Chapter 28
“Good evening, Chief Greer, both are settled into their room for the night,” the nurse said as Silas walked to the nurse’s station.
“How are they doing?” he asked, as he steadied himself for the answer he prayed would not come.
“To be honest, they’re doing quite well. Mr. Wilson has been asking for you. He has refused to go to sleep until speaking to you,” the nurse smiled at the amused look that appeared on Silas’ face.
“Yeah, ole Chuck can be a bit stubborn at times. What rooms are they in?” Silas glanced down the hall to the closed bedroom doors.
“Well, actually, they are in the same room. Mr. Wilson said that he wanted them to share a room. He was quite adamant about it,” the nurse said nervously.
Silas noticed the look on her face and smiled. “Yeah, he can be strong-willed at times.”
The nurse nodded her agreement. “He’s in room 206. I was just in there a couple of minutes ago, and he was wide awake.”
“Thank you, I’ll go speak to him now.” Silas turned and walked down the hall to room number 206. He reached for the door handle and slowly opened the door.
“Well, it’s about damn time you got here,” Chuck bellowed. “I’ve been fighting with that damn nurse for the last hour. For some reason, she seems to think that I need some sleep.”
Silas was relieved to see Chuck looking so well. He had a few cuts and scrapes, but all in all, he looked like he had escaped getting any significant injuries. Unfortunately, Sandy looked as though her injuries were more severe. Her right arm was in a cast, they had the top of her head bandaged, and she looked as though she had some burns on her throat and chest.
“It’s good to see you two,” Silas said as he walked closer to Chuck’s bed.
Chuck glanced over at Sandy, who was sleeping soundly. He reached up and wiped a stray tear away before he spoke. “I hope you caught the bastards who did this to us.”
Silas looked at the anger and sadness in Chuck’s eyes. “We sure did. They are sitting in jail as we speak.”
Silas saw the relief on Chuck’s face. “Good, I’m glad you caught the bastards.”
“Chuck, I need to ask if you were able to see any of them before they ran away?” Silas was sure he already knew the answer to his question, but he had to ask.
“No, I’m sorry. I never got a chance to see any of their faces. I hope that won’t jeopardize the case against them.”
“No, they were caught red-handed. It just would make it easier for the prosecutor, but that’s okay. Bridges and his men will be able to backtrack their trail to your house,” Silas grinned.
Chuck looked at Silas and smiled.
“How is Sandy doing?” Silas nodded toward Sandy, who was still sleeping.
“She’s doing better than they thought she would. The poor thing was terrified. She got some bad burns on her neck and chest, and her arm got broke when she tripped and fell because of all the thick smoke. I tried to get to her, but I couldn’t find her in all of the smoke. Then the next thing I remember is lying on the stretcher in the ambulance,” his voiced cracked as the emotions he had felt at the time overtook him.
Silas walked closer to the bed and rested his hand on Chuck’s shoulder. “I’m just thankful the two of you survived. I’m sorry I couldn’t get there sooner. Maybe I could have stopped…”
Chuck interrupted Silas. “None of this is your fault, Silas. I blame this on the damn Feds for forcing all of this on us. We didn’t ask the government to bring those people to our town. Yet, they were, and under false pretenses. We all know those boys who attacked you and then me are not the innocent children portrayed in the news. They are gang members and criminals who have no desire to come here for a new life. Look at the illness brought to the school and all the sick children. Silas, our town is under assault, and it’s our very own government who is doing it. Something needs to happen to wake people up to the truth. People need to know the truth about what’s going on here.”
Silas knew Chuck was right, and he knew just what he needed to do. “I’ll let you get some rest, and I promise that I won’t stop until our fellow Americans understand what’s happening to the people of Sandley.”
Chuck looked up at Silas with tears in his eyes. “Thank you,” were the only words he said as he closed his eyes.
Silas quietly left the room, and once he was out in the hall, he reached for his cell phone. “Jen, I’m on my way home. I know it’s late, but make some coffee because we have some work to do.”
The sound of the alarm brought Silas and Jen out of a deep sleep.
“I’m going to take a shower and try to wake up,” Jen moaned as she crawled out of bed.
“Okay, I’ll start the coffee,” Silas yawned and stretched as he walked to the kitchen.
They had both been up most of the night searching the internet for prominent people in the media to contact that would be willing to report the truth without any political correctness spin or hidden agenda. They finally settled on three that they sent emails to requesting time to share the story of what was happening in Sandley.
The coffee had finished brewing when Jen came into the kitchen. “Oh thank goodness,” she smiled as she reached for the cup Silas held out to her.
She walked over to the table and sat in her chair as Silas filled his cup and joined her.
“Do you think any of them will contact you?” Jen asked.
“I don’t know. I’m hoping, at least, one of them will have the courage to report the truth,” Silas grinned as he lifted the cup of hot coffee to his lips and took a sip.
“Well, I need to get going. I’ll call you during lunch to see if anyone has contacted you.” Jen took another sip of coffee then stood and put the cup in the sink.
“Don’t you want anything to eat before you go?” Silas asked.
“No, I need to get there early. With all this time off lately, I need to get a few things ready for when we open classes again,” Jen sighed.
“I know the kids will be glad to be back in school again. I’ll talk to you later.” Silas stood and gave her a kiss goodbye then he walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a bowl.
“I’m going to have a bowl of cereal before I go to the office,” he grinned.
“Okay, well don’t forget to call and let me know, all right?” Jen said as she walked to the backdoor.
“I will.”
Once Jen left, Silas grabbed the box of cereal, the milk carton from the refrigerator, and a spoon from the silverware drawer. He sat back down at the table, but as he began to fill his bowl with the cereal, his cell phone rang.
“Chief Greer.”
“Good morning, my name is Michael Ramsey and I’m with the Judge Gina show. I was surprised to read your email this morning about what is happening in your town, and we would love to interview you on our show.”
“Well, I must admit I’m surprised to hear from anyone so quickly,” Silas responded.
“I assume that you sent your request out to other individuals, am I correct?” Michael held his breath as he waited.
“As a matter of fact, I did.”
Michael took a moment to gather his thoughts before he continued. “I know from your email that you don’t want to waste your time. I also know that you don’t trust members of the media not to spin your story in a negative light. I have spoken with Judge Gina, and she is anxious to talk to you. Do you have a few minutes? She’d like to put your mind at ease at the prospect of being a guest on her show.”
“Sure, I’ll talk to her.”
“Thank you, Chief Greer. I’ll transfer the call now; please hold.”
Silas heard the phone click twice, and then the voice of a woman came on the phone.
“Good morning, Chief Greer. I’m so happy that you decided to contact me about the problems your town is facing.”
“Good morning, Judge Gina. I’d like to thank you for your i
nterest in helping.”
“Please just call me Gina. I’m hoping that we will be friends, so there is no need for formalities,” she said with a hopeful tone in her voice.
“Okay, Gina, but only if you call me Silas,” he chuckled.
“Fair enough, Silas, it is then. I read your email, and I find your words intriguing. I have done a few stories on the immigration problem, but I have to admit this is the first time I’ve had someone contact me about the effect this has had on an entire community. Silas, I have to say I’m shocked to learn what your town has endured at the hands of the federal government and their effort to force illegal immigrants on a small community.”
“I will only do this if I know that I won’t be censored, or have my words edited. I want my story told in MY words, is that understood?” Silas had no desire to waste his time if they were only going to spin his words.
“I can live with that, Silas. In fact, I would love to come to your town and see for myself if you don’t mind. We can get some footage to go along with the interview, so that way the viewers will have a complete picture of what’s going on there.”
“Okay, that sounds like a good idea. Just let me know when you want to be here.”
“Let’s see, today is Thursday, so I can be there on Monday. We can spend a couple of days filming the area, interview some of the residents, and, of course, we’ll do our interview. That way we can have everything ready for the live show the following weekend. Of course, I’ll let you have the final approval of the footage before airing it next weekend. How does that sound to you, Silas?”
Silas mulled over her offer for a moment before he answered. “Can you give me until this evening to make my final decision? You’re the first to contact me, so I’d like to know if I have other options. I hope you understand.”
“Oh course, but please let me know by this evening so I can schedule everything. I hope you decide to allow me to help you with getting your story out to the American people. I have a good feeling about this, Silas.”
“I will, and thank you for getting back to me so quickly.”
“It’s my honor. Just call this number, and Michael will get everything set up. I hope you decide to trust me with your story, goodbye.”
Once they both had hung up the phone, Silas reached for the box of cereal and filled his bowl. He was about to pour the milk when his phone rang again.
“Damn, so much for breakfast,” he groaned as he reached for his cell phone.
It was nearly two hours and the last two phone calls from the other media outlets when Silas finally made his decision to go with Judge Gina. He could not quite put his finger on it, but something about her made him want to trust her. After he called Michael and told him to begin the arrangements, he called Jen.
“Oh, Silas, that’s wonderful. I’ve watched her show before, and she seems to be an honest person. I think you made an excellent choice.”
“I think I did too. I’m going to go tell Andrew what I’m doing. He doesn’t need to be side-swiped with this. You know how he can be if caught off guard,” Silas laughed.
“Oh yes, that’s a great idea to warn him,” Jen giggled at the vision of Andrew preparing for his time on a national news show.
“How’s it going at the school?” Silas knew that it had been rough with all the sick children lately.
“It seems to be calming down some. They are going to resume classes on Monday, and even Shelby is coming back to school soon,” Jen said enthusiastically.
“She is? Oh, that’s wonderful.”
“She’ll still need to use the wheelchair for a while, but she said she wanted to come back to school. Silas, we came so close to losing her.”
“I know; it sure was a scary time. I’m just thankful she’s still here with us,” Silas said with a tear forming in the corner of his eye.
Jen felt the same way. “Hey, I need to go. We’re having a meeting in a few minutes. I’ll talk to you this evening.”
They both said their goodbyes and hung up. Silas carried his empty coffee cup and bowl to the sink, rinsed them, and then put them both in the dishwasher.
“Well, I guess there’s no time like the present,” Silas smiled as he walked to the backdoor.