Chapter 3: Quiet - Hospital Zone

At least my hand hadn’t swollen much, so they could put a cast on it right away. The other nice thing was that the cast was made in a way that would leave my fingers and thumb free, which meant I’d still be able to write my finals at school. The cast for my foot was a different matter though, they told me that since the swelling would have to be reduced, it would be several days before they could put what they called a ‘walking’ cast on it. Even the temporary cast was going to have to wait for the morning and some reduction in the swelling. For the time being, they wrapped my lower leg and my foot in a protective bandage that held a form which would prevent me from moving my foot much, then they put me in a hospital bed for the night. I was put in a ward, but I was the only person in any of the beds and I was hardly lying down before Dad came in to sit at my bedside.

To my surprise he looked awkward and a bit upset with himself, which wasn’t like Dad. The first thing he did was to apologise for suggesting that I rode the stud without having the time to ‘steady him down’ first.

“Dad, it might have been your suggestion, but from the look in her eyes when you said it, Beth was thinking the same thing,” I grinned. “You left it up to me. If it had been her, she’d have made it a challenge and I do have an ego. Can you see me turning down a challenge made in front of Carissa and Corinna? I might be shy, but I am human, and I am a teenager. I’d have had to take the challenge, just to show off!”

He laughed, then his mood changed and he glanced over at me strangely. He took a deep breath and I knew something heavy was coming.

“Look, son, your Mom and I are both feeling a little out of our depth over this. I’m not exactly sure how John Coulter talked us into having his two daughters stay for the rest of the week. It seemed to make sense then, but now with you laid up like this, I’m not sure how it will work. You aren’t going to be able to do much around the farm wearing a cast on one foot and another one on your hand.”

“Dad, Beth is good with people, she’ll help a lot. Besides, I think all you’ll have to do is suggest that Tom and George could work with the twins, then they’ll both figure out some way to do their own chores and help us out too,” I grinned. “Those two guys are girl crazy, but the twins can handle anything the guys can throw at them.”

He chuckled a bit and then looked at me with a slight frown. “You don’t mind?”

“Dad, when it comes to those two girls, I feel like a window washer who’s been given a bucket of water and a sponge, then told that the windows on the Empire State building are dirty. Only ... well, the twins are like dual Empire State buildings, which makes them twice as inimidating.”

“You find them daunting, do you?” he smiled “They don’t seem to think you should.”

“Dad, they’re two years older than I am, so they’ve been dating for who knows how many years and on top of that, they’ve already slapped me down once.”

“They did?” he frowned. “I never heard about that.”

“Oh, I didn’t tell anyone. It happened when we were in about grade six or seven. They were just getting their figures and all that. I had developed a school boy crush on them, so on Valentine’s day I bought them each a fancy valentine. They threw them in the trash bin, right in front of me.”

“Oh my,” he just shook his head and sighed deeply. “Are you hurting really badly, or could we talk for a few minutes?” he asked.

“I’m okay for a bit,” I shrugged.

“Just about the time I think I have you figured out, you open my eyes again,” he said softly. “You must have been crushed pretty badly by that Valentines’ thing, just to remember it for so long, and yet today when someone set out to hurt them, you still dove in to help them out. Can I ask why?”

“Oh come on Dad! You and Mom taught me better than to let something petty like that get in the way of right and wrong,” I was trying to think why I really had reacted like I did, and I didn’t know how to say what I felt, but I tried to explain. “It just seemed so totally wrong. They hadn’t really done anything to hurt me and then there was a picture being shown around that could have ruined their lives. I mean, as a guy, it didn’t matter that there was a picture of me with a couple of nude girls. Actually, it was almost an ego boost, I guess. But for them ... Well, it was just wrong, they aren’t that kind of girls.”

Dad just smiled and shook his head. “Son, your sense of justice is so strong ... You may get into trouble because of it, but you’re always going to have friends who will be willing to go out of their way to help you out when you do.”

“Talking from experience, Dad?” I smiled at him.

“Yeah, I guess I am,” he grinned back. “Now, let’s let the pain killer the doctor gave you do its work. Either your mom or I will be in to see you as soon as the chores are done tomorrow.”

After Dad left, in fact hardly after he’d gone out the door of the room a cute young nurse came in to check that I was all right for the night.

“Well, hello, Cowboy,” she grinned at me and blushed. “I hear that this time the horse won.”

Even as sleepy and as uncomfortable as I was, there was something about her that made me grin. She was cute, very cute. Her short hair was bright red and her perky, up-turned nose was covered with tiny freckles, while her uniform fit her exceptionally well, showing off a lot of curves.

“Well he didn’t really win because I’ll ride him another day, but I certainly lost this round,” I answered. “I’m not exactly happy with how that ride turned out.”

“Are you hurting badly right now?” she asked as she fussed with my covers. “By the way, my name is Sandy.”

“No Sandy, suddenly everything is a lot better than it was.”

I couldn’t help looking at her as she bent over the bed her blouse opened at the neck, giving me a view of lightly freckled cleavage. I knew that lying on my back like I was, my body’s automatic reaction was going to tent the blankets and no sooner had I thought about it than I could feel an erection growing. Luckily she’d moved up close so she was looking down into my face, so maybe she hadn’t noticed.

“Did anyone check with you and make sure you were comfortable and that you knew about the emergency call button, just in case the pain gets too bad?” she smiled, her green eyes twinkling slightly in the low light of the room.

“Emergency call button?” I managed to mumble, almost a whisper.

“Right here,” she reached out and touched a cylinder with a button on the end which hung on the end of a cord, dangling near my head. “If the pain gets too bad, or if you need a bedpan, all you have to do is press this button and a nurse will come help you.”

“A bedpan?” I croaked, almost drowning in a sweet, wonderful odour that had to be her perfume.

“Yes, a bed pan,” she smiled. “For tonight we’d prefer if you didn’t try to get out of bed. I see someone has already brought you crutches, but I don’t think they should have. If you need the bathroom, we can bring you a bedpan and help you use it, then you won’t have to disturb your leg.”

I couldn’t help it, I stared into her face, then glanced down the bed at the tent in the blankets which made me blush bright red. When I looked back at her face, I realised she was blushing too, then she giggled for a second before fighting to force a more sober look on her face.

“Sorry. I’ll bet you’d like an older nurse wouldn’t you?” she managed to say, then she paused and bit her lip. “I shouldn’t have said what I did, I’m still in training and sometimes I say things I shouldn’t. Please, don’t tell anyone.”

“But, you’re not a candy striper, are you?” I managed to say. “You’re wearing a nurse’s uniform.”

“Actually I am a candy striper, and even for that, I’m not fully trained,” she admitted. “I’m working alone and in a borrowed uniform tonight, but only because the hospital is short staffed and there are no really seriously ill patients in this wing. Most of the time I work along with other staff, so I’m usually only there as support.”

“Oh,” I grunted.

“Hey, don’t get me wrong, I can look after you,” she frowned. “I know what to do. I just don’t have a lot of experience at working as a full-fledged night nurse.”

“Well, I don’t have much experience at being a patient, so we should get along fine,” I grinned. “But, I really don’t think I want you to bring me a bed pan.”

She giggled then, blushing bright red and hesitated for a second before she spoke.

“Aren’t you the guy whose picture was taken in bed with two girls?” she whispered. “Two of the other candy stripers.”

“Oh God, did you see that? Damn it, those rotten son of a bitches,” I sat upright. “A couple of idiots got the girls and I drunk at a party. We passed out, and I guess they posed us to make us look bad. We thought we destroyed all the pictures.”

“Easy, easy,” she said firmly, pressing me back with her hands on my chest. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get you upset. Please calm down. I didn’t see any pictures, in fact I don’t personally know anyone who did, but there are rumours flying about them and ... well, they sounded quite graphic. It sounded like you weren’t someone who should be shy about having a nurse help you with a bedpan.”

“Well, they’re totally untrue,” I growled, flopping back in the bed. “I’m about as shy as you can get.”

“Nope, that’s me,” she giggled. “In fact I was sort of hoping that you’d need a bed pan, I’ve never seen a guy’s ... well, a guy’s penis, except for babies, or in pictures, or old men who were unconscious, stuff like that,” By the time she’d gotten done admitting that she was blushing bright red. Then she turned away from me.

“So if you need anything, buzz and someone will come,” she said over her shoulder as she hurried from the room.

I was left to stare after her, all alone in the room and with an erection that was so hard it almost hurt. There was no way I could bring myself to even touch it, let alone try to jack off to get relief, I mean, what if she walked back into the room again ... what would I do then?

I lay there for quite a while trying to think of some way to get my mind off of her, and eventually I fell into a doze.

I fell asleep, but awoke to feel a severe pain in my left foot. I wasn’t only hurting, but for several moments I felt quite disoriented. I didn’t know where I was since it was dark, but I knew I was in a strange place that I couldn’t recall seeing before. When I did remember that I was in the hospital for the first time in my life, I reached for the button that Sandy had told me I could use if I needed help. Without thinking, I used the wrong hand to try to ring it and of course I bumped it against something. Even in a cast, it felt as if I’d just hit it with a sledge hammer. I squawked loudly, then had to try to cut off the noise so I didn’t disturb anyone else, but now both my foot and my hand hurt. Thankfully it was only a moment before my little red headed nurse popped into the room.

“Is there something I can do?” she asked instantly, coming over to stand beside me, then she grinned and blushed. “Bedpan perhaps?”

“No,” I wasn’t in the mood to joke around with her or anyone else. “I hurt.”

“Pill time and then I think you can sleep some more,” she said almost instantly, helping me to sit up.

“I dunno if I should sit up, I’m feeling a bit light headed and woozy right now.”

“But you’re hurting, right? I think this pill will help with that,” she held out a pill and a glass of water.

“Oh, I guess,” I took the pill in the fingers of my right hand, but I had to use my left hand to hold the little glass of water.

After I’d swallowed the pill with the water and handed her the glass, she helped me ease back on the bed, then tucked me in again.

“There, that should help,” she smiled.

“I forget your name,” I said drowsily, not really feeling at all like myself, somehow I found I was holding her hand.

“I’m Sandy,” she smiled, not trying to pull her hand away.

“I really like you. You’re pretty,” I managed to slur, watching her face waver in my eyes, wondering to myself what was wrong with me.

“Thank you. Now it’s time for you to rest. We can talk more later,” she whispered as she managed to slip her hand out of my grasp, then I watched as she slipped out the door.

I lay there and thought about what had happened and was really puzzled. I think I was trying to make sense of it all when the pill really kicked in and I fell asleep once more.

When I woke up again, it had to be really late and I needed the can badly. I suppose I wasn’t thinking straight, but after a moment or two I did realise that I was in the hospital. I slowly got out of bed and grabbed my crutches, then hobbled across the ward to the can. It was strange, but I felt light headed and actually had to sit down instead of standing like I normally would. When I was done, I sat there for a few minutes wondering if there was more wrong with me than a couple of broken bones. It just didn’t seem right that I should feel so dizzy even when I was sitting down.

Finally I got up, flushed the toilet and headed back to bed. I’d hardly slipped under the covers when Sandy stuck her nose around the corner.

“I heard you flush, so I know you’re awake,” she greeted me almost crossly. “You weren’t supposed to get out of bed, you know. I’d gladly have brought that bedpan.”

At that moment, my stomach was rolling and I looked at her like she was some kind of nut.

“Something’s wrong, I feel really sick to my stomach,” I managed to say, hardly able to talk, as if my tongue was swollen. “I think I’m gonna barf...”

“Oh shit!” she snapped, then she was gone. It seemed as if she had simply disappeared instead of moved.

She was back in just a few seconds with a small pan to set beside my head and she rested a hand on my forehead for a second.

“I’ll be back with help in a minute,” she said then, almost running as she went out the door.

I think I might have passed out for a moment, when I awoke an older nurse was checking my pulse and I could see Sandy standing behind her.

“What’s the matter, Chris?” the older nurse asked.

I managed to croak that I seemed to be sick to my stomach and that I thought I might have a fever. Her hand rested on my forehead ... then she was talking, but I wasn’t really hearing what she said. Then the whole world seemed to fade away.

I woke up in a different hospital bed, it was dark and I had an IV in my left arm. As soon as I moved, I heard someone shift in a chair, and although the light was dim, I was able to look up into Mom’s face, but she was crying.

“Hey Mom,” I managed to croak, but my voice sounded funny, as if I had a frog in my throat.

“Sh, don’t talk, I’ve buzzed for the nurse,” she whispered, then she bent and kissed my forehead. “I’m so glad I was here when you woke up.”

“Huh?” I grunted.

“Will you be quiet?” she whispered again. “You’ve been out for hours and they had to try to pump your stomach, so your throat is going to be sore. It seems you’re extremely allergic to some of the pills they gave you. It’s lucky you got up to go to the bathroom. They don’t know what would have happened if you had slept through. As it is, you passed out on them and they were worried you weren’t going to make it.”

Another nurse came in then and Mom moved back out of her way. I had my pulse checked, my temperature taken, then she insisted I drink some water and she gave me a shot. I felt a bit groggy in seconds and it couldn’t have been very long before I fell asleep again.

I woke to hear quiet voices, and when I turned my head, Beth and Corinna were sitting in chairs off to one side.

“Hi,” I whispered, then had to grin because both of them jumped as if they had been shot.

“Well hello,” Beth was first to recover. “So you’re back in the land of the living huh? How’s your throat?”

“Sore,” I rasped, “I guess I’m okay though, but I’m hungry and thirsty.”

“Well since all you’ve had down your throat in about thirty-six hours is a piece of hose, that shouldn’t be too surprising. Now, don’t talk much okay?” Corinna bent over and kissed me lightly on my cheek. “I’ll go see if I can find you some ice cream, or jello or something.”

“Steak ... and potatoes,” I managed to growl weakly at her disappearing back.

“I don’t think so, not for a while,” Beth laughed. “The doctor said you were to start out on light foods at first. You did have your stomach pumped, for cripes sake.”

“Thirsty,” I managed, my throat was sore and my mouth felt like the Sahara desert.

She had a glass of cold water and a bendy straw up to my mouth in seconds, so as I sipped, it felt wonderful.

“Now, you aren’t to talk much,” she smiled as I lay back and grinned at her. “It seems you’re allergic to Codeine, very bloody allergic. Did you know that a student nurse named Sandy was ready to give you mouth to mouth resuscitation at one point? You’d passed out so deeply she thought you were a goner.”

“Just an excuse,” I grinned. “She likes me.”

“Bullshit. No girl just likes you. Girls either don’t know you exist or they love you. There ain’t no in between,” she grinned. “I’ll have to phone her and let her know you’re going to be okay. She felt so bad because she was the one who gave you the pill that seemed to trigger your alergic reaction.”

“Why didn’t the first pill do that?” I croaked.

“Shhh,” she held a finger to my lips. “I’m sure the doctor will explain that to you, but basically, I understand that it takes a while for your body to absorb some drugs, then decide that it doesn’t like them.”

Just then Corinna came back with a small bowl of jello in each hand and a nurse at her elbow.

The nurse insisted on shooing the girls out, then pulling the curtains around the bed and checking me over, which took several moments.

“Well, there’s one benefit to you being out of it for a while,” she smiled at me as she checked my leg. “The swelling in your foot has gone down to the point where I think we could apply a temporary cast. On top of that I think you’re reacting relatively normal again. We’ll have the doctor come and check you over though, just to be sure.”

Suddenly she got all business like and she looked at me seriously.

“You realise you can’t get out of bed yet,” she frowned at me. “I’ll be back in a few moments and we’ll see about freeing you.”

“Can’t I get out of bed?”

“Well, you have an IV hooked to your arm and that arm is strapped down to the bed, so no, you can’t move very far!” she smiled. “I’m going to check for clearance to remove the IV and the restraint. From what I see, you look fine now, but I have to get an okay before I can go ahead. For now, why don’t you just relax and eat the jello your friend brought you.”

Saying that, she swung a tray across the bed and set the jello and a spoon on it, then she smiled and left. I heard her talk to the girls for a moment and they both slipped inside the curtains, telling me that they’d be back in a while, each of them giving me a quick kiss on the cheek before they slipped away once more.

It seemed like they’d hardly left when my doctor came in with the same nurse as before.

“Well Chris, and how are we this morning?” he smiled, taking my left hand to check my pulse

“Okay,” I shrugged.

“Good, good,” he muttered as he put his stethoscope to his ears, still holding my wrist.

I felt the cold end of the stethoscope on my chest and shifted slightly. As I was looking at him, the nurse had gone around to my right side and I felt her pick up that arm. Then I felt a pulling sensation and felt her swab my arm with something cold.

The doctor was asking questions and I had to concentrate on him, so I wasn’t really paying attention to the nurse. The doctor’s hand was touching my chin and he had a tongue depressor in my mouth, looking down my throat when I felt the nurses hands on my broken foot. The doctor glanced at the nurse and they seemed to smile at each other for an instant, then the doctor turned to me.

“Well Chris, you seem to be fully recovered from the reaction to the drugs you were given. We’re going to have to do some tests later, but for the moment, I’m going to go with the assumption that you are allergic to some drugs in the Codeine group. Are you in any pain at the moment?”