Panic in the Desert

Panic in the Desert


What was planned as a fun adventure during Spring break turned out to be a fearful but truly learning experience as two close friends trekked across the region of parts unknown.
Daniel and I had decided to leave the Bronx and head for the West coast. We had never seen the Golden Gate Bridge, let alone the Staten Island ferry before. Our biggest thrill up to this point was watching the traffic tie up on the George Washington Bridge every Friday night, when the under age partygoers come over from New Jersey since the drinking age was 18 at that point.

The both of us were inseparable. Wherever he was, I was, and wherever I was, he was not too far behind. We had met in school three years ago when Danny moved from upstate, because of his father's job having been relocated to the city. He had a sister Agnes, who was two years behind us in school and an older brother who was already in college. His mother was a nursing supervisor at a major medical center in Mid Town.
It was two weeks ago while we were sitting in study hall that we decided to make this trek across country. We were only days from Spring vacation and less than two months from graduation. We would meet, both in and out of school, pull out maps and decide how we were going to pull this adventure off. It was like two generals coming together and planning a war strategy.
On Thursday, before the start of vacation, we decided to go to University Luncheonette, on one of our free periods. Over a liverwurst sandwich on soft white bread, loaded with mayonnaise and few slices of lettuce, and served with a cold coke, we started putting our end game together.
“Are you ready for this weekend?” I asked between bites and sips.
“You bet I am. So when do you want to leave? Saturday or Sunday?” Danny asked.
“Why not Sunday morning, early, the traffic will be lighter at that time.”
“We'll get weekly Mass out-of-the-way on Saturday afternoon. No staying out late on Saturday night though. We'll get a bite to eat at Cornyn's Restaurant and go home early.” There I had set the ground rules.
I met Danny after the 4 o’clock out in front of the church.
“Hey how's it going?”
“Good, ready and all packed for tomorrow?
“I sure am. It's all I've been thinking of for the past couple of days.”
We waited for the light to change on that warmer than usual April night. A warm spring breeze had arrived and it was nice to be outside. Stepping off the curb when the light turned green I asked “did you call ahead for a table?”
“Sure I did, And I put the reservation in your name. It really helped when I knew I was talking to your cousin Brendan.”
“I tell you this all the time, he's not my cousin.”
The walk from the church to the restaurant was only half a block long. Danny was through the door first and held it open for me. Brendan Cornyn was inside at the podium checking off the reserved parties as they arrived. There seemed to be a good crowd there, and it is always a good idea to call ahead on a Saturday afternoon after Mass gets out to make sure the wait wouldn’t be too long.
The couple in front of us was being escorted to their table by one of the staff when Brendan turned and asked "Can I help you fellas?”
"Of course you can,”. I'm here with you cousin, Pat. Is our table ready?”
Brendan displayed a confused look on his face. I butted in. I knew Brendan, as he had graduated two years ago and was a well known varsity basketball player. My family and I saw him many times at the restaurant, as we frequented the place often.
"Excuse my friend," I said. “He thinks all of us Irish are related to each other. As if the Garden of Eden was strictly located and confined to the Emerald Isle.”
We were shown to a table in the rear and we both ordered the lamb chop special. Nobody cooks lamb like the Irish and we were sitting in a well known Irish Restaurant in all of the Bronx. We each had a glass of Merlot before and with our meal. It was delicious, but filling, and there was definitely no room for dessert.
We left the restaurant after paying the bill and parted ways on the sidewalk.
“ Pick you up at 7 o'clock downstairs in front of the house” I said to him as he was getting ready to turn down his street. “I don't want to climb five flights of stairs because you overslept.”
“I won’t. I'll be ready. See you at 7sharp.”
I know I had a hard time getting to sleep that night I could just imagine how it was for Danny. Somewhere in the night though, sleep snuck in and took over.
The alarm buzzer didn't go off more than 10 seconds or so before I had my hand on the shut off, and my feet on the floor. I was like a tiger ready to pounce on a small prey.. We had prepared for this trip for the past several weeks and now it was about to begin.
It was five minutes of seven when I was pulling up in front of Danny's building, and sure enough he was standing there waiting for me.
“Hey, I guess you are ready.” I said sarcastically to him.
“I was actually down here for about 20 minutes waiting for you.”
Danny threw his duffel bag, that was his fathers, from days gone by, in the trunk of my 66 Chevy Bel Air and we were off to the races.
The first day we drove as far South Carolina as we figured we would stop at Myrtle Beach. The ocean was a beautiful sight, with children playing in the surf. It was a welcome change from the cold gray days that were not too distant in the past several weeks in New York.
The next morning, we started out and headed west. Going across Interstate 20 we saw all types of sites. Everything from flat farms, covered with corn fields as far as the eye could see, to the sites of cotton fields and tobacco farms.
We drove as far as Arizona and stopped to see some of the sites there. We stopped at caverns and caves we had never seen before.
We spent the night in a small hotel, in a small-town, somewhere in the middle of the state. That night we enjoyed karaoke and beer at the downstairs Bar and Grill. We both had a good time and a hefty bar bill at the end of the night. Needless to say we both didn't have a hard time getting to sleep that night.
The next morning, the both of us woke up to heavy throbbing headaches. I got a small bite to eat but Danny didn't want anything.
“Can we just get some large amounts of tomato juice, please." he pleaded.
“I will, but you want to start off with something small in your stomach” I responded.
"I'll get something a little later, but right now, I just need tomato juice.”
We packed the car and were off to the coast. This was going to be the last leg of our trip. Little did I know that the end of the trip would not be so smooth.
About two hours into the ride we were both driving through the hot, humid desert. Danny was sound asleep in the front seat and had been for the past two hours. He started to fidget and shake a little bit and I shook his left shoulder to see if he was alright.
“Danny, are you okay?”
He didn't respond so I shook him a little stronger.
He started to mumble something that I couldn't understand. I asked him to repeat it. He blurted out,“Mary had a little lamb his shirt was white as snow.”
“What did you say?” I thought that was an odd thing to say, but Danny would always try to get a laugh out of you. He always wanted to be the center of attention.
“Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the dog came in and blew everyone away.”
Oh I knew I had a problem now. I pulled the car to the side of the road. My attention was focused 110% on Danny. He was lightly sweating and pale and clammy and cool to the touch. I knew he was in some type of shock. I knew I had to get help and I had to get it right away. I decided to drive as fast as I could down this desert road until I came to a town. Fortunately about 7 miles down the road, I came across a restaurant and gas station combination. I quickly ran inside and told the woman behind the counter I needed help for my friend who was really sick.
“Oh okay sweetie I'll call 911 for you,” she said.
“No, no, no, you got to tell me where the closest hospital is.”
“No, I'll have the ambulance come up here and take him to the hospital. If he needs medical help let them come and tend to him. It will be safer for your friend to be in their care”.
“How far away is the ambulance?”
“It's only 3 miles down the road.”
“And how far is the hospital from here? 60 miles?”
“No, the hospital is only 7 miles away, in Wynfall.”
I ran outside to the car to see how Danny was doing. I could hear the sirens in the distance as I was leaving the restaurant. Someone had already made a call to get help.
I ran to the passenger side of the car and Danny was still sleeping. I called out, ”Danny, can you hear me?" He didn't answer. Just then a police cruiser and an ambulance pulled up together in the parking lot. The medics ran quickly to the backdoors and got the stretcher out of the back. A deputy sheriff got out of his patrol car, and started walking towards me.
“What drugs did your friend take?”
“ No, he's not into drugs officer. I think he had too much to drink last night and he hasn't had much to eat today.”
“I hope you’re telling me the truth. You know that they will find out at the hospital” he said as he tugged on his holster belt to hike it up to a more comfortable position around his large belly.
“No, I'm being honest with you, Sir. Danny doesn't do drugs and he just had a little bit too much fun last night. That's the only problem that he got going for him.”
The Medics helped Danny out of the car and placed him on the gurney.
As he was being wheeled away he opened his eyes and looked at me and said
“Just like Maria Sanchez. Her breasts are so large she hasn't seen her shoes since she was in the the eighth grade.”
The cop just looked at me. With a smirk on his face he asked if Maria was going to be coming this way on vacation in the near future.
“There's no such person as Maria. It's just extreme heat and an overabundance of booze coupled with his over active imagination.”
“Oh okay,” he said, ” I'll meet you down the hospital in a couple of minutes.”
I followed the ambulance to the hospital and parked in the lot. I saw Danny taken out of the back and I quickly ran towards the emergency room doors.
Fortunately, inside there weren't that many people waiting for attention. They wheeled Danny into a treatment room and a doctor was quickly at his side.
It was a tense 15 minutes or so waiting for the doctor to come out and tell me about my friend. Finally he appeared.
"Your friend is going to be okay. He is severely dehydrated and as a result his blood sugar is out of control. We are going to keep him for 24 hours to keep an eye on him.”
“Was he hallucinating at all? the doctor asked.
“You wouldn't believe some of the things he was coming out with.”
“Who's this chick Maria he keeps describing. A girlfriend?”
“No, no, he only wishes that. Can I go in to see him?”
“Sure give us a couple minutes to set an IV and get him ready for visitors.”
A couple of minutes later A nurse came out and escorted me to Danny's bedside.
“How are you doing buddy?” I asked.
“Man, I feel really tired and sick to my stomach. I could really go for nap. Did we make it to California yet?”
“No, not yet, But we will soon.”
“Wake me when we get to the Golden Gate Bridge.”
He closed his eyes and went to sleep for several hours.