The Position Read Online Free

and stumble over to where Captain lay, unmoving. I put a hand on his shoulder and gently shake him. “Captain! Captain! Hey!”  
    His eyes flutter open and he squints up at me. “Mickey?” Lazarus watches us, baffled. I turn to him, eyes full of panic and fear. “We have to get him to a hospital. Please. Help me get him up.”  
    Without a word, Lazarus bends low and easily lifts bony old Captain off the ground. “Open the back door,” he calls. He’s serious but very calm. I race to the car and throw open the back door. Lazarus gently places Captain inside, not blinking at the blood smeared on his expensive sports coat. In fact, he slips it off, folds it up, and places it under Captain’s head.  
    Lazarus races through the empty streets, throwing mystified glances my way. “How do you know him?” he says at last.  
    “Long story,” I mumble.  
    Suddenly, my brain does an epic shift. Ten minutes ago all I wanted was Lazarus. Now the only thing that matters it that Captain is okay. I turn around in my seat and study him carefully. His eyes are closed but his lips move continuously in some silent monologue. I watch the weak rise and fall of his scrawny chest beneath the tattered ski jacket.  
    Lazarus doesn’t press me. When we get to the hospital, he screeches into the emergency dock and throws open his door.  
    “This man needs immediate attention!” he shouts at the small group of nurses smoking outside. They snap into action.  
    I watch with tears in my eyes as they pull Captain’s broken old man body from the back seat and onto a gurney. A nurse whips an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth, and they whisk him away. I run along behind, but one of the nurses stops me.  
    “You need to wait here, honey. We’ll do everything we can to help your granddaddy. I promise.”  
    They disappear down the hall and around the corner. Out of sight. My granddaddy. Tears flood my eyes. Captain might as well be my granddaddy. I never had a real one. Not one who cared to call or visit, anyway. My parents had long run off any caring soul in the entire extended family. No one wanted to be anywhere near that pair of fuckups and their sad, weird little girl.
    There’s a hand on my shoulder, but I barely notice it. Lazarus steps around to face me and lifts my chin with his fingers.  
    “It’s going to be okay, Mickey,” he whispers.  
    His gentle words bring the tears on fast. I press my face into his chest and sob. He puts an uncertain hand on my back and stands very still, waiting. His cell phone rings, and he ignores it. But it brings me back to earth and I push away from him. I realize that it’s only pity. And there’s nothing that kills me more than pity. I turn and drift down the hall in a daze until I see a waiting room filled with ugly plastic chairs and somber people. I settle into one of the chairs and wipe at my face. Lazarus is right behind me.  
    “Do you mind if I wait here for him?” I ask tearfully. “I’ll be back in the office tomorrow.”  
    Lazarus sits down beside me. His cell phone rings again, but he still doesn’t answer. “He’s not your real grandfather, is he?” I don’t look at him. And I don’t know what to say. If Lazarus ever found out about my own situation, I would die of humiliation.  
    “He looks homeless, Mickey.”  
    I nod. “He is,” I say faintly. “He doesn’t have anyone else. But he’s like family to me.”  
    Lazarus leans forward to study my face, as if searching for something there. His cell phone rings again. Shut the fuck up! I think, irritably. Take a hint! Call him later! I look at Lazarus with exasperation. That’s when I register that his face is scuffed and his lip is split. I hadn’t even taken the time to notice.
    Without thinking, I reach out and touch his cheek just below the abrasion. “Your face,” I whisper. “They hit you…” Guilt floods through me. Without any concern for himself, Lazarus rushed into the action and saved