Chapter Twenty-Nine
Five days later…
Dear Dad,
Thanks for your letter. I'm happy to announce that I am leaving the hospital next week if everything goes okay. They finally unhooked me off of everything, and I can get around now without tripping over stuff. I gained another 10 pounds, so now I look almost normal - for me.
Emily says she is planning something and I am almost afraid to ask. We'll see. Wish me luck with whatever it is that she's doing. She keeps taking photos and making me send them, she's a pest.
I hope that you are doing well.
Your son,
Lucky Spencer
~*~*~*~
Dear Lucky,
I'm glad that Emily is a pest so that you keep sending me photos. You look well. Last photo maybe more like something the cat or Foster dragged in but you know me - not too quick with a compliment. But seriously I'm real happy to hear that you are improving and planning on leaving the hospital soon.
I love you son and think about you everyday - always have. Life is hard on the concrete block but your old man is surviving anyway.
Write again soon.
Your father,
Luke Spencer
~*~*~*~
Dear Carly,
I realize that you might not want to hear from me, but I wanted to send you this letter so I could apologize for my behavior at Jake's.
I was totally drunk and out of my mind, and I know that is no excuse. I just want to say that I respect you and am really glad that you are my cousin. We had a lot of good conversations before I went off the deep end, and maybe we can talk again sometime. I always appreciated your advice.
Again, I'm sorry for hurting you.
Sincerely,
Lucky Spencer
~*~*~*~
Tony walked into Lucky's room with a small box and a big grin on his face. Lucky was looking bored, surfing the TV channels and munching on some peanut M&M's. He was almost 20 pounds heavier now and was eating regularly. The feeding tube had been removed two days ago.
"Now that you're feeling so much better, Spencer, it's time to quit loafing and get to work!" Tony stated with mock anger.
Lucky raised his eyebrows and looked curiously at Tony's cardboard box. "What do you have in there, Tony?" he inquired as he laid down his candy.
Tony set the box down on a chair next to Lucky's bed and started pulling out objects that made Lucky's eyes go wide with interest. "Is that what I think it is, Tony," he said nonchalantly, trying to conceal his growing excitement.
Tony placed the closed laptop computer next to Lucky and opened it up. "It's what you think, Lucky," he said. "But it is completely dead. For some reason, it just stopped working, and crashed or something. I can use these things, but heaven help me, I can't find my way around them mechanically. And, I'm not too handy with diagnosing these puppies. That's where I need your help, Lucky. This one is about four years old, and I'm in the market for a new computer, but I thought you might be able to tackle this one. If you fix it, it's yours for the price of a favor."
"Favor?" Lucky questioned as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation of his favorite type of project.
"We are having major networking problems over at the free-clinic. Actually, we're not the only ones. All of the satellite offices seem to have one problem or another. Unfortunately the GH MIS department has placed us far down on their list, and we don't have any help. So far, we've gone back to shuffling paper, but it can't continue. It's driving us nuts. So, my man, if you can take a look at our system, I'd be eternally grateful. We need an idea of how to connect better with GH so we don't go down all the time. We need an analyst to look over our functions and give us some recommendations so we can go to the head of MIS with a to-do list. Then, maybe we'll be taken seriously and get some service. What do you think Lucky? Are you in?"
"You bet I'm in," Lucky grinned. "Can I give you a list of parts and things I need to fix this laptop?" he asked hesitantly, as if he were almost afraid to hope that this would work out.
"You sure can, Lucky," Tony said smiling. "Make up your list and I'll stop by tonight before I leave, buy what you need this evening and deliver it to you tomorrow morning. I'll have to stop by your room about 7:00 AM. Will you be up?"
"Sure," Lucky said. He was already looking over the computer, stroking the keys and reaching for a pad of paper.
"Well, I'll leave you to it, then," Tony added as he walked toward the door. Bingo! he thought to himself. That's the Lucky I remember.
~*~*~*~
"Hey Lucky!" Lucky's redheaded aunt walked toward him and gave him a big old redheaded hug until he felt like he'd suffocate, either from her heavy perfume or firm grip he wasn't sure which.
"What are you working on so intently?" questioned Bobbie, pointing to his laptop and the bits of paper scattered all over the bed.
"Tony brought this to me this morning, and I'm trying to figure out exactly what's wrong with it," he stated simply. "The darn thing seems to have both hardware and software problems. Some Microsoft incompatibility seems to be setting off a chain reaction of software events that…"
"Lucky!" Bobbie laughed and admonished. "As if I can keep up with you computer geeks. Spare me the details, nephew of mine!" Bobbie smiled broadly, happy to see that Lucky was involved in a project.
Lucky blushed with happiness and embarrassment at being complimented. "Hey, us geeks make the world go around," he kidded back.
"I go out of town for one week and you seem to have recovered completely," chided Bobbie. "How are you doing - for real?" she asked as her eyes softened with concern.
"I'm a lot better since my latest accident," he laughed, shaking his head. "I looked like Frankenstein or something complete with bashed in head and tubes sticking out of everywhere!"
"Oh, Lucky," Bobbie said with a solemn voice. "I never realized that you were suffering so much or that you had problems. I'm sorry I turned my back on you."
"And I'm sorry that I kept walking around drunk all the time," he said sadly. "I know that bothers you quite a bit."
"Yeah, it does, Lucky, but I'm so glad that you're getting help. How is your therapy going for you, is it hard?"
"It's real hard," Lucky admitted. "I don't know what is harder - trying to get over pneumonia or counseling with Kevin Collins." Lucky chuckled dryly and rubbed his face a bit. "But, he's really helped me a lot. I feel more in control of my life and myself. I have to keep going to my substance abuse group therapy after I leave here. It's kind of embarrassing talking about your problems with other people, but at least I'm not alone in what I have to deal with."
"I'm so proud of you, Lucky," Bobbie stated smiling. "Oh, the most important thing, I almost forgot! Look what I have for you." Bobbie held out a large card and handed it to Lucky.
Lucky looked up and smiled as he took from her hand the blue envelope with strange little drawings and coordinating animal stickers on the front. "I'd recognize that handwriting anywhere," he grinned as he ripped it open. There was a funny cartoon on the front with a huge green-faced dog sporting an ice bag on top of his head and a thermometer sticking out of his mouth. 'Hang dog,' it said in big white letters. Lucky opened the card, and it shouted 'Get Well Soon' in huge black lettering. The very carefully printed name at the bottom read, LULU.