Barley Marble

After the meeting Eugene went back and relieved Linda so she could meet with Ray. He worked on the slow side, his day was almost done. It was just getting busy in the cafe, but once Linda was back with Gena helping, he knew he could call it a day. He thought about getting home quickly rather than hang around. He guessed he might be coming in early tonight if Ed didn't show up, so he wanted to get some sleep earlier.

Soon Linda was back. The three of them traded jokes about the meeting as Eugene stepped out of the way. He finally chatted his way out of the kitchen and headed to the john to freshen up. Eugene called it "wiping the sticky off" when he rinsed up in the sink. The aromas of the bread ovens would cling to Eugene, it really takes a good shower to de-sticky. Yet, it's not an awful smell, it's rumored to attract women---that warm kitchen smell. Eugene thought about that and smiled, women did seem to like him but maybe the wrong type of women, the motherly type.

He shook his head and left the bathroom directing himself to the front counter. He went behind and started to assemble some sandwiches for later. As he was finishing off the first piece of art as Eugene thought of them, a loud strange groan came from the back dining area. Eugene looked up and saw several people beginning to offer help to a man he didn't know seated in one of the half-booths. Viewing the scene as if in slow-mo, he heard more of those moans. He could see a woman who had approached the man, get out her cell phone and begin punching numbers, 911 he wondered. Another man was lowering Mr. Groan to the floor to lay him down.

Finally Eugene let go of his sandwich plate and went into action. He quickly walked to the office, just 10 steps, and opened the door and told Ray about the incident, "we have a medical" he said.
Then he quickly made his way back to the man, Ray followed close behind as the two of them slalomed between tables.

They found out fast that the gentleman was in terrible stomach pain and that the lady WAS on the line with 911. It also turned out that the man who lowered him to the ground was in fact a doctor, and an ER one at that. The lady had phoned 911 because the ER doctor had told her to.

Eugene took a moment to notice the ability of customers to come to aid. This wasn't the first medical to occur in the cafe and wouldn't be the last. Both Ray and You had CPR and first aid classes, and both had used that knowledge several times in their place. Still, he was glad that there had been a doctor in the house, relieved even as Eugene could be more of an aide.

Mr. Groan was really hurting, at least from the sounds of his groans. The doctor began to explain. "I've ruled out appendix, it's some type of gastro problem, probably from what he digested. What's on his plate?"

The two partners went to the table and stared at the remains calculating all the different ingredients in what they saw. Sonia the waitress brought them the bill, but the two of them already knew the order from what they saw of the breakfast, the culprit? Neither of them were dancing about this possibility, that something from their cafe afflicted someone. They both knew that if it was serious that the health department would arrive, Ray began to think about calling them immediately. Eugene on the other hand was deeply hoping that his work wasn't the cause. He had baked the bread that was the man's toast and he had also made the man's pancakes while Linda was in the meeting. He would feel awful for the man if something bad happened and guilty for creating the reason.

Ray told the doctor, "Regular breakfast, eggs, pancakes, toast, OJ. It could be several things, the eggs, the milk, the cheese he had on his eggs...but eggs usually is the worry."

"Could be the eggs, salmonella." The doctor kept checking his patient on the floor. The man was groaning and rather stiff through his body, but sometimes he would curl into a ball holding his midsection. "But we won't know until we get him to the hospital. The ambulance should be here any time. Can you find something that we could use to transport him to the door to be ready when it gets here? Got a wheel chair around?"

Ray looked around and saw another customer had one, he decided to ask. "Sir, could we borrow your chair for that man? Also, we are concerned about the food we served him, we would like to take your dishes." Ray stepped back into the aisle and louder said, "We have a food concern. Please stop eating."

The rest of the crew went into action going to every table and asking the customers to hold up and then taking their plates back to the kitchen. On a counter they lined them up in order to remember whose table they came from. Ray had been talking to the health department by now and they had wished that the plates had been left on the tables, but storing them on the counter was the next-best thing.

They closed the store. They gave everyone their meal free AND gave them a complementary meal ticket. Most of the regulars would be back without the indulgences, the partners worried about retaining the people who were just figuring out the place. They'd been in business long enough to weather a food poisoning, but bad publicity about a restaurant can stick to the reputation for too long.

Everyone was calm and out of the cafe in about five minutes. The workers now gathered to powwow...part troubleshooting, part gossip, part worry. Just inside the front door on a chair was Mr. Groan or rather as they now knew, Mr. Henderson, Robert from Royal Oak. It had been his first time at the cafe and here he was slumped in a chair, moaning and waiting for the very late ambulance.

The doctor was with Henderson but was on his cell to the local hospital ER. He told Eugene standing next to him, "It seems that all the ambulances are on runs. They've put our priority low, I was told maybe half an hour. We'll have to drive him."

Now to his cell, "Yes, we're going to bring him in. Wait. What?"
He listened and said, "Wow. Really? Hmmm, and you don't know what is causing it?"
He listened again, longer. "OK. I'll be coming in about 15 minutes, with Mr. Henderson. I'd better let you go. Goodbye."

The doctor told Eugene, "Apparently, we are probably beginning a pandemic. There is some sort of outbreak of stomach ailment, the emergency room is full. So, I'm driving Mr. Henderson to the hospital and staying there to help in the emergency. Can you give me a hand with him after I bring my car around? The borrowed wheelchair had been given back. Eugene said "Sure, I'll wait with him until you drive back."

The doctor began to open the door then hesitated, "I loved my meal, I'll be back! At least I know it wasn't your cooking," and gave Eugene a smile. They shook hands and the doctor was gone for his car. Then it finally dawned on him, he didn't know the doc's name.

A few minutes later the doctor drove up, parkinng directly in front of the door. He got out on the far drivers side, came around the car opened the front passenger door, and turned for the front door while getting out his wallet. He removed something, opened the door and handed it to Eugene, "Here's my card. My name is Donald Rose. Thank you for all the help and seriously I'll be back for that free meal."

Eugene helped get Henderson into the car as he told the doctor his own name and a little small talk about the cafe. They closed the passenger door and Dr. Rose went around to his side and got in. He gave a wave to Eugene after he started the car and fastening his seat belt and then took a hard slap to his head. Mr. Henderson had begun to hit Dr. Rose in the face, yelling "NO, NOOOO."

He wasn't stopping either. Slam, slam, slam, Mr. Henderson was striking hard and fast. Dr. Rose couldn't fend off the swings, it was an avalanche of blows. Dr. Rose had blood on his face almost in no time and was yelling "STOP! Cut it OUT! HELP!"

Eugene was shocked at what he now saw going on inside the car. He grabbed the passenger door and flung it open. He tried to yank Mr. Henderson out of the car but the man was swinging at him now too. He caught several shots as he tumbled Mr. Henderson out and down to the ground. He jumped on top of him and yelled for the doc, "Are you OK?! Can you give me a hand holding him down!!!"

Then Mr. Henderson ceased squirming and went somewhat limp. He settled down quickly and began a garbled speech. "I know where yo were drieffen me. Yaaah. I knoww. Tawken me to jail. I know. Everyboshish is awways tryin' to take me to jaaail. I know."

"No, no. We were going to the hospital for your stomach. I'm a doctor." Dr. Rose had come around the car and with his bloodied face had tried to explain. He was a bit perplexed at Mr. Henderson's statement. "How are feeling?"

The pinned man looked at his face, "Whaaat happen you?"

The doctor considered that Mr. Henderson didn't remember the brutal attack. "Oh, Nothing. How are you feeling?"

"Ummmm...I feel fiiine! Yeah, feel fine." Henderson sort of frowned, "Hey youuuu, can ya get off me?"

Eugene looked at the doctor, but did loosen his pressure on the man. The doctor looked at Eugene but asked Henderson "What about your stomach? How does it feel?"

Henderson said, "It feels good except I've got this load sitting on it. Can you get off, please?"

"Well, what will you do when he lets you up?"

"I'll go into this cafe and have something to eat, I'm hungry."

Dr. Rose looked at Eugene again, this time he shrugged his shoulders meaning that Henderson could get up. Eugene cautiously got off the man and stood in front of the cafe's front door. Everyone was breathing hard.

Henderson got to his feet brushing himself off and said "I'd love a burger right now."

"Sorry, but we had to close the store. Come back tomorrow if you'd like, but if you want one right now there's Sports Trades down the street."

"Yes! That's a good idea! I'll go get a burger at Sports Trades. Good thinking!"

Then Henderson jumped forward and pushed down Eugene and then the doctor to the ground in one quick surprise swoop and turned and ran off down the street. As he jogged away he was yelling back at the two of them on the ground, "I fooled you! I'm not going to jail. You can't take me, you can't!"

Eugene and Doctor Rose gathered themselves and both wondered whether to chase after the man. "He went crazy!" Eugene said.

The doctor agreed, "That might be a second symptom of his illness. First the stomach pains, then insanity. I wonder if it's temporary insanity or infinite madness? This disease may have another phase as well. Since it hasn't been identified we can't know if we have a cure. Does death follow madness?"

He changed the subject a bit, "I'm still going to the hospital. Henderson is too much to handle for me to go wrestling him into my car. Besides there are going to be many people going insane that I hope to help in the ER. Maybe there is a way to stop the insanity symptom."

"Yeah, Doc. I'm not going after him either. I'm still feeling his punches and I don't want new ones. I hope he finds a good burger and settles down."

Dr. Rose and Eugene said their final thoughts and goodbyes. The doctor got in his car and drove off to Central Medical Center. Eugene went into the cafe, locked the door and shuffled over to where everyone was gathered. He knew they wanted the whole story and went about describing the incident and explaining the epidemic that Dr. Rose thought was happening. After he was done, he went into the kitchen to his locker and grabbed a pack of cigarettes. He had to have one even though he was going good on quitting.

Everyone else began discussing the disease. There just wasn't enough information. The big question was "How do you get it?" Several people used there cells, Gena called her mother who was sitting her little Joey and Gena called her husband.

"It could be terrorism" offered Ray.

Linda had been quiet then burst into the conversation, "Stop accusing me of poisoning everyone! I didn't do anything and you can't prove it. All along I knew I couldn't trust any of you. All these years I've feared what you two are capably of. Now I know. Falsely blaming me for the sickness!"

Ray was shocked the suddenness of the outburst. Immediately thinking "she's crazy," he also wondered whether she had been hiding inner emotions about himself and Eugene.

Speak of the devil returned from the kitchen smoking a cigarette, walking into the end of Linda's tirade. He stopped and eyed the situation. He wanted to get a hold of Linda and maybe tie her down to keep her from getting physical. The group could subdue her, Himself and Ray would need to lead the charge. He signaled Ray by nodding his head and they both began to poise for a surprise charge at Linda.

Eugene wondered what happened to the stomach pains. "Linda, how are you feeling? Is your stomach OK?"

"Look pain is nothing compared to feeling betrayed by you guys. I can take the pain, but I can't take your judge and jury Kangaroo Court accusations."

They both now understood that shw had been covering the stomach pain, Ray tried to soothe her, "No one is accusing you. I told you I think it might be terrorists."

SO! Now I'm a terrorist!"

Linda went to put her coffee down on the table and the partners leaped at the chance, each grabbing one of Linda's arms and then pulling her to the floor. The yelled for everyone else to help and to go get the duct tape. They struggled with Linda who was throwing around more weight than her small body even had. Finally the busboy pinned her thrashing legs. Using the duct tape they immobilized Linda to a chair.

Ray told her, "This is for your own safety. We don't want you getting hurt if you get too angry or violent."

Linda's body slumped a bit, she was giving in. "I had the cramps, now I'm going insane. You all are conspiring against me. I think YOU infected me with the disease." She was not ranting anymore, but rattling off things no one ever expected to hear from Linda.

Eugene wondered about using a gag, to keep her from saying things she'd regret if she recovers.

The cafe was settling down, but suspicion was growing. Who might get the cramps was a nagging cloud hanging above their heads.

"What should we do with Linda? We can't leave her like this for too long. Should we call someone, her contact number, maybe?" wondered aloud Eugene.

The group was quiet, each thinking what might be next and what to do when next arrived. Some wondered if Linda was what they themselves might become soon and then paid attention to any changes to their stomach. One odd growl was enough to deeply worry Gena, and hate to say it but Ray was holding in his farts. He didn't want anyone to think he had a gas problem, it might be an audio symptom as well as being an odor indication of this plague. Ray thought back, "Did Linda or Henderson pass gas?" He thought that sentence would be hilarious any other time, but this was critical information right now, and frustratingly he couldn't remember if they did. Briefly he questioned whether he was being honest with his friends, should he announce he had the farts thereby alerting them to his possible plague infliction? He shook his head and thought, "This is silly. Am I getting a little nutty? When you get the cramps do the beginnings of insanity precede the pain?"

Ray broke his thought to get it out of his mind and said aloud, "I'm going to he office and ,make phone calls. I'm calling Linda's contact, I think it's her mother, and then I'm phoning the hospital and health department again. I suggest we all make calls to anyone we want. Call your spouses, your family, friends, whatever..."

Ray continued, "I think this is getting very serious. I don't know how big this thing is, but we don't know much about it. We are going to have to make some choices, take some action. Eugene and I will stay here and take care of Linda. Everyone else can leave or you're welcome to stay for awhile. I'm not sure about anything else. Any suggestions?"

No one moved at first. Pete the busboy punched numbers on his cell and spoke up. "I'm heading home. I need to get to my family. I'll call to let you know how my trip was." He put his cell to his ear and began to walk out, waving as he did. "See ya soon," he finally said as he unlocked the front door.

Eugene broke his own personal spell and quickly followed behind Pete. He caught the door as it was just about to close and reopened it. He raised his voice a bit as Pete was walking away, "Pete, thanks for all your hard work. Please call us as often as you can on your way home." Pete waved again and flashed a peace sign and turned to hurry home.

Eugene locked the door and went back in.