The Boy from the Band

Sue You Blues

It was the magazine article that set things into motion and I never found out who to thank. I decided later that it was Fate or Kismet that changed my life.

The magazine was lying in the bottom of my locker, I wondered who had put it there and how much trouble they'd had getting it in. Our lockers are criminally easy to break into—all you had to do was pull the bottom of the door.

Someone had managed to open the door just enough to slip the mag in because my locker was still locked. They had left a copy of "Mother Jones" from a couple of months back. I looked at it and noticed that there was a piece of paper clipped inside. The words, "I don't know if any of this applies to you but you might want to read it" jumped out from the paper. No name, nothing to give me a clue as to who had slipped it into my locker.

The title page to the article read "The Dalkon Shield", the same IUD I'd had, then removed, just before I wound up in the hospital with the pelvic infection that led to my first surgery.

I started reading, but I had to "plugin" and start work. I shoved the magazine in my bag then took it out again at lunch and read the whole article before I had to go back to work.

It was telling my story, as well as other women like myself. What happened to me had happened to others, we were all victims of an unscrupulous company that put profit above women's safety.

They knew the product was faulty, it went straight from the drawing board into women's bodies without being tested! They tried to cover their tracks by giving an employee a stack of files and telling him to destroy them. For some reason he kept them and when he was contacted by lawyers he told them, "I'm glad you contacted me" and gave them the files he'd held onto for years.

So, I wasn't alone or isolated in this. I was lucky to be alive, a few women weren't, but I had endured three major surgeries and suffered injuries that had nearly killed me. I am not a litigious person but I decided that I would try to find a lawyer and sue these bastards.

I wasn't in the mood to cook so I went to my favorite burger joint and got a bacon cheeseburger with a large order of fries and a coke. I sit on my couch and re-read the article while I eat and wonder what kind of lawyer's help would be required. Medical malpractice? Personal injury? Since there was no specific category that seemed an exact fit I settle on personal injury and began looking through the yellow pages.

Damn! How many personal injury lawyers are there in LA anyway? There are pages and pages of listings for this category—essentially ambulance chasers who someday hope to catch the right ambulance. The competition must be fierce.

I finally settle on a firm because I like the look of the lawyers in the ad. Young, but not too young, they posed next to each other with their arms crossed. "We are serious," the picture seems to say, "You can count on us to get you lots of money." No, not really, but I liked the picture and the name of the firm: "Shein and Feldman." I rolled the name around on my tongue and decided I would call them in the morning and hope they would be willing to take my case.

I was so absorbed in what I was doing that when Rick came in the door I was so shaken I almost picked up my phone to dial "911".

"I didn't mean to scare you," he laughed, "You should have seen you, you practically jumped straight up off the sofa--what are you doing?"

"Lawyer hunting," I deadpan. His forehead crinkled, making his eyebrows seem to meld together. I handed him the copy of "Mother Jones". "Here, read this article, it will explain why."

"Let me get a drink first," he went to the cupboard and poured himself a glass of cognac, then sat next to me and began reading. He was halfway through when he looked at me and asked, "So, did you have one of these?"

"Yes," I replied, "And I started having problems just after it was removed. Remember how I told you about my parents taking me to the hospital in the middle of the night? And how the doctor told them if they'd waited another day I might not have made it? That was my first surgery. I've had major surgery three times in five years and there is no way that is a coincidence. The same thing that happened to me happened to other women, too—some even died."

He finished the article then set the magazine down. "I think you should sue them. I've watched what you went through since I've known you. We lost a kid because of this—even if it hadn't been the right time whatever you wanted to do would have been fine with me. You deserve retribution for this. You need to find some really good lawyers who can get you a lot of money."

"We lost a kid." That was the first time I'd heard those words from him and I was a little surprised. Was he more affected by this than he'd let on?

He pulled me onto his lap and pulled off my shirt. "I think you should be careful of getting your hopes up, you don't know if this will work out."

"Why not?" I object, "My injuries are as bad, if not worse, than some of the women in the article and they have been getting settlements. I just need a good lawyer, I want some justice for this. Can we go into my bedroom please?"'

"No, I want to do it here." He put me on my back and pulled off my jeans,

"But the cats will watch."

"Too bad, they've watched before." He leaned over and kissed me. His hands found my breasts, then moved down to my belly. "You know, babe, your scar has healed up pretty good, but you're still so thin! I can count your ribs."

"I'm enjoying being thin while it lasts. That damn scar has ruined my stomach--even after the second surgery it healed flat, now it's got that ridge."

He kissed my scar, "It's not as bad as you think, you're just self-conscious. If you win your lawsuit you could have plastic surgery, but I don't think you need to, your body is beautiful the way it is."

Liar, I thought, he was trying to make me feel better, he'd been especially tender since this last surgery. His loyalty touched me, he didn't need to be with me but he was. I didn't know what he saw in me but he'd won me a long time ago.

He held me tightly before he left. "If you can't find anyone to take your case, maybe I can help. You don't need to do this alone, you know."

"Thank you, but I want to do this on my own," as he started to protest I put my hand over his mouth, "But I promise, if I do need help, I'll ask you. It's just important that I find a way to make this happen by myself."

"Little Miss Independent," he teased, "I'll see you again this week if I can, but when I do I expect a full report."

I took a run that morning to a new café that had opened and got an iced mocha—it was going to be a hot day. When I got home I grabbed the phone book and found the number of Messrs Shein and Feldman.

I drew in a deep breath, "Okay," I told myself, "Do this now because if you don't do this now you might not do it at all."

I heard the phone ringing and a woman's voice with a soft New York accent answered, "Shein and Feldman, may I help you?"

"I would like to speak with one of the lawyers, I have a personal injury suit I'd like to file and I'm afraid if I don't talk to someone soon I might not do it at all."

Her laugh was deep and throaty, "All right, sweetheart, when would you like to come in?"

"Can you fit me in with someone tomorrow morning, say, around ten or so?"

"Mr. Shein has an opening then, I'll put you on his schedule. Do you know where we're located?"

Of course, I didn't, so she gave me directions and told me to come in ten minutes early to fill out paperwork. Well, I thought, I'm halfway there.

My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would jump out of my chest. I'd done it, I'd really done it, though I didn't know if Mr. Shein would take my case. Collapsing on my couch I started laughing for no reason other than my nerves were getting to me. What the hell was I thinking?

I wished that Rick was here, he was the rock I anchored myself to. I know Robbie had warned me about getting involved with him but he was as necessary to me as breathing. I know I had only myself to blame for my situation, but I knew I couldn't leave him, not now.