"Chuck!" everyone, said at the same time. Everyone greeted him and inquired about his health.

"I am going to be fine. My parents are signing me out now. I will be on crutches for about a week because of the sprain," Chuck said looking down at his leg. "I will also have this scar on my forehead. They said that corrective surgery would help, but I just feel very lucky to be alive. I had to come down and see Adam. They said there has been no change."

"He is holding. We are so glad to see you though," Mrs. Kramer said. Jason thought that she seemed more relaxed after hearing about Chuck. Maybe it gave her hope. He knew it gave him a sense of hope.

"So what have you found out about the accident?" Chuck asked. "It looks like you took Craig with you this time. You guys really reek!"

"And I love you too Chuck," Craig quipped back at his friend. "The next time Indiana Jones Kramer here wants to take up cliff diving, you can go with him."

Jason retold Chuck everything that happened that day plus Mr. Kramer talked to him about the police report and his investigation of Ashita.

"As I told you that night, two men came and walked down to us," Chuck said, recounting that night.

"They checked Alyssa, then glanced at Adam and me. Then they left us to die."

"Would you recognize the voices?" Jason asked.

"Definitely. I will never forget when they announced that Adam was dead," Chuck said, hanging his head down. Everyone could tell that the events of the accident were going to haunt Chuck for a little while. "The one guy was a mean one. I don't think the other guy really wanted to be involved. He kept saying that it was wrong and that 'there had to be another way out of this bind'."

Chuck swallowed really hard and then continued his story. " Then the nicer guy came back and whispered to Alyssa that he was sorry and that he hoped that she rested in peace."

"I bet that was Jacob," Craig said to Jason. "I wonder what the connection is between those two?"

"I don't know," Jason replied. He didn't want his father to know that he planned to find out

"Well for now, I think that we all should go and get something to eat. We will discuss it after dinner," Mr. Kramer said. "I don't think that we will do Adam or the case any good if we are sick."

"Bring me up something, I want to stay with Adam," Jason said, as everyone was getting ready to leave.

"I will stay with you if you can drive me home," Chuck said, rolling the wheelchair in closer to Adam's bed.

"I don't want to hear any comments about the smell though," Jason said, as Chuck gave him a grin. "I will go and tell your parents so you won't run over anyone in the hallway."

Jason left behind the others to the front desk and then returned to Adam's room. Adam was at least off of the respirator and breathing on his own, but he had not regained consciousness. Jason sat down in the chair next to Adam's bed and slumped down in it.

"Funny, funny smart guy," Chuck said. "You are just jealous because I will have all the honeys when we go back to school."

"Good, then I can call you Pooh Bear again," Jason quipped back. Adam used to call Chuck "Pooh Bear" in front of the cheerleaders and football players. Everyone thought that it fit him because he was a very large, rough looking boy, but he was very sensitive. "By the way how did Adam came up with that anyway?"

"He never told you?" Chuck said, almost shocked. "I would have thought that he would have told you. I thought that he told you everything?"

"I asked, but he said he was sworn to 'pinky secrecy' "Jason answered. "I even bribed him, but he would not tell."

"Well, we were in seventh grade. I was craving honey that football season and I put my hand down into the Mason jar to get the last bit of honey when my hand got stuck in the jar. We were the only ones at me house at the time and I was really scared. Adam of course thought it was funny and after recovering from laughing so hard he decided to help me," Chuck said, recalling the event fondly. "Well he went and got a jar of Vaseline and put it on my hand. He pulled and pulled until it came off. When it did, he literally bounced across the kitchen floor holding the jar in his hands. After that he started to call me Pooh Bear and I called him Tigger."

"I always wondered why they called him Tigger, but I guess I just never asked about it," Jason said looking over towards Adam. "We have had many good times."

"They are going to let Alyssa go home tomorrow. She stopped by earlier. She said she had been down to visit Adam when your mother was here," Chuck said, hoping not to anger Jason. "She is paralyzed you know. She is still bruised up, but she said she will learn to adjust."

"Really," Jason said, without emotion. He was still angry because it was still her family that caused this whole thing.

"Jason, she really likes Adam She is praying for him. She is not one of those cult people," Chuck said, trying to be honest with Jason. "You need to remember that she was a victim too. She will be in that wheelchair forever and she holds no grudges. She knows that Adam did everything that he could."

"The Cherokee was rigged to wreck," Jason said. "What does Alyssa think of what happened?"

"She thinks that the Cherokee just lost its brakes. A pure accident," Chuck replied. "Jason, please just remember that she was a victim too and Adam did his best to save all of our lives and he did."

Jason was starting to show the emotional drain that he had been under since the accident. He stood up and leaned up against the bed. Chuck could see the tears in Jason's eyes start to form and slowly run down his cheeks.

"I don't understand why he will not wake up," Jason murmured under his breath. "He can't let himself die like this!"

"Jason, calm down," Chuck said. His wheelchair would not allow him to go over and comfort his friend.

But Jason was already too upset. Jason reached over and grabbed Adam's shoulders and shook him," I will not let you die like this Adam. I need you to wake up. You are not leaving me here. Wake up!" Jason said in an angry tone until he walked to the foot of the bed and lay down across it. His face was buried in his arms and the bed covers. Chuck was in shock. He could not believe that Jason had shook his brother that way. He was afraid that all of the stress was causing his friend to loose his mind. He glanced up at Adam and it was then that he saw Adam's eyes move.

"Jason!" Chuck said, trying to get his attention through the sobs.

"What!"

"Adam's eyes moved, look!" Chuck said, pointing to Adam.

Jason jumped up and watched as Adam began to regain consciousness.

Chuck scrambled to try to find the call button to alert the nurses, but he could not reach it from the chair. He was going to suggest to Jason to hit the call button, but Jason's attention was focused on his brother. It seemed like both boys held their breath until Adam had fully opened his eyes. His blue eyes had a very blank stare to them at first and then he started to look around very slowly.

"Adam? Hey, buddy!" Jason said, very softly. "Take it easy, now."

"Hey Tigger! It is about time you joined the real world, commented Chuck. "The world was getting kind of boring without you."

"Chuck?" Adam said, his voice very hoarse. "You are alive?"

"Yeah, thanks to you," Chuck said, holding his hand up to show Adam where he was at in the room.

"Alyssa?" Adam asked, looking at his brother. "How is Alyssa?"

"She is fine. She is going to be leaving the hospital tomorrow," Jason answered, cutting off Chuck. He did not want Adam to know the complete truth about Alyssa or the accident. He wanted him to concentrate on his own health. "Just some bruises."

"Thank God, Jason, I really tried to get it back. It just went wild and then blackness," Adam said, becoming visibly upset. "I don't remember anything after that. What happened?"

"Settle down, you need to keep yourself calm," Jason said in a soothing voice. He put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "You rolled down the mountain. Chuck got out of the vehicle and used the phone to call for help."

"Am I going to be alright?" Adam asked, his voice was still weak.

"Now that you are awake, everything is gong to be fine," Jason said with a smile. "We have been worried sick about you." He reached over to hit the call button. It just occurred to him that he needed to get his parents and Dr. Coykendall back to the room. He asked Chuck if he couldn't go and get his parents.

"I like being the bearer of good news!"

"Why does my throat hurt so much?" Adam asked as he was still looking over himself. It seemed to Jason that Adam was still taking in the idea that he was in a hospital bed and that he was injured in the accident.

"Probably from the respirator. You quit breathing on us. I thought that you were going to die on me," Jason said, trying to hold back the tears. "You hit you head so you got some stitches up there. You also ruptured your spleen, so they had to remove it. You lost a lot of blood so they used my blood to help you out during surgery. Maybe now you will get better grades now that you have my blood running through you, uh?"

Adam had to smile at that comment, Jason could tell that it was hard for him to fully comprehend what happened to him.

"As long as everyone else was fine. I don't know what I would think if someone had been seriously hurt in the accident since I was driving," Adam said. It was not like Adam to think of himself first. He would sacrifice his life for another person. Jason, though, did want to try to make Adam focus on his own health for once. He was about to change the subject when a nurse came into the room. When the nurse saw that Adam was awake, she immediately went to get Dr. Coykendall. Then Mr. and Mrs. Kramer and Craig came into the room. Mrs. Kramer went straight to her son and hugged him. She barely let him go long enough for Mr. Kramer to greet his son. She just kept holding him and crying tears of joy. Jason told them that the doctor was on his way.

Soon Dr. Coykendall came into the room. Everyone could tell that he was very pleased with Adam's condition. He started to check out Adam by first asking him to move parts of his body and then he started to ask questions about his family. Adam was able to move adequately well despite his muscle pains and answered all of the questions that Dr. Coykendall asked about his family correctly. Then Dr. Coykendall asked him about the accident. Adam could just remember bits and pieces of the events that led to the accident. He did recall losing the steering and then the brakes, but after that he could not recall anything. Dr. Coykendall said that this type of memory loss was very normal and he was even surprised that he remembered anything about it. Then he started to ask him simple and silly questions about colors, one-step addition facts and other academic style questions. Adam was able to answer the basic one-step questions, but he had problems with questions that needed a little more thought.

"Why are you asking him all of these questions? He is a junior in high school. He is not in grade school," Jason asked. He was growing very impatient. "He may not be an honor student, but he is not dumb."

Dr. Coykendall, visibly agitated by the interruption, turned and faced Jason. "I know that he is not dumb. We have different types of memory. Alzheimer's Disease proves that point."

"But he is getting the questions right. I don't understand," Jason asked again. He knew the doctor did not like being interrupted, but he wanted to understand what the doctor was doing.

"I will demonstrate. Adam, what is 5+5?" the doctor asked Adam.

"10," Adam replied.

"Good, now what is 5x5?" The doctor asked.

"25. "

I give you $5.00 for every hour that you work and you work11 hours. How much will I pay you?"

Adam took a few minutes and then he counted by fives on his fingers. "$55.00."

Everyone was shocked to see Adam take as much time as he did and then use his fingers to count.

"What is 43-31?"

Adam took some time again. "Could I use a piece of paper? I must be having a brain freeze. I can't visualize it." The doctor let him use his pocket notepad and pen. His handwriting was shaky, but he finally got the right answer-12.

"Spell the word, taxi."

Adam correctly spelled the word. "Okay not spell the word ambulance."

Adam started "a-m-b..." He took sometime to think again. Then he asked," Could I use that again?"

Dr. Coykendall let him use his notepad again. Adam slowly, but steadily spelled the word correctly. This shocked the group again because Adam had won two spelling bees when he was in grade school.

The doctor then looked at Jason and asked," Okay, tell him something new about your life. Something that happened recently-after the accident."

Jason thought for a minute and then replied, "Well, Craig and I decided to go swimming in the Hocking River. He actually jumped off of a three-story cliff. Now we smell and look like we have been rolling around in the mud." Jason and Craig both stood up to show Adam. Adam had to grin at the sight of his brother and friend.

"Actually, Indiana Jones here pushed me off of the cliff and he will never do it again," Craig said sitting back down.

"I am doing this because I think that Adam is going to be fine, but his brain is a little damaged. His long-term memory and recall center is just fine. However, his ability to comprehend and process useful information is hampered. His short-term memory is also affected. In other words he is going to have to rehearse things more in order to get them into his long-term memory. He has the ability to learn and achieve, but he will have to get around his learning disabilities. Special Education classes will help him learn strategies to overcome this disability."

"Are you saying that my brother is dumb? He doesn't belong in those classes!" Jason angrily objected as he stood up to confront the doctor.

"Your brother is not dumb. His brain is just not going to work the way that it did. The teachers know special strategies that will help Adam to learn all that a normal teenage kid can learn at school. He is not mentally retarded, just learning disabled," Dr. Coykendall said as he corrected Jason. "Learning Disabled students can be gifted, they just have to learn things in a different way. Einstein was learning disabled, Steven Speilberg is LD too."

Jason was still trying to process all of the information. It was hard to believe the doctor because his brother seemed fine to him except for the head bandage and the physical bruises.

"I am just thankful that my son is alive and will not live life as a vegetable," Mrs. Kramer said, hugging Adam. Adam was having a hard time understanding everything as well. He felt the same, thought the same so he did not exactly understand what the doctor was saying either.

"Okay Adam, what did your brother say to you about what he did this afternoon. What happened?" Dr. Coykendall continued.

Adam looked blankly at the doctor. "What do you mean Doctor? I was wondering the same thing myself. What in the world have you been doing to end up looking like Pig-Pen?"