Chapter 30

I found out what she was talking about when I woke up in my room. Actually I woke for a while in the recovery room, but then went right back to sleep. When I woke up in the hospital room, Joan and Jose were waiting for me to return to the land of the living.

"I want to know if I should be jealous," I asked when I got my wits about me.

"Probably," Joan replied with a playful laugh.

"I was afraid of that. Jose is a real heart breaker," I said and watched him redden.

"So how are you Miss Rose. Does it hurt much?" he asked.

"Not yet. I expect that I'm under the influence of a lot of damn good drugs," I said.

"So how is Cathy?" I asked Joan.

"She is just fine. Mark is with her. I'm playing hooky today," she informed me.

"I'm sorry you had to waste a hooky day hanging around a hospital," I said.

"I didn't, you ninnie, it's 7 PM. I just meant a hooky day of being away from being me," she said.

"What about you Jose? Shouldn't you be out on a date?" I asked.

"I am on a date with my two favorite women. I'm the luckiest man on earth," he said with a shy smile.

"You are right Rose, he is a real heart breaker," Joan said.

"Yep, we are going to have to be careful around him," I said.

"Well Jose we need to leave if I am going to get home by eight," Joan said. "Antiques road show you know."

"Yes, we must keep our priorities straight," I said with a laugh.

After they left I got a very late dinner. The tasteless food served its purpose. It satisfied my ravenous hunger. The staff had just picked up the tray when Jeremy and Alice walked into the room.

"Hello there, how you doing?" Jeremy asked.

"I'm doing better. I can move a little without crying like a teenager," I said.

"That's good, but take it easy for a while," Jeremy suggested.

"Looks like I'm on the injured reserve list for a while," I said.

"So do you have any idea when they will spring you from this place?" Alice asked.

"The luxury vacation might end on Wednesday or Thursday depending on how good of a girl I am," I informed them.

"Where are you going when you get discharged?" Alice asked.

"I am going home of course," I said.

"How will you manage," Jeremy asked.

"I will be very careful," I suggested.

"You are more than welcome to come to our place for a few days," Alice said.

"I'm supposed to rest," I said and laughed.

"It would be hard, but we could control ourselves," Jeremy said with a huge grin.

"I'll be just fine at home. Carlos will stop by to take care of the wood stove. The rest I can manage," I informed Jeremy. I hadn't exactly figured all that out, but I knew I could.

The nurse came in at nine to shoot something into my IV. After she left it took about five minutes before I was back in the land of oblivion. They obviously had a shortage of nurses, so putting everyone out early was their answer to it. Hell it worked for me. I didn't like having to call for drugs.

Tuesday I awoke with the ability to sit up with only a manageable amount of pain. I could handle breakfast without nausea inducing pain. Because of the reduction in pain I was looking forward to a good day. After the soft scramble eggs and toast, I felt like a new woman. It lasted about ten minutes before I drifted off to sleep yet again.

The down time didn't last so long Tuesday morning. I was awake for about an hour between breakfast and lunch. The skinny broad with the bad hair came into the room. I realize in my foggy mind that it was Sylvia Porter.

"Well damn, I must be hurt worse than I thought," I said and smiled.

"Well, I sure hope you feel better than you look Rose," Sylvia said. She also smiled.

"I don't," I said.

"When you get out of here, we have a bunk for recovery at Church Camp, if you need it. Most of us don't have any family," she explained.

"Thank you Sylvia, but I'm going to try it at home," I said.

"Good for you," she replied. "By the way the Geek ran a simulation with all the facts. You probably saved at least ten lives by getting that guard away from the monitors. Just sayin."

"Nice to know," I said.

"We all know it Rose, you are one tough broad," she said. "You may not stand around in blood up to your ankles, but you can take it and you can give it back. So if living alone is more than you can handle, send me a message and we will come for you."

"That's awfully nice of you, but I hope you didn't come all this way just to tell me that," I suggested.

"I had business at Church Camp," she said.

"Where do you stay when you aren't visiting Church Camp?" I asked.

"We have another compound in the Black Water Swamp, we just renamed it Camp Martin," she said. "I guess we will be looking for a name for Church Camp one day. Well I have to get on up to the Church Camp now."

"I think I would like to work for you," I blurted out.

"I'm going to work on that then. I have to figure a way to get the SBI off your ass first," she said with a confident smile. "I hear you have some rich bored friends. Maybe you could recruit them as well. We might be able to use a team with no known ties to us." At that point she was out the door.

I smiled for hours it seemed. Why, I had no idea. The last job I did for CC was a mutha, but it was also kind of rewarding.

It was afternoon when Doctor Evers came into the room. He appeared to be in a hurry. "So how is the shoulder?" he asked.

"I can't move it without pain, but I can move the rest of me. I think with a sling I could get out of this bed," I said.

"I can get you a sling and a footed cane. You won't be able to use a walker though," he said.

"You mean, I won't look like a seventy year old woman, damn," I said.

"You do know you have a hell of a good attitude. Most of my patients whine and complain. You laugh and complain," he said.

"I did my share of crying," I said.

"Well just hang in there and do a little more each time you get out of bed. We will see about you going home in a day or two," he said.

After he was gone the nurse removed the catheter and I sat on the side of the bed. There was a dull pain, but I could handle it. I knew that it would get worse without the hospital drugs, but that was a problem for another day. I laid back down.

"I am going to remove the IV from your arm. You will be able to move around even more when I do," the real nurse advised me. I knew she was the real nurse not just because she was going to do nursey things, but because she had an Indian accent.

I nodded while she pulled the needle. When it was gone I had the urge to use the toilet just to see how well I could move around. I found that moving hurt even with the good hospital drugs. I had a feeling life was going to be tough without them. There will be pain, the voice in my head said. There will be serious pain. More than aspirin and Tylenol pain, the voice insisted.

I was going to need Jeremy and Alice, I feared. If for nothing else, to go to the drugstore thing for me. Then again, I might be able to drive myself. I didn't expect that to be the case, but like Sylvia said, I was a tough old broad.

I was still getting shot up with God only knew what, but I needed it for the pain. Everything went along with people being extremely nice to me until Wednesday. That is when they started to get bossy. I was told they would not release me without someone agreeing to at least check on me. And that same someone had to come to take me home. Since Joan was unreliable due to family commitments, it became Jeremy and Alice.

I didn't feel too bad since Alice and I had seen each other in a compromising position, I figure they were as good a caretaker as any. The ride back to my place wasn't at all painful since they had a nice car and I was also pretty high. I didn't feel high, but I did feel like I was in a fog. The hospital had called the drugstore far enough in advance for them to have my prescription for Vicodin.

"So you're coming to our place period," Jeremy said.

"Bull shit all the nurse said was I needed someone to look in on me. That is more to call 911, if I can't. Like I died in the middle of the night kind of thing. So drop me at home and call me a couple of times a day," I said. "I want you to know I could have gotten Carlos and Nita to do this, so don't expect feet kissing gratitude."

"She is an even worse bitch when she is out of the hospital," Jeremy said. "All right Rose have it your way, but we are going to get your drugs and some basic food item for you."

"Drop me first and then go to the drugstore please. I think I need to lay down," I said. I made it into the house and was on the sofa when the first of the phone calls came.

Jeremy and Alice were unloading groceries while I told Joan, "Look I know you have family. I have it all arranged. Jeremy and Alice have a thirty day supply of drugs and a dozen bags of food. Carlos brought in enough wood for a week and he will be back before I need more. Just come visit when you can.

Once I got rid of Jeremy and Alice I managed to sleep a little. I woke up in terrible pain whenever I moved. I managed to dry swallow the pills. I knew being an accomplish cock sucker would someday pay off. I could swallow anything without water.

For the next couple of days I lived from one dose of Vicodin to the next. I did manage to sleep a lot more than I ever had before. However going to the bathroom was a bitch. First there was getting off the sofa and bouncing my way to the bathroom. Then there was the easing of myself on and off the toilet. Not to mention I was a right handed wiper and suddenly had to become a lefty.

I was extremely tired of trying to clean myself in the large plastic sink by the weekend. I decided that the shoulder had healed enough to allow me a shower. The incision would be fine with just a little antibiotic ointment and a clean white tee shirt. That being the case a shower with no scrubbing was the plan.

The house was warm Saturday morning when I decided to go for it. I was all bent in pain as I worked my way into the shower carrying two clean towels thanks to Carlos' aunt. I could barely stand long enough for the shower. If there was such a thing as a hair salon that made house calls, I would have had my head shaved. It was almost impossible to do anything with my hair except let it hang wet and limp. That made me almost as miserable as the greasy feeling.