AmericanProblem
11-06-2010, 10:00 AM
This is my first story i've written since high school, I used to really like writing when I was younger and figured it might be fun to give it a try and see how it goes. All honest critiques are welcome.
Left Of Lexington
“I just want to smoke a goddamn cigarette and this food you people are giving me is only killing me faster” a man screamed vigorously pounding his hand on the foldout tray.
“Mr. Warren you know that that is not possible you have to eat what Dr. Blavett says” said the nurse not even looking up from her clipboard “What you need to do is get some rest” she said still writing “Have you had anything to eat today”.
“There’s no way in hell I’m eatin this goddamned rabbit food you bring me a ****ing piece of meat” Mr. Warren screamed.
She stared silently down at her clipboard continuing to make notes while tucking in the sheets further at the corner of Mr. Warren’s bed.
“Fine you eat this **** then” he screamed.
The next thing she knew her scrubs and clipboard were covered in vegetable soup, browning lettuce and red jello. Tears quickly began to well up in her eyes. She turned away took a deep breath and walked briskly out of Mr. Warrens room toward the nurses station.
“Damn Lori what the hell happened to you” said another nurse seated at the station.
“Forget it I’m done, I quit, I can’t take this **** anymore. I’d rather work in the ****ing cancer ward than put up with this **** for another minute. I should have taken the job at St. Josephs and been done with it” she said trying to hold back her own tears and frustration.
She managed to find a towel and made her way toward the bathroom to clean herself up. “I’m gonna put on new scrubs and go smoke a cigarette, Karen would you mind finishing my checks for me” Lori said to another nurse from the entrance of the bathroom.
“Yeah you go ahead I’ll take care of it” returned Karen in a defeated sort of tone.
Bud Warren lay there in his bed wearing a smile from one ear to the other. Pretty much the only joy he seemed to know these days was torturing the help. The calendar was rapidly approaching November 12th which would be two weeks since he’d been laid up in Central Baptist for his second heart attack. He had suffered a heart attack the summer 2 years before while dining with his son. While his memory seemed to have dwindled in recent years he could remember that day as vividly as if it were yesterday. His son Jack had called him from Chicago where he had been working.
“Heya pop, so I just came up on some vacation time from work and I got to thinking it would be fun for you to come out here to..” he is abruptly cut off by Bud
“No way in hell I’m coming out to that god forsaken city nothing but queers and weirdos out there, you know at one time they damn near burnt that entire city to the ground. Shoulda left it that way yah ask me”.
Jack contemplates continuing to argue and after exhausting himself agrees to fly out to Lexington that day and spend the week with his father and catch up with old friends. When he got in his father insisted they go to Columbia’s
“Jesus dad do you ever go anywhere else, I can’t believe this place is even still in existence”
Bud glares out the open window at the warm Kentucky landscape, he manages to fish a pack of Lucky Strikes and a book of matches from his coat pocket he lights one and tosses the burnt out match out the window and turns back to his son offering a blank stare.
“Aww dad really your still smoking Jesus Christ those things are gonna kill you.” Jack says “And put that out this is a rental car.”
They pull up to Columbia’s and get out of the car. Bud survey’s the area and takes one last drag of his cigarette and tosses it on to the asphalt.
“Son you ought to not use the lords name in vein” he says stomping out the remaining embers “Now quit whining and lets get some chow.”
Jack rolls his eyes and hits the auto lock for the car on his keychain, Bud hears the sound and jumps backward “What the hell was that” he says.
Jack has a quiet laugh to himself “Nothing pop” he says as they walk toward the restaurant together.
“You know pop we coulda just went to the one on Richmond its closer to the house.” Jack says looking around towards the ceiling.
“Well son hell is only a short distance beneath our feet and heaven is many miles toward the sky” Bud replies.
Realizing the uselessness of a retort of any kind Jack rolls his eyes hangs up his coat and takes a seat with his father at a booth near the entrance. A woman from across the room sees them, smiles and walks over with menu’s.
“Why hello Mr. Warren how are you.”
Bud smiles “Hello dear let me get a glass of Evan Williams neat and an 8oz Ribeye with a baked potato and green beans and whatever the lady wants”
Jack glares up from his menu at his father, Bud stares back and whacks him on the head with his menu before handing it over to the waitress
“Oh relax it’s a joke.” Bud says
Jack flashes a fake smile “I’ll have a hot brown and a coke please.”
Jack hands over his menu “Mom’s turning over in her grave right now, she’d never let you drink at lunch” he says.
The waitress returns with drinks. Bud takes his glass in his left hand and puts his right hand to his forehead as if to salute, turns left, turns right and promptly returns his glass and hand to the table
“Well lucky for me she doesn’t appear to be anywhere near here at the moment so maybe we can just keep this between you and me whaddaya say”?
“Whatever” Jack utters.
“So how’s life Jack” Bud says as he begins to cough and the room begins to spin, he stands up from the table gripping his left shoulder and spits whiskey stained saliva on to the floor
“This is terrible” he shouts angrily as he falls to the ground. Jack quickly jumps up from his seat at the booth and gets on the floor where his father fell.
“Dad are you alright”? he looks around the restaurant “Someone call a ****ing ambulance.”
The next thing Bud knew he woke up in a hospital bed “what the hell” he muttered as he came to.
“Dad are you ok” Jack says rushing to his side.
Bud awakens a bit more and sits himself up a bit “I’m fine what the hell am I doing here” he says sitting up trying to get out of bed. Jack places his hands on his shoulders and forces him back into the bed “Whats wrong with you what are you doing” bud says.
“You have to stay in bed dad you had a heart attack” Jack says. Bud is somewhat taken aback for a moment
“Well ****” he says looking around and stretching out “Maybe I’ll get lucky and get to join your mother sooner than I thought ha ha ha.”
Jack gets out of his seat and puts on his coat “You know what dad I can’t even ****ing deal with this right now” Jack says struggling to fit his left arm into his jacket.
“Deal with what, your not the one who had the heart attack, and don’t curse. it makes you sound ignorant” Bud retorts.
Jack finally gets his coat on and leaves Bud alone in his room
“See you later hopefully” Bud says with a laugh as Jack storms down the hallway.
“Well damn” Bud thought to himself.
“A whole two winters passed and here we are again” he says aloud to himself. He turns on the tv just as the doctor comes in to check on him
“Hey Blavett whats the good word” Bud says.
“I have quite a few words for you Mr. Warren though I don’t know how many of them you will consider to be good”
Bud laughs a little “Well doc usually when I hear bad news I like to have a smoke” he says.
“Smoking is precisely what needs to stop entirely and the drinking” Dr. Blavett says sternly “Your blood pressure and tryglyceride levels are both abnormally high and we need to get them down if were ever gonna get you out of here."
“Well none of that sounds like much fun” Bud says.
“Well Mr. Warren I’m sorry you feel that way but if you’d like to be around a bit longer I suggest you take my advice and cut back on the drinking and smoking” Dr Blavett says.
Bud turns his attention to the television at this point and continues watching
the local news
“That Amber Philpott’s a real pretty broad isn’t she”. Bud says
Dr. Blavett makes some notes on Bud’s chart and walks out of the room right as Jack is making his way down the hallway into the room.
“How yah feeling dad” Jack says taking off his coat and sitting down in the chair beside his fathers bed. “At this point Jacky, I’m feeling like I want to die and no one here will let me” Bud says.
“What an awful disgusting thing for you to say” Jack says “I know moms gone and I miss her too, you need to…”
Bud sits up and cuts jack off.
“I don’t want to talk about your mother Jack, I just don’t. I’m tired and I’ve been tired for a long time. You can put any sort of spin on it you want, fact of the matter is I don’t care anymore. I love my life the way I live it and I’ll be damned if any heart disease or anyone other than me is gonna tell me how to live it.” Bud says.
Jack jumps out of his seat and begins pacing about the room “**** you Bud, that’s the most selfish **** I’ve ever heard in my entire life, what about how I feel or how your friends, the few you have left actually feel about you”
Jack says.
Bud stares back for a minute pondering what his son has just said “I’m tired of being made to feel as though my decisions are selfish” Bud says softly “You know whats selfish”? He continues “Your selfish, these doctors are selfish hell this ****ing disease is selfish, I’ve lived my life my own way for 72 goddamn years and its selfish for all of you coming in here telling me to change my ways and habits. These are the things that make up a mans life and I won’t change them for anyone or any disease, if I do I’m dead anyway.”
“Have it your way” Jack says “I suppose if you want to be a bitter old bastard and act as though your entire life is a running joke I suppose I can’t stop you but I’m not going to standby and watch you voluntarily kill yourself anymore.” Jack says “Just know that this is not what I want and definetly not what mom would have wanted for you.”
Jack storms out of Bud’s room pass the nurses station and out the front door. He walks towards his car but stops for a moment as he gets nearer to the edge of the parking lot. He takes a seat on the curb trying to collect his thoughts and make sense of everything that just happened. He removes a pack of Lucky Strikes from his pocket that he had taken from his father in one of the weeks prior to his second heart attack. And throws them on the ground. He stands up dusts himself off and walks to his car and begins to drive off.
Bud Warren died the very next day at 9:42am of heart failure, Jack was at his side despite their argument the day before. Jack stuck around the next few days in Lexington to take care of all the necessary arrangements and came to remember how much he once loved his home town. He sat in his rental car in the hospital parking lot going over all the paperwork the hospital kept on his father, while sorting through it he found an envelope with his name on it and opened it:
Dear Jack,
I love you see you in heaven… or hell I’m not really sure yet. Take care
Dad
Left Of Lexington
“I just want to smoke a goddamn cigarette and this food you people are giving me is only killing me faster” a man screamed vigorously pounding his hand on the foldout tray.
“Mr. Warren you know that that is not possible you have to eat what Dr. Blavett says” said the nurse not even looking up from her clipboard “What you need to do is get some rest” she said still writing “Have you had anything to eat today”.
“There’s no way in hell I’m eatin this goddamned rabbit food you bring me a ****ing piece of meat” Mr. Warren screamed.
She stared silently down at her clipboard continuing to make notes while tucking in the sheets further at the corner of Mr. Warren’s bed.
“Fine you eat this **** then” he screamed.
The next thing she knew her scrubs and clipboard were covered in vegetable soup, browning lettuce and red jello. Tears quickly began to well up in her eyes. She turned away took a deep breath and walked briskly out of Mr. Warrens room toward the nurses station.
“Damn Lori what the hell happened to you” said another nurse seated at the station.
“Forget it I’m done, I quit, I can’t take this **** anymore. I’d rather work in the ****ing cancer ward than put up with this **** for another minute. I should have taken the job at St. Josephs and been done with it” she said trying to hold back her own tears and frustration.
She managed to find a towel and made her way toward the bathroom to clean herself up. “I’m gonna put on new scrubs and go smoke a cigarette, Karen would you mind finishing my checks for me” Lori said to another nurse from the entrance of the bathroom.
“Yeah you go ahead I’ll take care of it” returned Karen in a defeated sort of tone.
Bud Warren lay there in his bed wearing a smile from one ear to the other. Pretty much the only joy he seemed to know these days was torturing the help. The calendar was rapidly approaching November 12th which would be two weeks since he’d been laid up in Central Baptist for his second heart attack. He had suffered a heart attack the summer 2 years before while dining with his son. While his memory seemed to have dwindled in recent years he could remember that day as vividly as if it were yesterday. His son Jack had called him from Chicago where he had been working.
“Heya pop, so I just came up on some vacation time from work and I got to thinking it would be fun for you to come out here to..” he is abruptly cut off by Bud
“No way in hell I’m coming out to that god forsaken city nothing but queers and weirdos out there, you know at one time they damn near burnt that entire city to the ground. Shoulda left it that way yah ask me”.
Jack contemplates continuing to argue and after exhausting himself agrees to fly out to Lexington that day and spend the week with his father and catch up with old friends. When he got in his father insisted they go to Columbia’s
“Jesus dad do you ever go anywhere else, I can’t believe this place is even still in existence”
Bud glares out the open window at the warm Kentucky landscape, he manages to fish a pack of Lucky Strikes and a book of matches from his coat pocket he lights one and tosses the burnt out match out the window and turns back to his son offering a blank stare.
“Aww dad really your still smoking Jesus Christ those things are gonna kill you.” Jack says “And put that out this is a rental car.”
They pull up to Columbia’s and get out of the car. Bud survey’s the area and takes one last drag of his cigarette and tosses it on to the asphalt.
“Son you ought to not use the lords name in vein” he says stomping out the remaining embers “Now quit whining and lets get some chow.”
Jack rolls his eyes and hits the auto lock for the car on his keychain, Bud hears the sound and jumps backward “What the hell was that” he says.
Jack has a quiet laugh to himself “Nothing pop” he says as they walk toward the restaurant together.
“You know pop we coulda just went to the one on Richmond its closer to the house.” Jack says looking around towards the ceiling.
“Well son hell is only a short distance beneath our feet and heaven is many miles toward the sky” Bud replies.
Realizing the uselessness of a retort of any kind Jack rolls his eyes hangs up his coat and takes a seat with his father at a booth near the entrance. A woman from across the room sees them, smiles and walks over with menu’s.
“Why hello Mr. Warren how are you.”
Bud smiles “Hello dear let me get a glass of Evan Williams neat and an 8oz Ribeye with a baked potato and green beans and whatever the lady wants”
Jack glares up from his menu at his father, Bud stares back and whacks him on the head with his menu before handing it over to the waitress
“Oh relax it’s a joke.” Bud says
Jack flashes a fake smile “I’ll have a hot brown and a coke please.”
Jack hands over his menu “Mom’s turning over in her grave right now, she’d never let you drink at lunch” he says.
The waitress returns with drinks. Bud takes his glass in his left hand and puts his right hand to his forehead as if to salute, turns left, turns right and promptly returns his glass and hand to the table
“Well lucky for me she doesn’t appear to be anywhere near here at the moment so maybe we can just keep this between you and me whaddaya say”?
“Whatever” Jack utters.
“So how’s life Jack” Bud says as he begins to cough and the room begins to spin, he stands up from the table gripping his left shoulder and spits whiskey stained saliva on to the floor
“This is terrible” he shouts angrily as he falls to the ground. Jack quickly jumps up from his seat at the booth and gets on the floor where his father fell.
“Dad are you alright”? he looks around the restaurant “Someone call a ****ing ambulance.”
The next thing Bud knew he woke up in a hospital bed “what the hell” he muttered as he came to.
“Dad are you ok” Jack says rushing to his side.
Bud awakens a bit more and sits himself up a bit “I’m fine what the hell am I doing here” he says sitting up trying to get out of bed. Jack places his hands on his shoulders and forces him back into the bed “Whats wrong with you what are you doing” bud says.
“You have to stay in bed dad you had a heart attack” Jack says. Bud is somewhat taken aback for a moment
“Well ****” he says looking around and stretching out “Maybe I’ll get lucky and get to join your mother sooner than I thought ha ha ha.”
Jack gets out of his seat and puts on his coat “You know what dad I can’t even ****ing deal with this right now” Jack says struggling to fit his left arm into his jacket.
“Deal with what, your not the one who had the heart attack, and don’t curse. it makes you sound ignorant” Bud retorts.
Jack finally gets his coat on and leaves Bud alone in his room
“See you later hopefully” Bud says with a laugh as Jack storms down the hallway.
“Well damn” Bud thought to himself.
“A whole two winters passed and here we are again” he says aloud to himself. He turns on the tv just as the doctor comes in to check on him
“Hey Blavett whats the good word” Bud says.
“I have quite a few words for you Mr. Warren though I don’t know how many of them you will consider to be good”
Bud laughs a little “Well doc usually when I hear bad news I like to have a smoke” he says.
“Smoking is precisely what needs to stop entirely and the drinking” Dr. Blavett says sternly “Your blood pressure and tryglyceride levels are both abnormally high and we need to get them down if were ever gonna get you out of here."
“Well none of that sounds like much fun” Bud says.
“Well Mr. Warren I’m sorry you feel that way but if you’d like to be around a bit longer I suggest you take my advice and cut back on the drinking and smoking” Dr Blavett says.
Bud turns his attention to the television at this point and continues watching
the local news
“That Amber Philpott’s a real pretty broad isn’t she”. Bud says
Dr. Blavett makes some notes on Bud’s chart and walks out of the room right as Jack is making his way down the hallway into the room.
“How yah feeling dad” Jack says taking off his coat and sitting down in the chair beside his fathers bed. “At this point Jacky, I’m feeling like I want to die and no one here will let me” Bud says.
“What an awful disgusting thing for you to say” Jack says “I know moms gone and I miss her too, you need to…”
Bud sits up and cuts jack off.
“I don’t want to talk about your mother Jack, I just don’t. I’m tired and I’ve been tired for a long time. You can put any sort of spin on it you want, fact of the matter is I don’t care anymore. I love my life the way I live it and I’ll be damned if any heart disease or anyone other than me is gonna tell me how to live it.” Bud says.
Jack jumps out of his seat and begins pacing about the room “**** you Bud, that’s the most selfish **** I’ve ever heard in my entire life, what about how I feel or how your friends, the few you have left actually feel about you”
Jack says.
Bud stares back for a minute pondering what his son has just said “I’m tired of being made to feel as though my decisions are selfish” Bud says softly “You know whats selfish”? He continues “Your selfish, these doctors are selfish hell this ****ing disease is selfish, I’ve lived my life my own way for 72 goddamn years and its selfish for all of you coming in here telling me to change my ways and habits. These are the things that make up a mans life and I won’t change them for anyone or any disease, if I do I’m dead anyway.”
“Have it your way” Jack says “I suppose if you want to be a bitter old bastard and act as though your entire life is a running joke I suppose I can’t stop you but I’m not going to standby and watch you voluntarily kill yourself anymore.” Jack says “Just know that this is not what I want and definetly not what mom would have wanted for you.”
Jack storms out of Bud’s room pass the nurses station and out the front door. He walks towards his car but stops for a moment as he gets nearer to the edge of the parking lot. He takes a seat on the curb trying to collect his thoughts and make sense of everything that just happened. He removes a pack of Lucky Strikes from his pocket that he had taken from his father in one of the weeks prior to his second heart attack. And throws them on the ground. He stands up dusts himself off and walks to his car and begins to drive off.
Bud Warren died the very next day at 9:42am of heart failure, Jack was at his side despite their argument the day before. Jack stuck around the next few days in Lexington to take care of all the necessary arrangements and came to remember how much he once loved his home town. He sat in his rental car in the hospital parking lot going over all the paperwork the hospital kept on his father, while sorting through it he found an envelope with his name on it and opened it:
Dear Jack,
I love you see you in heaven… or hell I’m not really sure yet. Take care
Dad