Sister City

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty-One

I woke up in a dark room. I was upright in the most uncomfortable hospital bed ever, and I still couldn’t feel my arm. What the hell?

A quiet beeping broke through the haze of the anesthesia. I shook my head a few times trying to clear the cobwebs.

“Whoa,” I said, startled at the croakiness of my voice. “This is redonkulous.”

A flood of light forced my eyes closed as the door was thrown open.

“You’re awake.”

The voice was prissy, and I was certain that I should be able to remember who it belonged to, but I was at a loss.

As I gradually opened my eyes, I saw who was glaring at me expectantly. Though my spidey senses were tingling, I couldn’t place why she made my stomach ache. I searched through my memory banks, but the fog that rolls across the Golden Gate Bridge every morning was nothing compared to the sludge in my brain.

“It’s about time you woke up,” she sniped. “Your mom’s been worried sick.”

Nurse Nih-Chō-Lee. Of course. Who else would make me feel like utter crap for having an emergency surgery? Where was Kim K., R.N. when you needed a friendly face?

“Speaking of people I will continually disappoint,” I sniped back, my final nerve was frayed and I had no tolerance left. “Where is my mom?”

“Don't you open your mouth and talk to me like that,” she threatened.

“Shift change,” Kim K. called out gaily preventing Nichole from finishing her statement.

Good lord. I was more than thankful for that because I wasn't sure how much more of this I could take. This being Nichole and her ridiculous behavior.

“Your Mom and Dad will be here shortly, Sweetie.” She barely looked away from me as she fussed with my sheets. “It's been a few more hours than Doctor Baine anticipated. When we realized how late it was getting we sent them out to get something to eat before they fell over and broke something and we had to admit them for their own surgery.”

“Why?” I asked quietly.

“There was a bit more damage than the x-rays showed,” she explained.

“And?”

“You had a bad reaction to the anesthesia.”

Immediately I started taking an inventory of my body parts. Feet. Check. Legs. Check. Can't reach my butt, but no cause for worry as I'm reasonably sure I'm sitting on it. Boobs. There may be cause for worry there since one of them is completely covered by the thick wrapping covering my shoulder. Not totally worried, though, because I'm pretty darn certain that Kim K. would have told me if I was missing a boob. She seemed like the type who wouldn’t bullshit about something so important. So, it seemed I had all my body parts, including my hair.

Despite the amused look on her face, Kim K. has a sad look in her eyes. She had waited, patiently, as I took stock of my 2,000 parts.

“You were out a wee bit longer than is typical,” she said

Suddenly, with the cobwebs mostly cleared and my eyes adjusted to the light in the room, I realized that it was dark outside.

“What time is it?”

“It’s nearly ten thirty.”

The door opened and another burst of light flooded into the dark room.

“Catherine!”

“Mom!”

“Thank the heavens,” Mom cried. “You gave us quite a scare. How are you feeling? Dad went to go pick up your prescriptions and bring the car around. Do you need anything else? Everyone else is at home waiting for you. Any time you’re ready, Doctor Baine has cleared you and we can go home. Are you ready to head out?”