Gallbladder

“Don’t worry, Dad.  You’ll be home soon enough.  Then you can lie down in your bed.  It’ll be more comfortable than this old car, for sure,” said Jeremy, who kept glancing over at his father in the seat next to him.  His father was shifting around uncomfortably in his seat.  The two were coming home from the hospital following his father’s successful gallbladder surgery.  Jeremy was happy to hear his father did well.

“See?” asked Jeremy with a smile as the car pulled into his father’s driveway.  “Told you it wasn’t going to be that long.  Let’s get you into the house.”

As he wheeled his father into the house, his mother appeared and waved a wooden spoon at her husband.  “I told you all those cheeseburgers would do you no good,” she said, scolding him for his diet.

“Woman,” he groaned.  “I told you I had to eat my own burgers.  I ran the joint.  It would have looked bad otherwise.”

“Whatever,” she replied.  “Oh, and Jeremy, honey.  Someone from the hospital keeps calling.  You know I don’t answer calls from the hospital, not after what happened there the last time I went there.”

She was referring to her visit to the hospital the previous year.  While she was there, she caught a cold from someone in the waiting room.  It was just something she never got over.

“Well if they call again, I’ll answer,” answered Jeremy.  “I just have to put Dad in the bed.  Did they leave any messages?”

“Oh, no.  They only called three times, but they never let it go to the answering machine.”

Jeremy shrugged and helped his father into the bed.  It wasn’t long after that the phone rang again.  Jeremy sighed and picked up the phone.

“Hello?  Mr. Evans?” asked Jeremy’s father’s doctor.

“Yes, doctor?”

“Oh, good.  Did you make it home okay?”

“Yes, and he’s resting just fine.”

“Ah, about that.  The staff and I were concerned when we saw you leaving.  Are you sure everything is okay?  I know that your mother was hard to deal, but your father must be something else.”

“Oh, I’m fine and so are they.  We just don’t care for the hospital is all, so that’s why we might have seemed a bit edgy about the whole ordeal.  Dad can be grumpy, but he’ll calm down when he gets to feeling better.  Thank you for checking up on us, though,” said Jeremy, hanging up before the doctor could respond.

“What did they want sweetie?” his mother asked from the other room.

“Oh, it was just Dad’s doctor calling to check up on us.  Nothing to worry about.

At the hospital, the doctor sighed as he hung up the phone.  “Nurse, do you have the number for Jeremy’s therapist still?”

“Yes sir, why?”

“Well, staff said he was wheeling an empty wheelchair out of the building, and he never got over his mother dying from her pneumonia.  I don’t think he took his father’s death today any better.”