Story Time

Oct 24, 2005 18:31


And now, for an update...

She leaned back against the door as she breathed a heavy sigh.  She felt as though she had aged ten years within a day.  The girl closed her eyes, sensing the beginning of a migraine.  A tear escaped through her firmly shut eyelids.  The girl covered her face with her hands, and she began to rub her temples with her index fingers.

“Miss, are you alright?” The girl jerked back into the door, knocking her head against it in the process.

“Yes, yes. I’m fine,” the girl said, reassuring herself as well as the nurse.  The nurse studied the girl in front of her.  She looked as though she hadn’t eaten or slept in days.  Her hair was dishelved, her clothes rumpled, and there was a tremendous amount of stress behind her eyes.

“You look like you could use some soup. Why don’t you and I take a walk down to the cafeteria?” the nurse asked with concern.

“Thank you, but no.  He’s going into surgery, and his parents are on their way here from Hawaii.  I need to be here for him and his parents.” The girl stated, rubbing her eyes.

“Okay, but if you need anything, just ask for Martha at the desk in the waiting room.” The nurse turned and headed off in the other direction.

“Wait,” the girl said quietly. The nurse heard her and glanced over her shoulder in the girl’s direction, “Will you let Grace know that I would like to speak to her when she has time, please?”

“Grace? Who is Grace?” the nurse asked, completely dumbfounded.  The girl’s eyes began to fill with tears and then spilled over. She only wanted to thank the nurse who had been so kind to her earlier.  Why did health officials have to be so complicated?

“Grace is a nurse; she works here,” the girl said as she tried to keep her tears at bay.

“Maybe you have this Grace confused with someone else.  I’m the head nurse on duty in this ER, and I know everyone who works here. There isn’t a Grace on staff.  I’m sorry.” The nurse said all of this politely, and then she headed off to another room, leaving the girl to wonder at what she had said.  The girl didn’t know what to think.  She turned and started back toward the waiting area.

The girl found a chair away from the television and vending machines.  She needed to be alone, to think, and to pray.  The girl pulled her legs up to her chest, clasped her hands around her ankles, and laid her head on her knees.  It was getting late, and the girl didn’t know how much longer she could stay awake.  The old man and woman the girl had seen in the waiting area earlier were still there.  They sat close; holding hands while the old woman had her head on the man’s shoulder.  The elderly couple was a picture of love.

The old man caught the girl studying him and his wife.  He winked at her and smiled as if saying, “Hang in there”.  The girl shut her eyes.  The fluorescent lights and hum of the television were only adding to her migraine.  Several minutes passed, and the girl was sound asleep.  But she didn’t find peace or sweet dreams in her sleep.  She didn’t exactly have nightmares either.  Instead, she dreamt of strange images in complete darkness, loneliness, and absolute emptiness.  She tossed and turned in the small, uncomfortable hospital chair.  The images of the inundating blackness were far worse than any nightmare the girl had ever had.

The old man looked on as she slept.  He watched as the girl flailed about in the chair.  He slowly got out of his chair attempting not to disturb his wife.  HE gently situated his wife’s head against the arm of his chair, and then proceeded toward the reception desk.

“Ma’am, would you be able to get that girl a hospital cot or a pillow? She appears to be uncomfortable and stressed.  She obviously needs to sleep, but she needs to be here at the same time, for whatever reason.  Could you, at least, attempt to make her semi-comfortable?” The elderly man politely asked with a wink.

The woman behind the reception desk didn’t even look up at the man from her computer screen.  She continued to type with one hand while sipping from an oversized coffee mug with the other.

“We don’t give cots to non-patients.  I’ll make a call to the back room in the ER and see what I can do. I’m not promising anything.”

The old man nodded and gave a slight smile as he headed back to his seat.  His wife had woken up while he had been at the reception desk.

“How is she William?” his wife asked.  It’ didn’t matter the number of times he looked at her, each time his wife was even more beautiful to him.  William shook his head as he took his seat.  He slid his arm around his wife’s shoulders and sighed.

“I wasn’t checking on Annadru’s condition.  I was asking if that young girl over there could get a cot or a pillow.  She was tossing around in her chair, and she reminds me of our granddaughter, all alone in some operating room.  Anyway, I don’t think that there is a change in Anna’s condition; the lady at the desk didn’t say anything,” The old man patiently replied.  He looked deeply into his wife’s blue eyes and smiled, “God has our Anna covered, anyway.  He’s the best doctor there is, Hannah.”

“I know.  He is the only doctor that I trust.” Hannah replied and smiled at her husband as she gently interlaced her fingers in between his.

To be continued...

I was thinking about how I want Joe and I to be when we're old together, someday, and I can't wait for that.  I can't wait to grow old with him, graduate college together, buy our first house, have children, and just watch our family grow togther as we slowly fall apart. Anyway, I'll stop being all mushy and leave you, the reader, to your own sweet thoughts.  Hope you enjoyed it!

Love in Christ,

Jamie Nicole
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