Ned Morrison Story - part IV

 NED STORY - SATURDAY JUNE 11, 2022

I write fiction on Saturday.  This is the fourth episode of Ned Morrison, a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse, LaCrosse Wisconsin.  Ned’s family had been killed in a drunk driving accident four years ago.  Ned was still a good professor, but not the great professor he had been.  He had been moody and yet tried to recover his life.  

*****

Ned Morrison and his retired professor friend, Josh Kinross were at the UWL Eagle football game.  The Eagles were playing the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Pioneers.  The Pioneers were a good team and Ned and Josh were hoping for an upset.  

The Eagles got off to a good start, intercepting the Platteville quarterback and running the ball in for a score.

But, the Pioneers came back and by half-time, the score was 21 to 7 in favor of Wisconsin-Platteville.  

As Ned stood up for the UWL Eagle band playing the fight song, he got light-headed and grabbed Josh for stability.  

Josh asked, “Hey Ned, are you okay?”.

Ned responded, “Just a little wobbly”.

Ned had shared with Josh how he had collapsed in class earlier in the week and spent a night in the hospital.  

Josh said, “Sit down.  I’ll go to the concession stand and get you a hotdog and a bottle of water.”

Ned nodded okay.

While Josh was gone, Ned was worried.  Did he have something wrong with his brain?  

But, the hotdog and water helped out - maybe the water most of all to keep him hydrated.  There were no dizzy spells in the second half.

*****

Lori Rohn was working as an EMT for the football game.  She worked most weekends so she could have the weekdays off for her classes.  

She did see Professor Morrison sit down and she wondered if he was okay.

But, she did have a busy game.  A Platteville player had a concussion, a drunk fan fell off the bleachers and broke a leg, and an Eagle running back “got his bell” rung and she and her partner Alton Novak had to run him to Gunderson Hospital to run a scan.  

She also saw the fraternity guys sitting in a group.  Almost all of the Sigma Tau Gamma guys had on black sweatshirts with their letters except one.

She was on duty until 4:00 a.m. on Sunday morning.  She had her books with her.  Maybe it would be a quiet night.

*****

At the end of the game, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville team won by a 31 to 21 score.  Ned and Josh took their time going to the parking lot. They’d been to enough games to know it would take maybe 20 minutes for the parking mess to clear up. Several alumni came up to Josh and Ned to talk and the parking lot was about 1/4th full by the time they walked out.  

That gave Ned almost two hours to relax and change clothes for the Sigma Tau Gamma social event at the Main banquet room.

*****

Max Winthrop and the UWL lacrosse team didn’t have a game on Saturday, so they sat together at the football game.  For some reason, Brian Schultz wasn’t with them at the game.  That was okay with Max.  They cheered and had a good time.

*****

Mavis hadn’t gone to the football game.  She actually worked in her office most of the morning.  The final class schedule for the spring semester was due in ten days and she had to do some work on it.  For some of the introductory courses, she relied on adjunct instructors.  Tina Valdez, a local CPA, had taught two sections of financial accounting in the past but Deloitte and Touche were sending her to Argentina for a few months.  Not only did Tina speak Spanish, but she was skilled in agricultural accounting and was assigned to the branch office in Trelew Argentina.  Deloitte liked its managers to have international experiences and Tina was a rising star with the consulting company.

Mavis called Leland Robinson of the accounting firm of Hancock and Robinson had been recommended to her.  It was common practice to recruit local accounting firms to teach a class or two - which also gave the local firms a first pass on the ‘best and brightest students when they needed to hire.  Mavis had to give him the pitch on how good it would be to have a local accountant teach the financial accounting class, but Leland was eager to get into the classroom.

She also got Le Jun Zhang to agree to teach a non-profit managerial class.  Le Jun was the chief operating officer of Gunderson Hospital.  

Mavis left her office about 2:00 - and listened to the last of the football game on WLSU as she drove across the bridge to Lacrescent Minnesota.  It didn’t sound like the Eagles were going to pull this game out.

*****

The Sigma Tau Gamma guys and their dates started arriving at the Main party room at about 5:45.  The guys were dressed in business casual with ties, sweaters, a few with sport coats; and the girls in nice dresses.  The Golden Circle formal party was in the spring and then the guys would be in suits (and some might even be in tuxes), and the ladies in formal dresses.  

Ned and Mavis also arrived at that time.  Ned wore a suit.  He figured as a professor and chapter advisor he should look the part of a distinguished man.  Mavis wore a beige business suit.

Most of the fraternity members introduced their dates to Ned and Mavis.  Brett Pappas introduced his girlfriend - a black women’s basketball player; Frank Hayes introduced his date, who Mavis recognized from campus.  Ned knew most of the guys - except for the new brothers; Mavis knew some of the students from campus and a few from her classes.  She generally taught one section of Marketing Principles each semester.  

Brian Schultz arrived without a date, and Ned could tell he already had been drinking.  Ned wondered what was going on with Brian.  Was he the rape assailant?

*****

It looked like it could be a busy night for Lori Rohn and Zach Hill.  After the football game, they were called out to Grandad Bluff.  A boy had roamed away from his family and fell.  He was stuck on a ledge about 20 feet down from the top and was crying.  Lori and Zach lowered a rope down to the boy and Zach rappelled down to him.  Zach attached a harness to the boy and Lori activated the winch and slowly brought Zach and the boy back up to the observation deck.

A girl learning to ride a bike had panicked when a car came and swerved into the path of the car.  The driver was cautious but still dinged the girl and her bike.  Lori and Zach arrived to check out the girl as well as a police cruiser.  The girl was frightened but okay. The driver was not at fault.

They took a dinner break at Culver’s Restaurant on Highway 14 and Losey Boulevard.  Lori liked the cheese curds.  

It was good they had a break.

*****

Ned and Mavis enjoyed their dinner and did take a few turns on the dance floor.  It was interesting to watch the fraternity guys and their dates.  Brett Pappas and his date were getting pretty smashed.  Frank Hayes’ date was also getting drunk.  Brian Schultz was really drunk.  

Ned called Frank Hayes over and suggested that they call a sober cab for Brian.  Frank agreed.  But as Frank approached Brian to tell him he was getting too drunk, Brian lashed out with strong profanity and seemed about ready to take a swing at Frank.  Ned came over to help adjudicate. Brian yelled at Frank and Ned and Brian stormed out of the party.

*****

Max Winthrop was at Howie's with a couple of the Lacrosse guys.  He needed the restroom and as he walked to the restroom, he noticed a guy sitting by himself.  There was just something spooky about the guy.  Coming out, Max looked over at the guy again.  Black shoes, no marking, black socks, blue jeans with a Wrangler label.  The left leg of the jeans had a small tear on the outside of the knee - almost a triangle tear.  Max dismissed the feeling - thinking the guy was just tensed up or upset about something.  The guy had a beer in front of him but didn’t seem to be drinking it.

In the next hour, Max looked over at the guy with a tear in his jeans.  The beer went down by sips and even after an hour, he still sat alone and still had some beer in his glass. 

Max also didn’t drink too much.  He nursed a beer for an hour and played a game of billiards against Jaxon Rice.  They had a Sunday afternoon game at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and would be leaving campus at about 10:30.  By 9:00 p.m. Max and Jaxon left Howies.  The loner with the Wrangler jeans was gone.

*****

About 9:30, Ned and Mavis left the party.  The Sigma Tau Gamma guys were having a good time and he was not obligated to be there (although it was a cheap date as the fraternity paid for his and Mavis’s dinners - and they got some free drinks from some of the older brothers.

As Ned drove Mavis back to her house, they pulled over for the EMT truck heading towards the Mississippi River bridge.  Ned hoped it wasn’t an accident.  An accident on that bridge could close the bridge for hours.  It was fortunate that Interstate 90 had a bridge at Onalaska but that was about ten miles out of the way. 

Arriving at Mavis’s house, Ned walked her to the door and gave her a peck on the cheek.  Mavis turned to Ned and said “You can do better than that”, and proceeded to give Ned a long kiss on the lips - a kiss that excited both of them.  That awakened something long hidden in Ned - and also buried deep in Mavis. 

*****

Lori and Zach had been called out with a squad car to the Mississippi River bridge.  A car crossing the bridge called 911 to report a man who seemed to be ready to jump off the bridge into the river.

They didn’t run their siren as they didn’t want to scare the person into jumping off the bridge.  A female cop in the squad car was slowly approaching the man on the bridge.  It seemed to be a college student.  

She shouted, “Don’t jump.  Life will get better.”

The man just stood there - kind of dazed.  

Again, she shouted, “Life is really worth living.  You have a great future ahead of you.  There isn’t anything to stop you.  Come with us”.

Lori looked closely.  She was pretty sure the person was somebody she knew from campus.  He was in one of the fraternities.  

Slowly, weaving in and out, the guy walked to the squad car.  Lori and Zach came up to help.  The guy looked at Lori and seemed to recognize her. Their eyes met - yes, Lori was sure she knew him from campus.  And, he stank of liquor.

The officer asked for his name, but he didn’t answer her.  Lori asked for his name, but he didn’t answer her.  They didn’t want to search him to find a billfold - he seemed like he would swing and get upset if they got too close.  

The female officer helped the man get into the back of the EMT truck.  The officer said they would take him to Gunderson Hospital to get him checked out.  Since this wasn’t an accident situation, the person could sit and the back, and Lori sat with him.  

Lori said, “I think I know you from campus.  What’s your name?”

Brian looked dazed, confused, and about ready to pass out.  She had her cell phone and took a picture of the man.  She forwarded the picture to the University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse campus police.  Maybe they could help identify him.

On a hunch, she forwarded the picture to Ned Morrison - her economics teacher.

Within three minutes she got a response from Ned.  “The man is Brian Schultz.  He was at a fraternity party this evening, but he has been acting strange all week.”

Lori replied “We’re taking him to Gunderson Hospital for a check-up.  He seems to be very drunk and disoriented.”

Ned answered, “He had been drinking before the party tonight and almost started a fight.”

Lori answered back, “Thank you, Professor Morrison.  I’ll let you know more when I find out”.

*****

After dropping Brian at the Emergency Room at the Hospital, Lori and Zach waited around for their next call.  It came way too quickly.

A call to 911 from a student said they thought there was a stalker near Howies Bar.  A squad car went first to check it out.  

The same female officer found a coed on the ground without any jeans or clothing on her lower body.  She called 911 back and asked for Lori and Zach to come and take her to the hospital.

****

Lori covered her up.  She was pretty drunk and barely conscious.  The emergency room doctor determined she had been raped and had semen in her vagina.  They captured some of that for DNA testing.  

The poor girl didn’t have any identification on her.  She couldn’t talk well.  Lori thought she might be Hispanic and said “Hola”.  The girl seemingly woke up a little with that.  Lori’s Spanish wasn’t very good - from high school a few years back.  She asked the emergency room doctor if there was any staff that could speak Spanish.  There were several Spanish speakers around the hospital, but not many were working that Saturday night at midnight.  He thought Luz Perez was working and she was called down from her nursing position on the fourth floor.  She did communicate with the girl.

The girl had been drinking at a campus bar (not Howies though) and was drunk.  She was a friend of one of the students and was visiting from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin (near Madison).  She said a man with a black ski mask jumped out and grabbed her and pulled her behind a building and raped her.  She was drunk and was going to walk back home.  Her friends were still drinking jello shots.  Her friends were from Viterbo College.  They had been at Tequila's Bar & Grill.  Lori recognized the place as being about a block south of Howies on the other side of 12th street.  Her name was Gabriela De Leon.

She described the man as wearing a black sweatshirt, jeans and shoes.  She thought there was some strange writing on the sweatshirt - not English and not Spanish - just three letters.  She didn’t even see the man’s face.  

Lori wrote something on a piece of paper and gave them to Luz to show to the girl.  She had written Sigma Tau Gamma using the Greek letters ΣΤΓ.  The girl nodded excitedly.  Lori, knowing about the earlier rape attempt on campus knew that could help out.

The hospital staff was going to keep the girl in the hospital overnight for observation.  Lori and Zach went to Tequila’s Bar and Grill to look for her friends.  There were three girls there, one with a Viterbo sweatshirt on.  Lori approached them and asked if they knew Gabriela De Leon.  The girls were quite drunk but did know Gabriela.  

“Has something happened to her?” asked one of the girls.  

Lori replied she had gotten into a situation.  

The friend said “She was my best friend in high school.  Where is she?”

Lori answered, “In the hospital.” 

While that didn’t sober up the girls, it did shock them.  They paid their tab, and Lori drove their car since they were too drunk to drive to Gunderson Hospital and dropped them off.  Lori gave the car keys to Luz De Leon with directions not to give them back unless they were sober enough to drive.

Zach had followed along in the EMT truck.  While it wasn’t normal procedure to drive another person’s car while on EMT duty, in LaCrosse Wisconsin, EMTs could kind of push the rules and regulations for a good cause.  Lori would report this to their boss tomorrow.  

*****

End of week four of Ned Morrison’s story.  Will Ned and Mavis become lovers?  Will they find the rapist?  Will Brian Schultz be better?  Come back next week for week five.

*****

LOVE WINS!!

Karen 

June 11, 2022