Brian sat down heavily in the chair across from John once again.  At the moment he felt as if the weight of the entire world lay on his shoulders.  He rubbed the back of his neck trying to quell the tension there.  Suddenly he felt Justin’s hand on his neck working the muscles there.  Brian let his shoulder’s relax as Justin’s hands worked the tightness out of his neck and shoulders.  The door opened then and Dr. Ryan walked in looking grim.

“Mr. Kinney -.”  He stopped when he saw Justin.  “May I speak with you alone?”

“Anything you say to me you can say in front of Justin.”  Brian countered.  “I’ll just tell him after you leave anyway.”

“All right then.”  Dr. Ryan pushed his glasses up on his nose and bit his bottom lip.  “I wish the news I had was better.  Daniel survived the surgery, but his eyes were discovered to be set to the left.”

“What does that mean?”

“It is the guess of the surgeon that Daniel may have had bleeding in his brain.”  Dr. Ryan cleared his throat.  “Due to the massive injuries and trauma, your nephew has done what we call ‘stroked out’.”

“And what does that mean?”

“It means that he had a massive brain hemorrhage.”  Dr. Ryan hesitated.  “Daniel is effectively brain dead.”

“Fuck.”  Brian hissed.

“He’s on machines right now.”  Dr. Ryan explained.  “They are the only things keeping him alive.  We need his parent or guardian to sign a release form in order to take him off of the machines.”

“Is there any chance at all that he will recover?”

“Even if he did stabilize, he would be still need machines to breath for him.  He’d be a vegetable.”  Dr. Ryan frowned.  “I’m terribly sorry for this, Mr. Kinney.”  

Brian waved him off.  He pulled out his telephone and tried to contact his former brother in law again.  The phone rang 3 or 4 times before a woman picked it up.

“Hello.”  She said.

“Hello.”  Brian said.  “This is Brian Kinney -.”

“I don’t talk to telemarketers.”  She said.

“No, wait.”  Brian said quickly.  “I’m not a telemarketer.  I’m trying to find John Burke.  Is he there?”

“Are you kidding me?”  The woman scoffed.  “That drunken asshole disappeared on me last week.”

Brian was taken aback.  He knew John and the man had never been one to drink excessively.  He wondered what had happened to change the man so completely.

“Left me with all his damned bills, too.”  The woman continued.

“I understand.”  Brian said.  “If you hear from him, can you tell him to contact his former brother-in-law, Brian Kinney?”

“I doubt he will contact me, but I guess if he does I can tell him you need to talk to him.”  Brian heard her moving papers.  “Just let me get a pen.”  Brian gave her his home phone and cell phone numbers as well as his work number and his address.  “Like I said, I doubt he’ll be calling me anytime soon, but if he does I’ll give him these numbers and stuff.  Is he in any trouble?”  She added.

“No, his ex-wife and children were in an accident.”  Brian explained.  “It’s pretty bad.  He needs to come here now.”

“Oh my.”  She gasped.  “I will let him know if he calls.  I’ll also call his buddies and maybe his work.  Let them know to have him call me and I’ll have him call you.”

“That’d be very helpful thank you.”  Brian said.  He then thanked the woman for her help and hung up.

“That was better.”  Brian looked up to see Justin smiling at him.

“I can be nice you know.”  Brian said defending himself.  “I just have a low tolerance for stupidity.”

Justin actually laughed at that one and Brian smiled.  The smiled evaporated as he heard John begin to stir.  When the boy was fully awake, Brian would have to explain that just about everyone he cared about in life had died.  Brian saw john’s eyes open and the boy stared up at Justin a look of confusion on his face.

“Who’re you?”  He asked groggily.

“A friend of your uncle’s.”  Justin replied.

“Another fag?”  John said.  Justin frowned, but chose to say nothing.
“Why’re you still here?”  John asked angrily.  “Where is my mother?”

“John.”  Brian began as he moved to the side of John’s bed.  “We’ve already been through this.  Your mother died.  Your grandmother died, too.  And, just before you woke up, the doctor came in to tell me that Daniel is brain dead.”

“What does that mean?”  John shouted.

“It means that the only thing keeping him alive are machines.”  Brian explained.

“Danny?”  John said softly.  “Danny is really dead?”

“Yes, John.”  Brian said softly.  “So is your mom and so is your grandmother.”

Brian watched as the reality of what he’d been told suddenly fell on the boy like a ton of bricks.  He looked from Brian to Justin and then up at the ceiling.  His eyes darted all around the room as if he wanted to bolt.  To run away from the truth.

“But. . . I.”  John stammered.  “I . . . we . . . God damn it!”  He shouted and started to cry.  

“John.”  Brian put his hand on the boy’s shoulder.  “You’re going to be all right, though.  Somehow, you’ll get through this.”

John simply nodded and leaned into Brian.  Brian put his arms around his nephew and tried to comfort him the best way he knew how.  It wasn’t much considering what little comforting Brian had gotten when he was young had come from either a bottle or dealer.  

As John’s sobs ebbed Brian felt the boy go slack in his arms.  He looked down to discover his nephew sound asleep.  He eased John onto his back and pulled the covers up over him.  Dr. Ryan walked in and motioned for Brian to follow him into the hall.

“There’s a room that just opened on the third floor.”  Dr. Ryan explained.  “It isn’t in the pediatric ward.  It’s a private room.  I figured he would need time alone to deal with all this.”

“Thanks, Doctor.”  Brian said.  

There was a commotion down the hall and Brian looked up to see a determined John Burke, Sr. walking toward him and the doctor.

“Where is he?”  John, Sr. asked as he approached.  “Where’s my son?”

“Mr. Burke?”  Dr. Ryan asked.  “I’m Dr. Ryan your son’s doctor.”  John, Sr. hardly gave the doctor a cursory look.  “You son is to be moved to a private room.  I’ll let you and Mr. Kinney know as soon as he is settled.”

“What the hell happened?”  John asked.  Brian looked at John, Sr. a scowl on his face.

“Have you been drinking?”  Brian asked quietly.  John, Sr. didn’t answer.  “Are you kidding me?  You drove here to see your son while drunk?”  John, Sr. refused to look Brian in the eye.  “What the fuck?”

“It’s nothing.”  John, Sr. said. “I heard about my ex-wife and my kids and I needed a drink.  Pretty reasonable, I think.”

“Reasonable?”  Brian said angrily.  “The asshole who killed your ex-wife and your son was drunk at the God damned wheel.”

“So, I had just heard that my sons and their mother was in an accident.”  John, Sr. said his speech sounding a bit slurred.  “I needed a drink.  It’s nothing.”  Then John, Sr. seemed to wake from a dream.  “Killed my ex-wife and my son?  Daniel . . . Daniel died.”

“He’s brain dead, John.”  Brian explained.  “The only thing keeping him alive are machines.  You need to sign the form to let him die.”

“Let him die?”  John, Sr. said.  “You want to let him die?”

“He’s already dead.”  Brian shouted.

End chapter 3