Chapter 42
“You okay Honey?”
“Yup – tired, that Angela, she’s great though, I’m SO glad you recommended her, she’s sorted out all the TV work I want to do, and has started on the fan mail now!”
“Good. How’s the book coming along?”
“I’m well over half way. I thought I’d stop before the crash though, just leave it at coming second at the Olympics”
Joyce nodded at her daughter and then asked
“When will William be home?”
“Tomorrow, he’ll phone me as soon as his flight lands from Eindhoven, he’ll be tired though, so I won’t see him until Thursday”
“Want some tea?”
“Please mom…oh, look”
“What?”
“On the TV, it’s Coach O’Connor
Buffy grabbed the TV remote control and turned up the volume.
The scene was Coach O’Connor, being mobbed outside LA district Law Courts, there was flash photography and journalists pointing microphones at him, with the police trying to hold back a crowd of roughly split into two halves of fans and angry parents.
“How does it feel to be acquitted of the charges, Mr O’Connor?” One of the many journalists managed to shout out
A grinning O’Connor waved and shouted back
“Today justice was done, the evidence was plain to see, or rather not, there was no case to answer”
Some people in the crowd were booing, one woman screamed and ran towards the cameras,
“Death to all paedophiles!” She had a roughly drawn placard with an illustration of somebody in an electric chair. Struggling and screaming to make herself heard, she tried to break through the cordon and hit O’Connor over the head with her sign.
“Fry in Hell, I hoped you’d fry, you’re guilty!” A policeman dragged her away, screaming and protesting
“Mom, come and look at this, he’s got off with it”
“What’s that honey? Joyce asked coming back into the lounge…
“Oh my…”
The scene changed to O’Connor’s lawyer, a woman, reading out a statement on behalf of her client
“My client, Coach Angel O’Connor would like to thank the legal team for their dedication into finding out the truth, thank the jury for making the right decision, and to thank all those people who have written to him with support and offers of help. My client would now like to be left alone for some quiet time, to gather his thoughts and to be with his family after this very difficult and harrowing time”
Somebody in crowd shouted,
“What about that child’s harrowing time, huh? – At your evil hands you sick – ahh!”
A journalist shouted
“Will you be working with young people again, Coach?”
O’Connor said nothing, he just waved and grinned from the court house steps, and Buffy switched the TV off.
“So he got off with it then…oh, that’s the kettle, I won’t be long” Joyce went back into the kitchen, leaving Buffy to think.
Joyce came in with the tea tray, and the phone began to ring. They always left it to the answer phone now, if it was Buffy related work, then Angela used to answer it upstairs in the converted office, but if it was an ordinary call, Buffy or Joyce would answer it, it was Willow, so Buffy picked up
“Hi Will!”
“Did you just see what happened on TV?”
“What, about O’Connor getting off, I’m not surprised, probably ran rings around a twelve year old girl, got her all confused”
“Got off with it nothing, he’s been shot!”
“What? – Oh my god, I switched it off, I couldn’t stand his smug grin and him waving at everybody – so what happened?”
“His lawyer read out a statement on his behalf”
“Yeah, I saw that”
“And he stood waving to the crowd, half of them were baying for his blood!”
“That’s when I switched off!”
“Well, a car pulls up at the bottom of the court house steps, and they start to make their way down to it, when somebody calls, ‘Coach’, he looks up and goes to wave, then BAM! BAM! BAM! – Three shots ring out, well there’s screaming and mayhem, he falls to the ground, you could see blood on his face and seeping from his shoulder before a cop comes and shoves the camera out of the way”
Buffy put the TV back on, with the sound off.
The scene was of chaos. A reporter was speaking to camera; along the bottom of the screen a banner informed you this was ‘LIVE, AT THE SCENE’. Sirens could be heard and the reporter was saying that a man, believed to be the father of one of Coach’s alleged ‘victims’ had taken it upon himself to mete out his own sense of ‘justice’
“Oh my god!”
“Can I come over later?”
“Whenever, I’m not doing much, lets order a pizza and a movie – you up for that mom?” Joyce smiled and nodded
“Bring your mom, we’ll have a girly night in”
“Great, okay then, I’ll see you later”
********************
“There…right, I’m going to close up now sister” William stitched up the cut on the ankle.
“I want a pressure bandage on that, full leg, and keep an eye on his blood pressure, every thirty minutes I want it checked, okay?”
“Yes, Dr. Carling”
William went through to the sluice room pulling off his gloves, mask and scrubs, placing them in the laundry hopper and the gloves and mask in the bin.
Dr Schmidt, a German doctor who had been assisting him came in behind him
“That was fascinating Dr Carling, and by grafting the tendon back to the bone with the new wonder-mesh, it will be as new, yes?”
Smiling William nodded
“Yes, like new, it’s amazing stuff, the ‘wonder mesh’, it’s been developed for NASA originally, to be used in outer space! It’s a marine base product, totally natural, that’s why it adapted so easily for the medical use”
“Fascinating, fascinating! And I’m sure that Eindhoven will thankyou for saving the career of a very expensive, talented player. So tell me doctor, what are your plans for the rest of the evening, hmm?”
“Hmm, let me see, phone my girlfriend, then a hot bath and bed - I’ve got an early flight, 7.35am”
“Oh, you are leaving so soon, that is a shame, well, another time maybe”
The two doctors shook hands and William made his way to his room
***************************
“…………I’d switched off, but it’s been shown practically all day – anyway, the latest update is, he’s got a face wound, one bullet glanced his cheek, one in the shoulder and a more serious one in the chest, it punctured his lung – they’ve operated on him, but it’s serious”
“And this was outside the court house?”
“Yup, he came out all smiles and waving having been found not guilty. They reckon it’s the father of one of the girls who shot him2
“It’s all going on there, isn’t it!”
“How did the op go, okay?”
“Textbook (yawn) sorry pet, I’m knackered, I was going to have a bath, but I think I’ll just settle for a quick shower, then bed”
“What time do you land in Paris?”
“Um…not sure, I know it’s not a long flight, just Germany into France”
“And when are you due to operate there?”
“Not until the next day, I didn’t want to be too tired”
“Best thing…I miss you”
“I miss you poppet – done any more to the book?”
“I’m up to chapter 9 now!”
“Good girl! Well princess, I’m going to have a shower and I’m going to bed, are you going out?”
“Nope, Willow and her mom are coming over for pizza and a movie”
“Girly night in eh, just be careful what movie you see – don’t let me find out you’ve been watching the Dreamboys or whoever!”
“The who – hold on, I’ll just write that down…sounds a good one!”
“Oi! Little minx!” William laughed, Buffy giggled and they said goodnight
“How is he honey?”
“Tired – he said not to watch any movies like the Dreamboys – I said I’d take note, it sounded like a good one!”
“So, what movies have we got?”………………………………
[Reviews - 219]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 1937 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +