” He turned his head toward her and smiled. Kate smiled back and continued. “Vaht else have you been keeping'k from me?  Are you also zome kind of zpace alien? Or perhaps an undercover zpy for a major medical corporation posing’k as a patient to get ze zcoop on ze latest bed pan technology ze Zcottish have to offer?”

“I guess the truth is out now,” he said in a weak voice, the smile lightening his features.

She sat down in the chair next to the bed and said, “Your real name is O’Callaghan, huh?” He nodded. “Dad told me the story about the kennel. I find it very boring and lacking intrigue. Tell me you have a better story than that,”

He nodded and said, “Yes I do, but you will have to ask me another time. The test they are giving me are tedious, and very exhausting. The old doctor gave me something for the pain they inflicted. It makes me sleep, which is all I seem to do here. You will have to remind me to tell you how I came to live in Edinburgh. But I will have to beg your pardon, for now.” He closed his eyes and promptly fell sleep.

Kate continued to sit and study Mr. Shaw for a moment. The light from the window played across his face, giving him an almost saintly look. Gradually the gleam became brighter and more brilliant until she had to look away for a moment. As it faded, a boy stood next to the bed, the boy she knew from her dreams. The boy reached out hesitantly to touch Mr. Shaw’s face. He opened his eyes and looked at the boy and he smiled.

“Andrew? Is that you? What happened to you?” Mr. Shaw reached out as he began to fade away, going back to wherever he came from. Mr. Shaw closed his eyes, the smile still on his face, and fell back asleep.

Bruce whistled softly and said, “Wow, I wish I could get some of whatever they gave him.”

They stood and watched Mr. Shaw sleep for a few moments then together, very quietly, they left the room. Kate studied her father, he showed no signs of seeing the boy.

“Have you ever heard how Mr. Shaw came to Edinburgh?” Kate asked as they stood on the street waiting for a taxi.

“No. I know that Mrs. Shaw was born here. I always assumed Mr. Shaw was from here too.”

“What are we supposed to call him now? Mr. Shaw or Mr. O’Callaghan?” Kate asked.

“I guess you should ask him what he prefers. But in the meantime, I don’t think he will mind if you continue to call him Mr. Shaw,” her dad assured her.

They hailed a cab and climbed into the back. Kate stared out the window watching the people on the street.

“You saw that little boy?” he asked.

She looked out the back window at a family walking down the sidewalk, “Which boy? The one there with his parents?”

“No, the little boy in Mr. Shaw’s hospital room,” he said.

Kate whipped her head around to look at him. “You saw him too!” He nodded his head. “I thought you didn't have visions while you were awake?”

“I don't. But ever since we've moved here... I guess the rules have changed,” he said.

“Have you seen him before?” she pressed.

“No, but that’s not the first time you’ve see him, is it?”

She shook her head no. “What's changed?”

He shook his head. “When I am closer to the happenings, sometimes I daydream, and the vision becomes much clearer, more accurate. But it's not the same as being awake. How many times have you seen this boy?”

Kate thought about it. “Several times, but only in my dreams, until today. What does it mean?”

“It could mean anything. Possibly, that what you're dreaming about is close to happening.”

“That can't be. All my dreams are about the past. Like distant past, different clothes, different cars.”

“These visions when I am awake are all new to me, but I think when my mom arrives, we should have a nice long chat with her,” he said.

Kate nodded and turned to watch the world outside the cab's window go by as she contemplated the day's events. First, the recurring dreams, then a boy from those dreams appears in Mr. Shaw’s hospital room. Were the two connected? Even stranger, Mr. Shaw called him by name. 'Andrew, what happened to you?' Did he know him?

Kate and Andrew managed to beat Billy to the breakfast chow line. Billy looked stunned when he came out to the breakfast tables and saw them already there. This time it was for Billy, that Christopher and Sean had saved food.

“Why din’t you wake me?” Billy asked.

“What?  Wake you when I haven’t beaten you to breakfast since I have known you?”  Andrew said, “No!  I wanted to be the one to have the mushrooms and bangers all to myself for once!”

“Bangers? Where? I don't see any,” Billy said.

“You would have if you had gotten here aboot five minutes ago,” Sean said.

Billy looked heartbroken.

“But I did manage to save you some mushrooms,” Christopher said.

Billy sat down to eat as Sean and Christopher resumed their conversation.

“I hear that we will arrive in Edinburgh today.”

“Yea, I heard that too. The older men are worried aboot the Police that have been discharged to escort us,” Christopher added.

“Rumor has it, we plan to march right up to the door at Holyrood Palace,” Sean said.

Billy, forgetting to chew, stared open mouthed, “Up to the door?”

“That’s why they are sending the Police in to toss the lot of us in jail,” Christopher said.

“Nobody’s going to throw anyone in jail.” Robert walked up behind Billy and put his hand on his son’s shoulder.

“Come now. Finish up. There is still a bit of packing t' be done,” he said patting Billy on the shoulder before he walked away. Billy shoveled the last bit of his breakfast into his mouth and hurried to catch up with him, a worried look on his face.

Kate and Andrew looked at Christopher and Sean who were shaking with suppressed laughter.

“You two can be evil little gits when you want to be,” Andrew said as he laughed along with them.

“Some people are just easier than others,” Sean said.

They all stood and followed Billy to gather up their belongings.

Kate and Andrew picked up their packs and went looking for Andrew’s dad. They found him and Ol' Rob as the men were gathering. Kate’s eyes were drawn to Ol' Rob's shoes again. They looked worse than before, the brown oily spots, she could only assume were blood, were larger than yesterday. She was worried that the old man wouldn’t make it to the end of the walk. As she approached, she heard Frank arguing with him.

“Rob, there is no shame in it at all and the cost has been covered. I’d rather see you go that way then have to carry you me self,” Frank was saying.

“Over my broken and dead body!” Rob said and hobbled off.

Kate and Andrew approached his father. “What's going on?” Andrew asked.

“Rob's feet. He needs to stop this madness. He can ride the bus to Edinburgh and join us there, but he won’t do it,” Frank answered.

“I think I saw blood on his shoes,” Andrew said.

“I did too. That’s why I have been arguing with him to ride the rest of the way, but he won’t do it. He wants to walk into Edinburgh, it is that important to him,”