Sudden Impact Read online

  “We’re doing all we can. You just have to trust us.”

  “Sure,” I said again.

  “Go home and get some rest. You can call me if you like and I’ll have the nurses keep you posted on Kurt’s condition. But you know Kurt’s parents don’t want you here. We’ve been through all that.”

  Bennington picked up the phone. I knew he was calling for security to escort me out.

  “I can find my own way,” I said.

  chapter sixteen

  I took the stairs down to the third floor. As I passed Kurt’s room I looked in. Both of his parents were there. His mother was crying and his father was pacing back and forth. Kurt was unconscious. As I pushed up against the glass of the door to get a better look, I could see his skin was an awful yellowish, greenish color. I knew that was because his liver wasn’t working. He was getting worse and time was running out.

  I felt frozen, totally helpless. I didn’t think I could move away from that spot. But someone was walking at a fast clip toward me. I didn’t turn around to look. It was Martha again. She gave me a pat on the shoulder. “I know,” she said. “I know. Now let’s move before those goons behind me start hassling you again.”

  The “goons” weren’t all that scary looking—just two white-coated attendants. But I moved anyway.

  We walked toward the elevator and stepped inside. As the door closed Martha waved goodbye to the attendants who had followed us. As we began to go down, she punched the red stop button and we came to a halt between floors.

  “What did Jason’s parents say?”

  “They said no. I have to talk to them,” I told her. “I have to convince them.” Even as I said it, I didn’t know if I had the courage to face them. I was scared to death that I wouldn’t say the right words, that I would screw it up somehow and it would be all over. “But I don’t know if I can do it.”

  Martha took my hand and squeezed. She looked me straight in the eye. She punched the second floor button and the elevator started moving

  The doors parted. Martha held them open and pointed to the third door down the hall. “They’re in there. Wait until there’s no doctor or nurse around.”

  There was nothing in the world that could have stopped me from trying.

  My legs seemed to move on their own. I walked down the hall and knocked gently on the door frame. Then I went in.

  Jason’s head was almost completely bandaged. There were electronic machines beeping and ticking. Jason’s parents appeared to be praying. They looked up when I entered.

  I had met Jason’s parents only twice before. They were wealthy like Kurt’s folks and lived in a big house. They had lots of money, but you could tell by the way they dressed they were old-fashioned. They spoiled Jason by giving him anything he wanted, though. That’s why he had the motorcycle. They were probably blaming themselves for Jason’s accident. I don’t know if they had ever thought much about me, but they knew I was Kurt’s friend. I knew that Kurt’s parents had let on how unhappy they were that Kurt was hanging out with me.

  “I’m here to talk about Kurt,” I said, looking straight at Jason, not them.

  “How dare you!” Jason’s father shouted at me.

  I pretended I didn’t hear. I looked at Jason’s mother and spoke in a calm slow voice, hoping the words would do some sort of magic all on their own.

  “Jason is probably going to die and it’s not going to mean much,” I began. “A stupid accident.”

  “You get out of here right this instant!” Jason’s father shouted. I didn’t listen.

  “It’s not fair,” I said, “that he has to die. I’ll miss him very much, although it’s nothing like what you will feel, I know.”

  Jason’s father started for the door. He was going to get someone to throw me out. I almost panicked and started crying, but Jason’s mother pulled him back. “Let’s hear what she has to say,” she said in a voice full of sadness.

  “Jason and Kurt were friends,” I said.

  “They still are friends,” Jason’s father insisted. “They were always very close. They grew up together.”

  I could see then that he must not have known what Jason was like to his “friends.” And I could tell that he wasn’t ready to admit that his son was dying.

  “We know that Jason isn’t going to make it,” Mrs. Evans said. Jason’s father just shook his head. He looked angry—like he wanted to hit somebody. He scared me, but I wasn’t ready to back off.

  “And when he dies,” I told her, “he can save Kurt’s life. If you give your permission for the transplant.”

  “We already said no to the doctors. It’s too much for us to think about. Too much to ask at a time like this!” Mr. Evans shouted. His hands were clenched into fists and he was right over top of me now. I was sure he was ready to hit me, or hit something, because he was so frustrated and angry that he couldn’t do anything for his son.

  I held my ground. “It is too much to ask,” I told him. “And I’m not supposed to be here asking it. But I’m asking it anyway. Jason’s death will be worth something because he’ll save another life.”

  He was shaking his head no. Mrs. Evans was sobbing, but I could see she was trying to get control of herself. I was shaking too. I was so scared. I almost wished Mr. Evans would hit me and get the anger out of him. Right then I knew I was losing it, and I wanted to feel the pain that Kurt and Jason must have felt.

  “Get out!” he said.

  “No,” I answered. “I’m sorry to do this, but I have to. I think I know how you feel. And maybe you’ve never thought about donating part of your son’s body if he dies. But you have to think about it now. Jason was a tough guy and he didn’t back down from much. I think he’d be mad at you if you let him back down from this.”

  I was shocked that I had come out and said that. I was sure it was the wrong thing to say. But suddenly Jason’s mother looked up at me. “You really did know Jason, didn’t you?”

  “Not all that well,” I admitted.

  “He just pretended he was tough,” his mother said. “Underneath, he was just a little boy trying to act tough.”

  “I think I knew that.”

  “He wanted to be the best at everything he did,” his father said. “Jason pushed himself hard. He always wanted to be the best he could be, and I think he wanted others to follow his lead.”

  I nodded in agreement.

  He didn’t seem so angry now. “I think Jason wanted to be some kind of hero.”

  I swallowed hard and went for it. “I think he finally has his chance.”

  The door opened and three doctors walked in. “It’s time,” one of them said. “You can stay in the room if you like.” They had come to shut off the life-support system.

  I turned to leave. It had all been in vain.

  “Wait,” Mr. Evans said. I turned around, but he wasn’t talking to me. “We want to see Dr. Bennington,” he said.

  chapter seventeen

  I didn’t cry at Jason’s funeral, though I was surrounded by all kinds of people in tears, including Leach and Dorfman.

  My parents said they’d take time to come with me, but I convinced them it wasn’t necessary. So I went by myself. Jason’s mom spotted me after the service. She gripped hard onto my hand and wouldn’t let go as all the other adults came by to say how sorry they were. I felt confused, but I stood there until she was ready to let go. She never said one word to me.

  Mr. Richards came up to me afterwards and said, “We’ll give you a ride home.” His voice sounded soft and kind.

  “Okay.”

  In the car, they said they wanted me to visit Kurt. He was recovering, they said, but was acting quite strange. They told me I shouldn’t be upset by anything he said.

  “The poison is still in his system from when his liver wasn’t working right. They say it’ll take a while to straighten out.”

  The next time I arrived at the hospital, nobody tried to keep me out. I walked with Kurt’s parents through the front do
or and up to that familiar room.

  Kurt was propped up in bed and, it was true, he didn’t look good. His parents stayed outside and left the door closed.

  “You all right?” I asked.

  “Do I look all right?” he snapped.

  “You look alive,” I said. “That’s a start.” But he had already hurt my feelings.

  “Are you angry at me?” I asked tentatively.

  He clenched a fist. He was angry with someone. “No. I don’t mean to be. I’m just having a hard time. I keep seeing images of Jason smashing up his bike. And I keep thinking about what a jerk the guy always was. And now part of him is in me and he … you two saved my life.” Kurt looked like he was about to scream. “And it’s all just so confusing. I don’t understand it. And I feel like hitting something.”

  “I think it’s part of the process. I don’t know why. You’ll feel better eventually.”

  “Yeah, so they say.” Kurt tried to replace the anger with something else. He smiled, then looked worried. “What if I’m not the same anymore? Are you still gonna like me?”

  “Don’t be silly. Of course I’ll like you.” Leave it to Kurt to use the word like at a time like this. It made me feel that he was more back to normal than he thought. “Besides, I don’t care if you are different. I think we’re all different now.”

  “I wish things could go back to the way they used to be. And I wish Jason was still alive.”

  “We all wish that,” I said.

  “You never gave up on me, did you? Not even when they tried to keep you away.”

  “I did what I had to do.”

  “You’re pretty amazing, you know.”

  I think it was the first time anyone had ever said that to me. I didn’t know what to say, so I just looked away. Then he took my hand and held it in his. We both said nothing after that. When I turned my head and looked at him he had this big goofy grin on his face. And I laughed out loud.

  chapter eighteen

  A few weeks later, when Kurt was finally allowed to go back to school, I watched people trying to be nice to him—too nice. Nobody slapped him on the back. The guys all acted like they were talking to a little old lady when they saw him. Kurt had lost weight and he still looked, well, sick. But he was improving.

  Everyone avoided talking about Jason when Kurt was around. Then one day at lunch Dorfman asked, “What’s it feel like to be walking around with a piece of old Jason inside you keeping you alive?”

  I think until then Kurt had been treating himself like he was a piece of china about to break. Finally somebody had come out and asked him an honest question.

  Kurt took a big bite of his sandwich, chewed with a very serious look on his face and swallowed. The table had gone silent. The guys were waiting to see if Kurt was going to crack. Instead he lit into a smile.

  “It feels good,” he said. “Real good. And now I know what Jason meant about not wimping out when the going gets tough.” The guys thought Kurt was talking about Jason, but he was sitting across the table, looking straight at me. I knew what he was getting at, even if they didn’t.

  “You gonna be able to play soccer again next year?” Leach asked.

  “I don’t know,” Kurt said. “I’ll have to see. But if I do, it’ll be like two halfbacks for the price of one, you know what I mean?”

  Leach nodded. “Yeah, maybe I do.”

  Walking home together after school that day, Kurt and I saw a young pigeon fly into the side of a moving car. The car kept going, but the pigeon fell into the street.

  We ran over to it and Kurt picked it up.

  “One of its wings is broken,” I said. “Too bad. It’s just a young one too.”

  The driver saw us run onto the street in his rear-view mirror, so he backed up. He looked at the bird in Kurt’s hands. “Ah, too bad for the little thing. The stupid bird flew right into the side of my car. There was nothing I could do.”

  “The wing’s busted,” Kurt said.

  “I can see. Look, kid, the best thing to do when a wild animal gets hurt like that is to just put it in the bushes and let it die.”

  Kurt looked at the guy and said, “Right. Thanks for the advice.”

  The driver put his car in gear. He leaned out the window. “Look, I’m sorry, but these things happen all the time.” And then he drove off.

  “What do you think?” I asked Kurt.

  “I think the guy’s full of it,” Kurt said. “I think I know a vet who’d be willing to try to put a splint on the wing. And I’ll take care of it until it heals.”

  “Right,” I said. “Then maybe you and I can teach it to fly all over again.”

  Lesley Choyce is the author of over fifty books for children, young adults and adults, including two books in the Orca Soundings Series, Refuge Cove, and Thunderbowl. Lesley lives, surfs and performs spoken word in Nova Scotia.

  If you would like further

  information about organ donation

  or becoming an organ donor,

  please check the following websites:

  www.organdonor.gov

  www.shareyourlife.org

  www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/organandtissue

  www.givelife.ca

  New

  Orca Currents Novel

  Wired by Sigmund Brouwer

  I cut left to miss a boulder sticking out of the snow. I ducked beneath a branch. I hit a jump at freeway speed. It launched me into the air at least one story off the ground. I leaned forward and made sure my skis stayed straight.

  I thumped back to earth and crouched low, so I would block less wind. At this speed, the trees on each side of the slope seemed like flashing fence boards.

  Halfway down the run I knew I was skiing the best I ever had. If I kept pushing, I would easily stay at number one.

  Beneath my helmet, I grinned my grin of fear. And as I cut into a steep turn, I saw it. But couldn’t believe it.

  Wire. Black wire stretched between two trees at waist height. I was flashing toward it at thirty meters per second. Hitting the wire at that speed would slice me in two.

  Spoiled Rotten by Dayle Campbell Gaetz

  I landed heavily on the rough wood of the dock. Somehow I tripped over the rope in my hand and fell sideways. But I never let go of that rope. I scrambled to my feet and eased the boat against the dock.

  Dad stepped off to tie the stern rope while I tied the bow. I waited for him to say, “Nice work,” or, “Well done,” or maybe, “Sorry I yelled at you,” but he didn’t even look my way. He patted the pockets of his shorts. “Anyone seen my wallet?” he asked.

  Amy appeared from nowhere. “I’ll get it, Dad,” she said and disappeared into the cabin.

  I stared after her. Dad? Since when was he her dad? This kid wanted everything that was mine.

  Table of Contents

  Cover Page

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen