Chapter 17 – Reality Check

Susan

"First, I want to apologize for the accusations I vented to you and Hector the night my husband died. Hector comforted me, and I blasted him. You witnessed my misplaced grief. I implied Hector was a coward.

My husband worked for a detective agency as an armed bodyguard. Daniel chose the profession, because it paid well. He recognized the risks. The job exposed danger. Hector did not hire Daniel. His board contracted the agency for their services. Their concern instigated them to protect their company assets.

Outside work Daniel and Hector hunted, fished and camped. They watched college and profession football. Daniel was four years older than Hector, but they acted like twins.

Little Danny called him Uncle Hector. Hector and Daniel became Danny's heroes.

Hector was not Daniel's Supervisor. Richard was his boss. Richard instructed Daniel to watch the three who entered the house. A second wave snuck upon them and began shooting. Daniel took two bullets meant for Richard."

Angelica

Susan informed me Daniel was a hero, but it didn't mean Hector was a coward. My chest heaved and tears flowed down my cheeks. I persecuted Hector for ten years. How did I misread him? I judged the situation severely. She revealed light in a decade of darkness. She inferred he waited for me for years, but the last few days he vomited after my name was mention. Tears continued to stream, darkness suppressed my mind, and I .

I marched out of the bathroom to where Hector sat. I informed him I mistook the situation, and I was sorry for the years of pain.

He asked me if I had dated anyone in the ten years we had been apart. I said yes.

Hector said, "Apology accepted. Goodbye."

He struggled to rise from the table. He stood, reached for two canes and strained to walk out the door. He fell. Joey and another man supported him and walked him to the his truck. Susan excused herself and followed him.

When Joey returned he said, "He's dying. No one told you?"

"No!"

Joey enlightened me he enlisted in the Army. He tested high on his exams and they sent him to officer's school. The Army promoted him to Second Lieutenant and later to First Lieutenant. A few months after his promotion they transferred him to Vietnam as a platoon leader.

"I believe he enlisted to prove to you he wasn't a coward."

Joey and Allie bombarded me with details of his first month in Vietnam. Three of his men were wounded, and the enemy fire power kept them from escaping. He went crazy. And charge a dozen enemy soldiers firing his pistol. He retrieved the wounded, but he was shot eleven times. The healing was long.

Allie said, "He suffered several surgeries. When he was released from the hospital. he could barely drive, but he made it to Knoxville, He discovered your dorm, He located you leaving your dorm arm and arm with a guy in a long beard. He followed you to an apartment building. At seven in the morning you exited the building with the man you spent the night. He kicked a telephone pole, lost his balance, and hit his head on the sidewalk. He laid in the gutter until two students helped him stand. He does not drink, but he did that day. Joey and Henry had to go to Knoxville and bail him out of jail."

Hector battled several surgeries. The recovery for each was long and painful. Hector's story flourished throughout the community. Someway I dismissed it as unimportant until these days.

Hector came to my graduation the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He sat next to my Dad. The press of the crowd pushed him outside the arena, and he never made it to me. Dad told me he saw me kissing a fellow grad long and hard. I apprised my father that was my boyfriend. We part ways after graduation.

I saw Susan pumping gas into her car at Momma's Café and Store. I stopped and asked her about her relation with Hector. She confessed it was an agreement of convenience. She declared several men pestered her for dates, and numerous women harassed Hector. Thus, they agreed to publicly be each-others plus-0ne.

I inquired if she wanted more? She shook her head yes, frowned, eyes cast down and pouted her lips. Hector was happy with no commitment other being friends with her and Danny.

I rejected him for ten years. How do I undo the damage. He walked away. Perhaps I have lost him forever. I am a terrible woman. There is no recourse. I slept with three men over the ten years. He would never forgive me.

Susan said, "He hasn't been a saint. Women have offered him more than friendship. He chose intimate encounters with many. They sought financial security. He dumped all of them except one."

"You are the one, am I right?"

"Yes, you are right,"

"Then why help me?"

"He needs you. He would not admit it. He still loves you, but he's stubborn. He was looking for you in all the women he had. He is debating the surgery When the doctors tell him he'll die without it."

"What 's killing him?"

"He has two stainless steel rods in his left leg. One emits toxins unto his system. The Veterans' Administration discovered this in other veterans and traced him down as one who received a tainted rod. It's essential to remove the bad rod, any damaged tissue and replace it with a good shaft. Simple yet complicated. The doctors claim the replacement and physical therapy will restore his ability to walk and insure him a long life. Without it he might have three months to live. He lost his desire.

Susan proposed I needed to win his trust, but how? We examined numerous possibilities. After mulling over a dozen options. We narrowed it by setting parameters. First and foremost, it is essential to get him to admit he is as bad as he thinks I am. Hector provoked is stronger than Hector appeased. Second, Hector proved wrong promote greater agility. Third, When Hector is cornered, he thrives. Finally, Susan claimed the anger he has for me will induce him to survive. Just to spite me.

We developed a modification program which we recognized he would hate.