Down but Not Out

By Ethel McMilin

Marilee was very popular through her high school days. On the evening she graduated, she celebrated with some friends. Unfortunately on the way home, a pickup driven by a drunken driver hit the vehicle she was riding in. Once she woke up in the hospital, the doctor told her that she would never walk again. Merilee refused to believe him. Daily she exercised, took special vitamins, and had messages. It was in a wheel chair that she attended college to become a lawyer. Being a lawyer was her goal and crippled or not she was going to achieve her dream.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 14, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463412111

Ethel McMilin

Ethel and Jack have been married 58 years. They have 5 children, 16 grand-children and 20 great-grand children. Ethel retired from the Bureau of Land Management as a computer specialist and took up the hobby of writing. She has 17 novels published. www.mcmilinchristiannovels.com lists the names of her novels and information about them. Some of the novels have been converted to E-books as well. One novel with its sequel is about Alaska where the McMilins lived for 14 years. If you want to know about the great state of Alaska, read the novels.

Book preview

Down But

Not Out

Ethel McMilin

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AuthorHouse™

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© 2011 by Ethel McMilin. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 05/25/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4634-1212-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-1211-1 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my sister and brother-in-law,

Marie and Henry Suggs

Contents

Chapter One

The Terrible Accident

Chapter Two

A Disagreement with the Doctor

Chapter Three

A Good Attitude

Chapter Four

The Law Office

Chapter Five

A Discussion with Garth

Chapter Six

Going Home

Chapter Seven

Phillip’s Church

Chapter Eight

Entering College

Chapter Nine

Understanding the Sermon

Chapter Ten

Attempting to Walk

Chapter Eleven

Clara’s Opinion

Chapter Twelve

The New Home

Chapter Thirteen

Garth and Jill

Chapter Fourteen

The Wedding

Chapter Fifteen

Graduating from College

Chapter Sixteen

Changing Plans

Chapter Seventeen

Postponing the Lawsuit

Chapter Eighteen

Working on a Case

Chapter Nineteen

A Growing Family

Chapter Twenty

The Television Interview

Chapter Twenty-One

Garth’s Disappointment

Chapter Twenty-Two

House Problems

Chapter Twenty-Three

Talking with a Prisoner

Chapter Twenty-Four

The Beach Vacation

Chapter Twenty-Five

The Home Repaired

Chapter Twenty-Six

The McAfee’s Problem s

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The Bowers Case

Chapter Twenty-Eight

One Sick Boy

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The Hospital Stay

Chapter Thirty

A Big Surprise

Chapter Thirty-One

A Plea for Help

Chapter Thirty-Two

The Unhappy Lawyer

Chapter Thirty-Three

One Defendant Missing

Chapter Thirty-Four

Trial Results

Chapter Thirty-Five

The Growing Family

Chapter One

The Terrible Accident

When the telephone rang Marilee was half asleep and wondering who would call her at eleven o’clock at night. She reached for the phone and knocked if off the holder onto the floor. Sleepily she picked it up and managed to say hello.

Hey, what are you doing? There’s a party over at Jill’s house. Get ready and I’ll pick you up in ten minutes, Garth suggested.

Garth, you woke me up. You go to the party, I’m going back to sleep. I can’t keep those late hours that you do. We have school tests to take tomorrow. Now goodnight, I’ll see you in the morning. Marilee hung up and shook her head. Garth had asked her to marry him when they graduated from high school. She had told him they had to wait at least a year after graduation.

Lately some things had happen and she knew she didn’t want to marry Garth Richardson. He wasn’t someone that she wanted to live with the rest of her life. This recent phone call was just one example. For another thing, the new girl, Jill Mason, seemed to hold Garth’s attention a little too much. It appeared that Garth couldn’t keep his eyes off her. Lately it was Jill this and Jill that. This Jill was her way out of the talked about engagement.

Marilee was a cheer leader, president of her senior class, and she played the main character in the school play. Everyone liked the popular girl and she worked hard at getting along with her classmates even those that no one else could get along with.

As the valedictorian of her high school senior class she had to give a speech to her classmates on graduation night and she had been working on the speech off and on. Speaking to an audience was one of her expertise. She was never nervous and she didn’t quite understand people who were stressed when they spoke in public. It all came natural to her. She was voted by the class the student most likely to succeed. It was a nice honor but she knew there were a lot of students in her class that were going to succeed just as much as she was. But she thanked them for the honor.

Marilee particularly liked her part time job in a lawyer’s office. She worked after school an hour each day and usually a few hours on Saturday. A lawyer was what she wanted to be but she still had college to finish. She had taken a few college classes in high school and some at night school that would help when she entered college. With her high grades she’d have some scholarships to help her through as far as finances. Her parents told her that they’d help her obtain her goal and could pay a significant amount of the cost. They were proud of her for wanting to be a lawyer and they had no doubt but that she’d be one good one.

Graduation night came and all the potential graduates were getting ready to walk down the gymnasium aisle and receive their diploma that they had worked for twelve years to obtain. Marilee watched her excited classmates. First they had to listen to the speeches from different teachers. Finally, Marilee gave her speech. She made it funny and yet it had some good thoughts for the students to think about. She received a much more enthusiastic ovation than the teachers did. The students really appreciated her speech after listening to the solemn speeches from their instructors.

The instructors looked at their prize student. She was gifted and no one would argue otherwise. If they could see the future, they knew the girl was going to be a successful lawyer. If they needed a lawyer then, well they certainly would think about Marilee Bennett.

As they handed out the diplomas Marilee looked at hers. She held it proudly. Twelve years it took but she had her diploma. Garth came over and told her that they were all going for a ride. They had some beer that his dad had purchased for them and they wanted to have a party and celebrate. Jill Mason was standing right next to Garth with her hand on his arm and making herself quite noticeable.

Garth, I don’t want to go to a beer party. You know that I don’t care that much for alcohol. You go and have a good time. I’m going with Susanna and Jeanette. You and I don’t always have to be together. She couldn’t help but notice the smile on Jill’s face when she told Garth she didn’t want to go nor could she help but notice how Jill all but snuggled up to Garth. If he’d only fall for Jill then he’d leave her alone.

Please, darling, come with me. I miss you when I have to go somewhere without you. I missed you the other night when you didn’t come to the party. Please come with us and I promise not to drink too much. Garth was doing his best to persuade his fiancé but it wasn’t working. He could see the lack of desire right on her face. It would do no good to try to convince her to go with him—that he knew from experience.

Go have a good time. I’ll see you sometime tomorrow. Now go and don’t think anything more about it. Susanna and Jeanette have some great ideas on how to celebrate without the booze. Marilee kissed him on the cheek and walked away to join the two girls that were waiting for her. She wasn’t going to continue the argument. One too many times she had told Garth her opinion of the drinking parties but she never seemed to get through to him.

I didn’t know if you were going to get to come with us or not, Jeanette declared. Garth seemed pretty confident that he could persuade you to go with him. As his finance, I’m surprised you didn’t.

Jeanette, I can’t stand booze parties. I went to one and left a half hour after I got there. Garth was so mad at me for doing that. I could never marry that man if he keeps drinking so much. It’s his business but it’s mine if I don’t want to put up with it. At this point I don’t have any intentions of marrying Garth Richardson.

Susanna was shocked. She had never heard Marilee say one bad word against Garth before. She thought the marriage was a sure thing. She was pleased that it wasn’t and that Marilee didn’t intend to marry the drunk as Susanna thought of him. One time Susanna had seen him drunk on the street and that was enough for her.

He isn’t the right guy for you to marry, Marilee. Susanna stated that and then wished she hadn’t. It was none of her business. Marilee, come to church with me this Sunday. You said you’d go one time and now is as good a time as any. Please come with me.

Okay, I’ll do that. Now we’re all going to your house to celebrate. You said your folks were giving us a party, is that right?

That’s right, Susanna answered.

Jeanette drove them to Susanna’s place. The parents welcomed them into the home. A few other classmates were there. Marilee noticed that it was what she considered the clean bunch of girls that were gathered at the Morrison’s house for the party. These were the ones that never told off-colored jokes, never swore, and were very kind and thoughtful to the rest of the class. There was something about all these girls that interested Marilee. If she were to describe them to someone, she’d say they were a step above the rest of the class.

At different times she heard some of the classmates call the group of girls goody-two-shoes. The girls always smiled and never let it bother them. No matter what criticism or unkind things said to them, they just smiled and went on their way. What made these girls so different? What gave them all that patience to deal with unfriendly people? Marilee would like to know.

When the party ended, it was two o’clock. Marilee thought that was the most fun she had ever had at any party. No one swore or became angry but everyone just had a good time. Susanna’s parents were so interesting and made the party fun. One interesting thing was that they prayed over the snacks. She’d never been around people who prayed but if that’s what they wanted to do, that was okay with her.

Jeanette was the driver and she and Marilee said goodbye and hugged everyone. The two thanked Susanna’s parents for the good time they had. They both thought the parents had done a good job helping them celebrating their graduation. Now it was time to go home and get some sleep. Ordinarily, she didn’t stay up this late.

On the freeway, Jeanette noticed a pickup whose driver was swerving all over the road in every direction. She was pleased that Jeanette was driving north while the other vehicle was coming south toward them. It was good to have a division between the two roads. But all of a sudden the swerving vehicle swung down into the grass division between the two roads over to the north bound freeway and ran right into Jeanette’s automobile and hit the passenger side of the vehicle.

Jeanette had tried so hard to get out of the driver’s way but failed to before the swerving driving crashed into her vehicle. There just wasn’t enough time to accomplish that. It happened so fast and there was nothing she could do to avoid the swerving big truck.

She looked at Marilee’s crumbled body. She cried. Jeanette could see people calling on their cell phones and hoped it was a 911 call. All she could do was look at her friend and pray.

Marilee, are you okay?

There was no answer.

As she took a closer look, she noticed that Marilee’s legs were shoved closed to her stomach. Jeanette felt her friend’s pulse and it appeared to be strong. Thank you, God, that she’s still alive, Jeanette prayed. She kept praying until help came.

The ambulance drove up close to the automobile and carefully lifted Marilee out of the vehicle and into the ambulance. Jeanette had a hard time with her tears as she couldn’t control them. She looked at the other vehicle and wondered if anyone was hurt in it. Since it was a big pickup truck she assumed that there was less damage done to the occupants than in her automobile.

That pickup is full of drunken kids, she heard one of the policeman say. He was shaking his head as if he was disgusted at that fact.

Jeanette hoped it wasn’t any of her classmates driving drunk down the freeway. That would be terrible. But she was a little on the dizzy side herself and had a few cuts and bruises. The ambulance workers insisted that she come with them and get checked out by the doctors and she didn’t resist. Jeanette knew on the whole she was okay but she did have a headache and some bruises and it would be good for the doctor to tell her they were all minor and that she was fine.

The ambulance crew helped her into the vehicle and drove quickly to the hospital with the siren blasting as they went. Jeanette kept an eye on Marilee hoping that she’d awaken soon but it didn’t happen. All the way to the hospital, she kept talking with her friend. If she’d just moan, but it appeared that Marilee was sound asleep or passed out completely.

When she arrived at the hospital she had to remember to call the Bennetts and let them know that their daughter was in an accident. Someone else might do it but she didn’t want to take any chance that they would be left out. Her parents needed to know that their daughter had been in a terrible accident and was badly hurt.

How do you say to a parent that you daughter has been hit and hurt badly by some drunk driver in a pickup? Perhaps the doctor or nurse would call. The Bennetts weren’t Christians so they didn’t have God’s peace in their home. They had no one to help them through this horrible ordeal.

It would be up to her to try to comfort them if she could. Jeanette wasn’t looking forward to the necessary phone call. What if it was someone calling her parents and telling them that she was in an accident? What could she say?

Chapter Two

A Disagreement with the Doctor

Marilee woke up with a start and looked around. Why was she in the hospital? Then she remembered that she had been in an automobile accident. Her legs hurt her something awful. She wondered if she could find a nurse or someone and get some pain pills. Was it her legs or her back that hurt? When she stopped to think about it, her arms, legs, head and neck all hurt. That must have been a terrible accident.

As she thought about it, she remembered seeing the pickup truck that was driving all over the south bound traffic freeway and then all at once it turned and crossed the grassy divider and hit Jeanette’s automobile. She remembered hearing a loud crash and that was all she could remember. The crash must have knocked her unconscious.

Marilee looked around and noticed that she had tubes running from her arms. Those tubes must be feeding something into her veins. Perhaps if she could get a hold of a nurse she would ask her to add some pain medicine to it. How long had she been in the hospital, she wondered?

Marilee looked around to see if she could find a button to push to reach a nurse. At last she found the elusive button and pushed it. In just a few moments, a nurse entered her room. She was a little surprised that her patient was awake.

Good morning, Miss Bennett. How are you feeling this morning? You have slept for two days.

I slept for two days? It seems that I barely came to the hospital. I just lost two days of my life. Actually, I’m in a little pain in my arms, legs, neck, and head. I think even my shoulders hurt. Can you give me some pain medicine?

The nurse smiled. In other words you feel like a truck ran over you. Well it almost did. That vehicle that hit you was full of drunken young people. They all survived and barely had a scratch. Your driver, Jeanette Black, came out of the accident in pretty good condition with only minor cuts and bruises. Now, I’ll put some pain medicine in the liquid we’re giving you and that should help. The doctor told me to do that if you woke up hurting. Are you hungry?

Yes, I’m starved. I feel like I haven’t eaten anything for two days.

You have been fed through the tube but it’s a good sign that you’re hungry now. We honestly didn’t let you starve those two days, the nurse exclaimed and smiled at her patient. I’ll have you some breakfast here in a few minutes. I hope this pain medicine helps and you feel better right away. It is a miracle that you survived that crash according to the police. With that said, the nurse left.

Once the breakfast was brought to her, the patient ate every bite on the tray. She even asked for another cup of coffee. That was such a good breakfast. I was so hungry. Thanks for bringing it so quickly. Did anyone notify my parents?

Yes, they have been here quite often hoping you were awake. They should be coming in anytime now. The other nurse let them know that you were awake. They were just a little worried about you as we all were. However since your pulse was good we had every hope of you waking up before too long.

I know my parents would come to the hospital as soon as they heard about the accident. They are great parents. I’m anxious to see them and let them know that I’m just fine, Marilee declared.

The nurse looked at her and told her that she’d bring some more coffee shortly. So her patient thought she was just fine but she wasn’t. What would she do when the doctor told her what was wrong with her? It wasn’t the nurse’s place to give her that information. Nurse Bronson was relieved that it wasn’t her duty to give this lovely girl the bad news. That’s why the doctors made such good money.

Marilee appeared to be such a nice person. Why did this have to happen to her? That’s what the nurse thought as she walked down the hall to locate the doctor and to bring another cup of coffee to her patient. She hoped the doctor’s diagnosis was wrong. Every so often they are, thought the nurse.

When she brought the coffee to her patient, Marilee was sitting up with her legs dangling on the side of the bed.

Nurse, my legs feel strange. I had to lift them up and physically move them. Is that because of the medicine you’re giving me through these tubes? she asked with a puzzled look on her face.

Nurse Bronson didn’t know what to say. She’d call the doctor and let him tell her what happened. She was surprised that Marilee Bennett was able to sit up. She didn’t think that was possible with all the damage that was done to her back. But here she was sitting up and pleased with herself. But then she did say she lifted the legs with her hands. That made a little more sense.

"I’m going to try to get your doctor once more. He was busy but he should be free now. I’ll go check on him again.