Synopsis: Both Pete and Paula have sex with their children -- in Pete's case, with his step-daughter, Nonnie, and in Paula's case with her son, Fred. There was a phone call from the hospital.
Part III - Our Story
Chapter Seventeen
David was gone. The Olerun Jaguar had been virtually crushed by a head-on collision with an on-coming pickup truck that had somehow crossed the centerline. The driver's side had been obliterated. Dave probably never knew what had hit him.
Karen was still in surgery when we arrived at the hospital. We spent nearly two unhappy hours pacing the tiny waiting room and trying to console one another before a solemn faced surgeon wearing traditional hospital garb came into the room.
"Mrs. Olerud survived the surgery," he began, "but I hesitate to hold out too much hope. She was fearfully mangled, but she's young and otherwise healthy, so I expect her body to heal.
"We're primarily concerned because her windpipe was crushed, and we're not sure how long she was deprived of oxygen, so there's no way of predicting whether her brain lost any of its function. We'll know more when she wakes up -- if she does."
Everyone began speaking at once, but the doctor held up a hand and we fell silent. "There's nothing you can do tonight, so I suggest you go home. As matters stand at present, if she regains consciousness, we'll allow two visitors tomorrow for only a few minutes. Since she has no known relatives, you can decide among yourselves which two it will be. That's all I have for you tonight. I wish I could be more encouraging." He turned and left the room.
We were a silent, thoughtful bunch as we trooped back to Rick's car. We had very little to say as we reflected on the tragedy that had befallen the Olerudes.
Nothing was said on the long drive back to the O'Conner house. When we reached the house, I stepped out of the back seat and turned toward our car, but ever practical Sarah had other ideas. "I think we ought to decide tonight which of us will visit poor Karen tomorrow," she said.
Rick said, "Well, I knew David as well or better than my own brother," he said. "I should be one of the two."
We all nodded. He was right. "Would it be all right if I went with you, Rick?" Sarah asked. "Unless Paula wants to go, of course."
Paula shook her head. "Hospitals depress me," she said. "If you want to go, Sarah, be my guest." We agreed on a time to meet, and then parted. Karen had barely regained consciousness the following afternoon when Rick and Sarah were allowed 15 minutes with her. "She seemed to know who we were and where she was," Sarah said hopefully.
Rick shook his head. "Well, maybe," he said doubtfully. "I didn't get that much out of a single hand squeeze."
"But the doctor seemed more hopeful, today," Sarah insisted.
Rick slowly nodded his head. "That's true," he said. "But he was still very guarded concerning her ultimate recovery."
And so it went for the next 10 days. But then, Rick and Sarah returned from their brief visit, both wearing pleased smiles. "She spoke to us today," Sarah announced. "She's still not out of the woods, of course, but the doctor thinks her amnesia is only temporary; and that her brain seems not to have suffered any permanent damage."
Paula and I heaved a collective sigh of relief. "That's just great," I said, expressing, I'm sure, what we all felt.
Karen's memory continued to improve over the next three months. Shortly before she left the hospital, she advertised for a live-in nurse- housekeeper. She interviewed several applicants, but none of them were satisfactory.
When she left the hospital, she still could walk only with the aid of a walker, so Sarah invited her to stay in the apartment until other arrangements could be made. Nonnie had moved in with Roger -- they planned to be married in the spring -- so her room came Karen's bedroom. Willa was home most of the time, and the two women became practically inseparable, although they were a generation apart.
As Karen continued to gain strength, she naturally became increasingly restive, wanting to return to the home she had shared with David.
Willa volunteered to accompany her. Ruthie, naturally, wanted to remain with her mother, so in a relatively short span of time, the old Olerun mansion became our social center.
Meanwhile, our weekend swings with the O'Conners became history. That was partly because of David's death, but it was also a consequence of the increasing friction between Fred and his dad.
Apparently, Rick suspected that Fred and his mother were still enjoying incestual sex. In Rick's eyes, there was no greater sin than that. I'm not sure whether Rick's suspicions were well founded, but Sarah seemed to think they were.
"If you know what to look for," she said, "you can always tell when a middle-aged woman has a young lover," she said. "There's an indescribable something about the way they look and move that indicates the smug satisfaction of a woman in possession of a young cock. Paula has that look."
Things usually work out for the best. Because of his constant attention to Ruthie, young Seth had virtually become the man of the Olerud house. However, some tasks were simply beyond his young strength. When that happened, he often asked his older brother for help.
Fred evidently found the atmosphere in the Olerud house far more congenial than the constant tension he experienced at home -- and it wasn't long before he transferred his sexual allegiance from his mother to Willa! And possibly even Karen, although I was never sure of that.