Letters to Nowhere #1 (Completed!)

Letters to Nowhere: Part 84

Bentley's eyes zoomed in on Jordan's left arm, and he moved closer and picked it up.

"Ow!" Jordan said. "Shit!"

Bentley yanked up his sleeve and I immediately slapped my hands over my eyes. "Oh my God," I said into my fingers.

The doctor jumped back. "Whoa! Well, I can safely say that's dislocated."

"Yeah, it is," Bentley snapped. "Glad you gave him a thorough examination."

Tony started to raise his head. "What's going on?"

I uncovered my face and pressed a hand on Tony's back again. "Keep your head down for a while. Trust me."

The doctor dropped his tools into the plastic bin and backed up toward the door. "I'll get someone from orthopedics."

"Get a plastic surgeon, too," Bentley said. "I'm not letting an intern stitch up my kid's head."

This guy's an intern? How could he tell?

Stevie and I were both too curious to not get a closer look at Jordan's deformed arm. Bentley ran his fingers along Jordan's forearm and then his face scrunched up in concentration. Before anyone realized what he was doing, he grasped Jordan's upper arm and yanked his wrist at the same time.

"Jesus Christ!" Jordan practically leapt off the bed, then he flipped his hand over and opened and closed it several times. "Damn...that's much better."

"Better now than when you're sobered up." Bentley rolled Jordan's sleeve up the rest of the way. Then he backed away, allowing Stevie and me to move in closer.

"It's straight again," Stevie said, picking up his hand. "How did you do that, Coach?"

"My elbow used to pop out of place all the time. Something with the bone or the cartilage. My daughter's elbow did the same thing, and I taught myself how to fix it after a few trips to the emergency room. Genetics, I guess. Six hundred dollars in the emergency room practically broke the bank for us. Then they'd send an intern in for about twenty seconds and bill us for it."

My eyes locked with Jordan's. He was as surprised as I was that Bentley had just mentioned his sister so casually.

"Can you do shoulders, too?" Stevie asked.

"Haven't tried." Bentley gave her a tiny smile. "We'll give Jordan a couple more drinks and maybe he'll dislocate something else."

"Can I look now?" Tony said. "I'm getting a headache."

Bentley gave Tony a pat on the back. "All clear. Why don't you take off?" He turned to me and Stevie. "You girls should head home, too. I'm sure it'll be a while before we can get a plastic surgeon in here and get those stitches taken care of."

"Oh God," Tony groaned. "Sorry, Jordy, I'm so out of here."

I glanced at Jordan, who looked like the last thing he wanted was to be left here with his dad, but I didn't really have a choice. Plus, Bentley was obviously doing a better job with this emergency room thing than we were. We would have taken Jordan home with a funky elbow.

"Well, that was educational," Stevie said when we got back in the car.

"Yeah, totally."

"Think he's going to be in a lot of trouble?" Stevie asked.

"I don't know. Jordan looked worried, but I think he just doesn't want to disappoint his dad. He'd probably never admit that, though."

Stevie laughed. "Probably not."

When I got into bed later, Bentley and Jordan were still gone. I fell asleep with my light on and a book in my hand and woke up when I felt someone sliding the paperback out from under me.

            "Jordan," I whispered. He had clean clothes on and was dirt-free and smelled like his aftershave. "Are you okay?"

            He lifted his left arm, revealing a removable splint. "Yeah, gotta wear this for a couple weeks." He squatted down in front of the bed and pushed my hair off my face. Then he broke our very important rules and kissed my cheek. "Just this once."

            I reached up and touched his head, where the cut had been. "Did you get a plastic surgeon?"

            He smiled. "I did. And now my scalp won't be ugly."

            "That's very important."

            His hand moved through my hair. "What did I miss in the life of Karen Campbell while I was at school and then crazy drunk?"

            "I did a bunch of Amanar vaults, but Stevie's were better. I scared a little girl by screaming at her when I thought her basketball was my dad's head rolling around in the gym and probably a whole bunch of preschool parents have now announced my insanity on Twitter. I haven't checked today. That drama led me to go looking for obituaries in the garage, and then you know the rest."

            "A day in the life of an elite athlete," Jordan said. "I'm skipping school tomorrow. Want to go somewhere after practice?"

            "If you can help me with my Catcher in the Rye essay? I kind of slacked on my schoolwork today."

            "I can do that." He walked toward the door and flipped the light off. "Night, Karen."

            "Night, Jordan."                              

            I sighed to myself after he walked away. I wished I could tell if he was really okay or just pretending to be because he thought I had too much to deal with already.

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