Charlotte woke up in a dimly lit hospital room. Her clothes were draped over the chair next to her bed. She looked under the blanket and found herself dressed in a johnny. An IV was in her left arm. She tried to get up but her head was woozie. As she was hunting for a call button, a nurse walked in.
"Oh, you're awake."
"Where am I? asked Charlotte, who afterwards realized how stupid that sounded, and thought, you're in the hospital, stupid.
"Your husband just left to take your two daughters to the neighbors house."
Charlotte interrupted, "I have three daughters. How is Jenny? How is my daughter Jenny?"
The nurse who had been busy getting Charlotte's vital signs, dropped her eyes towards the floor.
"I believe she is still in surgery. When I hear anything for sure, I'll let you know."
Sure you will, thought Charlotte. No one wants to be the barer of bad news. "What floor am I on?"
"Maternity."
Not even near Jenny's room. This can't be. "I'm feeling fine now. Can I get up?"
Blood pressure and pulse recorded, the nurse answered "Dr. Houseman order you to stay in bed for observation."
"I'm fine I tell you," insisted Charlotte. "I need to see Jenny."
"Let me get the doctor."
Once the nurse was gone, Charlotte worked on getting the hospital issue off and her own clothes back on. The pants were easy. The johnny required taking the fluid bag off the poll and feeding it through the arm hole. Next was the bra, and then her sweatshirt. Thanking God as she went for the larger styles that were in vogue. As she was leaning over to put on her socks and sneakers Dr. Houseman walked in.
"The nurse said you were up. She didn't mention you were planning on leaving."
"Can you blame me. Can you keep me here, with my daughter in surgery?"
"No, on both counts. Charlotte, Jenny is out and in ICU."
The air in the room grew still. Was he waiting for her to ask? Or was he avoiding being the barer of bad news? Unable to stand the silence Charlotte asked, "AND?"
"And I don't. Dr. Reid repaired the lesion in the spinal cord sheath. There was some bleeding. It's up to Jenny now."
"I want to see her, now."
"She's all hooked up. They left her on the ventilator just in case she stops breathing again."
Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Charlotte grew indignant. "I don't care if she is encased in metal, I want to see her."
"Okay, I'll get a chair and take you upstairs."
2 comments:
"Your husband just left to take your two daughters to the neighbors house."
Good stuff here but I find it difficult to believe someone would talk like this. (see above) Perhaps "two girls" instead of two daughters would work better?
Also, hospital staff are sensitive to alarming patients prematurely to bad news and probably wouldn't say this quite this way.
Just my two cents. Keep it up! can't wait to see what happens next.
Thanks for the feedback. This whole exercise is a stream of words, made oup of early morning, and late night brain dumps. I woke up this morning with the line, "She's going to be okay." Now, to figure out who is saying it.
It would be great if a story came out of all this.
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