Deception

Jerry hesitated outside of Josh’s hospital room, not wanting to be the bearer of bad news, but there was no way out of it. He heard a female voice. “I can’t get anything on here. I think your cable’s out. I’ll go check.”

Josh replied, slurring from the heavy medication, “Damn, I wanted to watch The Young and the Restless. I missed a whole week.”

“I didn’t like how Neuman was treating his daughter, so I stopped watching.”

“They made up weeks ago. You can watch again.”

Jerry walked in as a pretty nurse somewhere in her twenties was gathering up her equipment. She gave him a smile. “Don’t stay too long. Don’t want to wear him out.” Then to Josh, “I’ll bring my DVD in tomorrow before I start my shift. You really think your friend Ken will listen?”

“No promises.”

“Good enough.”

After she flounced out, Jerry asked curiously, “Was that about what I thought it was about?”

“She’s a singer. She asked me to help her.”

“I don’t believe it. Even your nurse. Is anybody in this town not in show business?”

“You’re not.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been meaning to get your opinion of my John Wayne impression.”

Josh looked at him blankly, his eyes half closed, too sleepy to appreciate his feeble joke. Jerry knew he better tell Josh what he had come to say before he fell asleep.

Josh spoke first. “I’m checking out of here tomorrow.”

Jerry pulled a chair up to Josh’s bed and sat down. He leaned forward concerned. “You can’t do that. You have to stay in here at least a week.”

“No can do, Jer. I’ve got to get back to work, so I can pay for these deluxe accommodations.”

“You’ve got insurance.”

“It won’t pay my other bills.”

“You can’t go back to work for a while. You’ll have to live off your residuals.”

“Not enough. I’m supposed to start working with Joell in the studio in a week. I’ll get some money up front for that. I’ll do some easy work around the compounds till then. How’s Noor?”

There was no way to avoid it. “Noor’s worse.”