TheBanyanTree: She's pretty sure she can...

[LaLinda]

My cousin Garry competed in the triathlon in NYC this past weekend.  I 
learned of this when his sister, Kathleen, called me to tell me that her 
first grandchild had been born and after she filled me in on how the new 
baby and her mom were doing.  Kathleen mentioned that she had just 
talked to Garry who was now in Mt. Sinai after suffering a crash during 
the bicycle part of the race.

Garry's helmet broke in half and his sunglasses broke, which left cuts 
on his face.  His ribs were bruised, he broke his clavicle? and finally, 
he picked up some patches of road rash.

"So," I asked, "Who's going to tell Her?," /Her /being my aunt/their 
mother who is getting on, frail, a little cranky and easily upset.

"Oh," my cousin answered, "He's gonna call her when he gets home."

Good tactic, I'm thinking.  Be at home, safe, sound, snug and THEN call 
your mom and tell her you blacked out after the crash and ended up in an 
ambulance, had a CAT scan and were on percaset.  My aunt was a nurse, so 
none of this will go down, unexamined.

Fast-forward to this morning, when I was talking to Auntie on the phone, 
filling her in on some news about another family member in the 
hospital.  She mentioned Garry competing in New York how he just called 
her on the way home.

I don't know what I said because the shriek which followed scared the 
memory right out of me.

"Accident!  What accident?" she shouted into the phone.

I calmed her down, told her he is okay, told her what happened and then 
listed his injuries.  I tried to use non-reaction-producing words, such 
as HAIRLINE FRACTURE and SKINNED HIS KNEES.  I totally left out the 
helmet and the glass in the face.  My aunt, though, in true Irish 
fashion, upped the power of my report by using the words BROKEN NECK BONE.

After the dust settled, I was thinking about confessing to the cousins 
that I'd let it slip, and my character took a hard turn to the dark side.

"Do you think you can act surprised when he tells you?"