Chapter 74

My eyes hurt, so I didn't want to open them, but my mouth was so dry that I could not hold out any longer. The light hurt my eyes, even though there was only a night light burning somewhere in the corner of the unfamiliar room. I really didn't know where I was or how I got there. I wondered if I had been tortured. Whatever happened to me was bad enough, so that I had blocked it out.

It took me only a few minutes to recognize my surroundings as a generic hospital room. If it was a hospital room, there should be a call button, I reasoned. It made me feel better that I could remember even that much. After I fumbled around and found the button, I pressed it and then fell asleep again exhausted.

The next time I rejoined the world, I was still dying of thirst. I found that button and pushed it again. I managed to stay awake until a nurse came. She didn't stay in the room long enough to even ask why I called, let lone long enough to give me a drink of water. Instead she rushed out as if her scrubs were on fire.

I didn't have to push the button again because she returned in seconds with two more nurses tagging along behind. They seemed to gawk at me for a moment, before anyone spoke. "How do you feel?" the oldest one asked.

I could only croak like a frog, "Water."

"I know your mouth is dry honey, but your stomach has a tube in it. I can't give you water." She took a washcloth from the stand by my bed. She took it to the sink and wet it. She returned to press it to my lips."

I sucked on the washcloth and decided that it was better than Ice Cream. I looked over at what could easily have been a coat rack. Actually there was one on either side of me. The racks had plastic bottles and tubes which were connected to me. I was pretty sure there were more plastic bags at the foot of my bed. Those would be collecting all kinds of things not mentioned in polite society.

"What happened to me?"

"The doctor will be here any minute. We paged her just as soon as we knew that you were awake."

"So you aren't going to tell me?" I asked. I paused a moment to catch my breath, then went on. "I need a phone,"

"No you don't," the stern voice came from the doorway. The only slightly overweight woman in the long white lab coat said, as she entered the room.

"The hell I don't." I replied weakly.

"Don't worry some cop named Blevins has been notified that you are awake. When he gets here, he can relay your messages. You are not going to lift a finger." She paused for a long minute or so, then added, "At least not till I check you out."

"Are you flirting with me?" I asked with what could only be called a sick smile. Hell I had the right to a sick smile, after all I was in a hospital.

"You wish," she said grinning. "I have heard all about you Maxine. Now shut up and let me listen to your heart."

She listened to my heart and lungs, then she looked at things I didn't even want to see. Finally she said, "Well you are doing pretty good for a corpse."

"Oh have they been exaggerating my demise?" I asked trying to make a joke.

"I'm not at all sure that you weren't dead. The EMT thought you were. You almost went to the back of the line. Some patrolman, who followed the Ambulance, insisted that the ER doctor check you regardless."

"And they found that I was alive?" I asked too tried to smile again.

"No, you were dead, then all of a sudden you blinked. The ER staff almost fainted. Looks like the devil sent you back," the doctor suggested.

"Probably afraid of the competition," Blevins said from the door.

"You can't be in here just yet," The doctor said.

"Blevins find Lucas tell him to get to my place and feed that stray cat. Just leave the food on the stoop," I said just as I fell asleep again."

I felt a little stronger when I awoke the next time. It might have been a day or an hour, there was no way to know in the ICU. I didn't want food, but I would have gladly killed a nurse for a glass of water over ice. I was pretty sure the tube in my stomach was draining it for some reason. I couldn't, for the life of me, remember why it would be doing that.

I rang for a nurse again. When she came, unlike the last time, there was no commotion. "Yes Ms Stone?" she asked.

"Any chance I can get a glass of water with ice?"

"No Ma'am, you still have the tube in. I can get you some small ice cubes you can suck on."

"Ice without being mixed with something stronger will be a first, but sure. Any chance you have any shaped like a nipple?" I asked.

She blushed, then left without a word. She was back with the plastic cup of ice within a couple of minutes. She held a cube to my mouth. I took the ice without a word. I knew then that I was really sick. Even if she was married, I would have sucked her fingers any other time, just for the shock value of it. Okay maybe not really done it, but I would have at least tried. That day, all I wanted was the water. I knew then that the no liquid or solids meant my gut was damaged. I'm no doctor, but it was strikingly similar to the surgery to remove the chunk of steel from an Afghan IED.

I remembered that hospitalization perfectly, but couldn't remember why I was in the hospital at that moment. I went back to sleep remembering the hospital at the airbase in Germany. I am sure that I felt a lot better there. At least they let me eat after a couple days. Then I remembered that I had no idea how long I had been in the hospital in Aster. It could have been only a day. Even in my present condition, I knew that one day was wishful thinking.

"I hear you have been awake most of the day," the female doctor suggested.

"Most, I don't think so. More than yesterday probably." I paused took a deep breath then asked, "So when do I get a real glass of water?"

"They are taking you back into surgery to remove the tubes in a few minutes. I would give it one more day. I would guess that tomorrow, when you wake up, water and chicken soup will be on the menu."

"First water, then coffee, and you can keep the soup," I suggested.

"We will see about that," the doctor informed me. Now, I have patients who really are sick to see."