Paper Angels by Billy Coffey

Author:Billy Coffey [Coffey, Billy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781455505333
Publisher: FaithWords

19

My Brother’s Keeper

Knock knock,” Kim said from the doorway.

Elizabeth and I both looked up and smiled.

“Hey there, Kimmie. You still here at this hour?”

“Seven to seven, Big Guy. It’s the life of an underappreciated nurse. Just checking to make sure you’re feeling okay.”

“Oh,” I said, “I’m just enjoying the benefits of your fine staff.”

Kim looked toward Elizabeth and smiled. “Good,” she said.

“Anything we can do for you?” I asked her.

“You mean other than getting some sleep? Because you should try. I know you’ve pretty much been in and out for a few days, but your body still needs to heal itself. Best way to do that is with rest.”

“Yes’m,” I said. “But there’s healing on the outside, and there’s healing on the inside. Right now I’m concentrating on the latter.”

I cut a glance at Elizabeth, who didn’t even bother to cover her face and hide her smile.

“Well, I know better than to try and convince Andy Sommerville of anything he’s not interested in being convinced of,” Kim said. “Any pain or discomfort?” she asked.

“My face is itching a little,” I told her.

“Thought it might be. I talked to the doctor on call a few hours ago. He said if it got too bad I could change the bandages for you. Maybe we should plan on that in a little while?”

“Sounds perfect. How about you?” I asked. “Any pain or discomfort? You know, from the…” I made another finger telephone and held it to my ear.

Kim stole a look at her shoes and pursed her lips, signs I took as reminding herself that a good nurse never involves her patients in her own personal problems. But that was a minor technicality in my particular case. The truth was that if there were a gas station counter and not a hospital bed between us, Kim would be spilling her guts like any other customer. Because Andy Sommerville was the guy people talked to about themselves, if for no other reason than the fact that they knew he didn’t have anyone else to tell what he’d been told.

She measured her words, realizing that while talking with me was fine, talking to me was another thing altogether in those circumstances. We were not on opposite sides of the cash register on a sleepy morning in Mattingly; we were in a hospital, and she was charged with my care. Kim wanted to talk but couldn’t, so she compromised by trying to say a lot with a little.

“Boys have always been after me,” she said. “I’d be a fool if I said I didn’t like that. But sometimes I think God made me to just be by myself, you know? Not everyone has to chase someone else’s idea of a fairy tale. I mean, you’ve never been married, right, Andy? And you’re just as happy as you can be.”

Elizabeth snickered into her fist but low enough for only me to hear it. I tried not looking at her. I did, anyway. The snicker had little to do with it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.