Free Just Destiny by Theresa Rizzo Page A

nose, a loud honking sound.
    A blue scrubs-clad doctor and nurse and some Amy chick, probably a bereavement counselor, paraded in after them. With apologetic eyes, the doctor instructed them to say their good-byes. One by one, they hugged Gabe and whispered some last words of love in choked voices, leaving the room blinded by tears. First Alex and Ted, then Judith, and then himself.
    My God, he’d just got here an hour ago and already they were making him go. They didn’t give a man much time, did they? Maybe it’s just as well. Jenny took the longest, but they didn’t have too long to wait before a nurse escorted her from the room.
    He watched in astonishment as Judith and Alex both wrapped comforting arms around a sobbing Jenny and led her down the hall. Grief did strange things to people, he thought as he and Ted followed. The Amy lady trailed behind, like the caboose on a train. She was probably just as useless. When they reached the elevator, he turned back and out of the corner of his eye, he saw them wheel Gabe away in the opposite direction around the corner.
    Although he was now on a gurney, George was sure it was Gabe. What in the hell was going on? Why was he still hooked up to the breathing machine? George turned around and sprinted down the hall. Pain from arthritis in his hip caused him to limp, but he caught up to them. “Hey, what’re you doing? Where are you taking him?”
    They paused but didn’t stop until he passed them and blocked the hall.
    “Where are you taking my boy?”
    The doctor looked beyond him to where Amy had come up behind them.
    George narrowed his eyes. “What’s going on?”
    “It’s okay, George. This is how it’s done.” Judith said. The others gathered behind her.
    “How what’s done? When you die, your body stops breathing and they cover you with the sheet. Or they put you in some giant black baggie or something.” He pointed at Gabe lying on the gurney, chest still rising and falling with the machine. “That is not how it’s done. He’s still breathing.”
    “Gabe wanted to donate his organs,” Judith said.
    “The hell he did,” he exploded.
    “It’s what Gabe wanted. Jenny signed the papers.” Judith looked at the waiting team. “Go ahead.”
    “You can’t do that.” Donate his organs? He looked at his helpless nephew, picturing them slicing him open and hollowing him out before giving him back to them to put into the ground. He didn’t deserve that. He was a good man. He deserved to be buried whole, with honor. Rage and betrayal ripped through George.
    The team resumed pushing Gabe’s gurney.
    “You do and I’ll sue you and this whole damn hospital,” he snarled. He pointed an accusing finger at Jenny. “I don’t give a damn what she signed, nobody’s carvin’ up my boy.”
    Amy eased around the others, little miss meek preparing to confront the lion. “Mr. Turner, I understand your concern, but—”
    “You understand nothing , lady.” He turned back to the doctor. “You’re not taking him anywhere. You turn that machine off right here and let him die with dignity.”
    “We can’t do that,” the doctor said.
    Jenny, her face red and blotchy from crying, looked at the waiting team. Squaring her shoulders, she said, “Please. Take him.”
    The team wore varying degrees of relief and acceptance on their faces as they escaped. They’d actually listened to the little twit. Astonished, he turned on her. “Stop them.”
    “It’s what he wanted, George,” she choked out.
    “How the hell could you know what he wanted? You only knew him a few years, I knew him his whole life, and I’m tellin’ you it’s not right.” He chased after the team. “Wait,” he yelled as they pushed Gabe onto the elevator.
    They hesitated long enough to look past him to Jenny, who nodded miserably as the stainless steel doors glided shut.
    Gabe was gone. He had to get him back. He couldn’t let them do this. It was inhumane.
    “Goddammit, come back here.