front of the castle.
I was out of bed in a flash. I pulled on a pair of jeans; I slept in a T-shirt. Not bothering with shoes, I opened the door, ran around the pool and then down the side of the house. Before I reached the front yard I saw the red flashes reflecting off the neighbor's house beside me. As I went around the front corner of the castle I saw the red emergency vehicle whose light was flashing, parked on the street.
Our front gate was open and so was the front door of the castle. Without stopping I ran through the front door. I paused long enough to hear the sounds of voices coming from upstairs. I took the stairs two at a time and only slowed down as I approached the doorway to the master bedroom.
When I entered the room my view of the king-size bed was partially blocked by a paramedic kneeling beside it, but I could see the head of my father. He was lying on his back, his face was white, his eyes were open and he appeared to be staring at the ceiling.
The other paramedic was calling for an ambulance on his cell phone. Jacie stood at the foot of the bed in her yellow bathrobe, her hands clasped tightly together. Her blond hair was in the disarray of recent sleep. Luz was standing beside her with her arm around Jacie. Luz also wore a bathrobe and her hair was covered by a towel. Tears were running down her cheeks.
I walked toward them. Jacie looked at me with frightened eyes and said, 'They think he's had a stroke.'
I turned toward my father, the man who was always so in control of the situation. He looked helpless. I couldn't face it and I turned away. I put my arms around both Jacie and Luz. In the case of Jacie this was something I hadn't done since she married my father.
'How could he have a stroke?' I asked the heart specialist who had examined my father in the Intensive Care Unit. 'He's not overweight, he doesn't smoke, he gets regular exercise…'
'His blood pressure was very high,' Dr. Shapero said, consulting his clipboard. 'And he needs to reduce his cholesterol.'
He was short, balding and definitely overweight. Didn't doctors follow their own advice?
'He doesn't have high blood pressure,' Jacie said. She had put on jeans and a pink sweater and brushed her hair for the ride to the hospital. Tan and athletic, she looked like the professional tennis player she had been.
She was sitting beside me in the small waiting room. She and I had followed the ambulance to Torrance Memorial Hospital. Now, several hours later, my father was hooked to a heart monitor and being fed oxygen.
'It could be a temporary condition caused by stress, for example,' Dr. Shapero said. 'Has he been under a lot of pressure lately?'
Jacie and I looked at each other. We both nodded. Ned's death, James Buchanan's attempt to take over Dionysus. I had always thought my father was immune to stress. This was a shock. It gave me a glimpse of my own mortality.
'Will he…be all right?' Jacie asked.
'It's too soon to tell,' Dr. Shapero said, speaking pedantically but with compassion. 'There appears to be some paralysis on his right side, but that may to be a temporary condition. Mrs. Patterson, your quick call to 911 definitely reduced the complications. I think we stopped the brain damage before it was wide-spread.'
My worry level went down a notch.
When Dr. Shapero left I asked Jacie what she wanted to do.
'Stay here with Richard,' she said.
'All day?'
'Probably. I think having me here will help him.'
That was true, at least when he wasn't sleeping. Maybe she did love him. 'I'll notify people. Who should I call for Dionysus?' It being Sunday, I would have to call somebody at home.
'A week ago I would have said Ned. Now…I don't know.'
'Do you know the home number of John, his administrative assistant?'
'No. But it must be in his organizer. That should be in his attache case. But you don't know how to work that, do you?'
My father had a small electronic organizer that he carried with him. Actually, I did know how to use it, but this wasn't the time to tout my skills. I had Arrow's home number written down. I didn't mention Arrow to Jacie. I said, 'I'll take care of it. I'll leave you the car and run back. It's only a few miles.'
'Okay. Don't worry about me. I'll be all right.' Jacie even smiled. She was rising to the occasion. This time she hugged me.
I badly needed the run. My brain was a whirling mass of confusion. I headed west on Lomita Boulevard at an easy trot and felt better already, just getting out of the hospital and into the fresh air. My father would be all right; he had to be all right. No other option was in my plans.
At Hawthorne Boulevard I planned to turn left toward Palos Verdes. As I approached, the walk-light came on for crossing Hawthorne. It was a wide street and I had to cross it sooner or later so I entered the crosswalk. On the other side, without thinking about it I continued west instead of turning onto Hawthorne.
Arrow's condominium was in this direction. It was closer than my father's castle. A phone call to Arrow wouldn't be enough. I had to get involved with Dionysus. Not to replace my father-there was a chain of command set up for that-but to deal with the issues I knew about, namely, Ned's death and whatever James Buchanan was trying to do.
As I entered Redondo Beach and approached Arrow's place I began to have second thoughts. Would this endanger my relationship with Esther? Not if I was careful. However, it was Sunday. Arrow might be sleeping in. I glanced at my watch. It was almost 10 o'clock. She should be up by now. Well, she might have a boyfriend with her. She had not discussed her romantic status with me.
I could call her from a phone booth to see if she was present and alone. Except that I didn't have her phone number with me and I was sure it was unlisted. Most of the single women in LA had unlisted numbers.
I turned onto her street. In a few minutes I arrived at her complex. I hesitated before walking into the complex, trying to remember which unit she lived in. I thought it was the third one in. If not, it was the next one after that.
This wasn't an excuse not to see her. I found what I thought was Arrow's unit and rang the bell. I stood in front of the peephole in the door so she would be able to see me.
'Who is it?'
Arrow's voice came from a distance and sounded harried.
'Karl.'
'Just a minute.'
I had come at a bad time. Maybe I should leave. No, I couldn't do that. Arrow knew I was here.
The seconds ticked by. Was she hiding her boyfriend in the closet? Getting dressed? I heard several clicks and the door opened. Arrow stood there, tying a dark blue bathrobe, much shorter than Jacie's.
She smiled but it looked forced. 'You're just in time for breakfast. And to find out what a perfect homemaker I am.'
I still felt as if I was intruding, but Arrow held the door open so I said hello and walked in. She closed it behind me and before I could say any more she said, 'Follow me.'
She led me barefoot through a small living room, containing a couch and not much more, into a room that must serve as a combination family room and dining room, with a table at the far end. Adjacent to this was the kitchen.
She stopped at the entrance to the kitchen, held out her hand, palm up, and said, ironically, 'Here's breakfast.'
Breakfast was all over the kitchen floor and the cupboards under the microwave. I had never seen such a mess. The door to the microwave stood open and the dish that had originally contained breakfast was upside down on the floor.
