UPSTAIRS, the doctor arrived at Tuck’s room. “Hello,” he said, reading the chart from the bed, “Mr. Krickson. You feeling better today?”
Tuck nodded apprehensively. “Do I know you?”
“Sort of.” The young doctor moved around the bed to Tuck’s right side. “I’m the ortho who patched up your hand yesterday. Dr. Grinboe.”
“Hello.” Tuck nodded with more feeling. “You gonna put my cast on?”
The doctor slowly unwrapped the bandages until all of Tuck’s hand was revealed. Klyve stepped into the room and nodded to the doctor as he handed him some kind of X-ray printouts. After looking at the pictures briefly, Dr. Grinboe tapped slightly at the knuckle joining Tuck’s index finger to his palm. “Does this hurt?”
“Not pain, exactly,” Tuck replied. “More like, it’s not totally happy about getting poked at.”
“Scale of one to ten?”
“One. One and a half, maybe.”
The doctor moved his finger over to the pinky knuckle. “And this?” He pushed, then applied more pressure.
“Nothing?” Tuck tried to sit up, but the slight rotation to his wrist when he moved changed the angle of his palm and made him wince. “That’s not right, is it?” he asked, realizing how stupid the question was as the words left his mouth.
The doctor studied the printouts more closely. “No,” he finally admitted. He turned back to the hand, very delicately running his finger across the metacarpal bones near the wrist, feeling for the pins. Then he turned back to the scans. “It’s one of two things,” he explained as he set down the pictures before looking straight into Tuck’s face. “Either you suffered some nerve damage from the initial injury, or some of the hardware we put in yesterday is pinching or blocking nerves.”
“You gonna be able to do an MRI or somethin’ and figure out which?”
The doctor paled visibly when Tuck mentioned an MRI. “No. With the metal in your hand, we can’t let you anywhere near a magnetic machine. And that wouldn’t be able to tell us much anyway.” He looked back at the hand. “I could just throw a cast on it and reexamine it in six weeks, but frankly, I’m concerned it is the hardware. Leaving this unattended that long could cause further serious damage.”
“Shit,” Tuck muttered.
The doctor sat up and looked right at Tuck again. “I think our only viable option is to go back in.” He studied Tuck as he continued. “If we go in local, I can remove the pins and see how much nerve traffic is restored.”
“What do you mean?”
“You stay awake so you can talk to us. We just numb up the hand with some shots.”
The doctor looked a little miffed when Tuck turned to Klyve. “That sound right to you?”
“Oh yes.” Klyve nodded. “Best all around, I think.” He turned to Dr. Grinboe. “When are we talkin’?”
“ASAP,” he replied. “As soon as I can book an OR.”
Tuck tried to peek out of the glass at the waiting room, then looked to Klyve.
Klyve looked out the doorway before shaking his head. “I’ll let them know when they get back.”
Tuck turned back to Dr. Grinboe. “Okay, then, let’s do it.”
BOBBY paced the short area in front of the plastic chairs. Gertie was on the way, but he couldn’t tell her much over the phone because they still wouldn’t let him back to Odis’s curtain or tell him anything about his condition. He paced another length before frustration drove him back to the ER station.
Evie didn’t even look up. “Nothing’s changed in the last ten minutes. Dr. Murphy should be here any time now.”
“Is he conscious? When can I see him?”
She looked up, trying to hold a mask of patience on her face. “Go. Have a seat. I’ll let ya know the second anything happens.” Evie pointed to the chairs. “Now.”
Drooping with resignation, Bobby walked back to the row of plastic chairs, but he didn’t sit down. He glanced over to the hallway. Gertie hadn’t arrived yet, but a guy, about Bobby’s size and in his midthirties, wandered around near the cafeteria. The guy glanced over and saw Bobby looking at him. As recognition showed in his eyes, he hurried down the hall.
Oh great, another fan to deal with.
When the guy approached, Bobby thought his horseshoe mustache looked out of place without a complementary cowboy hat on his head. “Are you Bobby Lane?”
“Yes,” Bobby said with his hands clasped in front of his chest.
“I’m Billy,” the guy told him as he offered his hand for a shake. “You called me earlier?”
“Fenton?”
“Yep, Billy Fenton.”
Bobby shook his hand. “Tuck’s upstairs in ICU, if you came to see him.”
Billy shook his head. “Was just up there. They said he was goin’ back into surgery, so I was tryin’ to find ya. Why you waitin’ in the ER?”
“Surgery?” Bobby squawked. “When?”
“Don’t know, man. Thought maybe you might know.”
“Shit!” Bobby spat as he looked toward the curtains. “Fucking shit.” He ran back over to the ER station. “Can you look up Tucker Krickson and find out why he’s in surgery again?”
Evie started to say something as she looked up, but seeing his desperation, she went to the computer without further protest. “Spell it?”
Bobby spelled out the name for Evie as he fidgeted against the counter. Billy stepped up beside him.
“He’s an ICU patient?” She looked up to see Bobby nod. “Just says ‘follow-up’. No details or ETA posted.”
“Shit,” Bobby nearly howled. This had started out such a good day, but now it felt as if a demon of disasters was running around destroying everything. He refrained from kicking the counter and tromped back to the chairs. He paced the length in front of the seats, then sat down, trying to force himself to calm before he exploded and punched something. Part of his frustration even turned to Nathan. If he was such a fucking great psychic, why hadn’t he seen any of this shit coming?
“Hey, Billy,” he heard Gertie’s voice say. “What’cha doin’ here?”
“Came in to see Tuck, but he’s in surgery, so I came to find Bobby.”
“What? Surgery? Since when?” Gertie squealed, glaring over at Bobby.
“Don’t ask me,” Bobby said as he help up his hands in defense. “I just found out about it.”
“Well, butter my cracker,” Gertie said. “What about Odis?”
“No news. At least, they won’t tell me anything. You could try,” Bobby told her as he jerked his head toward the ER station. Then he jumped to his feet. “While you do that, I’ll run upstairs and see if I can get any info on Tuck.”
Gertie nodded as she headed toward the counter.
Bobby went down the hall to the stairs. When he entered the stairwell, he waited until the door closed behind him. Then he turned and kicked at the metal doorframe as he let out a frustrated howl. “Fuck,” he yelled. This just isn’t fair, he felt like screaming. We made it through all that shit yesterday, and everything seemed to be okay this morning. Wasn’t that enough? Why more of this shit? He took a deep breath and then charged up the stairs.
As he headed toward the ICU, Klyve ran up as soon as he saw him. “Where you been? I had them page you in the cafeter—”
“Tuck’s in surgery?” Bobby asked, cutting him off.
“Yeah. Doc thinks the pins are pinching nerves, and he wants to reposition them. Tuck agreed.”
“We never made it to the cafeteria. Odis is in the ER and they won’t tell me shit.”
“ER?” Klyve nearly gasped. “How’d that happen?” He lightly grasped Bobby by the shoulder and led him to the ICU station.
“We took the stairs and he got dizzy and collapsed on the way down. I dragged him to the ER.”
Klyve pointed to a chair for Bobby to sit in and went to the computer. “Last name?”
Bobby spelled the name, and Klyve soon had his details pulled up. Klyve read over the screen and then looked over, aski
ng, “Did he eat breakfast?”
“Yeah, but just some toast, I think.”
“Well, that’s not really a breakfast. Looking at the physical stats, I’d guess his blood sugar and blood pressure just bottomed out at the same time, which they’re treating him for. It shows his doctor’s there, so we should know more soon.”
As Bobby listened, he began to relax a little. “Okay. Now what about Tuck?”
Klyve looked over at him. “He’s having some nerve problems in the hand. The two outside fingers have no tactile feeling. Let’s hope it’s the pins.” He turned back to the monitors. “I need to make rounds, but stay here a minute.”
“Okay,” Bobby agreed as Klyve gathered up a clipboard and went to room three.
Bobby looked over at the banks of monitors but couldn’t make heads or tails of all the busy stats scrolling and flashing across. It might as well have been the control station of some alien space vehicle. He hated sitting here waiting, doing nothing. The thought of going back downstairs to the ER crossed his mind, but he’d told Klyve he would stay put, and he’d probably just do more waiting down there anyway. He spit out an exasperated sigh.
Klyve returned and motioned for Bobby to follow. He led them to a storage closet. “Help me with this,” he asked as he went in and wheeled around a metal cart with a large TV mounted on it. Bobby helped him steer it out of the closet, and they wheeled it to the front of room two. “Tuck’s been asking about a TV. This will make him happy. Let’s just leave it here ’til he gets settled back in the room.” He led Bobby back to the ICU station.
Bobby sat down again. “How long is Tuck gonna be in surgery?”
“Don’t know. Prob’ly two hours, at least,” Klyve said as he took the larger seat. He rolled it over closer to Bobby and asked in a quieter voice, “I know it’s none of my business, but I’m just gettin’ really curious. What’s the deal with you three?”
“I wish I had a good answer for that,” Bobby replied. “This three-way thing just kinda happened Friday night.”
“So they were a couple, then you got involved?”
“No, not really. They knew each other, kinda pals since forever, but I met Odis first and we kinda had a thing. Then I met Tuck and it got more complicated.”
Klyve looked over the monitors. “And you just met Tuck Friday?”
“Yeah. He picked me up at the airport.”
“Well, shit,” Klyve said. “If that doesn’t just make me all kinds of jealous. I can’t even find one boyfriend, and you’ve gone and got two.”
“Sorry.” Bobby couldn’t really think of anything else to say.
“At least it gives me hope to keep tryin’,” Klyve said with a shrug. “And you really only met him two days ago?”
“Yeah. Is that so hard to believe?”
“I’ve seen a lot of patients and their visitors in and out of here. The comradery between ya guys when ya were goin’ at it yesterday seemed more like people who’ve known each other a while. A long while. It’s just a little unusual.”
“Oh,” Bobby replied. “I did have a psychic say we were supposed to be together, if that makes any difference.”
“Psychic?” Klyve asked as something on the monitors caught his attention. “Hold that thought.” He jumped up and rushed to room four.
He returned a moment later, shaking his head. “Just shifted over and pulled off one of the leads,” he explained to Bobby as he sat down again. “Now what’s this about a psychic?”
Bobby took a deep breath. He spent the next thirty minutes explaining to Klyve all about Nathan and the weirdness since October.
“Damn,” was all Klyve could reply. “That Nathan must have really loved you if he spent his last days playing cupid for your future.”
Bobby shook his head. “I don’t know about that. I’m still kinda pissed about all the damn secrets he kept.”
“Hm.” Klyve pondered. “Haven’t ya ever told a little white lie?”
“Of course,” Bobby admitted.
“Well, this is just a bigger version of that, isn’t it? He wasn’t tryin’ to be deceitful or hurtful by not mentioning things, or tryin’ to cover up any transgressions.” Klyve nodded at his own words. “Just a little white lie to keep the peace. Maybe you should try lookin’ at it that way.”
Bobby started to reply, but his cell phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket and saw an unknown number. “Hello?” he answered tentatively.
“Bobby, you still in ICU?” Gertie asked. “Odis is awake now. Come on down if ya want.”
“Okay, be there in a minute,” Bobby answered before hanging up. “Odis,” he explained to Klyve.
“What’s your number? I can call when Tuck gets back.”
Bobby gave him the number, then got up and headed for the stairs.
Chapter 23
BOBBY didn’t see Gertie or anyone when he returned to the ER, so he went to the curtained area where they had taken Odis. He found Gertie next to his bedside.
“Hey, stud,” Odis said with a smile.
“What the hell, Odie?” Bobby asked.
“You were right,” Odis admitted. “Doc chewed me up one side and down the other for goin’ cold turkey on the pills.”
Gertie just shook her head. “Always been a stubborn fool.”
Bobby stepped up and took the hand that didn’t have the IV in it. “And you’re okay now?”
“It was just low blood sugar. Right as rain now.”
“And he’s putting you back on the pills?”
Odis wobbled his head. “Different ones. He said, with the kind of arthritis I got, I need to be on somethin’ or my body’s just gonna destroy itself and eat up my joints. So we’ll try some different ones until we find somethin’ that doesn’t make me all foggy.”
Gertie spoke up. “What about Tuck?”
“Something with the pins,” Bobby explained. “Pinching his nerves or whatever. They took him back to surgery to fix it.”
Gertie nodded. “Can I leave you boys to yerselves now? Or will another disaster strike?”
“Go on,” Odis told her. “We should be fine now.”
“Let’s hope so,” Gertie replied before turning to Bobby. “Oh, by the way, that dumb dog of yours is waitin’ for ya. Been parked in front of the vestibule door ever since you left.”
“Shit,” Odis hissed out. “Forgot to feed her. We shoulda grabbed some food when we’s at the house yesterday.”
“I suppose I can scratch up some kind of food for her,” Gertie replied with a sigh. “Keep me posted, but let’s try for good news from now on.”
Bobby sighed. “I’ll certainly try.”
“Later, sis.”
Gertie nodded and then stepped beyond the curtain.
“I’m sorry,” Odis said. “Last thing I remember, I was on the stairs. Nurses said you carried me in here.”
“I used a wheelchair, but yeah.”
“I wasn’t feelin’ good yesterday, either. But I thought it was just from all the shit goin’ on.”
“Well, before all this, I was gonna suggest you go visit the doctor Monday, just to make sure about quitting the pills. Don’t suppose you need to now.”
Odis shrugged. “Oh, he wants me in his office tomorrow. Prob’ly to chew me out again when I’m more alert.”
Glancing around, Bobby asked, “What happened to Fenton?”
“Went to get some lunch, I think he said. He’s comin’ back. So, Tuck’s back in surgery?”
“Klyve said something about the nerves in his pinky not responding, so the doctor went in to fix it.”
Odis scowled. “Damn shit. I thought we caught enough of it yesterday.”
“That’s my opinion too,” Bobby agreed with a nod. “Let’s hope nothing else goes wrong.”
With Bobby sitting on the edge of the bed and holding Odis’s hand, they shared some quiet moments before a male voice could be heard outside. Fenton stepped around the curtain.
Odis sat up a bit to greet him.
“Hey, Billy.”
“Hey,” he threw back before turning to Bobby. “What’s up with Tuck?”
“Just a quick surgery to fix the pins in his hand. Should be out soon.”
Fenton shifted his weight from one foot to the other, trying to ignore the clasped hands of the two men. He nervously ran his index finger and thumb down along the curves of his horseshoe mustache. “I’ll wait upstairs, then,” he finally said before exiting quickly.
Bobby looked over at Odis. “What’s up with that?”
“Who knows.”
They shared more silence until Bobby’s phone rang. “Hello?” Bobby nodded. “Okay, call me when he’s done?” he asked before hanging up. “Tuck’s out of surgery. Fenton’s in with him now.”
“Why’s Billy here, anyway?”
“Oh, Tuck found out about Travis—”
“Travie,” Odis corrected. “Carl Travie.”
“Right. Anyway, he wasn’t supposed to be inside the house, and the whole scene just wasn’t adding up. Tuck asked me to call Fenton so they could compare notes.”
“Humph,” Odis grunted.
Before he had time to reply further, Evie came in. “We’re takin’ the IV out.” She turned to Bobby. “Waiting room,” she told him firmly.
Bobby patted Odis’s hand, then got up and went to the plastic chairs. He was more than ready for all this hospital shit to be over. After sitting down, he found his mind turning to Nathan again, pondering over his abilities. Bobby had no idea how those powers had worked. Had Nate even been able to see this? Or did he see it and choose not to give a warning? The rambling thoughts left Bobby feeling more pissed at Nathan for abandoning him in the dark without any answers. Tuck’s words from the airport ride soon trickled up. There must be a reason Nathan didn’t say anything.
Evie stepped up and interrupted his musings. “We’re keeping Odis a little while longer,” she told Bobby. “Go get some food or something.”
“I’m fine. Can I go back in?”
“Suit yourself,” she said with a shrug before going back to the ER station.
Bobby’s phone rang as he stood. “Hello?”
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