Love Speaks Through: Chapter 13
Costa Rican church was held the next morning, but Kris and Allison were used to getting up early. They dressed in the one nice outfit they had brought, and Kris was grateful again, that he had the chance to buy clothes the day before. They ate a quick breakfast and then it was off on another bus ride.
The building itself had cement walls and floors. It reminded Kris a little too much of the guest house in that aspect, but it was more a basement than an unfinished room. So Kris distracted himself, holding little kids, as they all had come to church, too, of course.
Allison was pretty sure she wanted to take Nico home with her. She cradled him, finally having come up with a good position, so he didn’t end up flopping so much. She rocked him in her arms as the praise and worship team played at the front. All around her, people raised their hands and clapped. It warmed her heart to be so welcomed here.
She held Nico, while Kris entertained Savanna by pulling random things out of his pocket. A string. A single colón, the Costa Rican currency, that still reminded Allison of pirate’s gold. His Passport. Savanna seemed equally interested in all of it, wanting him to put it all back and show her again.
The sermon began, and Allison leaned over to help explain it to Joan and McKenna who were on her other side. She felt a little funny at first, because it was about sexual sin, and guarding one’s eyes, and that wasn’t really anything Allison did with regularity. But they seemed really interested, so Allison kept it up, occasionally stopping to whisper something nice to Nico, for being so well-behaved during church. She was rewarded with his big smile.
“Well, that was a fun sermon, huh?” Kris asked.
They were back on the bus and headed for the hospital, with explicit instructions from Joan and McKenna to buy Adam a balloon from the gift shop, if it had one. They weren’t allowed to bring outside stuff in, because of germs and the risk of infection. But they figured a balloon would be nice to look at, and wouldn’t be dangerous for him.
“I translated the whole thing for Joan,” Allison sighed, feigning tiredness. “But she was really into it. I guess it was really her thing, though.”
“Nico is a pretty mellow kid.” Kris observed. “I had to keep pulling the same stuff out of my pockets over and over to keep Savanna entertained so she didn’t interrupt. I guess you got lucky.”
“I love Nico. I want to take him home,” Allison admitted wistfully. “I mean, do you know how long he’s been there? Longer than any of those other kids. Like four years or something. Nobody will take him because of his delays but I want him. It’s not fair they only want Costa Rican families to adopt these kids. I speak Spanish. I would do everything I could to keep his culture a part of his life…”
“I know the feeling,” Kris sighed, draping an arm around Allison’s shoulders. “We can’t have anymore natural kids after Kaleb, and this trip is making me seriously consider adoption. I mean, who loses out in a situation like that? The kids need a home and we need more children to love.”
Both grew quiet, bumping along the dirt road into town. They didn’t know what they would see when they visited Adam, and had decided to go by the pediatric hospital, too, since Adam had asked about Emilio. Even if they couldn’t see him, they could at least ask Claudia how he was doing. To have something to tell Adam when they saw him.
--
At the children’s hospital, Kris and Allison weren’t allowed to see Emilio, except through a window. He was too vulnerable to infection. Claudia brought them to the place where they could look in and see him. Emilio looked impossibly tiny, wrapped from head to belly in white gauze.
Allison swallowed, trying to keep her composure and she and Kris asked how he was doing, and what they could pray for. They were told it was too soon to tell, but he was being very strong. Claudia told them she kept Sandy and Patrick updated, so they could check with them for further updates. Then, she cupped each face in her hands and kissed their cheeks. She said to give Adam her deepest love and thanks.
So, they promised. And then they left.
--
“God, Kris, I don’t think I can do this now,” Allison said softly, her voice shaking, as they walked down the hall of the new hospital where Adam was. She had never seen anybody burned before, and now she was seeing two in one day. It scared the crap out of her. When Kris offered his hand, she took it, not caring that hers was all sweaty.
“I know, but remember, Adam’s not as bad off as Emilio. He’ll be in pain but he won’t be wrapped up.” Kris prayed she would be able to be strong. If Allison lost it, he felt sure he would, too.
Kris toted a balloon behind him, feeling stupid, but knowing that Joan would ask about it first thing. It looked way too celebratory for a burn unit, but they brought it anyway, hoping it would cheer Adam up.
--
Adam felt anxious, gross and uncomfortable, but his burns were already starting to heal. That didn’t mean he didn’t still hurt, of course. He totally did. But the pain medication they gave him was nice, and he found that as much as it killed to have his bandages changed, he sort of felt better afterward. Plus, he was glad it had been taken care of before he had visitors. Maybe then, everything would look less gross and scary.
He adjusted, trying to find a more comfortable position. Allison and Kris were supposed to visit today, and while Adam wasn’t holding out too much hope for it working out, he also promised himself that if it did, he would stay awake. It seemed like he lacked any ability at all to rest until he actually had a reason to stay awake. It was so frustrating.
--
Kris approached the door ahead of Allison and tapped on it, pushing it open before second thoughts made him hesitate. “Knock, knock,” he called.
“Hey, you showed up,” Adam called, smiling.
Allison hedged a little behind Kris, dragging the balloon in like a forgotten child’s toy.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw how normal Adam looked. Just his hand the side of his neck were covered by a bandage. He had on a pale green hospital pajama thing that looked suspiciously like a nightgown. He didn’t have any tubes in him except an IV in his good hand. His hair was messy, and she could see the purple streak that hadn’t gotten washed all the way out from before he came. His eyes lit up in happy recognition, but he seemed a little slow to Allison, like he was on some crazy pain medication, which she figured he was. When he smiled, his face made the same dimples, and his freckles looked especially freckly against his white-pale skin.
“Hey, it’s a balloon…parrot. What’s up with that?” Adam asked drowsily.
“Joan and McKenna made us buy it for you,” Allison filled in, walking over tentatively and waiting. She wasn’t sure if hugging was okay or not. She didn’t want to hurt him.
But he opened his arms, and took her into them, just like always. It was a little tentative, but it still worked.
Over her shoulder, Adam grimaced at the pain even such a simple act caused him. He favored his left arm, letting it do most of the work, and tried not to move his head.
Kris approached next, having tied the weird-looking parrot balloon to Adam’s railing.
“Hey. You look better,” he complimented, hugging him gently. Kris heard Adam take in air suddenly between his teeth and felt a pang of regret.
“Thanks. Did you guys see Emilio?” he asked.
Allison busied herself, pulling up a chair, and hoping he couldn’t see her cringe. She’d let Kris talk about this part. If she tried, Allison might get all emotional, and that wouldn’t be good for Adam.
“We saw him,” Kris affirmed, grasping Adam’s good hand. It felt cold from the air-conditioning, and Adam squeezed briefly. “Claudia said for us to give you her deepest love and thanks for what you did. He’s in pretty rough shape but Claudia said he’s being really strong.”
Allison sighed, relieved. There was no way she would have been able to tell that to him and make it sound like a good thing. But Kris could be a politician or something the way he put things across so they didn’t hurt people.
“That’s good,” Adam admitted, though he still sounded down. Claudia was giving him entirely too much credit.
“So, you missed the greatest sermon ever,” Allison put in wanting to lift his spirits. She ignored it when she saw Adam wince, and hated herself for it.
“What was it?” Adam asked groggily. “Moses, or something?”
She shook her head. “It was about sexual sin. And guarding your eyes and stuff.”
Adam giggled, sounding entirely high, despite the fact that he was obviously in pain. “God, it’s a good thing I wasn’t there. I do that all the time. Not the guarding my eyes part, just the other part.”
Allison cracked up, even though she tried really hard to stop herself. It felt totally wrong to laugh like that in a hospital, but Kris was smiling and Adam had been laughing, so Alli figured it was probably okay.
“Hey, this is nice,” he reached out and reverently touched the sleeve of Kris’ new dress shirt. It was green and it looked like plants were growing all over it.
For some reason, that brought to mind the fact that Kris hadn’t thought to buy any extra clothes for Adam. And he would need them worse than anybody because the only ones he had probably were cut off him when he came in.
“You didn’t tell me you guys went clothes shopping,” he accused mildly. His eyes were already drifting closed, and he fought to stay awake. “Don’t go, okay?” he asked.
“We should really let you rest,” Kris objected softly.
The truth of it was, Kris couldn’t stand hospitals ever since Kaleb had been born. He had a visceral response to them now that wasn’t good. He felt sweaty, and his hands were numb. He was getting short of breath. Kris needed to get out of here before he passed out.
Allison squinted at Kris. He was looking kind of gray-green and clammy, and just generally disgusting. Like he might throw up or something all of a sudden.
“Okay, we love you,” Allison told Adam fiercely, giving him a hug. “But Kris is looking a little green, and I don’t think you want him as your roommate in this place.”
“See you,” Kris said, “Feel better.”
“Thanks for coming, guys…” Adam called after them. He missed them already, but he was glad they had come. So far, they were the only visitors that he liked.
He found himself staring at the parrot balloon, glad that they had left something behind that was colorful. Adam watched it sway back and forth until he finally gave in and fell asleep.
--
On the bus ride home, Allison watched Kris carefully. “What is with you, dude?” she asked softly. “He didn’t look that bad.”
“No, I know,” Kris nodded, though he still felt light-headed. “I just can’t do hospitals anymore.”
“’Cause of Special K?” Alli guessed.
Silently, Kris nodded. “And I realized when he was lookin’ at my clothes, that I didn’t remember to get any for him. Feel awful.”
“Joan took care of it,” Allison said quietly, nodding at the surprise on Kris’ face. “She didn’t really want anyone else to know. So she just did it and McKenna helped. They bought a bunch of stuff they thought might be overlooked. I saw them come in with a bunch of extra bags and asked McKenna about it. Tyler bribed her with some leftover mocha smoothie and she spilled.”
“Wow, that’s really nice of them,” Kris breathed. “Of course now he’s gonna bitch the whole way home that his clothes are too conservative.”
“Yeah,” Allison agreed, “But I can’t wait.”