Read Seasons of Heaven for Free Online Page B

As he reached out to steady himself against one of the big trees, he could feel carvings underneath his palm. He pulled his hand away, and looked at the carving. It was a bunch of small birds that had to have been carved with a tiny little knife. He looked closer and saw that they were ortolans. Ortolans, in the past had been a delicacy in European countries, most especially in France.
    James flashed back from his memories. He was once again in the hospital lobby. The tricycle was gone. With another tortured sigh, he continued out the main exit of the hospital. It was dark outside and everything was drenched from the rain. He slogged through the deep puddles left from the down pour. The sirens coming and going from the hospital were like background music to his life by now…he hardly heard them anymore. He made his way to the black SUV he drove, it was sitting alone in the lot. James stopped and looked at it. Alone was the story of his life since he’d lost Thomas and Sarah. He wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings and he suddenly felt himself bumped in the shoulder. He turned and saw what he could only describe as a creepy looking man, passing in the other direction. James was still on edge and he hadn’t realized it until now, but he was spoiling for a fight.
    “Hey!” he yelled after the man, “Can’t you be careful and watch where you’re going?”
    The man just made a strange sound and then giggled. That only made James more annoyed.
    “Hey jerk! Don’t you have any manners?”
    The man stopped then and turned around. Feigning an apologetic look and tone he said,
    “I’m sorry, Doc. I really am.”
    James wasn’t buying that he was sorry. His anger and the bourbon were fueling his desire to argue the point, “Get lost, you prick before I kick your ass,” he told the other man.
    The man looked at him and with the semblance of a smile he said, “I know who you are…James.”
    “What did you say?! How do you know my name? I'm a surgeon here, dick head and I also know your name.” James gestured at him then with his middle finger. 
    “You think you’re so important because you’re a surgeon. You cut people open and some live and some die. Our jobs aren’t all that different, really.”
    James looked the man up and down and said, “What are you a butcher?”
    The man smirked and said, “Something like that.” He turned and walked away then and James headed on to his own car. He glanced back and saw that his car hadn’t been the only one in the lot after all. The nasty little man hit the unlock button on his key fob and when the lights flashed he saw the other car. He hadn’t seen it before because it was parked in the dark. It too was a black SUV like James’s.
    Something about that bothered him. James knew black SUV’s were common, but that guy had really ticked him off. Even if he hadn’t just lost a patient and even if he hadn’t lost his boy…that was when everything started going wrong. The day he lost Thomas, he had proceeded to lose everything. It was like pulling a loose thread on a sweater and watching it unravel.
    Once he was finally inside the vehicle and out of the torrential rain, he still couldn’t turn off his thoughts. He reached over to his glove compartment and opened it. Reaching inside, he took out a metal flask that he’d put there earlier. It was filled with Vodka. He took off the top and downed the entire thing in seconds. Frowning as soon as he was done and realizing he hadn’t made anything better at all, he dropped his head down into his hands with his long hair covering his face on both sides, and his whole body began to convulse as he wept. He was weeping for Thomas and Sarah and himself…and for the girl on the table tonight. What a terrible life this was turning out to be. He took his fist and banged it against the steering wheel, hard. That didn’t fix what ailed him though so he threw the flask against the dash and then dropped his face back down