Suddenly, the car stopped. I was so focused on the conversation that I didn’t realize we were in front of the hospital.
“Señor, estamos aquí,” the Uber driver said.
“He said we’re here,” Clarissa translated.
I paid the Uber driver and gave him a small tip. I got out of the car and closed the door. She stayed a little longer in the car, fixing her makeup.
Clarissa rolled down her window. I waited right outside her door.
“Señora, you need to take care of yourself. A brain tumor is no joke. My aunt Fatima had one. God has her in His glory,” I overheard the Uber driver say.
This son of a gun knows English.
“You speak English?” Clarissa asked.
“It’s better to pretend not to understand. I get better tips,” he continued. “It didn’t work this time.”
“Don’t worry. I know you work really hard. Here’s a twenty.”
Clarissa offered it.
“It’s okay. You are very kind. Please take care of yourself,” he said.
Clarissa put the twenty dollars back in her pocket and got out of the car.
I took her hand, and we walked into the emergency room.
God help us! If this guy dies, we’re all in trouble.
CHAPTER 10
CLARISSA
Iwas nervous walking into that emergency room. The whole place felt sickly, even if there weren’t many people waiting to be seen. The pale white walls reminded me of the delivery room when I gave birth to Ralph back home. The smell of poorly made black coffee brought me back to reality.
“Hey, Cole, there’s Rocco, Moretti’s son, sitting in the corner,” I pointed out.
Rocco looked at us and waved. We walked over to the corner. Rocco stood up.
“Moretti, I mean, my father, is being looked at by the doctors. I don’t have any other information,” he said. “My father gave the hospital staff and doctors permission to tell me everything.”
“Is he going to make it? Did they mention anything about that?” Cole asked.
Rocco shook his head.
Cole was really nervous and started to scratch his head. He always did that whenever he didn’t know what to do.
“Settle down,” I said. “Everything is going to be alright.”
“What about the police?” Cole said, raising his voice.
“Shhhh. Settle down, Cole,” I whispered.
“I took care of that,” Rocco said quietly.
“Well, you should have said that from the get-go, Rocco,” Cole said, lowering his voice.
Rocco shrugged and sat back down.
