Chapter 9      

      Sam had completely downed one bottle and began to stagger off towards the Water Gardens. Delvin knew she wouldn’t last in the gardens during the day because of the tourists. The police would arrest her and take her a few blocks to the drunk tank. Delvin sat there thinking maybe getting caught and going to jail would be better than Sam drinking both bottles of wine so fast.

      Sam was now out of control. She had guzzled one bottle of wine and was working on the second, while staggering towards the Water Gardens. The normal citizens were in abundance milling around the water gardens on a cold but sunny day. She now looked like a typical wino walking crooked and stopping to take long drinks from the last bottle of wine. She was feeling no pain. Her thinking was beginning to wane, but her thoughts were still going back to the pleas of the children. She couldn’t get them out of her mind, no matter how much she drank. The words kept coming back, “Santa please help me.” The words were there but no matter how much they pleaded there were no miracles.

      Sam was having a sick feeling in her chest and stomach but there was nothing that could be done about the numbing feeling. She couldn’t think straight which is what she wanted. She stopped and sat down at the edge of the water gardens and took another long swig from the wine bottle. After the swig she began crying and put her face in her hands. She thought to herself, ‘How could she do that to those kids.’ She suddenly found religion, “Dear God, help me, please help me. I just want to help those kids; I don’t know what to do.”

      Sam’s mind was fading in and out, she didn’t know what to do. She was numb all over. She felt nothing. Apparently, that’s the way it was supposed to be. A slow sinking feeling into oblivion.

      She took one last long drink from the bottle and slowly fell over to the side and passed out in full view of the afternoon water garden tourists. Eventually the police arrived. They arrive in the form of Tracy and Fitzgerald.

      Tracy winces, “Hey Sam, what are you doing? It’s daytime and you’re in the gardens.”

      Sam turned towards the officers, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please forgive me. My whole life has been a sham. I’ve helped no one, I’ve influenced no one. Please, Tracy, pull your gun and shoot me! Please be merciful and shoot me!”

      Tracy looked at Fitzgerald, “This isn’t Sam. Something’s wrong. What do you think?”

      Fitzgerald looked at her, then looked at the surrounding tourists, then looked back at Tracy, “I don’t know, you think we should take her to the drunk tank or the hospital.”

      Tracy stood there for a second, “There’s something wrong alright, let’s take her to the hospital to make sure. That’ll save her from the drunk tank. That should just about finish out the shift.”

      Fitzgerald agreed, “Yeah, sounds good. We’ll ride this out until the end of the shift, and we’ll make sure Sam’s okay.”

      They both laughed under their breath as they called for an ambulance to take Sam to the county hospital just south of downtown.

      Sam fell silent in the ambulance and pretty much passed out as they streaked through the downtown area and ended up in the emergency room.

      As the ambulance personnel removed her from the vehicle and took her into the ER, the doctors began looking at Tracy and Fitzgerald skeptically.

      One doctor, a round pudgy man, asked the officers why they brought a drunk to the ER instead of taking her to the drunk tank.

      Fitzgerald now got a stern look on his face, “Look doc, we know this gal, and there’s something wrong with her besides just being drunk. So can you do me a favor and check her out, okay?”

      The doctor looked at Fitzgerald for a second, “Okay, I’ll see if anything is wrong with her besides her blood alcohol content being three times the normal human tolerance.”

      Fitzgerald acknowledged, “Thanks Doc.”

      The tests took a while and both officers decided to leave Sam at the hospital until they figured out what to do with her. She had to be about sober now and it was time for them to get off work.

      The officers left and Coley was now in a triage room all by herself. She began to regain consciousness and was somewhat sober. She laid there for a few minutes wondering why she was in the hospital and not in the city drunk tank. After several minutes of wondering, she figured Tracy and Fitzgerald must have found her and taken her there. Those guys were great. They were concerned about her health. Sam was now regaining more coherent thought. The memory and depression of what happened earlier was setting in again. She became upset and cried uncontrollably about the events at the mission earlier. After the usual several minutes of crying she began to settle down and decided she needed to get out of the hospital. There was only one thing to do and that was get back out on the street and drink herself to death. It was time to go.

      Sam thought to herself, ‘It is my time to go. There is nothing left for me. I need to find a way to end it.’

      Sam found her clothes and took the time to put on all the layers. She walked out of the hospital still buttoning a layer and was now walking the streets of the southside of Fort Worth.