The Curse. Vasilios Bouzas
wound starts to heal and disappears completely, only the blood on his shirt remains.
Luke feels lethargic and weak, his vision is blurry. He looks at Jack’s wound in amazement, he thinks he is dreaming, he cannot believe his eyes, he tries to get up but feels dizzy.
Luke collapses next to Jack in a heavy sweat. As he falls to the ground, a bullet is released from the grip of his hand; it drops on the floor and rolls away.
The ambulance arrives. Two paramedics rush out with their medical kits. They see both Luke and Jack on the ground. Luke is now becoming extremely light headed, while Jack is still unconscious.
“Luke, are you ok?” asks Fred, the paramedic.
“I’m alright, but Jack has been shot, he is bleeding pretty badly, please help him.”
Fred turns to look at Jack.
“Luke are you sure Jack’s been hit? There is blood but no sign of a bullet wound, maybe it was the shooter.”
“No, no I am sure, Jack was hit, and I took out the shooter after he was hit.”
Luke is helped to his feet by the paramedic. They put Jack on the stretcher. Both men are put in the ambulance and taken straight to the hospital.
The next morning Luke and Jack wake in the local hospital and the very first person they see is Kate with a worried look on her middle aged face. She had lost her youthful charm she once had because of her demanding nursing career and domestic duties at home.
“Wow, are you guys ok? We have been keeping an eye on you all night, and you are the talk of the town.”
“Yes, I think we are okay, you okay Jack? It is a bit of a blur, what happened?”
“What happened? You guys took out a criminal and saved a woman’s life, you both are heroes.”
“Okay, whose blood pressure am I going to take first?”
Luke and Jack simultaneously both point at each other. Kate walks to Jack and takes his blood pressure and temperature readings.
“What do you think Kate, am I going to live?”
“I think you’re going to be fine you big lug.”
She walks over to Luke.
“Ok Mr. give me your arm please. What you and Jack did yesterday took a lot of guts, you risked your lives.”
“We were only doing our job Kate; anyone else in our position would have done the same thing.”
“I hope so.”
Kate gets closer to Luke and puts the blood pressure band on his arm. She looks him straight in the eyes.
“Wow Luke, your green eyes are gorgeous. In all these years that I have known you, every time I look into them they seem to be getting brighter and brighter.”
Luke blushes.
“Hey Kate, are you trying to chat up Luke? Aren’t you married?” says Jack laughing.
“What chat up, his eyes are gorgeous, any woman or for that matter any man would tell you that, he’s a handsome man.”
She puts her hand up and shows Jack her finger with her wedding ring on it.
“Yes, happily married with a gorgeous husband and an even more gorgeous son.”
“Yes and you tell that gorgeous husband of yours that we are still on for the fishing trip on the weekend,” says Luke.
Dr Clifford walks into the room.
“I have been told that you two guys are stirring trouble again,” says Dr Clifford.
“Oh my god Doc, Luke saved my life.”
“I heard both of you saved a lot of lives. You should be proud of yourselves. I know the whole town is.”
“Doc, Doc, Luke saved my life. I got hit by a bullet and he made it disappear.”
“Where Jack? Show me where you got hit by the bullet.”
Dr Clifford looks at Jack’s chest.
“It looks ok to me, what do you think Kate? You blacked out. It probably was your imagination playing tricks on you. What do you think Luke, was it Jack’s imagination?”
“Things happened so fast. I remember shouting for an ambulance then I started to black out.” replies Luke.
“It’s ok Jack, physically you and Luke are both fine. Go home and get some rest. Oh, one more thing, the whole town thanks both of you for a job well done.”
“See you later heroes and stay out of trouble. I’ll tell Tom you are ok for the weekend Luke,” says Kate.
Luke gives her the thumbs up.
Dr Clifford appears very anxious as he stares at Luke. He then leaves the room and meets up with John, Chloe and Judy who are waiting outside.
“Hello! John, Judy. Shouldn’t you be at school Chloe?”
‘”I have been waiting here for news all night, the girls just arrived an hour ago. How are Luke and Jack?” asks John.
“They are both fine,” replies Dr Clifford.
“That’s fantastic news. Have you seen the local paper this morning?
Luke is on the front page,” says John.
“Never mind all of that now John. I need to have a private talk with you. Judy, Chloe, why don’t you two go and see how the boys are doing?”
“I think it’s starting John.”
“Oh my God Bill, please no,” replies John.
They look at each other. The fear in their eyes has returned. John raises his arms and holds his head. Luke, Jack, Chloe and Judy come out of the room and they see John holding his head in his hands with tears in his eyes.
“Dad, what’s wrong? Don’t worry, I am fine”.
“Yes, Mr. Whelan, they are both fine,” says Judy.
“When they told me you were both involved in a robbery and they had brought you to the hospital, I feared the worst.”
Luke hugs his dad, then Jack hugs him, then Chloe and Judy hug him, one big group hug.
“It’s going to take a lot more than a confrontation with a dangerous, big ugly, foul mouth, gun packing thug to harm me,” says Luke laughing and trying to lift the mood.
“Yeah, that’s right,” shouts Jack.
They all break out in laughter, lifting John’s spirits somewhat, but he still glances at Dr Clifford, a knowing glance between both of them, no words need to be spoken. They both know what they face.
The next morning Luke arrives for work. A crowd has gathered in front of the police station. He gets out of his car and they all start clapping and cheering. Luke notices Judy, Kate and little Noah. He walks over to them picks up Noah and gives him and Judy a big kiss.
“How’s my favourite little man and favourite ladies?” he says in a jovial voice.
“You’re a hero Luke,” says Noah looking up at him.
“I am sure the whole town would’ve been here now if it wasn’t a weekday and everyone had to work,” says Kate.
“Just another day ladies, work, and that is what I am going to do now. I’ll see you tonight baby,” as he gives Judy another big kiss and hug.
“Ok off you go so I can do some work.”
The passing crowd wave to Luke and gather around him, pointing at their newspapers. Luke picks up the paper from the newsstand. There is a picture of Luke, the headlines read;
LUKE WHELAN