My Sweetheart -Newsies Racetrack Higgins-

[24]

Hospitals were never Ruth's favorite place. While most children grow an irrational fear of large needles and nurses with stone cold faces, Ruth's fear was much more rational. Half of her youngest sister's life had been spent in a hospital. Sarah Davis was a premature infant, born two and an half months before she was supposed to be. The doctor's said her lungs were underdeveloped, a condition which once seemingly resolved, developed into massive asthma attacks every so often. Mary Davis shared her daughter's fear of hospitals, and began each trip to one with a moment alone with her rosary beads and the small golden cross necklace she wore around her neck.

Ruth sat in the waiting room in the hospital, her hands clasped together in her lap, her eyes staring at a spot on the floor. Jack sat beside her, leaning back with his head pressed against the wall. The rest of the newsies had stayed behind on Jack's order. Jack had hopped into the ambulance, Ruth running on foot to meet them. She found Jack in the waiting room, angrily arguing with the nurse at the nurses station. 

"Jack. Did they say what's wrong?" Ruth has asked. 

"I dunno. Somethin' about lung infection." Jack has sighed, before Ruth guided them down to the seats. 

Ruth had nodded, and ended the conversation, and the long period of silence that currently hung over them had begun. 

Patients left the waiting room to see the doctors, and were almost immediately were replaced by another sick or injured person.  Ruth could hear mothers whispering soothing words, their unhappy children crying that their heads hurt or they felt tired, and men with deep coughs trying to suppress them. 

Jack closed his eye momentarily, breathing in and out to release a small amount of his anxiety. Ruth and Jack had been sitting in the uncomfortable plastic chairs for nearly two hours, with almost zero words exchanged. The silence the enveloped  them was a nice one, that gave them a chance to think. Jack about how responsible he felt for Racetrack's current position, and how he should've known. Ruth reflected on the harsh words they had exchanged earlier, and how much she regretted them. She vowed to apologize to Racetrack if she would ever be allowed to visit. 

"Jack and Ruth Higgins?" A soft, feminine voice called out into the waiting room. 

Jack jumped to his feet, pulling Ruth to hers. "What'd she mean?" Ruth asked, but Jack hushed her.

"Jack and Ruth?" The nurse asked as the two approached.

"Yeah." Jack said hurriedly.

"Your brother is in a serious condition, but the doctor has okayed it for you two to visit." The nurse smiled softly, asking them to follow her back. 

"Brother? What the hell, Jack?" Ruth whispered so the nurse wouldn't hear her.

"They wouldn't let us see him if we ain't family." Jack answered, just before the nurse turned around. She stood outside large double doors. Through the small windows on them, beds full of patients were visible. A large plaque outside the door read, "Pneumonia Ward."

"Your brother is in the fourteenth bed on the right. Oh! It's possible to catch pneumonia in the air. So, it's required you wear these," the nurse pulled out to masks for them to wear. "And remember, do not touch the patient."

"Thank you." Jack took the masks and passed one to Ruth. They placed them over their mouths, the strings hooked behind their ears. The nurse nodded, before heading off to see another patient. 

"Ready?" Jack asked, his voice muffled by the mask.

Ruth breathed out heavily, before nodding. "C'mon." She pushed open the double doors and walked inside. 

Inside the massive ward, at least twenty people all in the same condition. Coughing, shivering, on the verge of passing out from exhaustion. A few visitors mingled around, a few wives with their children recalled their days to their husbands and fathers who nodded in comprehension. Siblings joked with their siblings. Work friends stopped by for a brief visit, wishing the ill a speedy recovery. 

Racetrack was on the end of a row, his blankets wrapped tightly around him. He was staring at the ceiling through half-opened eyes. His bedside partner was asleep, allowing Racetrack a few moments of peace and quiet. 

"Race!" Ruth said loudly, making a few people look at her oddly. She ran over to him, collapsing by the side of his bed. He turned her head to look at her, a smiled weakly. 

"Ruthie..." He said in a raspy voice. "How...?"

"Heya, Race. How they treatin' you so far? Hmm?" Jack stood at the foot of the bed, his hands clasped around the bed frame. 

"Hey..." Racetrack smiled.

"Pneumonia?" Ruth asked, reaching for Racetrack's hand, before stopping herself. It pained her not to be able to hold his hand. 

"Pneumonia."Racetrack answered.