Chapter 53
I awoke to the smell of food and voices in the hallway, with the light pouring in the room through the blinds. I remembered Jack had told me it was 10 am, and if this was lunch time I calculated that I had slept more or less a couple of hours. My biological clock was out of whack, and I wish they had one on the wall to guide me through the day. My face felt swollen from the long sleep and I felt unnerved to be stuck in bed, when I could probably get up and walk. I was looking at the tubing leaking intravenous liquid into my body and pondering when they would remove it, when the nurse came in with food on her cart.
“I have lunch for you”, she said
I looked at the soup and pureed fruit sitting on the cart, and thought by contrast at the slice we had at the Greaser. The greasy pizza slice seemed centuries away and the idea of getting on a plane to Italy in two days seemed equally remote. Perhaps it was. Would they let me get out of there?
I smiled, trying to act as civil as possible and to hide the distaste I had for this obtusely caring nurse.
“Thanks for bringing lunch”
“You’re very welcome”, she said in a plain professional tone
“I was wondering if I still need the intravenous fluid, since I am starting to eat…”
“As a matter of fact you don’t. I can remove it now if you wish”
“That would be sweet”, I said, and suddenly felt a rush of fear run through my stomach at the idea of the needle being fiddled around with to be removed.
I have a quite high tolerance to pain, but clinics have always made me nervous and hostile and anxious. A flash of the ambulance carrying me to the hospital as a kid ran through my memory. A nurse, taking a seat beside me and holding my hand. Her pitying eyes laid on me.
“Iris, you are a survivor. Your family did not make it, but you must”
My numbness, my eyes shut.
“Are you tired?”, the nurse asked, dragging me from the past
“No. Can you please remove the tubes?”, I asked, without opening my eyes.
“Sure, you might just feel a pinch when I take off the tape”
I nodded
The nurse was good at her job, and I just felt the tape stripped off my arm, just a pinch.
“When will I be able to leave?”
“You don’t have broken bones, your brain and organs have not been damaged in the impact. We’ll run a few more tests this afternoon, and if we don’t find any anomalies you can probably leave tomorrow morning. A doctor will pass by to talk with you later. But remember that even when you leave the clinic you will have to rest”
Of course, I thought, I will have to rest.
I nodded, and began lapping up the soup she had brought me. It was like thickened water, there was no taste to the low density, whitish liquid in my dish.
“Enjoy your lunch”, she said
“You bet”, I replied laughing, softly at first, then loud and heartily after the nurse had left the room, looking at me with faint surprise.