She shrugged. “About the same as yesterday.”
“Yeah?” I questioned as I lifted the blanket from her right leg and gently shifted around the bandaging there. Melody had been here for a few nights after spilling hot oil on her poor little leg. The sweet girl had tried making her mom fried eggs for breakfast and accidentally hit the pan, dumping the oil everywhere.
“I’m going to change out your bandages now and make sure the blistering isn’t infected. Would that be okay? I promise to be extra, super duper gentle.” My tone was calm and soft. Children in the unit always responded best when you explained exactly what you were doing beforehand then reassured them that you would be careful.
“That’s fine,” she agreed, giving me one of her usual bright smiles.
I nodded in thanks then prepped my little rolling table with all the items I needed. As I did, I saw her mom Valerie looking like it was taking everything in her not to doze off.
“Mrs. Williams, why don’t you go get you some coffee and some food from the cafeteria. This will take a minute, and I don’t mind keeping an eye on this little troublemaker.” I shot Melody a goofy look by crossing my eyes, making her giggle.
Valerie sighed and stood from the chair. “Thank you, Sophia. Mel, do you want anything, baby?”
Melody nodded emphatically. “Can I have a popsicle? The red one.”
“Okay, sweetie. I’ll be right back.” She leaned over and kissed the top of Melody’s red curls through her mask before leaving the room.
“Okay, here we go,” I told Melody, warning her before I tenderly began to unwrap the old dressing from around her leg. She twitched and winced a bit as the bandaging separated from the sensitive skin beneath. I glanced in her direction and saw her eyes were zeroed in on what I was doing. They were wide with worry and filled with pain.
Cartoons playing on the TV caught my attention. “What’s this show about?” I asked her, using the masterful art of distraction to keep her from thinking about what I was doing.
“Monsters. Really funny monsters.”
“That’s cool! Tell me about the monsters,” I prodded, hoping she’d follow through.
Her eyes finally glanced over to the TV and stayed there, a hint of a smile gracing her face. “One of them holds his eyes with his hands and has super hairy armpits. And another has these really big, red lips. I like this show.”
I knew exactly which show this was, having grown up watching it myself, but getting her to describe it to me seemed to be doing the trick. She visibly relaxed as I finished removing the bandages and checked over her burns. The blistering was already starting to heal some and didn’t show any signs of infection. Relief washed over me. Infection would’ve meant more meds and possibly more procedures.
“What other shows do you like?” I inquired curiously as I quickly cleaned the residual ointments from her skin with some gauze and started to apply fresh ointment with a Q-tip in its place.
“Anything with superheroes or adventure. I don’t really like princess shows.”
I laughed, knowing exactly how she felt. “Me either. I wasn’t into princesses growing up and preferred more what boys liked watching. Superheroes specifically.”
Melody glanced at me and tilted her head. “Is that why you became one?”
Her question surprised me. “Who? Me? I’m not a superhero.”
Melody shook her head. “No, you are. You save people’s lives. That makes you a superhero.”
Her response warmed my heart to no end. I was nowhere near a superhero, but the fact she thought I was made my night, and this long shift, so much better.
“You know, my dad was arealhero. He was a fireman who ran into burning buildings. He’s the reason I am here helping people like you who get hurt from hot things.”
Melody’s eyes grew in size. “Wow. That’s so cool. I think it’d be fun to be a firefighter, but I bet Steve Hoffman at school would tell me that’s a job for only boys.”
I finished fastening the end of her new bandaging on and stood up straight. “Let me tell you something my dad told me. He said ‘Burn brighter in life so no one could ever put out the inner flame of your soul.’In other words, Steve Hoffman can’t tell you what you can and can’t be in life. Be the best you possible and believe in yourself. Then you can do whatever you want in life and no one canevertake that away. Burn brighter than Steve and be a firefighter if that’s what you want.”
Melody nodded her head and grinned. “I can do that.”
“Good,” I replied, pulling off my gloves and rolling the table away. “You’re all done! The doctor should be coming by later to check on your leg again, but you shouldn’t need more bandaging for a bit.”
Melody sighed in relief and snuggled back into the pillows just as Valerie walked back into the room.
“Popsicle!” Melody cheered excitedly. Valerie handed it over and placed a hand on my shoulder, patting it softly before removing it.
“Thank you for keeping an eye on her and being so good with her. She gets excited to see you every day.” She glanced down at Melody’s leg. “How’s it looking?”
