Most often people talk about being in the right place at the right time. Maybe they achieved a beautiful photo of a sunrise, or the antics of children or animals. Maybe they found something someone lost and received a big reward when it was returned. But how often do they talk about being in the wrong place at the right time? If they do, it’s often about the death of someone or maybe witnessing a crime. And if this is the case, they are sad or horrified. Walter Williams often is in the wrong place at the right time, though his reaction to the incidents he encounters is much different than anyone would expect. And, life changing.

When the paramedics arrived at the hospital with Walter, and wheeled him in on the gurney, they handed the attending emergency physician the pages listing all the chemicals Walter may have been exposed to. All that doctor said was, “Holy shit, take him to station three.” She got on the phone and paged several other doctors. What she was going to be dealing with was out of her league and she’d need a few specialists to lend a hand. But she could start treating the minor cuts and stanch the bleeding for the deeper ones. She had a feeling suturing up the deeper ones was not an option right at the moment. And she was shown correct, as the specialists arrived and they too couldn’t believe what Walter had been exposed to. And it was the correct decision not to suture the deeper cuts. Not until they were decontaminated and blood taken to see what had gotten into Walter’s bloodstream.

Peter and Terry had arrived an hour after Walter had arrived at the hospital. Even before Pete had pulled into a parking space and completely stopped his car, Terry was out of the car and running to the emergency room entrance. Peter followed a few moments after and when he entered the emergency room found a very distraught Terry giving the receptionist a very bad time. “I’m Terry Williams, my son, Walter Williams, was brought into this emergency room an hour ago. I need to see him, a doctor, anyone who can tell me what’s happening and how he is.” When the receptionist asked Terry to take a seat and she’d look into it, Terry blew up in her face. “LISTEN, YOU DAMN BITCH! I DON’T WANT TO TAKE A SEAT OR ANY OTHER DAMN THING. I WANT TO SEE MY SON AND I WANT TO SEE HIM NOW! DO...YOU...UNDERSTAND...ME, BITCH?” Peter grabbed Terry by the shoulders, turned her around and told her, “Terry, I know you’re upset, and so does this lady, but you can’t take your frustrations out on her. Let her do her job. Give her a few minutes to find out where Walter is and what they’re doing for him. Okay?” With tears in her eyes, she nodded her head, then turned back to the receptionist and apologized. The receptionist patted Terry’s hand and told her, “Had it been my son? I’d have torn this hospital apart looking for him. Give me one moment.” She picked up the phone and said a code which doctor’s knew meant get their butts to the emergency reception desk, family was here. Peter had started steering Terry to the seats in the waiting area, when they heard, “Mrs. Williams. I’m doctor Marsha Taylor. If you’ll come with me, and you too sir. I’ll take you to your son, and try explaining what we’re up against.”

As Terry and Peter walked with Dr. Taylor, she started explaining why they were having trouble deciding what treatment to give Walter. “You see, Mrs. Williams, we have protocols set up to handle specific chemicals, but your son was exposed to multiple chemicals, which by themselves, if handled properly, aren’t normally dangerous. But they mixed when the accident occured, and we aren’t quite sure which chemical to treat him for. Besides myself, there are three specialists discussing treatment possibilities, and it looks like we may be leaning towards trying dialysis. We think it’ll be the best way to filter out what may have entered his blood. But we’re waiting on the blood test results before making our final decision. Walter has several superficial cuts, which were easy to care for. The deeper cuts we left open, but stanched any bleeding; we didn’t want to close them up until we decided on a treatment.”

The three arrived at the room Walter had been moved to, in order to isolate him because of his chemical exposure. The doctor handed Peter and Terry masks before they went into Walter’s room, and as Terry looked at her son, she saw how pale he looked, and more like the little boy who made it this far without getting banged up too much. He was hooked to a monitor, which was beeping with each beat of Walter’s heart. She also saw he was being given an IV, likely to replace the fluid he lost because of all the cuts. She went over to his side, sat down in a chair and softly said his name. “Walter, it’s mom. Can you hear me, sweetheart?” She was about to take his hand in hers but remembered the chemicals, and instead brushed a stray hair back off his forehead. As she looked at her baby, Walter’s eyes fluttered open and he slowly turned his head to his mom. “Um...hi...mom. Guess my luck finally gave out, huh?” He tried to laugh as he always did, but the pain he felt was too much for him, and he winced instead. “What...are...the...doctors...going...to...do, mom?” It almost took a breath a word, because of the pain, for Walter to speak. “Walter. You were exposed to a lot of chemicals. They know how to treat a person exposed to one or two chemicals, but they’re trying to determine the best treatment for all the ones you were exposed to. Don’t worry, sweetheart, I can tell they’re doing their best to help you.” Walter’s eyes closed just as Terry finished talking. He was asleep again. The doctor motioned for her and Peter to follow her, and the three stepped out into the hallway.

“Mrs. Williams, until we know more, I’d like to limit your time with Walter because of all the chemicals. Right now he’s doing fine, if in some pain. Why don’t you and your husband,” and Terry laughed when Marsha said husband, as did Peter. “Dr. Taylor, Mr. Stepel is the Principal of Walter’s high school, and my brother. My husband is out of town at the moment working on a project for his firm.” Marsha chuckled, apologized and continued with, “Why don’t you and Mr. Stepel go to the cafeteria and get something to eat or drink. Call your husband, tell him what happened and that we’re doing everything to come up with a treatment. I’ll know where you are and will come and get you if there is any change, and when we’ve decided how to proceed.” Terry so wanted to stay by Walter’s side, but understood the possible danger to her and Peter, so allowed Peter to put his arm around her waist and guide her to the cafeteria. Where she spent some time on the phone talking to Shelby.

Shelby Williams was a partner in an architectural firm, out of town working with a client on a large apartment complex. He was finalizing everything with their client, even helping the contractor order all of the special material and items that would be needed. As he was explaining things to Tom Warmer, the client he was working with, his cell phone rang, showing 911 from Terry. Tom saw the look on Shelby’s face as he answered the call. “Hi honey…,” but he never got another word said, as Terry proceeded to tell him everything and where they were. Tom watched as Shelby’s face went white, and poured a glass of water, setting it in front of Shelby. The other words Tom heard were, “Okay, I’m on my way,” before Shelby ended the call, took a drink of the water Tom sat in front of him and told Tom, “Tom, I’m sorry, but my son is in the hospital after an accident in his science class today. I’ve got to go.” Shelby didn’t wait for Tom to reply, he simply got up and started for the door. “SHELBY,” Tom said loud enough to break through the haze he saw in Shelby’s eyes, “come back and sit down, please.” Shelby saw the pleading look on Tom’s face and did as Tom asked. Shelby picked up the glass of water and drank more, as he watched Tom make two phone calls.

“Patrick? This is Tom. I want the Lear fueled, stocked and ready to go in thirty minutes. Where to?” And Tom told Patrick which city they’d be flying to with one passenger. He made another call and Shelby heard, “Charlie, bring the limo around in fifteen minutes, you’re taking Mr. Williams to the airport.” Shelby started to protest everything Tom was doing but failed in his efforts. “Shelby, I would have fired your firm on the spot if you hadn’t done what you just did. I learned the hard way that family comes first. Besides, my plane can get you home in an hour and a half. You fly commercial, and it’s what, two, two and a half hours? If that? And you’re in no condition right now, you’re too worried about your wife and son, to do anything for yourself. Go, we’ll pick this up when you feel you can come back. Git…,” and Tom made shooing motions with his hands.

Shelby didn’t even bother to get his things from the hotel. He just called them and told them he had a family emergency and would someone pack his things and send them to Tom Warmer’s office. He’d pick them up when he came back. By the time Shelby reached the ground floor, Charlie was waiting by the reception desk and led Shelby out to the limo. When they reached the airport, Charlie drove to the private terminal and took Shelby inside to find one of the two pilots waiting for them. Shelby went through what security there was, climbed aboard the Lear and was off the ground headed home to his wife and son. It was only after they were in the air that Shelby started crying, thinking the worst had happened to Walter. To Shelby’s surprise, the attendant sat down beside Shelby and held him as he cried. Giving the man as much support as she could without getting too personal. When Shelby had cried himself out, he told Patty, the attendant on the flight, everything, and shed a few more tears for good measure. Patty left him for a few moments and returned with a warm washcloth, which she gave to Shelby. Followed by a bottle of bottled water. When she asked if he’d like something to eat, Shelby realized he hadn’t eaten lunch and asked what they had. Patty brought back a menu that listed some things a person would only find in an up-scale restaurant. However, Shelby picked the meatloaf, corn, mashed potatoes, and coffee as his choices. Then he sat back in his seat and looked out the window, wondering how Walter was doing right now. It wouldn’t be long and he’d find out for himself.

The Lear did land an hour and a half later, at the airport in the city where Shelby and his family lived. The plane taxied to the private terminal, where Shelby was met by David, a driver who had orders from Tom to take Shelby to the hospital. When Shelby started to tell David which hospital David told him, “Mr. Warmer already gave me that information, Mr. Williams. I was told to tell you, sit back, and just think about your family.” What Shelby didn’t see was the police cruiser sitting not too far in front of David’s limo. David signaled the officer, who turned on his lights, and David, with Shelby in the back, was escorted to the hospital where Walter was awaiting treatment. Shelby didn’t even notice that David never stopped at any stop sign or traffic light, but went right through both. Shelby didn’t even notice when they’d arrived at the hospital until the limo stopped and David opened the passenger side door. “Mr. Williams, we’re here, sir.” Shelby didn’t even reply as he shot out of the limo and ran into the emergency room entrance where he was met by Peter.

“How’s Walter, Peter? What are they doing for him? Can I see him?” Shelby fired more questions at Peter, but Peter just told him, “I’ll let Terry tell you everything, okay? She’s been in contact with Dr. Taylor more than I have.” And with that said, Peter took Shelby to the cafeteria, where, when an anxious Terry saw Shelby walk into the cafeteria, bolted out of her chair, knocking it over in the process. She grabbed Shelby as he grabbed her and the two cried on each other’s shoulders for several minutes before a passionate kiss occurred. Peter stepped up to the couple and suggested, “Why don’t we sit down and you can fill Shelby in, Terry?” The couple followed Peter’s suggestions, and noticed others watching as the couple walked over and sat down at the table Terry had been using.

Peter brought Shelby a sandwich and a cup of coffee as Terry started telling Shelby everything that happened at school and with the doctors. Peter excused himself, using the excuse he needed the restroom, and left Terry and Shelby talking with each other. When Peter entered the men’s restroom, he looked in the four stalls to make sure no one was in the restroom with him. He walked to a wall just past the last stall, put his back to the wall and slid down onto his calves. And began to cry. He hated to see his sister and her family going through all this. Even his nephew, Walter, didn’t deserve what happened. They’d done a good job keeping the family relationship with Walter a secret, least others think Peter was playing favorites with Walter. Peter didn’t know how long he cried, or was in the restroom, before he felt a hand on his shoulder, and looking up, saw Shelby standing in front of him. Peter could see Shelby’s eyes were red from crying, and after Shelby helped Peter stand, the two embraced in an attempt to comfort each other. Peter broke the embrace and went to the sink to splash water on his face, before the two rejoined Terry.

While Shelby had been in the air, Dr. Taylor had come to the cafeteria to talk with Terry about the treatment they believed would have the best chance to rid Walter’s blood of the chemicals that had entered into his bloodstream. After Dr. Taylor and three specialists had had a roundhouse discussion of the pros and cons of suggested treatments, they finally came to a consensus that dialysis would offer the best hope to clean Walter’s blood. They’d also be giving him fresh blood at the same time, hoping the new blood would help push out most of the chemicals. What they were worried about was the amount his skin had absorbed, which would be absorbed by the fatty tissue. They reasoned that by cleaning what they could, the rest would eventually leach out into Walter’s bloodstream or simply be rejected by his body.

It wasn’t long after Shelby brought a still hurting Peter back to the table that Dr. Taylor came into the cafeteria. She sat down in the fourth chair at the table and told all three, “Well, Walter is hooked up to a dialysis machine, and we’re giving him whole blood. If you’d like, I can take you all to the Dialysis Unit so you can see Walter for a few minutes.” The three didn’t have to be asked twice, as all three quickly stood up and followed Dr. Taylor. Because of the chemicals he’d been exposed to, Walter was again placed in a separate room while the dialysis machine did its work. Before the three went in to see Walter, they were made to ‘gown up’ and wear gloves and masks.

When Peter, Terry, and Shelby walked into the room, Terry noticed the monitor was beeping the same rhythm it had been when she first saw Walter. The three took in all the tubes going to and from Walter, and the fresh blood hung next to the IV. Terry sat down next to Walter’s bed and again softly said, “Walter, it’s mom, hun. Can you hear me? Your dad’s here and so is Uncle Peter.” Walter’s eyes fluttered open and he took in first his dad then his Uncle, as he said, better this time, “Oh, hi dad, Uncle Peter. I must look a real mess, huh? You should see the other guy.” As before he tried to make light of the situation, but winced instead. “Guess I’m not going anywhere for a while, huh? What about school, Uncle Peter? About my classes?” Both Shelby and Peter replied to Walter’s hello, before both had to clear their throats several times before Shelby told Walter, “Ah, no, son. It looks like you’ll be in the hospital until the doctors think it’s safe for you to leave.” It was Peter’s turn as he said, “Walter, don’t worry about your classes, this is one heck of a reason to get out of school.” Walter could see his Uncle was trying to lighten the mood with his levity, and smiled but winced instead of laughing. Then he drifted off to sleep again. It was about that time Dr. Taylor told the three their time limit was up and they needed to come out of the room.

Once all three had removed the gowns, gloves and masks, Dr. Taylor took them to a waiting room, offering the three something to drink before she sat them down and became rather technical with them. She told them about the discussion the four doctors had and why they believed the dialysis would be the best upfront treatment. They could give Walter drugs designed to counteract a few of the chemicals in Walter’s blood, but wouldn’t affect the others. So they’d have to give him more to counteract the others. The four felt the side effects from the combination of several different counter agents were too risky for Walter in the long run. Marsha told them they were taking blood samples every half hour, and checking to see if, and how much, the level of chemicals in Walter’s blood was dropping. And so far, things look good. The levels were dropping. Marsha was completely honest with the three when she said, “The unknown right now is how much his body absorbed through the skin. Or if there would be any adverse effects over the long haul. That teacher did an excellent job of getting Walter washed off as quickly as she could, but there was still some absorption.”

It didn’t take a doctor to see the exhaustion on the faces of Peter, Terry, and Shelby. So Marsha was stern when she told them, “Now, you three. You’re exhausted. Waiting around here isn’t going to get things done any faster.” She held up her hand to forestall a complaint Terry was about to give. “I know, Terry, you’re concerned about your son, you all are. But you’re exhausted. Especially you, Shelby. And Peter, you aren’t much better. GO...HOME. Get something to eat and go to bed. I have all of your phone numbers and will call you if you need to be called. You can return in the morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed. And don’t worry, even though I know you won’t, we’ll take excellent care of Walter.” Marsha almost had a mutiny on her hands until she simply laid down the law, and told them sternly, go home, eat, rest.

All three saw the look on Marsha’s face and knew she met business, so as they talked amongst themselves, they decided to go out to eat supper, since it was almost 8 p.m. They thanked Dr. Taylor, and on the way to the parking lot, Shelby made a call to his partner, then to Tom. Peter made a call to Tina to tell her he may not be in school the following day. While none of them said they were very hungry, once they arrived at the restaurant, they ate like pigs, though polite pigs. After the restaurant, Peter drove Terry and Shelby home, hugging both, kissing his sister on the cheek, before going home himself. They all could feel how tired they were once they laid down in bed. But it would be several hours before anyone actually fell into a deep sleep. Their minds were on Walter.

It had been decided that Peter would pick up Terry and Shelby at 9 a.m. the next morning and take them to the hospital. Terry and Shelby tried to argue with him, but as he pointed out, Walter is their son, and they are still upset. Terry tried to pull the “But you’re upset too” trick, but Peter, knowing his sister, countered with “Yes, I’m upset, but you are his parents.” Terry had simply kissed him on the cheek and thanked him for being there for them.

Peter rang the Williams doorbell at 9 a.m., almost getting run over as Terry came flying out of the house, followed by Shelby, who locked and closed the front door. He looked at Peter and told him, “She’s been like this since 6 this morning. We’d better get going.” Though the situation was serious, Peter chuckled and followed Shelby to his car. Terry had already called shotgun, though no one heard her actually say it, and was so fidgety that Shelby and Peter thought she may need something to calm her down; they’d talk to Dr. Taylor when they arrived at the hospital. And when they did arrive at the hospital, Terry did the same thing she did the first time Peter brought her. She jumped out of Peter’s car even before it’d completely stopped moving in the parking space. And as before, ran into the hospital. Peter looked at Shelby, and he Peter, and both knew Dr. Taylor had to give Terry something to calm her down.

When both men entered the hospital, they saw Terry standing at the reception desk, pacing back and forth. Shelby told the receptionist who they were and why they were there, before both men took Terry by the arms and forced her to go with them and sit down. “Terry, you’ve got to calm down or you’re going to end up here when Walter’s released. Dr. Taylor told us they’d do all they could for Walter. She also told us, last night, that she would call if we needed to be called.” Shelby then gently reached up and cupped his wife’s chin, turned her head to face him and asked, “Did we receive any calls from the hospital last night?” He then took his other hand and gently wiped the tears of Terry’s cheeks. And as the tears fell, Terry told her husband, “But he’s my baby, Shelby,” and leaned into him and let the tears fall.

Marsha had just turned the corner and started into the waiting room, when she saw what was taking place between Terry and Shelby. She stopped, backed up a step, and waited until she felt it was right to approach the three people. When Terry started wiping her eyes, Marsha felt it was the right time to intrude, and started walking again, sitting down in a chair she pulled over and turned around to face Peter, Terry, and Shelby. She reached over and took Terry’s hand, before telling them, “The dialysis did as we hoped. The levels of chemicals in Walter’s bloodstream have dropped to almost nothing. It will take his body a few days to kick out the rest, but he’s going to be okay. Now, as I told you yesterday, we don’t know how what his body absorbed is going to affect him or if it will affect him. So he’ll need to come see us once a week for the next month. He’s off the dialysis machine and was washed down again, his deep cuts have been sutured, and we’ve moved him into a private room. By the looks on your faces, I’d guess you’re anxious to see him. He’s in room 410 on the fourth floor.” Peter had to grab Terry to slow her down, as she all but rocketed out of her chair. Shelby told Peter, “You go ahead and go with Terry, I’d like to talk with Dr. Taylor a bit.” When Terry and Peter were out of earshot, he told Marsha about how Terry had been acting since yesterday, and was worried she’d end up in the hospital if she didn’t calm down. Marsha patted Shelby’s hand and told him, “I’ll have a talk with her, and prescribe something to help with her anxieties.” Shelby thanked Marsha before he took the elevator to the fourth floor and walked into room 410, only to find a tearful Terry holding her bright eyed son’s hand with a gloved hand. He thought to himself as he looked at Walter, ‘That boy has a smile that just doesn’t quit.’ Then he too started wiping tears out of his eyes, and joined his wife and son.

Marsha gave the three about an hour with Walter, alone, before she walked into the room and exclaimed, “My, don’t you look better this morning, Walter. How do you feel?” She waited for his answer as she checked his chart on her tablet, checked his vitals, then stood and looked at him. Terry knew her son was feeling much better when they all heard him say, “Well, now I know how a car feels when it has its oil changed. It’s no wonder they are a bit slow afterwards.” Terry dropped her head, shook it from side to side before laughing and telling Marsha, “Yep, he’s feeling better, Marsha, when he starts saying corn like that.” Marsha had pulled back the covers, lifted the gown Walter was wearing and took a close look at every place that had been sutured. She helped Walter roll to his side so she could look at his back. She helped him roll back onto his back, pulled the gown back down, then gently pulled the covers back over him. “Well, young man, all of those stitches look fine, as do the superficial cuts. We drained a bit more of your blood several times during the night and even that looks fine. You still have some of the chemicals in your blood, but we believe your kidneys should be able to filter even that little out.”

Then Marsha got real serious, and looked at all four before she told them, “What we’re worried about the most is the amount absorbed through your skin, Walter. We can’t very well take samples to find out or you’d be full of holes where we took the samples. We believe, and here I’m giving you our best guess, we believe your body will eventually get rid of what it absorbed without any help from us. We’re trying to come up with a way to actually look at your entire body to determine how to measure what you absorbed, without having to stick you a bunch of times to take samples; my colleagues are right now talking to some of the best in that field. However, we want to see you once a week for a check up and blood test. And if you continue to improve as you have, I don’t see any reason you can’t get out of here and go home on Saturday. Providing you eat all your vegetables at meal time.” Marsha smirked when she said the last part, getting the reaction out of Walter she wanted. Walter had rolled his eyes, chuckled, held up the corner of the white sheet covering him, waved it in the air and declared, “Okay, doc, you win, I’ll eat those nasty tasting things. It would be nice if the cook made up his, or her, mind, though. Are they going to be uncooked or cooked, ‘cause in between just doesn’t taste right.” Everyone chuckled at this, having just been given a sign by Walter that he was going to be okay after all. Terry, Shelby, and Peter all wiped tears out of their eyes.