“Hi there, Raven,” the anonymous face in the surgeon’s mask said to me. “Wake up. You came through the surgery with flying colors. The nurse will take you to recovery and your family will go with you after to your room.”
I tried to say whatever and my mouth wouldn’t work right. He squeezed my hands. “I’ll see you later, Raven. Ammie, he can have morphine when the anesthesia wears off. Keep an eye on his blood pressure, it bottomed out twice on us.”
“Yes, Doctor,” The woman’s face was almost as androgynous as the doctor’s behind the masks but I thought I recognized the voice, it sounded a lot like my day nurse.
“Peg?”
She patted my face.“Don’t try to talk, honey. You’re not making much sense.” She wheeled my gurney over to another bed and three of them slid me off one onto another as if I were a frozen carcass. All three of them were busy hooking me up to the new station of and my vitals were taken again. I drifted, not quite sure what world I was in or what I was doing. The rest of that day came in puzzled fragments, a jigsaw I was missing the important pieces from.
***
Late afternoon brought a sudden clarity. I knew who I was and where I was; my hand explored my belly and found heavy bandages; soreness but a comforting solidness that hadn’t been there before. I lifted my sheets and saw the hospital gown and my bare knees. Bony and whiter than usual, I had no access to tanning. I pulled up the gown and saw gauze, tape and a drain. Aggh. They’d shaved me bald as a baby’s butt. I pulled the hem down, embarrassed even though nobody was there to see it.
The Amberites came in and my eyes were drawn immediately to the bag of fast food Corwin was carrying. He opened the sack and laid out fries, cheeseburger and a chocolate shake.
“Can I eat this?” I asked hands wrapped around the papered bun.
“Try it. The worst that can happen is you throw it up,” he grinned. I took a small bite and chewed, swallowed and the meat hit my stomach like a brass band at the State Fair. I sucked so hard at the shake, I gave myself brain freeze. A handful of fries and half the patty and I was done. Merlin finished what I couldn’t and tossed the garbage into the can.
“Well?” he asked, eyebrow raised. I tried to imitate him and felt my eyebrows lift to my hairline.
I burped. “That was...epic,” I sighed. “Thanks, Merle, Corey. Murphy never let me eat at MacDonalds.” I sat back in satisfied gluttony.
“What’s your agenda for the rest of the afternoon, Rave?”
“Dunno. Want to finish the game?” I offered.
“How about we go for a walk?” he asked instead.
“Walk? Where?”
“Gift shop, cafeteria, lobby, atrium,” he suggested.
“Naw. I just want to vegetate. I feel like I ate a big turkey dinner,” I said and lounged against my pillows.
I looked out the window at big puffy clouds that raced by. Looked like rain somewhere over the bay.
“The Doctor said you can come home tomorrow if you’re up and mobile,” Gramps said slyly. “The house has a game room and satellite TV.”
“Interesting,” I returned. “You know, I’ve never had access to either.”
“All the more reason to hurry up your healing. If you have Amber blood, you’ll heal fast,” Corwin gibed.
Slowly, I eased the covers back and put my feet on the floor. The sutures pulled and made me hobble bent over like an old man.
Merlin pulled out my new clothes and opened the package of colored jockeys, ankle socks, jeans and loose Polo in sober blue. The labels were all name brand not from places like K-Mart or Wally World.
“You need help, Raven?” Merlin asked and I nodded, red-faced as I put my hand on his shoulder to balance as I lifted my leg into the shorts, the jeans and stood still when he threaded the leather belt through the loops. He was quick and subtle as he pulled up my socks and tied the laces on my running shoes.
“Desitin works well when the hair starts growing back,” he said carefully. “Otherwise, the itching will drive you crazy.”
I flushed knowing exactly what he was referring to. I was able to pull my shirt over my head even though it stretched my belly muscles and hurt.
Heading out of the room, I was stopped by a nurse with the wheelchair and a gait-belt.
“It’s for when you get tired, Raven,” she said. I walked from my room down the hallway around the Nurses Station and to the Atrium before I needed to use it. They steered me towards the fountain and the Solarium filled with trees and plants. Trees as big as any growing outdoors yet these were inside the hospital, growing up towards the light of the Cathedral ceiling. I watched the ebb and flow of the people around us, more interested in them than the magazines laid out on the tables. I could smell the coffee and the remnants of the lunch room, caught the glances of the women as they eyed both men. Merlin leaned close and murmured in my ear. “You’re garnering your share of feminine interest yourself, young Raven.”
Not having had much interaction with girls, I blushed with total awkwardness.
“No girlfriends?” he teased.
“Hard to meet girls and make friends when you don’t stay in one place long. Or you’re afraid to let anyone get close cuz they could be boogeyman,” I returned bitterly. “All my friends are literary.”
The nurse interrupted, “Ready to go back, Raven? It’s time for your meds and vitals check.”
I agreed and we traipsed back, walking most of the way without help from the chair. Dinner was from the cafeteria, both of them brought trays up and ate with me. I felt comfortable around them and only missed Murphy occasionally. Which surprised me, I’d thought only that I’d be glad to be out from under his constant eye. We didn’t talk much and I wasn’t really interested in the TV. I scrolled my way through the Kindle Fire downloading a mess of free books from the Smashwords site. Even that didn’t hold my attention long, I was restless and didn’t know why.
Visiting hours were over and both of them gave me a pat before wishing me a good night and good luck. Sleep was long in coming, I finally asked for a pill to put me out and the nurse brought me one which left me groggy, grumpy and complaining when I finally did wake up all the way late in the morning.
I didn’t eat breakfast and pushed the tray away, got up and visited the bathroom where a hot washcloth helped. I peed, brushed my teeth, scrubbed under my armpits and crotch and felt 50% better. By the time I was done with all that, my bed linens had been stripped, changed and made up fresh. I eyed it with distrust, it was implied I was staying another day. “I thought I was going home today,” I growled. The nurse’s aide said as far as she knew, I was. Corwin and Merlin came in with a fresh set of clothes and a heavy down coat in purple and red from Columbia. I eyed it, I thought southern California was tropical. I would have bet they didn’t find that coat in the local mall. But then again, maybe they had, skiing at Tahoe and the Northern part of the state was big business. After all, the Donner party had nearly frozen to death in the pass named after their ill-fated party and that was in California. Dressed and with heavy duty instructions on my care, Merlin signed for all my papers and I rode down in a wheelchair curious as to what kind of car my ride would turn out to be. It was a shock, a beautiful dark blue Audi A5 with leather interior. What was more of a surprise was that it was Corey’s ride. I would have expected Merlin to be the sports car type.
“I don’t need a car in the Courts,” he explained. “I’m rarely here on Shadow earth anymore.”
The drive didn’t do the sweet ride any justice, California roads were even worse than reported. It took an hour and a half to go less than ten miles. I got to go up the most famous hill in San Francisco and guessed which one of the fancy three story mansions was Corwin’s.
I was wrong, his wasn’t the biggest or the fanciest, just the nicest kept, gated and guarded behind steel bars with security cameras and armed men all retired police. They greeted Corwin by name, knew Merlin’s and even mine.
The house came with its own driveway, garage and parking space on the street. We pulled up, the gate opened and we were checked out by the Security Men before we drove inside.
It was a three car garage and Corey pulled into the middle bay. Inside, a man in a black suit opened the doors and pulled out the suitcases. He spoke quietly to Corey and stacked the bags near a small door on the inner wall of the spotless garage.
“Service elevator,” he smiled at me. “I’m George, Master Raven. I take care of Master Corwin’s home while he is in residence.”
“How do you do?” I offered my hand and his eyebrows went up. He looked at Corey.
“Old world manners?”
“You’ll find young Raven has had a...singular upbringing, George,” Corwin returned. He turned to me. “You think you can walk up the stairs, Rave? We can put you in the wheelchair and use the elevator but it’s a bit small if you’re claustrophobic.”
“I can carry you,” Merlin offered.
“No way. I’ll walk,” I said and slid out of the car and tried to stand, kept my face blank as my belly made its standard complaint of torn and sutured muscles. It was a bore.
Merlin put his hand on my back and gently pushed me forward. “Chair, Dad,” he said calmly. “We can carry it and him up the stairs.”
So, that’s what they did. I didn’t pay much attention to the inside save that it was superbly decorated and comfortable; filled with antiques and exquisite art yet without that feeling of being in a museum where one was afraid to touch anything or sit for fear of damaging something.
My room was on the first floor with big windows that looked out over the bay. The curtains were white and gauzy letting in great gusts of sunshine. They opened onto a small iron balcony.
The room was huge, big enough for a double bed, mahogany sleigh bed with matching dresser, highboy, mirror, twin end tables with a desk and a top of the line Asus computer, tilt screen monitor and the works.
Flat screen 42” TV on the wall with a built in Blu-Ray DVD player. Twin walk in closets loaded with my new clothes and my own private bathroom with walk in shower and a deep tub with whirlpool jets. The bathroom was in pale cream with Italian marble tile and big enough that I could live in it. If only it had a fridge.
I kept the ‘wow’ off my face and pointed to the bed. Merlin put me atop the covers and pushed the chair into the corner, folded and out of the way. George waited in the doorway with the suitcases.
“Dinner at seven, Master Corey? Mr. Merle?” he inquired.
“I’d like to go over Raven’s med schedule and care, George. His dos and don’ts. Being a teenager, he’s apt to push his limits and my rules. Raven, are you going to lay there awhile?”
“I sincerely doubt I’ll be running off to join the Circus anytime soon, Corey,” I sighed. A long nap sounded just the thing I needed. I kicked off my sneakers and curled up as tight as I could get without hurting anything.
“When you get a chance, can I have a pain pill?” I spoke into my arms.
“I’ll bring it up as soon as I dig it out of your bags, Raven,” he promised. “Any preferences as for dinner?”
“Not hungry,” I mumbled. The ride had taken more out of me than I’d imagined. It was the wrong thing to say, a teenager not eating is a sign of disaster and the history of my wound made it doubly distressing. Strangely, no one said anything as he left me alone in the bedroom.
It was Merle that returned alone and with a glass of foaming something pink, a plate of dry toast and a pill cup with two Oxycontin. I sat up slowly, wincing as everything complained, reaching for the pills first. He set the tray down on the end table.
“If you take the pain pills without food, they’ll make you really nauseous,” he said mildly. “You have a choice, dry toast or a pomegranate and peach smoothie.”
That explained the pretty rose color. I took a small sip and was surprised at the explosion of sweet and tart, cold and smooth, a fresh richness that filled my mouth and warmed my stomach. I drank half before swallowing the pills.
Ten minutes later, I was leaning back into the pillows, head floating as he and George stripped me for bed. Put me in my new pajamas and slid my boneless body under the covers. I heard their muffled conversation over my head but it didn’t follow me down into drugged slumber.