ROAD APPLES AND PRAIRIE OYSTERS

Part 15.

 
 
"I just remembered why I quit drinking.." Abby said dryly looking at Dave shivering and shirtless in his seat, sipping his beer.

"You have a history of stripping in Karaoke bars, Abby??" Luka cocked a brow.

"Not exactly, but you're lucky I'm the designated driver... You guys are TOTALLY plastered." Abby sighed, looking at the group and wondering what tomorrow would hold, wandering around the farmhouse nursing hangovers. It wouldn't be pretty..

Carol giggled and knocked back the last sip of her beer and ordered another. "That's okay.. It just loosens us up a bit.."

Doug nodded, sipping a coffee. The man had been bitten hard by the bottle had seen to it that his life was turned around, for his children, for his wife, but mainly for himself. There had been too many mornings waking up with brain-pounding hangovers and not to mention the nasty phone calls he'd recieved the day after from girlfriends, friends and neighbours about that nights drunken exploits.

His all night drunken partying days were over and he had a family to provide for now. This was a lifestyle change that proved more worthy than he'd ever dreamed possible. "I think you're loose enough Carol.." Doug sighed, shaking his head at the waiter.

The group watched with avid interest as several more people went onstage and butchered perfectly good songs.

"This is really sad.. I think I should go up there and show how it's done.. Don't you think?" Elizabeth grumbled.

"Elizabeth.. I don't thi-" Mark protested as she stormed towards the stage and wrenched the mike out of the hands of a nasal tone deaf grandmother and hooted. "Well.. Aren't we glad that's over! Big hand for Granny there.. Give a BIG hand.."

Everyone clapped nervously and watched Elizabeth pick out a song. "I'm going to sing now, I am going to be good, and you are going to clap!"

 She walked across the stage, tripping over the mike cord, as she started to sing. "I'm Henry the eighth I am! Henry the eighth I am, I am! I got married to the widow next door. She's been married seven times before, and every one was an Henry, Henry. She wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam, no Sam. I'm her eighth old man, I'm Henry. Henry the eighth I am!"

Elizabeth grinned, and shouted waving her arms. "Second verse same as the first!!"

"I'm Henry the eighth I am! Henry the eighth I am, I am! I got married to the widow next door. She's been married seven times before, and every one was an Henry, Henry. She wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam, no Sam. I'm her eighth old man, I'm Henry. Henry the eighth I am!"

She laughed drunkenly and smiled.. "Come on!! You all know the words by now! 1-2-4... No.. uhh... 3.. 1-2-3!! I'm Henry the eighth I am! Henry the eighth I am, I am! I got married to the widow next door. She's been married seven times before, and every one was an Henry, Henry. She wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam, no Sam. I'm her eighth old man, I'm Henry. Henry the eighth I am!"

The host stood wary at the edge of the stage, muttering nervously to himself in Croatian as Elizabeth continued the last verse, shouting now at the top of her lungs. "H-E-N-R-Y! Henry, Henry, Henry, Henry, Henry the eighth I am, I am! Henry the eighth I am!! YEAH!!!!!!!"

Elizabeth stumbled off the the stage to the raucous drunken cheering at the table of doctors. Doug and Abby looked at each other and sighed heavily.

One by one, the eight drunk ER docs were corralled and piled into the car and Doug got in behind the wheel, letting Abby into the passenger's side, sandwiching a drunken Carter and Dave in between them.

Doug had to make many stops along the route home. The meals his friends had consumed were not agreeing with the copious amounts of alcohol and the roads which were in terrible need of repair.

Dave sat in the sweltering car, his head planted firmly between his knees as the car rocked slowly down the road.

"S-stop... Please!!!" Somebody moaned. Doug slowed the car and craned his neck back, expecting the pale, sweating face of Dr.Dave to have muttered those pained words. A smirk of surprised satisfaction started on his lips. "You sure, Kerry??"

"Yuh-huh..." Kerry mumbled nauseously as the station wagon slowed to a complete stop, allowing her to scramble across the laps of her co-workers and out into the coal-black night. Onto the shoulder where the only thing the car's passengers could hear was the chirping of the crickets and the gutteral sound of Dr.Kerry Weaver retching and the wet smack of vomit hitting the ground.

The window of the old car was rolled down, allowing the cool night breeze flow over them, mingled with the hot, wet smell of Kerry's fresh post-dinner activities.

As Kerry struggled to get to her feet, her cane slipping on the hard earth and skittering from her grip, skidding across the road. It hit something with a hard click.

Luka's eyes widened with fear, his hand went straight to his lame leg. The clear metallic noise made his mouth dry and his saliva curdle, his bowels and bladder threaten to loosen, and his mind race.

His bad leg was the result of that very noise on a back road very similar to the one they were on now. Mines... He should have known.. He HAD known.. The mines weren't all cleared, especially on the old roads like the one Doug had taken. He should have warned his friends, but now all he could do was scream.

Luka stuck his head out the window and screamed till he was hoarse.

"KERRY!!!!!!!!!! RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

All of this had taken milliseconds but it seemed as Kerry sat poised near the mine that it was hours.. Days... She sat frozen, staring at her crutch, and leaning on her leg which burned with hot pain, shooting up her calf, up her thigh, and settling like a ball of fire in her groin. "I.. I can't Luka.." She sobbed softly, her eyes widening, and tears starting to fall..  "I.. I can't.. My.. My leg..."

She watched the crutch, shift.. Kerry heard another click. Her fingernails bit into the dirt, her good leg firmly planted in the soil like a sprinter's on a starting block. She pushed off and ran. The sand and smooth gravel made it difficult as Kerry stumbled, leaning harder on her good leg, limping more as she fell sideways and heard the snap of the bone in her leg as it twisted.

Kerry screamed in pain, but kept going, even when the mine exploded only a few hundred feet behind her.

***

The windows rattled as a second explosion shook the station wagon and the earth beneath. Ripping through the car, vibrating a dull hum as they started to scream in fear.. Kerry lay huddled in Dave's arms sobbing wildly, slick with sweat, and her own blood. Luka stared at her, stunned. His little black bag wouldn't be able to fix this.


 Part Sixteen

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