Vital Signs

Part 13

It's Monday.

I've taken over the dining room table, covering it with manila envelopes, files bulging with medical and insurance forms, and all manner of documentation. I make a call on my new cell phone. 

No answer so I leave another message.

"Mister Turner. This is Phillip Robiski. Again. Please call me when you get a chance. This is in reference to a Mister Donald Turner. Please call. Thank you."

I make a note on a tablet and shove the paper into a newly-created folder. The sound of the front door opening draws my attention. Holy crap, it's after 6. I'd hoped to have all this cleaned up before Megan got home. Damn it.

I hear Jilly-bean squeal, "Mommy!'

"Hey, baby girl."

Megan lumbers in with our daughter wrapped around her leg.

Jillian scowls. "Look at this mess Daddy made."

My wife doesn't want to engage.

I apologize. "I don't have enough space in my office. I'll clean it up."

Megan sorts through a short stack of mail she discovers on the corner of the table.

"Did you make that late payment to the insurance company?" she asks.

"Let me just finish this and I'll pay it."

Megs says to Jilly-bean, "Go upstairs and wash up for dinner." 

"I just washed my hands a second ago."

"Wash them again, please."

"Fine," she grumbles. I hear my daughter's heavy footsteps ascending the staircase.

Megan lowers her voice. "Maybe this isn't a good time to bring this up."

"No, go ahead."

"Well, it's just that since you quit your job, you know you're not eligible for unemployment benefits."

"We've got some money put away."

"Some."

I begin stacking papers.

"So about the car," she continues.

I continue stacking.

"Did you get into an accident?"

"It was a freak accident."

She drops her head.

"I wasn't even in the car when it happened."

"Nobody was hurt, right?"

"That's right. The only reason the cops had it towed--"

"The cops?"

"They pulled me over for driving without a windshield and then towed the car away."

She pauses. That's a lot of upsetting information to process.

"You're still making payments on that car, right?"

"It's gonna be okay, Megs. I'll get the car back. Don't worry." 

"Don't worry," says the guy who disappeared for two days then returned with no car just in time to quit his job. I'd be worried if I were her.

                                                                          #######

4:09 AM. I'm in the kitchen quietly making a sandwich at the table beside a tablet where I've scribbled dozens of nearly incomprehensible notes. I've wedged my tablet in between a bagged loaf of bread, a packet of deli meat, and a jar of mayonnaise.