Full Court Press

by Rose, Ashley

  “That’s correct.”

  “Well, for a thirteen-year-old, classics would be boring, simply because the themes are too complex for her to understand. Children’s books might be the opposite, just too simple. She can read perfectly well, right?”

  “Yes, her reading level is normal for her age. I have never thought to expose her to pop culture though.”

  “It’s not really pop culture just because a lot of people like it. I mean, it’s a fairly simple storyline with easily understood dialogue and descriptions. I just don’t think that you should give up on books altogether because she didn’t like the ones that you tried. It sounds like she doesn’t have a lot to do and reading could be really good for her.”

  “No, I agree. Of course you can offer these to her. We’ll be monitoring at first to make sure, but I’ll be very interested if she likes them. The same goes for these movies.”

  “I wasn’t sure if she had access to a DVD player.”

  “We have portable players for all the rooms. You understand why we cannot leave them in the room all the time.”

  Carmondy nodded. “Of course.”

  The doctor smiled and put the things back in the bag. “So, if you don’t have any other questions...”

  She shook her head and looked at Beck.

  “I think we’re good,” he said.

  “Great.” They stood up and the doctor handed Beck the backpack. “Like I said, we’ll be monitoring from the viewing room in case anything goes wrong, but we can have a nurse accompany you if you like.”

  “No, thank you,” Beck said, shouldering the bag. “I think we’ll be okay.”

  “I think so too. Oh! I almost forgot. Something interesting happened today.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yes. Lily asked for you.”

  “She did?” Beck sounded delighted.

  “She knew that she had a visitor today and wanted to know when you would arrive. To be honest, I don’t know if she was looking forward to it because it was you or just because you are a regular visitor. But either way, the fact that she is looking forward to and remembering your visits in a positive way is a good sign and great progress.”

  “That’s awesome.”

  Beck led the way back out into the hallway and toward his sister’s room. A nurse met them just outside of the room. She had come from the viewing room.

  “Hello, Mr. Nicholson.”

  “Hi.”

  “A second visitor today?”

  “Yep.”

  “That’s great. Lily is drawing right now. She seems to be in a good mood.”

  “Drawing?” Beck repeated, peeking into the window.

  “Yes. We’ve given her large pieces of paper and crayons. She made us take back all the ones that weren’t red or yellow though. Those are the only colors she will tolerate.”

  “She didn’t get upset with the other colors?”

  “She threw them all on the floor first. When I asked her why, she said they were ugly colors. I asked her if she was sure she didn’t want them and she started to get a little upset, but when I took them away she was fine again.”

  Beck nodded slowly. “We’ll make sure not to pull her away from her drawing then. I just want to sit with her.”

  “Oh, let me get you two chairs.” She opened the closet directly across the hall and pulled out two folding chairs. “There you go. We’ll be monitoring at first, but if it seems like everything is going okay, we’ll leave you guys alone. You always know where the emergency help button is, right by the door.”

  Beck nodded.

  She disappeared into the viewing room and Beck put his hand on the door handle. She heard a soft click and he turned the handle and stepped into the room. He set the bag near the door and motioned Carmondy inside.

  Lily was sitting at her desk, drawing with her red and yellow crayons. She looked much more put together than the last time she had seen her. Carmondy reminded herself that Lily had been severely upset at that time, and she was normally calmer.

  At the sound of the door closing, the girl turned in her seat. She immediately took a sharp breath.

  “Hi, Lily,” Beck said.

  “You’re not alone,” she said.

  “No, I brought a friend.”

  She stood up from her chair. “One visitor is on the schedule.”

  “I know.”

  “There is only one visitor,” she repeated, as if it just couldn’t be physically possible to have two visitors.

  Lily watched them for a few moments as if they should be disappearing. But when they didn’t, her hands started to shake and she clenched them into tight fists, closing her eyes. They waited in silence until she opened her eyes again.

  “Lily, it’s—” Beck stopped.

  Lily marched right up to the door and pushed repeatedly on a large red button near the door handle, labeled Emergency. She pushed until the door opened and the nurse from before stood in the doorway.

  “Yes, Lily?”

  “I need to change the schedule from one visitor on Sundays to two visitors on Sundays.”

  “Of course. I’ll do it right now. Consider it done.”

  The nurse disappeared and Lily took a big breath and turned to face them.

  “Is everything okay now?” Beck asked.

  “Yes. Two visitors are on the schedule,” the girl said.

  Beck smiled. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your drawing.”

  Lily went to her desk and sat back down, picking up a red crayon.

  “Can we sit with you?” Beck asked.

  She didn’t respond.

  Beck grabbed his chair and set it on one side of the little desk, while Carmondy sat on the other side.

  Large pieces of paper littered the desk. Each one had a random drawing on it in red, yellow or both. The drawings weren’t anything in particular, just shapes and graphics, but it wasn’t just childish scribbling either. There were definite patterns and shapes with clean lines and purposeful shadings.

  The one that Lily was working on now was all red, a series of lines, circles and squares lined up in rows.

  “My name is Carmondy.”

  Lily didn’t acknowledge her.

  “I like your drawings,” Carmondy said.

  Lily glanced up at her. She had her brother’s eyes. “I’m almost done. This one is Sunday. I like Tuesday best.” She touched a piece of paper with both red and yellow on it, which didn’t look a whole lot different from the others.

  “One for every day of the week?” Carmondy asked, noticing seven pieces of paper.

  “Yes.” Lily didn’t look up as she continued with the shapes.

  After a moment, the crayon was reaching the point where the paper needed to be peeled back to continue coloring. Lily didn’t stop until she started to scrape paper on paper. She glared at the crayon for a moment before trying to pick at the end of it.

  Carmondy noticed that her fingernails were either chewed or filed all the way down, so there were no sharp parts left. She didn’t want to guess which one.

  Lily started to get frustrated when the paper wouldn’t come off after a couple seconds and before she knew it, a tear was rolling down the girl’s cheek.

  “Do you want help?” Carmondy asked, reaching for the crayon.

  “No!” Lily jerked away from her and continued picking at the crayon unsuccessfully. More tears fell down her cheeks.

  Carmondy looked at Beck, who was looking at his sister. “Lily...”

  He reached out slowly and wrapped both hands around hers. She stopped picking and stared at his hands, waiting. He didn’t take the crayon away from her. He let her hold onto it while he quickly peeled back almost all of the paper in one swipe.

  Once free of the paper, the crayon was ready to use again and Lily went back to drawing. The tears on her cheeks dried, and she looked like nothing had happened.

  Beck pushed his hand through his hair and gave Car a look that told her they had just averted a disaster.

&nb
sp; Lily finished her drawing a few minutes later. The second she was done, she stood up and marched back over to the door. She repeatedly pressed the red button again until the door opened.

  “Yes, Lily?” the woman asked, her tone just as nice as it was the first time.

  “I’m done,” Lily said emotionlessly. “I don’t want to draw anymore.”

  “All right.” The nurse came in and started gathering up the drawings. “These are very pretty, Lily.”

  The girl climbed onto her bed and sat with her legs crossed.

  “Maybe they can be put on the wall?” Carmondy suggested.

  Everyone looked at her.

  “I mean, since she made them. Would that be okay?”

  The nurse turned to Lily. “Would you like that, Lily? We can put them on the wall for decoration.”

  Lily looked around and then pointed. “That wall. In order.”

  The nurse offered them to Lily. “Can you put them in order for me, please?”

  The girl looked exasperated, as if it was the stupidest request in the world. She took the papers anyway and stacked them in order, naming each one off.

  “Sunday. Monday. Tuesday.” She paused and smiled while looking at Tuesday. “Wednesday. Thursday. Friday. Saturday.”

  “Thank you,” the nurse said. “I’ll go get some adhesive and we’ll get these on the wall.” She left, taking the crayons with her.

  Beck smiled at Lily. “How has your week been?”

  The girl shrugged. “There is a bag over there,” she said, looking at Carmondy’s backpack.

  “Yep. Do you want to see what’s in it?” Car asked.

  “Tell me,” she said without answering the question.

  Beck looked at Carmondy. “Books and movies that I thought you might like.”

  “Books?”

  “Yes, would you like to see?”

  The girl nodded and Carmondy got up to get the backpack. She took it over to Lily’s bed. “Can I sit down?”

  Lily blinked at her with those big gray eyes and nodded.

  Carmondy sat a few feet away from the girl. “Thanks.” She pulled out the first book in the series. “This is a book that I like. I thought you might like it too.”

  Lily took the book from her hands and turned away to read the back cover, as if Carmondy would take it away again.

  A few moments later, Lily turned back around. “I want to read it.”

  Car smiled. “Keep it for as long as you need. There are four more in the series. Maybe I could leave them with your nurses, and you can tell them when you’re ready for the next book?” She looked at Beck, who nodded encouragingly.

  “Movies?” Lily asked.

  “Yep.” Carmondy handed her a DVD. Lily looked at it for a moment before glancing at Carmondy sideways.

  Carmondy opened her mouth to say something but Lily grabbed the backpack out of her lap and slid off the bed.

  Car started to get up and Beck held up a hand, motioning her to wait. They watched Lily. The girl sat on the floor and started taking things out of the bag. She took out each book and movie one by one and scrutinized it, staring at the cover before reading the summary on the back. After several minutes, she had set them all out into a straight line, starting with the first book and alternating book, movie, book, movie. All but one of her DVDs were lined up.

  “This is the order I have to go in,” Lily stated. She put Cars back in the backpack and pushed it away. “I can’t watch that movie.”

  “Okay, not a problem.”

  “I am very excited to watch this one.” Lily touched the cover of the second Ice Age.

  “Why don’t you watch it first?” Carmondy asked.

  “Because. That’s not the right order.” Lily suddenly sounded a little stressed, even desperate.

  “Oh, of course.” Carmondy couldn’t find an order.

  There was a soft knock on the door and two nurses entered. The one from before held Lily’s drawings, already prepped with adhesive and ready to stick to the wall. Carmondy assumed tacks weren’t allowed.

  Once the pictures were lined up on the wall, everyone looked at Lily. She was sitting cross legged on the floor, the first book in her lap while she stared down at the cover.

  “Lily? Do you like your drawings?” the nurse asked.

  “Yes,” the girl said without looking up.

  “How about I take these other books and movies, and keep them for when you’re ready?”

  “Yes,” Lily said again. The nurse gathered up the items and smiled reassuringly at Beck before leaving the room. The second nurse stepped forward with a tray of food, complete with plastic utensils.

  “Lily, it’s lunch time.”

  “I’m not hungry,” she mumbled, still staring down at the book.

  “You have to eat,” the woman said calmly.

  “I’m not hungry,” the girl said again, panic in her voice. It puzzled Carmondy.

  “You hardly touched your breakfast. You need to eat. It’s mashed potatoes and ham, your favorite.” She set the tray down on the little desk and pulled the chair out for Lily. “Now come sit and eat your lunch, please.”

  “I won’t.” Lily was starting to shake as she clutched the book tighter to her chest.

  “Lily,” Beck said, “don’t you want to sit by me?”

  “No! What do you care? You hardly ever visit me, and now you bring someone else? It’s because you hate me, isn’t it?”

  Beck took a deep breath. “I don’t hate you, Lily. You know that.”

  “Stop. Stop. Stop!” She slammed the book down on the floor. “You don’t understand.”

  Beck got out of his chair to crouch down beside his sister. “We don’t understand what’s wrong.”

  “No!” She tried to shove him away but only succeeded in pushing herself backwards on the floor, her head hitting the linoleum with a dull crack.

  The girl cried out and curled her little body into a tight ball.

  “Jesus Christ.” Beck touched her head gently where she had hit it.

  The nurse dropped down on the other side of her and touched her head also. Lily whimpered when the nurse checked her pupils.

  “She’s fine. It’s a little bit past the time for her medication. It’s calibrated very specifically so that she doesn’t build a tolerance, but she needs to eat first.”

  Beck nodded. “Get the food.”

  The nurse obeyed and set it on the floor. Beck pulled Lily into a sitting position.

  While Lily ate, Carmondy got off the bed and sat down directly next to Beck. She wasn’t sure why but she felt like he needed some support right now. She sat beside him, leaning against his shoulder with her own.

  He looked at her without removing his hand from Lily. His eyes told her that he was a little stressed and worried, but mostly relieved. There were no major freak-outs, nothing too bad so far.

  After several minutes of Lily eating slowly, she had polished off half of her mashed potatoes, most of the pre-cut pieces of ham and half her juice, but she hadn’t touched the fruit cup.

  She turned back to Beck with those eyes. “I’m not hungry anymore. Please don’t make me eat anything else.”

  Beck glanced at the nurse before nodding. “You did great, Lily.”

  She seemed a little pleased at the praise. “Pills now?”

  “Yes.” The nurse held out a little cup with four pills in it. Two were the same, big and white, but there was also a small green one and a pink triangular one.

  Carmondy wasn’t a big fan of pills, especially these big ass ones, and couldn’t imagine what it would be like, to have to take them every day, multiple times a day.

  Lily didn’t seem fazed at all. She took the cup, tossed it back, and followed it with a sip a juice. Setting the glass down, she pushed the tray away from her before reaching for the book.

  She didn’t open it though, just held it and turned so she could see Beck. “Have you read this book?”

  Beck smiled. “Ah...no, I haven’t.�
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  “Why not?”

  “Well, I haven’t had time, I guess.”

  “Oh.” Lily frowned as if that didn’t make sense. “Why don’t you have time?”

  “I’m busy. I go to school and play basketball.”

  “I go to school too,” she said proudly.

  Beck gave her a big smile. “I know. Mr. Banks tells me you do great with your lessons.”

  She nodded vigorously. “My favorite subject is penmanship. What’s your favorite subject?”

  “History. I don’t have very good penmanship at all.”

  “I can teach you,” she stated confidently before turning to Carmondy, waiting for an answer.

  “Oh! Uhh, I like science.”

  Lily nodded slowly. “I’m learning about the periodic table right now.”

  “Oh yeah? Do you like it?”

  “No,” Lily stated. “Math is better. I know the entire multiplication table.”

  “Wow.” Carmondy smiled. “I was never very good at math.”

  “I only like math because I get to write a lot. And I like to write.”

  Carmondy smiled. Lily was totally opposite from her brother. “That’s cool.”

  “Why do you like history?” Lily looked back at Beck. “It’s so boring.”

  “I think it’s interesting,” Beck said.

  Lily rolled her eyes, looking very much like a young teenager.

  Surprisingly, they talked for a while longer before Lily got bored and wanted to read the book. Just the prologue though, she informed them, as she could only read one chapter at a time with at least a five-minute break in between. There didn’t seem to be a medical reason for this, just Lily’s personal preference.

  While Lily read on her bed, Beck and Carmondy pulled the chairs over to sit beside her. He seemed content just to sit with his sister while she read. When she paused between chapters, she would be excited and tell them about what happened and what she wanted to happen next.

  Beck smiled more than Carmondy had ever seen him smile. He was genuinely happy because his sister was happy, and it was nice to see.

  They sat with her for at least an hour, talking off and on, and Lily fell in love with the book right away. She even made Beck time her breaks so she didn’t miss out on any reading time.