Chapter 12: The Setting

Robin examined the X-rays and coughed. Then she looked at Karen who was lying unconscious on the table. A mask was placed on her face. The cast was removed revealing a perfect, unscathed leg. The injured one was resting on pillows. It appeared to be mutilated beyond repair. The swellings were huge, blue colored. A nurse had cut the white sock off Karen's grotesquely bloated foot.

"Fractured in eight places!" Robin said pensively.

The two nurses were standing beside the injured girl, expecting orders.

"Take hold around her thigh!" Robin instructed one of them.

She cautiously positioned her hands on Karen's ankle, clasped it and tugged. Nothing happened. She tugged again and twisted. Karen moaned. The shattered leg emitted a clicking sound. Robin stopped for a while and examined it. A minute later, she started tugging again. Her face was flushed; her hands were getting numbed. Sweat moistened her brow. She struggled to set the fractured bones for more than half an hour. Karen was moaning incessantly, still unconscious. Robin finished her job by setting Karen's mangled foot. Then she drew backwards and looked proudly at the leg. It was straightened out. The grotesqueness was gone. The swellings were still there though.

"Take her to be X- rayed again!" Robin said.

The nurses followed the instructions. As the pictures confirmed that everything is OK, Robin put Karen's leg in a splint.

"Wheel her in Tiffany's room! I am sure that she doesn't want to be alone. In addition, hang her leg as higher as possible! By the way, what's her name?"

"Karen," one of the nurses answered, "What is the matter with her left leg? Has it healed yet?"

"What?"

"The leg that was casted... the left one"

"Aha... yes, it is fine," Robin said and chuckled.

"Poor girl!"

"Poor girl," Robin agreed and nodded.