Albert’s Story: Part I

By Ronald Dean Durbin

Albert Mendoza boarded a plane for Denver for a business meeting, but his plane was grounded by a frigid northerner with hurricane-force winds and negative-fifty degrees. He had made a friend with the steward, Allie. Allie would find his wrecked Jeep and save his life just minutes later. Albert was run into, and he lost the top of his Jeep and his own head. Before Albert could die, he was frozen along with the top of his head. In shock, Allie found his head and brought it back to him. Anne, a resident doctor at the local VA hospital, took the skull from Allie and put it back on the corpse. Except Albert wasn’t quite dead. His spinal cord reconnected ever so slightly.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984557971

Ronald Dean Durbin

Ronald Dean Durbin graduated from Hodge High School in St. James, Missouri, in 1967, after which, he enlisted in the Air Force. After his four-year commitment, he entered college studying to become a Chaplain. This would include a BS and MS in Education and the three-year seminary degree, later followed by his doctorate. Ordained and Certified as a Chaplain, Ron came back onto active duty in the Air Force as a Chaplain in 1985. In1995, Ron came off active duty moving into the Reserves of the Air Force. Also certified as an Educator, he went back into fulltime teaching at The Defense Language Institute, teaching adult foreign military personnel English until June 30, 2017. In seminary, he married and would become father to Carrie and Jere. Later, as a single parent, he would add Charlie and Alicia. He and Ainagul were married in January of 2017.

Book preview

ALBERT’S STORY

Part I

Ronald Dean Durbin

Copyright © 2018 by Ronald Dean Durbin.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2018911214

ISBN:             Hardcover               978-1-9845-5799-5

                       Softcover                 978-1-9845-5798-8

                       eBook                      978-1-9845-5797-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 10/03/2018

Xlibris

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CONTENTS

BOOK I

The Accident

Chapter 1: December 14, 2030

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

BOOK II

Albert’s Recovery

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6: December 15, 2030

Chapter 7: January 30, 2031

Chapter 8: September 15, 2031

BOOK III

The Miracle

Chapter 9: October 15, 2031

Chapter 10: October 15, 2031

BOOK IV

Rehab

Chapter 11: April 10, 2032

Chapter 12: April 24, 2032

Chapter 13: June 4, 2032

Chapter 14: June 12, 2032

Chapter 15: June 22, 2032

Chapter 16: July 1, 2032

Chapter 17: July 22, 2032

BOOK I

The Accident

CHAPTER 1

December 14, 2030

This is the story of Albert Mendoza surviving a horrific crash on Minnesota’s State Highway 77 and the young steward Allie, who saved his life. Allie and her elder brother Chandler were raised by their grandmother in Al’s Trailer Park in a small suburb in San Antonio. A neighbor, Ron Blain, had been keeping a close eye on the kids. He put them into some nice school clothes and helped keep food on their table. Grandma’s trailer was falling apart. Ron’s trailer was fourteen years old but in great shape. Ron had just moved into a really nice place on four acres, so his trailer was empty, and Grandma asked if she and the kids could move in there.

Allie and Chandler’s parents were a couple but not married. The parents seemed to be interested in many things, but the kids were a low priority. So they were living at Grandma’s, and she was feeding, bathing, and taking care of the kids daily. Mom was both near and far.

She and her elder daughter, Sue, also had been raised by Grandma and helped move everything over to Ron’s trailer. That night, they had partied with some meth. The next morning, one of the guys who had stayed the night in the trailer threw his cigarette into the yard. Seven hours later, it had turned into a grass fire, heading to Ron’s trailer. The fourteen-year-old wooden front porch burned quickly, getting hot enough to catch the trailer on fire. Sue was in the back of the trailer with her little daughter when she went to see what all the noise was. Flames were now into the kitchen and living room. Sue and her little daughter made it out the back door safely.

The local police and firefighters would get there, but the house was a total loss. Terry, the kids’ mom, had been at the doctor’s office with Grandma. Ron was also called, and he came. Allie and Chandler, seven and eight respectively, were still in school but would arrive soon. The police chief asked Ron point blank, who had slept in the house the night before, That would have been Sue and her daughter and Terry and her other daughter, Allie. To make a long story short, meth was found, Terry was tested for it, and her drug test on-site was positive. She was then cuffed and taken into custody. Testing positive for drug use was a violation of her parole. The kids now belonged to Grandma’s care totally.

Ron and Grandma had another parent meet the school bus before it got to the burned-out home. Then they went to the home where the kids were and broke the news that everything they had was now gone—clothes, toys, furniture, etc. That afternoon was spent replacing things that one just had to have. Grandma was on oxygen and needed a new machine. The kids had no clothes at all. The Red Cross came through in a big way. They showed up at the fire scene and set into motion getting those necessary items replaced. Grandma was given some cash to get the kids new clothes.

There was now the question of where the kids would spend the night. Ron was still unpacking boxes at his new place but invited the family to stay with him for two months. After that, they would look at the situation and see where they were.

The parents of Allie and Chandler were brought into court and read the riot act. They were told to complete a dozen different tasks, including rehab, or face losing custody of their kids. For the time being, the court placed