Chapter 26

Pon is placing pieces of the ribs and chicken on his plate, while Nom fills his with the pastas. Mochi drinks some soda first, then he goes to the other side of the table to get some of the food.

“Here, Mochi, try these baked ribs,” Tas invited.

“Later,” Mochi simply answered, without looking at Tas.

“Okay. They are good,” Tas said, who did not mind by how he was responded to. He feeds Gan with a piece of the rib. Mochi sees it, and he immediately goes back to the other side of the table.

“P’Mochi, you want some drinks?” asked Gan, filling up his own glass.

“Thank you, Gan, but I’m good.”

“You alright, P’? You’re very silent.”

“I’m just sad about what happened to Exeter,” lied Mochi.

“Uhm, K’Lin, kindly get us some ice from the freezer,” said Uncle Jek as Kira and Lin walk to the fridge to get the desserts.

“Krap khun,” she replied.

As Lin gets the ice cream cake from the freezer, she sees that the ice trays are only part-full, which is not enough even for Uncle Jek himself. “P’Jek krap. We ran out of ice,” said Lin.

“Oh shoot. I want to drink some wine with ice.”

“Don’t worry, uncle. I’ll go to the store and get it,” said Sun, who is obviously a little bubblier now. This little celebration helps him a bit to be somewhat happy.

“I’ll do it N’Sun,” countered Lin.

“You stay here with the others, Lin. I’ll go. I have to buy something too.”

“What is it, Sun?” asked Tas.

“I want some wafers for the ice cream, or maybe some cones too.”

“You haven’t grown up yet, have you N’Sun?” said Aunt Mika, who is astonished that despite being already a medical student, his nephew still has that trait of eating his ice cream with a cone or wafer.

“Yeah. I guess so.”

“Okay. Be careful nong.”

“Thank you, auntie. I’ll be back in flash. Save some of those desserts for me.”

“You want an extra hand, Sun?” asked Mochi, who sees it as an opportunity to save himself from the torture of seeing Tas and Gan.

“It’s okay, Mochi. I can do it.”

“Okay.”

Sun leaves the house and goes towards convenience store, which is on the other side of the main road and about two blocks away. As he is walking, a white snowy owl with a weak shade of black catches his attention. It is from a pet shop by the sidewalk. He loses his sense of time as he gazes at the bird for a while. He is about to enter the store to inquire on how to get it when he sees that he has less than thirty seconds before the pedestrian light switches to stop, and he is still considerably far. He runs from the pet shop, but the people traversing the sidewalk make it hard for him to gain momentum. The coast only clears up when he reaches the gutter. However, the timer is already at three, and the red light is already blinking, which means it is a warning for the walkers to stop as the cars are about to go. Sun goes on without hesitation and crosses the road thinking that his big strides will help him land on the other side. The pedestrian light turns steady red with Sun only covering barely one-fourth of the road and is nowhere near the other side.

“Shit! I’ll go to jail for this one,” said Sun to himself.

“Finally, a green light,” said the driver of a silver sedan, who has endured a nearly two-minute stop light. He gears to Drive and floors the accelerator on the clear coast. The car is gaining speed when Sun suddenly appears at the front of the car

“OH FUCK!” shouted the driver as he slams his right foot on the brake upon hearing a loud thud. However, it is too late. Sun is hit at his side with enough force that his body bends to the left. His elbow hits the hood first, serving as a cushion that thankfully prevented his head from hitting instead. He was thrown forward landing a couple of feet away from the car.

“NONG!” shouted the driver as he runs towards Sun. The suspect looks like someone who is just about to start his work for the day. The traffic police, who is waiting for Sun on the other side of the road to reprimand or possibly arrest him, runs to the accident site as well. The driver kneels to turn his victim over, so he can see who he just hit.

“My god! Mister Pitchitara!” he said. Sun, unawake, has multiple abrasions on his wrist and face, is bleeding from the mouth, and his elbow that hit the hood of the car is of a dark purple because of a possible clotted blood.

“Help me officer,” implored the driver to the policeman who comes to them. “I am a doctor in that hospital there – just after the next intersection,” he added, pointing to the building at the left side of the next street.

“Do you know him?”

“Yes, I do. Let’s hurry P’. He could have internal bleeding.”

“Krap,” said the policeman. He calls the officer on the next intersection using his two-way radio, telling him to stop the traffic momentarily.

The driver carries Sun and lays him in the back passenger seat, while the police officer sits at the front passenger side. They have no trouble passing other cars to get to the hospital. The driver who hit Sun stops by the ER bay and carries him out of the car.

“Doctor, what happened?” asked the physician-on-duty.

“Bring over a stretcher khun,” said the suspect to the guard at the door. “Code red. I ran over him while he was crossing the street. Get the available nurses in the OR now,” he replied to the physician-on-duty, who immediately obeys.

“The boy tried to beat the pedestrian light but failed and was hit,” added the policeman, who is standing by the nurses’ desk. “Does he have any identifications? I need to notify his family and make a report out of this,” he said further.

“Here is his wallet and phone, officer,” said the physician-on-duty.

The policeman takes them and exits the ER. He goes to the fifth floor, so he can wait outside the Operating Room. The doctor who hit Sun and the lady physician-on-duty drags the stretcher where Sun lies and use the express elevator to get to the OR quicker. Every second that passes is critical to Sun’s survival.