“Hi,” Nurse Kendra said as she touched my shoulder. “Sleeping?”
“Not really,” I said, stretching and immediately regretting it as my back ached. “Not much else to do here other than sleep though. Throwing a ball back and forth isn’t exactly entertaining.”
“I heard you are doing well in physical therapy,” she said and took some vitals.
I nodded, feeling proud I’d managed to lift myself out of the chair with little aid in our last session. Walking was another matter, however. Just when I thought I had my balance, my legs started vibrating and spasming. It was also a chore working my left hand, the thing prone to shooting in random directions. The cherry on top was my vision had cleared up. Every now and then I got a spot of fuzziness, but it usually went away.
She offered me a proud smile. “Feeling up for a little fun?”
I frowned. Fun was a foreign concept these days. I was coming up on two months between the hospital and the rehabilitation center since the assault. I wanted to go home, though I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d have a home to go to. The engineering firm I’d worked for had been understanding, but it was uncertain if I’d ever be able to work again. They’d put me on leave, but being unable to work left me in a tricky situation financially. I couldn’t afford to pay the rent and my savings would quickly be depleted by how expensive it was to live in downtown Chicago. Not to mention my insurance was about to expire and navigating the fun world of filing for disability was its own headache but I couldn’t think about things like that right now. Trying to figure out what I was going to do made my head pound and seeing as I was plagued with random headaches, I wanted to avoid anything that aggravated them.
She winked at me and left the room, only to return with Jere and…
“Biscuit!” I exclaimed and perked up.
My furball was mewling ecstatically in a cat carrier. Jere set it on the bed and unzipped the bag. Biscuit crawled into my arms, but stopped when he got a good look at me. He cautiously sniffed at me, likely thrown off by the scent of medicine in my system and my generally haggard appearance. When he realized it was me, he butted his head against my cheek. I hugged him tightly as he purred.
“I missed you, buddy,” I said and stroked his smooth fur as he rubbed his scent all over me. “Has Jere been taking good care of you?”
Biscuit mewled and pushed his face into mine again.
“I bought him some new toys. He didn’t show much interest in them and insists on playing hide and seek in your shoe boxes.” Jere said and gave the cat a stroke down his back. “We’ve become friends.”
“Boxes are his favorite,” I said, kissing the top of Biscuit’s head. “No matter how many toys I buy him, he prefers cardboard over catnip.”
As I talked endlessly about my fur baby, Mom showed up, looking like she’d finally gotten some sleep. Her clothes weren’t wrinkled, and she’d put a little makeup on. In her early fifties, she was still a very beautiful woman, her age reflected only in her motherly wisdom. She was a researcher with an important law firm that occasionally worked with my firm to consult on projects. Though her job focused on the legality of environmental conservation and development, I cherished the internship I’d completed there. Most kids might think it was lame to have had to work with their parents, but I’d loved every second of it. Not that we’d interacted much, seeing as our departments rarely crossed.
She hugged me tightly, and kissed my cheek, then gave Biscuit a pat. Ronnie arrived a short time later, equally done up. I supposed now everyone knew I was going to live, a weight had been lifted off their shoulders. My favorite people gathered around me as I complained about things like bad food and uncomfortable mattresses, but they listened like it was the most interesting story they’d ever heard.
“I don’t like having a stranger leer over me while I bathe,” I said with a grumble and ran my hand across Biscuit as he slept curled up in my lap.
“Let them do their job, baby,” Mom said. “With a little luck, you’ll be coming home soon.”
“Then I can have one of you leer over me as I wash?” I grumbled.
Ronnie frowned at me then turned to Jere. “You knew him before I did. Was he always this complainy?”
“Sometimes. Mostly he complained about goofy things I did that got him in trouble. Oh, and our high school’s disinterest in recycling. My ears suffered from that.”
I gaped at him. “I amnota complainer… Well, maybe a little one. Especially when I had to get us out of the troubleyoucaused, right, Mom?”
“I don’t know. I think it was a team effort,” she said, smiling at our banter.
“You won’t keep heckling the nurses about helping you bathe. It’s the rules; people in your condition can’t be alone,” Jere said, sounding way too reasonable lately. “Besides, I like these nurses too. They’re nice.”
“I know, it’s just, I promised if they let me bathe by myself, I’d let them know when I was done, and not try to get out of the stall myself. They insist they be there while I wash my junk.”
Ronnie rolled her eyes, slumping her shoulder dramatically. Mom kissed my forehead, seemingly delighted by my complaints. An hour later, Sean showed up with two of my kids—Stella and Ricky. Well, they weren’t my kids anymore. They’d both turned eighteen last year and Stella was attending community college, but I still thought of them as mine. Once I’d gotten settled in the rehabilitation center, the kids from the LGBTQ center called often to let me know they missed me and were looking forward to having me back. Some had even come to visit, bringing me much-needed chocolate and Hot Tamales. They rushed to hug me, and I was never so happy to feel the tight squeeze of discomfort around my chest.
“We wanted to visit sooner,” Stella said, pouting out her pierced lip. “But Sean said you needed some time to heal, and I’ve beensobusy with school.”
“How’s the calculus going?” I inquired.
“It’s going. I hate math, but luckily my major doesn’t require much of it.”
“Preach,” Jere cut in and offered her a fist-bump.
“If you get hung up on anything, I’ll help you. I’m going to have a lot of time on my hands here soon,” I said and looked at Ricky. “How is the job going?”
