“You bet,” Colin replied, then stood and took a half-step back while Casey leaned over Joshua.
“Grade 3, huh,” Joshua said to the doctor.
“Yeah, you rang the bell on this one, Josh!” Casey said, then turned to David. “Turn that light off for me, would you, David?” Once David complied, Casey turned back to Joshua. “Stare at the far wall, Josh.” Then he moved his small flashlight from the left eye to the right, checking each pupil’s reaction. “Good to hear you making sense for a change.”
“Anisocoria?” Joshua asked.
“Slight,” Casey replied, then leaned back. “But it’s better than itwas.”
“What the hell are you two talking about?” Colin snapped. “Speak English!”
“His pupils were different sizes,” Casey explained. “Last night the variance was huge! Today, it’s much smaller, and that is a good thing.”
“I want to go home,” Joshua said. “I’m fine.”
“Josh...” Colin began, but Casey spoke at the same time.
“Josh, you should let me observe you for another twelve to twenty-four hours.”
“Adam, I’m OK. I want to go home! All I’m going to do is lie around! Hell, I can do that just as easy on our couch as I can here!”
“Josh, it’s a bad idea.”
Joshua’s breath hitched in his chest. “Adam, goddammit, I want to gohome!” he blurted out, his voice rising, teetering on the edge of hysteria.
“Josh…” Colin whispered, astonished by his reaction. “Baby,don’t.”
“I want to go home!”
“Doctor Abrams!” Casey snapped. “Focus! Goddammit, Josh,focus! You have a grade 3 concussion. You’re still suffering some minor anisocoria! Only a few hours ago you were babbling like a madman with no ideaof where you were or what had happened to you! And right now, you’re having a hysterical overreaction to a reasonable medical request. Now ifyouhad a patient exhibiting those symptoms, wouldyousend them home?” He leaned toward Joshua. “Or would you insist on observing them a while longer.”
“Honey,please,” Colin begged. He moved to Joshua’s side and bent over him. “I want you home! God, I want it so badly! But not if you’re not well enough. Please listen to Adam.”
Joshua looked past Colin to his doctor, then nodded in surrender. “OK, Adam. I’m sorry. You’re right.” He clenched his teeth and gave his head a quick, frustrated snap, then gasped in shocked fear and clutched Colin’s hand. “Oh,god!”
“What!” Colin asked, his eyes wide with fright.
“Dizzy spell?” Adam asked, and when Joshua nodded, he shrugged. “I thought so. Let that be a lesson to you. Don’t be snapping your head around like that. Focus, Josh! You know better than that.”
Joshua nodded then blew out a sigh.
Casey threw him a wave. “I’ll check on you later, and you can go home tomorrow morning if you’re asymptomatic.”
Joshua scowled, but nodded again.
“Are you OK?” Colin asked him. “You scared the hell out of me.”
“I’m fine. I shook my head, and I can’t do that. Not with this concussion. Dammit!” He looked up at Colin, then to David and Nate who stood nearby. “Sorry, everyone. Didn’t mean to throw a hissy.”
“Well, I’dreallyworry about you if you didn’t give us alittledrama queen action,” Nate teased.
Colin lifted Joshua’s fingers to his lips, then grimaced. “After what we went through in the last twenty-four hours, dramais thelastfucking thing I need!”
Chapter 20
The Day After
Joshua dozed off and on for the rest of the day, but did not lapse back into the unconsciousness which had so frightened Colin and their friends earlier.
