Chapter 44

On day three I managed to walk to the bathroom, alone. I did it with a hell of a lot of pain and the help of a cane. I could never have gotten out of bed at home. My decision to stay another day was based on that experience. Trying to sit up caused me to cry that first time. Broken ribs are not for sissy, I decided.

By the evening of day three I was going to the bathroom on my own. It still was with a great deal of pain. I prepare myself mentally for it and I did it with a lot of grunts and groans. It sounded as though I was in more pain than truly was. I would have screamed, except I feared it would bring the nurses running. I wanted as little to do with them as possible.

By the morning of day four I had the bathroom thing figured out. With the aid of the cane and by rolling on my side and swinging my legs onto the floor, I could mostly avoid using the muscle which put pressure on the ribs. Not very medical sounding, I know, but it worked for me. I could make it to the bathroom which was about all the movement I was up to. I considered it a great victory at the time.

By the afternoon of that day, I was ready to try walking down the hall for the first time. I rolled onto my side with some pain, but not nearly as much as sitting up in the bed caused. Then I swung my legs over the side and used the cane to lever myself upright. Yeah it was ugly, but it had me sitting on the side of the bed with less pain. It was a pain I could cope with.

I pulled myself out of the bed with the cane, so that I was standing. I wasn't standing upright but I was up. I took my first steps using only the cane for support. I had been holding to door and rails attached to the walls to go to the bathroom. The bathrom trip was only three painful steps. The walk I planned was a lot more steps.

I slowly made my way to the door, when I got there I was exhausted. Exhaustion or not I continued on. I managed to get the door open. I looked down the hall and found mine was the only door that was closed. I was also the only one with a plain clothes officer sitting outside the door.

"Where do you think you are going," he said pleasantly.

"Dancing?" I asked breathlessly.

"You might want to hold off till after dark for that," he suggested.

"Well then how about once around the halls and home James," I said.

"Tell you what if you go real slow, I'll go with you. I probably can't keep up," he said. He used a cane to lever himself to a standing position. Since he was about my age and had the bearing of a military man, I figured him for a soldier.

"Iraq?" I asked.

"Yep early on before we armored the hummers," he said.

"I'm sorry, you seem to have adapted pretty well," I suggested.

"What else could I do," he said.

"When you are a pro, it's all you can do, I guess," I said. "So now you are with the SBI?"

"Not the State Bureau we fall under the State Attorney's office. You are in the witness protection program at the moment," he said.

We were moving along at a snails pace while we talked. It took some of the pain away to have my thinking off the pain for a while. "So can you run in the Olympics?" I asked.

"No, but I can outrun you right now," he said.

"That is true. So where you living while you are in town." I asked.

"A motel out at the interchange about five miles out of town," he said "Why?"

"Well I live in a motel and nobody is using my room right now," I said with a smile.

"Oh well, I'm not on a per diem. They pay the motel directly. So let them pay," he said.

"Right," I said with a smile. We had been around the floor by that time. "Well I don't think I'm up for another lap."

"Well you go on back and I'll have a nurse come tuck you in," he said.

"Don't bother I'm fine," I said.

"Lady you are a hell of a lot of thing, s but you are not fine right now," he said with a concerned look,"

I was back in bed when the nurse came in to change my dressing. "Your wound is weeping. It's to be expected for a few days still." She said it as if I had been concerned. I assured her I had not been. When she left, I went back to sleep.

I slept for a couple of hours, then the day shift cops came in to check on me. I wasn't sure what brought them in, but I was glad to see them. Well most of them. They didn't stay but a minute, just long enough to update me on the progress. It seemed that the guy with the bullet in his gut wanted to make a deal. The driver not so much. But the one with the bullet was facing the needle, since there was no question that he had been a shooter.

The district attorney was about to file on a local businessman. I asked who of course but they didn't know. "It's all just rumor anyway at this point," one of the older day shift's officers said. The two officers and supervisor from the day shift left, after fifteen long minutes.

If the District attorney did file charges on the boss, my need for protection ended. Just when I was starting to wonder about sex with a gimp. I laugh at the thoughts I was having, not the man.