Getting it Right the Second Time Around by Jennifer Frank

Author:Jennifer Frank [Frank, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Clean Reads
Published: 2015-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

If I ever break my hip, just shoot me. I’d rather be dead than have to go to a nursing home until I can walk again. –Elinor Hobbs

Monday morning came well before I was ready for it. Mrs. B had a broken hip and needed surgery right away. I stayed with her until they wheeled her into the OR, all the time watching for her family to come be with her. Mrs. B followed my frequent gazing.

Her powder-soft hand, feeling incredibly frail, grabbed mine. She whispered, “Don’t worry. They’ll come when they’re ready.”

I watched her gurney being wheeled between the sterile double doors and turned to walk down the hall to the empty waiting room. I sat down on a green couch and propped my feet up on the coffee table holding the Sunday paper and dog-eared, rumpled magazines. I leaned my head back, closing my eyes, and promptly fell asleep.

I awoke to a nurse gently shaking my shoulder. “Miss Henning?”

“Huh?” My eyes popped open. I focused a bleary gaze on the kind face peering down at me. “Oh, yes?” I pulled myself forward, wincing at the crick in my neck from a couple hours spent with my head dropped backwards.

“Mrs. Buchanan came through surgery just fine. She’s still sedated and is in the ICU for the night. Just for monitoring,” she reassured, catching my look of alarm. “She probably won’t be ready to see you until morning.”

“Oh, okay. Um, did anyone else come yet?”

“No, you’re the only one here for her.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“Sure, and get home safe.”

“I will.”

I seethed inside. How could Mrs. B raise children who were so emotionally distant and self-centered that they wouldn’t even come see their own mother in the hospital after breaking her hip? I was able to reach all three of her children, although I had had to track down her oldest son on his cell phone. They expressed the dutiful concern that would be expected, inquired as to which hospital she was taken, and thanked me for calling. It made me wonder whether they intended to come at all or were just planning to send flowers.

Pushing myself off the couch, I reached down to retrieve my purse from the floor and a half-empty coffee cup I’d left on the coffee table and headed toward the emergency room. I glanced at my watch. Three-twenty in the morning. Yawning, I decided to try to catch a cab. Boston’s a pretty safe city, but three o’clock in the morning was still three o’clock in the morning.

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.