Burned by Rick Bundschuh

Author:Rick Bundschuh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Zonderkidz
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

six

“How did this happen?”

“Surfing accident,” Malia said, wincing.

The doctor raised his eyebrows and put on his eyeglasses. “We don’t get many of those in here, and you are certainly the youngest — and the only girl I’ve ever treated for a surfing accident.”

Bethany saw Malia smile weakly at the doctor before she winced again. Her body was covered with numerous lacerations, and the bandage on her knee was red with blood. Just before the doctor had come, Malia had confided in her that she felt as if she’d been run over by a bus. Bethany noticed the hundreds of little slashes in her bathing suit and rash guard and gritted her teeth.

“The first thing we need to do is to suture up that cut on your knee,” the doctor said as he explored Malia for other cuts. As his hand passed over her left side, Malia winced.

“And I want to get you X-rayed as well. You seem a little tender around your ribs, and I want to make sure nothing is broken.”

Bethany bit her bottom lip — hard.

She saw him fill the needle with fluid from a bottle and knew that he was going to numb Malia’s knee before scrubbing out the wound and sewing it up. She couldn’t bear to watch.

“I’ll be right back,” Bethany said, quickly slipping down the hall to the waiting room while her mom stayed by Malia’s side.

“This is so horrible,” she said, slumping down in the seat next to her dad. “Malia comes all this way to surf — then because of some jerk, she’s out of the water for the rest of the trip.”

“I agree,” her dad said. “But I’m just glad she wasn’t hurt worse. People have died from being dragged over ragged reefs like that.”

“I know . . .”

It seemed like forever until her mom and Malia appeared. Malia had a fresh bandage on her knee and was dressed in the clothes that Bethany had brought for her. Bethany hugged her tight as her mom went to call Malia’s parents.

“The X-rays showed no broken bones,” said Malia.

“Let’s see your stitches,” Bethany said, putting on her best face as Malia carefully pulled the bandage back to reveal her tightly sutured wound.

Bethany counted them. “You have ten!”

Malia grinned. “Yeah, I’ve never had stitches before.”

“Really? I’m an old pro at getting them.”

“Even before the attack,” her dad chimed in. “Bethany was always coming home bleeding from something. I thought our health insurance was going to cancel us if we showed up at the emergency room one more time.”

“It’s the price of adventure,” Bethany said, glad to see Malia smiling again.

“Well, I think I’ve had enough adventure for one day,” said Malia.

“Let’s go find Tagiilima and get something to eat!” Bethany said. “I’m starving — how about you, Malia?”

“How about it, Malia? Are you hungry?” Bethany’s dad asked.

“The only part of me that doesn’t hurt is my stomach,” Malia said with a grin. “So I might as well fill it!”

“Thatta girl,” Bethany said, and they all laughed.

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