Twenty Five

Twenty Five

Baron was diagnosed of alcohol poisoning/binge drinking. The doctors discovered that he had been drinking six bottles of alcohol which contained a rather too much amount of ethyl alcohol(ethanol) every day for the past seven days. The pills he had in his palm was not found in his blood, so he might have just been planning to swallow them when the symptoms of his poisoning began to show. Colin praised Juana for taking the bold step of looking for him and for seeking help immediately.

"I told you we need to do something but you weren't gon' help" she told him

"No you planned to confront Selena and I said that was a bad idea. This, this that you did is a good idea, and timely too. I'm proud of you" he said and she blushed, but she was worried about her father. The man who had rescued her father soon joined both of them at the reception. Juana had been looking for him to thank him, but he had disappeared as soon as they got to the hospital.

He sat with them and took her hands

"Don't be worried, the Lord is in control" he said. It made her feel relieved

"Thank you so much for your help sir. He could have died if you refused helping" she said

"No, don't mention" he smiled, and Juana couldn't help admiring his face in a harmless kind of way. She hadn't had the time to observe his features earlier. He had scanty white hair but most of the hair on his head was black. He had finely cut face that defined how handsome he was in his youth. He was huge too, not less than 6 feet, 2 inches tall. He carried an aura that spoke confidence even though there was pain in his eyes. It was a normal thing for Juana to be able to observe and discern or assess someone's feelings or mood through their eyes. His eyes looked distant, like they were always flashing back to the past, while the rest of his body was there in the present. This man sure had an history, that he hated.

"You might be wondering how come I know so much about what's wrong with your father?" He said. Juana nodded slowly.

"I was..err..I was a doctor, a professional doctor, and a therapist. That's why" he said. The smile had disappeared from his face and his eyes looked even more distant

"You were?" 

"Yes, I 'was', some shit happened" he disclaimed

"Sorry" she muttered under her breath

Colin kept looking through his phone, he was looking for a way to cut into their conversation, without being rude.

"Who's this young man here? Your boyfriend?" Before Juana could reply, he said "That reminds me of my son. My only son. He was so madly in love with a much younger girl, but the end of their relationship was terrible, really terrible. Fatal even because one of them lost their life. It was insane." Juana looked shocked. What was he trying to say?

"We are not... Juana tried to reply him. Colin looked up from his phone and quickly cut in

"She's my girlfriend and she's only five years younger" his voice was rude. Juana was shocked to hear that from him. She looked straight at him and he shrugged

"Be careful, younguns. Tread softly. I hope you end up happy together" he said nodding his head

"Thank you" they mumbled

"What are they going to do to him? Do you know?" Colin asked

 He pointed towards the wards to mean he was talking about Baron. He wanted to distract him from the conversation

"Oh yeah. He needs oxygen therapy, some vitamins and glucose to raise his blood sugar and prevent seizures. He'll also need some stomach pumping to remove the remaining alcohol left in his stomach. The doctors will do their jobs well, and he'll get better. You don't worry" he smiled now.

"The doctors are asking for too much money" Juana sighed "I don't know where to get that much for his treatment"

"It's not too much, we just don't have that much because he's been spending on her sick granny and mother for several weeks"

 Colin added. The old man nodded (Not that he was so old, he couldn't have been more than sixty two or perhaps he was even in his late fifties?)

"I'm sorry to hear that" he said. "I'll pay" he added. Colin's face beamed with smiles and Juana looked emotional

"Thank you so much, you're an angel" 

He smiled and said quickly "I'm no angel"

"He'll get out of there. I was a victim or sufferer of alcohol poisoning but I survived. Now I've been clean for three years" he nodded. Colin clapped and laughed, but then he added, "My son is who I'm worried about" 

"What happened to him?" They asked

"He has depression. He's not been able to heal from his past and it's killing him. His mom would have done better than I'm doing to encourage him but she's dead" he sighed.

"Sorry. Why don't you get him a therapist?"

"You don't know him. He's too hard to penetrate. He lives in solitude, away from humans. I've talked to him about therapy many times but he's stubborn. He's asked me to leave him alone a couple of times. I guess he's not ready to heal, but I'll try talking to him again"

They sighed "how old is he?"

"25"

"I'll like to tell you children about my life so that you'll learn from it. My son didn't learn from it, so he's suffering from the same thing I suffered from. I don't want you to make the same mistake if you don't wanna be lonely and sad in your old age. It's a must-learn" he said pleading with his hands. That confirmed the hurt in his eyes. Juana knew all along that he was carrying a burden.

"If you children don't mind, I'm inviting you for dinner at my house tonight, if you don't have much personal business to do tonight, I'd like to have you guys" he said and told them his address.

"We'll call you"

" Thanks. I'm a lonely man, but not harmful. You can trust me" he said and left them at the hospital looking like a happy child.

That night back at the ranch, Colin and Juana talked about many things all at once. Juana's mind was somewhere but she could not place it. She was worried about someone and this worry was new, so it was not for her dad or mom or grandmother. She thought about who it could be, and then realized who it was. Jason. He hasn't been replying her messages for a while and Juana was worried. She didn't understand why she'd be worried over a stranger whose face she hadn't even seen, but the worry was there. She cared about him. And she was still looking for a way to prove to him that he could trust her with his secrets. It was 4pm and she laid on the grass with Colin. For once when she looked at his face, she imagined Jason's face. She tried to picture how he looked on Colin's face.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked

"Huh, many things" she said and stopped her imagination

"I hope I'm one of those many things" he said and laughed. He liked laughing all the time. Juana actually believed that even if his leg was to be amputated, he'd be laughing

"Answer me" he hit her playfully

"If you were one of those things I'm thinking about, I'd probably be in the hospital now from too much worrying" she said. He held his chest and laughed. "That's heartbreaking. I think about you all the time but you don't" he added

"Colin, we are in a serious situation. Why are you making a joke out of this? It ain't cool" she said and turned away from him

"You never know how magical a little humour is. It's stressful to be serious" he said and laughed.

"I can't believe I like someone like you" she mumbled

"You can't help but like me" he said and laughed again. They they sat in silence, each of them thinking his own thoughts. Juana decided on something minutes later and turned to him: "Colin, if you had a friend who wants to confide in you but has trust issues, how do you prove to the person that his secrets are safe with you?"

He was silent for a while, then he spoke "There's nothing to prove. Just be friendly, accommodating and pray for the person(s). If they want to trust you, they will. You can't force them to. You can't make them do. Just be natural, they'll deduce by themselves if they're ready to confide in you or not"

She never expected such response