Link to beginning of story:
@justephen/justin-time-chapter-1-an-original-novel
Link to Chapter 5:
/@justephen/justin-time-chapter-5-an-original-novel
Chapter 5 Review:
Kyle, volunteered to help Katherine with her procedure on Justin. Nurse Connie Latresky also agreed to be conveniently blind to that procedure which would be in Justin's hospital room. Blair is believes that Justin will wake up from his coma on Friday morning.
Chapter 6: The Performance
"He has been saying, 'Justin will wake up', all day", remarked Francis. "I know he has great intuition, but this is completely different. I told you Blair, you are not a fortune teller and don't get your hopes up. You will only get disappointed later."
"Don't waste your breath Francis", chimed in Leon, Blair's dad. "Once he has made up his mind, it is nearly impossible to change."
"I know, but I don't want him to break his heart again", said Francis with concern.
"How do you know he won't?", asked Blair.
"I don't, but...", began Francis.
"Okay then. You will see".
"What makes you think this Blair?", inquired Katherine.
"I don't know. I just woke up and knew it."
"Maybe it was a dream?", said William.
"I don't think so because I have had dreams that I have woken up before. This is different."
"Well, we sure hope you are right.", said Katherine enthusiastically.
"Yes we do.", said William.
It was raining on the way home when Katherine and William were discussing Blair.
"Is that kid Psychic?", asked William.
"I didn't think he was, but I sure hope so.", said Katherine.
"Don't you think that is weird.", said William.
"I have seen him do things like that before, but nothing close to this scale."
"Were you tempted to say something about your endeavor tomorrow?", asked William.
"I can't say I was tempted, but the thought did occur to me. It seems to be too much of coincidence. But, as you know, we have to keep quiet about this."
"Yes. I know. It just freaked me out and I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up when he said that."
"Yeah, it was kinda spooky", she said as he pulled into the driveway.
Thursday was a big day for William. Not just because of Justin, but also he had the opportunity to land a big account at his restaurant, The Gourmet Grille. The Millionaire Moguls was an organization of very wealthy people who met twice a week in the morning to discuss business.
There were hundreds of people in this organization and anywhere from 50 to 100 would show up for the morning breakfast. They were very demanding in service and just left the exclusive Bel De Flur private golf course who had been serving them for a couple years. Evidently one of the servers was overheard talking to another server saying club president was pompous or something. So, this was a test for Williams restaurant to see if they will start coming regularly.
The Gourmet Grille was not only a gourmet restaurant, but also had four banquet facilities that when combined, could serve up to 900 people. And if you include the outdoor patio, it could serve another 300 people. His restaurant was located on a hill that had two marvelous views. The one view on the patio, over looked the Bel De Flur's private golf course and the view on the other side, overlooked the city. So, during the day, people preferred the beautiful green golf course view and at night, they preferred the pretty lighted city view. It was a beautiful sunny morning, so William arranged breakfast on the patio, overlooking the golf course.
William had a crew of chefs, sous-chefs, servers, etc...that he managed. His staff was professional and excellent at what they did. The restaurant owner had it made as he worked only a few days a week and the staff took care of itself. For this particular important occasion, William and his staff were flawless. The food was served to perfection, the staff was professional and efficient and most importantly, the Millionaire Moguls were very pleased.
William was optimistic that they would keep the account and was told that they would get back to him. This was also a very important account to William because part of his earnings was based on the overall revenues that the restaurant generated and this would give him a sizable raise. He was in a good mood all day and business was quite reasonable.
Occasionally, his mind would wander off, thinking about Katherine treating Justin this evening. The thought of this made him quite anxious, so he tried to concentrate on work instead. And because of this, he decided to work until closing, which was 10:00 pm. He spent some of his time thinking of new recipes he may want to introduce to the menu in the future. Finally, around10:00pm, he left and was thinking about Katherine as he drove home.
Katherine arrived at the hospital around 10:00 pm, which was earlier than she told Kyle. She was too anxious and also this gave her time to make sure everything was in its place and that there was no schedule changes at the hospital. She passed nurse Latresky in the hall and they said 'hi' to each other and Latresky winked as she went by. That was a great relief to Katherine because not only did that mean that Connie didn't have a change of heart, but also that there was nothing unusual from her point of view.
When Kyle arrived at 10:30 sharp, he went into Justin's room and saw Katherine there making some notes. When she looked up, she saw him perspiring and asked, "Did you run up here Kyle?"
"No, but it does seem hot.", he panted.
"The temperature is normal here. I hope you are not coming down with the flu. You really need to watch what your eating and exercise."
"Yes mommy.", he said mockingly.
"I am serious.", she said.
"I know. I have been doing better though."
"When did you last see the doctor?"
"It's been about a year....or so"
"That is way to long. Promise me you will go by next week."
"Okay. I promise.", said Kyle. "Now is everything ready?", he said changing the subject.
"I think so. We just need to wait until 11:00 pm, when nurse Decantor leaves."
At 11:05 nurse Latresky peaked her head in and said, "Okay. She's left."
"You are supposed to be 'blind' of the situation.", said Katherine putting up two fingers on each hand making quotation marks.
"What situation?", said Connie with a smile and a wink.
It took about 20 minutes for both Kyle and Katherine to get everything out and organized. Then Katherine nervously kissed Justin on the forehead as she was about to begin her procedure. For the first step, Katherine took her syringe that was already measured with Phenobarbital and then she slowly injected it into the neurocenter of Justin's brain. Katherine then heard a loud grunt, but it didn't come from Justin. She looked up and saw Kyle with a grimace on his face and sweating even more.
"Are you okay?", she asked.
"I am fine.", he lied. He felt a little pain in his left arm.
Katherine, was happy to see that Justin started secreting Plythorium. She quickly took the dropper and collected the Plythorium.
"Kyle, please sponge Justin a little as there is some small bleeding. I need to make my serum now."
Kyle helped with Justin while Katherine mixed her agents along with the Plythorium in a Petri dish.
"Great, it looks really good. Now we need to wait for 30 minutes.", she said looking up.
"I think you are coming down with something", said Katherine.
"I told you. I am fine", said Kyle irritably.
"Okay. Okay. Just about 25 more minutes." She walked back over to Justin and the small bleeding had disappeared.
"So far, so good.", she said. "Boy are you prepared.", said Kyle. "I noticed you even brought a defibrillator."
"Yeah, sometimes when people get injected with Phenobarbital, they have a bad reaction and can go into cardiac arrest. We just need to take every precaution possible."
About 20 minutes later, Katherine said, "Okay. We are ready for the grand finale. Let's pray this works."
"I am pray-ing", said Kyle with another grunt.
Katherine looked up at him, but didn't say anything. She then took her serum and put in into the syringe. "Here goes.", she said as she slowly injected Justin. At first Justin's body jerked and then there was no movement. "Just like Katie and Buzz", she said. Then within the next few minutes a series of events happened.
First, Kyle let out a loud yell and clutched his chest. He collapsed on the floor. Second, Justin started going into convulsions. Katherine looked up at the monitor and noticed he was going into cardiac arrest. Katherine quickly pulled down Justin's covers, grabbed the defibrillator and started to perform CPR on Justin. Starting to panic, but trying to remain calm, she pushed the defibrillator button. Nothing happened. "Oh No! Please don't be broken!", she cried. She tried again. Still nothing happened. "Oh God! It doesn't work. Connie! Connie! Help!", she yelled in complete panic and terror. "Where are you? Connie. Connie."
Katherine ran out of the room and no one was around. She ran back in the room seeing Kyle on the floor shaking and then turned her attention back to Justin. She tried performing CPR again. She began with her hands pressing on his chest, but the monitor still read a flat line. "How could this be happening?", she cried out loud.
Suddenly, a young looking doctor, she didn't recognize, sprang into the room with another defibrillator. Katherine just froze. The doctor pressed the defibrillator button and Justin's whole body jerked, but his heart rate was unchanged. He pressed it again. Beep, beep, beep...Success! His heart beat returned to normal. Then the doctor knelt down next to Kyle, and within 20 seconds, Kyle's heart rate returned to normal.
"Get Kyle a full medical staff! Stat!", said the doctor, not looking Katherine in the eyes as he ran out with the defibrillator in hand. Katherine's mouth fell wide open as the doctor left and she couldn't move for what seemed like eternity. Actually, it was for just 10 seconds.
Katherine tried to find nurse Latresky, but she wasn't around. So, she used the PA and called for a code blue in Justin's room. When she ran back into Justin's room, she saw Justin lying there unchanged with his vitals looking good. She then knelt over Kyle who had his eyes open. She told him not to move and that help was on its way.
"How is Justin?", he asked. "Did it work?"
"What? No. What? You just had a heart attack. I mean what time is it?"
Katherine had completely lost track of time. When she looked down at her watch, she noticed that the whole event took place in just 15 minutes. Regaining her senses she said, "It has only been about 15 minutes, we should know if it works within the next 15 minutes."
"Well, it looks like I will be seeing the doctor quicker than you thought.", he said with a slight smile.
Within 5 minutes, the emergency staff started entering the room and Katherine had to tell them that it was not for Justin, but for Kyle who was on the floor. A few minutes later, they had wheeled off Kyle. Katherine, now alone, looked at her watch. "It has been 10 minutes now. Please...Oh God please...", she prayed out loud Then she thought, 'Where is Connie? We had all this commotion and she is nowhere to be found.'
20 more minutes passed and she was now really worried. A little while longer, she looked at her watch and it was 1:30 am. “Something should of happened by now.”, she thought. Then she said to herself, “Give it more time, this is a human, not a chimpanzee.” After another very long 30 minutes, it was 2:00 am sharp and she sat down in her chair as tears began rolling down her face. Her eyes then became heavy and she closed them. Suddenly, opening her eyes she noticed someone entering the room. It was nurse Latresky!
"Where were you?", she yelled being sad, mad and frustrated all at the same time.
"I was...Hey you did it!", said nurse Latresky looking in Justin's direction.
"I did wha..", started Katherine. "Oh God! My baby", cried Katherine as she ran to Justin, whose eyes were now open and attentive.