Page 18 of Home Game

I sat and waited. Finally, a male doctor wearing green scrubs and cap came walking towards me.

“Ryan Parker!”

I stood.

He smiled up at me. “We were watching the game tonight and man, you came so close to putting us in a tie.”

I gave him a weak smile. “Sorry about that.”

He slapped my arm. “No. God, I was so happy when you got traded to us. You looked great out there. The rest of your team though, could use some work.”

Like I said. This town was hockey crazy. “So, I got a call about someone who was brought in here tonight. The hospital called my answering service.”

He switched from a fan to a doctor. “Yes, a Jane Doe came in. She was assaulted in a deserted parking lot. A bus driver chased off the perp. She was knocked out. The EMTs said she was incoherent in the ambulance. She is still out.”

I winced. “Did she say anything?”

He folded his arms around the file. “She was asking for her mom. Would you be willing to look at her and see if you can identify her?”

“Of course.”

Our shoes squeaked across the hospital floor. We approached a curtained off bed. He peeked in and then pulled the curtain back.

Zoey.

She looked tiny and broken. Her left eye was swollen shut. She had a fat lip. Bruises covered her face. A machine beeped quietly over her head. An IV line dripped. Her arm was in a sling. Dried blood was around her nose, her lips and on the hospital gown. She was, in plain words, a complete mess.

“That’s Zoey.” I stepped back, feeling nauseous.

The doctor shut the curtain. “Do you know her last name?”

I shook my head, trying to remember the name on her health care card. “I don’t really know her. She helped me with my taxes once. She seemed down on her luck, so I fed her dinner and gaveher my card. That was a couple weeks ago. I haven’t talked to her since.”

“Do you know if she has any family we can call?”

“She told me she was a foster kid and that now she is on her own.”

He looked concerned. “Okay. Well, that is too bad.”

“Is she going to be okay?”

He looked at her chart. “Her vitals are stable. She got knocked around pretty good. No concussion but she took enough hits to the head that her head will ache. Her shoulder is sprained, and it looked like she got kicked repeatedly in the abdomen area, but we did an ultrasound and there is no internal bleeding,” he snapped the file shut, “but we’ll be keeping her overnight for observation.”

I had terrible visions of other things happening to her. “Was she…?”

“There are no signs of sexual assault.”

My breath let out. “Thank God.”

“Do you know if she has a fixed address?”

“She was living in a shelter when we met.”

“Yes, these foster kids don’t really have a fighting chance,” he said with a resigned look. “Well, we really appreciate you coming down here. And I wish you all the best of luck in this season.”

“What about Zoey?”

“What about her?”

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