The Rush to the Hospital
With Piper by his side sitting silently, Nick drove his Mustang off the Island and through Bradenton until he reached the I-75 exit. He drove on to the ramp and began to accelerate. By the time he entered the highway, he was going fifty miles an hour. Within a couple of minutes, he was going seventy. Eighty. Then ninety.
“Nick, please slow down! I’d like to get there alive.”
“I need to see her. I don’t think she’ll make it out of the hospital, Piper, and I need to talk to her before she passes. I have something to tell her.”
“Oh, Nick, don’t worry. I’m sure she knows you love her.”
“She definitely knows I love her,” he said. He slowed down to eighty miles per hour to mitigate Piper’s concerns.
But his thoughts were still racing. He still hadn’t fully accepted his mom’s fate when he learned of her cancer, but he’d been watching her over the days since and a future without her had started to sink in. Her face had paled and she’d lost some hope and the chemo was just killing her.
A serious automobile accident for someone in that condition was like a death sentence, but she couldn’t die yet. He needed more time to prepare his case for Jesus and he hadn’t been making the best use of the time he’d had with her since he found out about her diagnosis. He’d just now picked up the Bible with the Old Testament included and he should have done that a long time ago. The proof was in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament passages. “Lord, please give me the time to read the passages to her.” He repeated the words over and over in his mind as he raced north on the highway. The ride seemed to be taking forever. He pushed the gas a bit harder and was now traveling at eighty-five miles per hour.
Jesus words’ played in his mind, which were his words about the way it would be easier to squeeze a camel through a needle than to get a rich person into Heaven. “I’ll make sure her money goes to good causes. I’m sure she would have donated it herself if she’d had time to think about it. I’ll take care of it for her,” he bargained. “Please, just let me have a little more time with her.”
He didn’t see the police car hiding in the brush on the side of the highway, and didn’t notice that it was now just behind him. But he heard the siren, so he checked his rearview mirror. That’s when he saw the cop behind him and the blue lights flashing, forcing him to slow down and pull over to the right side of the road.
“Oh, this is just great,” he complained to Piper. “Just great.”
The cop walked up to the driver’s side of the car and peered into the window.
“License and registration please.”
Nick fumbled around a bit, looking for his wallet, which was wedged inside of his glove compartment. He grabbed his driver’s license and handed it to her before searching the glove compartment for his vehicle registration. Soon both were in her hands.
He watched the cop in his rearview mirror as she returned to her car. Her short and somewhat chunky frame jiggled a bit, but she exuded a cool confidence. Fidgeting in his chair, he felt anxious to get to the hospital as he waited and watched her in the rearview mirror. And waited. And watched. She’d already taken too much of his time and his time was more valuable now than it had ever been. Seconds passed. Then minutes. More fidgeting.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry, we’ll get there in time,” Piper said.
He looked at her and asked, “Piper, do you believe in Jesus?”
“Absolutely!”
“Well my mom doesn’t. I’ve been building a case for Jesus since I found out she didn’t believe in May to convince her that he’s our Savior, but I’m not done yet. I need to reference the passages in the Old Testament that predicted Jesus’ life, but I just bought the Bible this morning. It’s in the back seat.”
“How about if I drive so you can find the passages?”
He looked at her. No one else had ever driven his before and he wasn’t terribly comfortable letting her drive his car.
“Have you ever driven a Mustang? Mustangs are powerful, you know.”
“Nick, I can handle it. I’m sure I won’t need the strength you needed to overcome the shark!”
He smiled and shook his head.
The cop returned with his driver’s license and vehicle registration, along with a speeding ticket. She reprimanded Nick before returning to her car and driving off.
Piper waited until she was out of sight before getting out of the car and exchanging seats with Nick who hopped into the passenger seat with the Bible in his hands. It was time to search for the passages.
As he searched, he tried to hold back the tears, but failed. Tears streamed down his face as he thought of his mom and her fate. And his fate. She meant so much to him and she was all that he had. With no brothers or sisters or relatives in the area, he’d be all alone.
Nick grabbed a pen and a sticky pad from the glove compartment and began to mark the chapters of the Old Testament that he’d heard discussed by the pastors over the months since he’d started going to church, starting with Isaiah. Then he marked Genesis 3:15 and Zechariah 9:9.
Piper was at the wheel of the Mustang, driving down the road around seventy-five miles per hour, slightly above the speed limit but in the generally accepted safe zone from ticketing.
Other than the sounds of page flipping and the purring of the engine, little could be heard in the car. Nick had turned the radio off early on because he found it too distracting. He was trying to concentrate his thoughts as best he could at that point.
He thought of Tanner. Nick grabbed his phone from the center console and handed it to Piper. “Can you speed dial number two?” He asked. “Tell Tanner we’re on our way to the hospital and ask him if he’ll meet us there. I’m going to need his help.”
Yet before she could dial, the phone rang.
“Hello,” Piper answered. “Sure,” she said and handed the phone to Nick.
“Hello.”
“Nick, it’s Nancy. I’m with your mom now. She’s still unconscious but her vital signs are good. She’s a strong woman.”
“Yes, she is,” Nick confirmed with a hint of a grin, “We’re about ten minutes from the hospital. Had a delay, but we’ll be there ASAP.”
He looked up at Piper, who was driving the car a little over the speed limit. “Piper, I’m sorry this has been such a horrible first date. I promise that if you’ll go out with me again, the next time will be much better. I promise.”
She chuckled, “Yeah, can’t say I’ve had a date like this before. Who knows what’s next?”
He turned to her and smiled warmly.
“Nick,” she said, “I’d love to go out with you again. You have more character than I ever realized.”