CAPTAIN OBLIVIOUS PART 1
This is a Greenville story.
Preamble Ramble - As with most of my stories I started with a sentence or word that caught my eye and tried to build a story around it. The word Oblivious caught my eye in a story. And I was watching a TV show at the same time when they called someone Captain Obvious.
Is there anything new in this story. Not really. It's hard to come up with something new. The best you can hope for is better writing and or better characters. Maybe make people feel what the characters are feeling.
Its taken me more than a month to finish this story. II have another story I've been working on for 2 months. Oneof the characters from that story is in this one. This is a two part story because I was having issues closing it out on its current trajectory and realized the finish I'm working with this would be good by telling a version of what Helene is dealing with.
For those who say I always have happy endings not in this story.
I encourage comments. Hopefully they have helped me be a better writer.
I hope you enjoy it.
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They say love is blind. In my case its deaf and dumb also. I had been happily married to the love of my life, Helene for sixteen years. We never made it our 17
th
because of the divorce last year.
We met in the Emergency Room of Greenville Memorial of all places. I was there waiting for a friend who had been in an accident and she was there for the same reason. Turned out they were both in the same accident but different cars. We got to talking while waiting to hear word of our friends injuries in the waiting room. I learned she had recently moved to Greenville from High Point for a job at an engineering company 8 months ago. She wasn't an engineer herself. She worked in Human Resources. Had graduated from High Point University. Most of her family lived in Wilmington. She had two older brothers. She's the youngest at 23, three years younger than me. I had noticed she didn't have a ring on so I assumed she was single but didn't broach that subject.
Helene is very pretty. Average height for a woman, 5 foot 5 inches. Auburn hair and brown eyes. She was a little curvy, not pudgy, I think the Black guys would call her thick. You could tell she used to play some type of sports. I thought either softball or field hockey. She had a great smile and considering the circumstances was quite easy to talk to.
After 2 hours a nurse came out to me asking if I was family. I lied and said I was his brother. He told me my buddy Alex would be released soon with a broken arm but overall he was okay. I told her I would wait and take him home.
When the doctor left Helene asked if I was a friend or relative. I explained they would only give information to a relative so I fibbed a little bit. As I was waiting for Alex to be released the nurse came out and explained that her "sister" was more injured then "my brother" so she was to be kept overnight. She was than allowed to go back to her room until they moved her upstairs into a regular room. I took the risk and gave her my number and asked her to call me sometime. She took my number with a smile and walked through the triage doors to her friends room.
Alex came out 45 minutes later. I didn't tell him about meeting Helene. Nothing more embarrassing then bragging about meeting a pretty lady and her never calling. I drove him home stopping at the pharmacy to pick up some pain meds and dropped him off at his apartment. I've known Alex forever. We went to the same high school together. Were on the soccer team our junior and senior years. He went on to play at UNC Pembroke for a couple of years.
Me, I'm Mark Seeny, a hometown boy through and through. Lived in Greenville all my life. I went to Belmont College for a couple of years and majored in business. I always liked working with my hands. My dad had a wood shop in the back yard that I pretty much lived in when I wasn't in school. Those 2 years in college made me realize I wasn't suited for the corporate life if it was anything like school. So with the help of my parents I went into business for myself. First making small wood products I would sell at local farmer markets which lead to doing custom work. If it involves wood I can make it, from tables to cabinets. I've been very successful. I caught the wave of the building boom in the city. I now employee 6 people and a nice older lady who runs my office. Its not glamorous but it more than pays the bills. I could probably double what I do now but its not what I want. I like to be hands on. I don't micro manage. I have good people who know what to do.
Helene called me two weeks later. My phone rang with an unknown number. I answered it because it could be business. I get a lot of referrals so I always answer the phone. "This is Mark"
"Hi Mark, I don't know if you remember me from the ER a couple of weeks ago?"
"How could I forget. I thought you had forgot about me." I hoped she could hear my smile through the phone.
"No, I didn't forget. There was some issues at the job that took a lot of my time and when I got home that night I was pretty wiped out. And I've also been helping Diane when she got out of the hospital."
"How is she doing by the way. I hope her injuries weren't to serious."
"Thanks for asking, she's getting there. She has a broken leg they had to do surgery on and fractured hip. Her mother flew in to help out for a while last week so it took some pressure off me."
We talked for another 30 minutes before agreeing to meet for dinner that weekend. Nothing fancy, Eddies Place in Charlotte on Saturday. Our first date lasted three hours. We ate, sat and talked, took a walk and talked. I felt very comfortable around and with her. We learned a lot about each other that night. Who would have thought it would be another 18 years before I would learn the most important thing about her.
