Breaking into Prison

by Mairsile Leabhair

  Annie rang the doorbell several times, but there was no answer. She looked up at the camera mounted in the ceiling. “Trudie, just tell me to go away and I will. But I need to know you’re all right first, okay? Just tell me you’re all right.” A multitude of possibilities flashed through Annie’s mind. Trudie was lying unconscious on the floor, or asleep, or taking a shower and couldn’t hear her. She prayed it was the shower. When she still got no answer, Annie pulled out her cellphone and called Donny. She knew they wouldn’t be able to get in because of all the security locks on the inside door, but maybe Donny had Trudie’s phone number, and they could call her.

  Donny stepped off the elevator with his cellphone to his ear. “No answer yet,” he said, handing his phone to Annie.

  Annie knocked on the door again. “Pick up the phone, Trudie. It’s me, Annie.”

  Finally, she heard the turn of the dead bolt lock. And then another lock unlatched, and then Trudie swung the door opened.

  Annie took one look at Trudie’s flushed white face, the bluish tint on her lips, and the way she held her chest as she gasped for air, and cried, “Oh, my God, Trudie!”

  The apartment was in disarray. Wadded up tissues strewed about the floor, dishes in the sink, cold medicine and sticky spoons on the counter. Bruno walking across the counter, looking for something to eat. And poor Lucy, lying beside her food dish, waiting to be fed. Completely unlike Trudie, Annie thought.

  “Let’s get her to the hospital,” Donny ordered.

  “No! Leave me alone!” Trudie demanded, gasping for breath.

  “Trudie, you’re showing signs of having pneumonia. At the very least, you need a penicillin shot and some antibiotics. Let me take you to the doctor,” Annie pleaded.

  “No. I’m not leaving this apartment.” Trudie’s teeth chattered and her whole body trembled.

  Annie slowly placed her inside wrist against Trudie’s forehead. “You’re burning up.”

  “Since when did you become a doctor, Sergeant?” Trudie snapped, pulling her head back.

  “Since my mother almost died from pneumonia after her chemo treatments,” Annie replied sternly, instantly regretting being so harsh.

  “Oh… I’m so sorry,” Trudie replied sincerely, feeling suddenly defenseless. “But please, don’t make me leave. Please.”

  Trudie began to cry, and Annie took a tissue from the box Trudie was holding. She stooped down until they were eye level and patted away the tears. “It’s all right, Trudie, you don’t have to leave. But you can’t fight this thing off without medicine. Have you called your doctor yet?”

  “No. I thought it was a cold.”

  “Will you call your doctor, please?”

  Trudie looked at the concern in Annie’s eyes and realized she must be sicker than she thought. “Yes. I’ll do that right now. Um, will you come with me?”

  “Sure, if you want,” Annie replied, shocked that she was asked, but also delighted.

  “You don’t need me, so I’m going to go ahead and leave,” Donny said.

  “Thanks, Uncle Donny. I’ll call you later, okay?”

  Donny nodded and left. Annie didn’t even think twice. She walked over and locked the door. When she turned back around, Trudie was smiling.

  They walked into Trudie’s office, and Trudie sat down at her desk, tapping on the spacebar to wake the laptop up. She opened up Skype and typed in her doctor’s office, then waited for it to connect.

  After a moment, the receptionist came online. “Dr. Michele Bowman’s office. May I help you?”

  “Yes, my name is Trudie Youngblood, and I need to speak with the doctor.”

  “Let me pull your chart, Ms. Youngblood,” she said. “The doctor is in with a patient, but she shouldn’t be too long.”

  “Yes, thank you.” Trudie leaned back and pulled her robe tighter around her.

  “When was the last time you took some ibuprofen or Tylenol?” Annie asked, looking around for a blanket. She spotted a throw blanket across Trudie’s bed and stepped across the hall to retrieve it.

  “It’s Tylenol, and I’m not sure. I think it was this morning.”

  Annie came back in and laid the blanket around Trudie’s shoulders.

  “Oh, thank you so much,” Trudie said gratefully, as she pulled it tighter around her.

  “You’re welcome. I think you need to take some more. Where can I find them?”

  “Um, in my room, on my nightstand… I think.”

  Annie turned to leave, but when she heard a voice coming from the laptop she turned back.

  “Trudie, how are you? I got your latest book, and I am enjoying it… oh dear, you’re not looking well.”

  Dr. Michele Bowman had been Trudie’s family doctor since Trudie was a pre-teen. Trudie liked her straightforward, take no crap, attitude. She was one of the few people Trudie trusted to tell her the truth. It was Trudie who’d provided the funds to set up a computer for online video calling with the medical clinic.

  “An understatement, Doctor.”

  “How long have you felt this way?” Dr. Bowman asked, picking up a pen and a prescription pad.

  “What’s today?”

  “Tuesday,” Annie offered.

  “Three days then. It’s just a cold, but it seems to be getting worse.”

  “Tell me your symptoms,” the doctor asked.

  Before Trudie could answer, a coughing fit overtook her. She grabbed her chest and coughed into a handful of tissues.

  “I can hear your lungs rattling from here,” Dr. Bowman stated. “Did you have phlegm with that cough?”

  “Yes.”

  “Let me see it please,” the doctor requested.

  “Seriously?” Trudie questioned, looking at the tissues and cringing.

  Annie looked over her shoulder and saw a pinkish-green tinge to the mucus. Blood. She knew that wasn’t good.

  “Don’t worry, I’ve seen it all before.”

  Trudie held it up to the camera.

  “Scoot it back just a little, please.” The doctor looked at the tissue for a moment and frowned. “Yes, that’s fine. What other symptoms do you have?”

  “Fever, congestion, aches, pains, chills, no appetite, can’t breathe, can’t sleep, you name it, and I’ve got it all.”

  “Trudie, I think you may have pneumonia. I need you to come to the office for an X-ray, and…” Trudie shook her head. “Yes, I know you don’t want to do that, but my nurses have already gone for the day and at the very least, you need a shot of penicillin in your butt. That’s not something you can do by yourself.”

  “I can do it,” Annie volunteered.

  Trudie looked up at her. “You?”

  “Yes, me. My mother had pneumonia and like you, she refused to leave the house, so the doctor showed me how to fill the syringe and inject her with it.”

  “All right then, I’ll write a prescription for the penicillin, some antibiotics, and cough syrup.” The doctor picked up a handheld tablet and flipped through Trudie’s records. “Your records show that you’ve had a shot of penicillin before, and taken Amoxicillin as well. What about codeine? Are you allergic or have you developed an allergy to any of those three since your last visit over four years ago?”

  “No,” Trudie replied, then looked at Annie. “I don’t know if I want you looking at my butt.”

  “Trudie, it’s either that or we drag your butt into the hospital,” Dr. Bowman said. “Your choice.”

  Annie looked down at Trudie and smiled. “I promise, Trudie, I respect you too much to lust after your butt while you’re sick. I’ll wait until you feel better to do that.”

  Trudie laughed, which caused another coughing episode that left her gasping for air afterwards. “All right. All right, you win, Doctor.”

  “I always do,” the doctor replied, typing the prescription into the handheld. “Do you still use the same pharmacy?”

  “Yes, and would you please ask them to deliver it here?”

  “Of course. Now, you will
need someone to stay with you tonight in case you have a reaction to the medicines.”

  Trudie shook her head. “But I’m not allergic to them, why do I need a babysitter?”

  “For one thing, you’re very ill, Trudie. And for another, sometimes, as we grow older, our body changes and what we weren’t allergic to before, we are now. It’s better to err on the side of caution.”

  “I’ll stay with her, Doctor,” Annie volunteered again. “If Trudie allows it.” She had watched her mother struggle with pneumonia and did everything she could to nurse her back to health. Her mother always said it was Annie’s nursing skills that saved her life.

  “To whom am I speaking, please?” the doctor asked.

  Annie stooped over so she was in the picture. “Oh, sorry. My name is Annie Nichols.”

  “Nice to meet you, Annie. I’ll send over a mask and some rubber gloves. I don’t think it’s the contagious kind of pneumonia, and you’ve already been exposed, but it might help, nonetheless.”

  “Don’t worry about me, Doc. I’m in the Air Force, back from Afghanistan less than six months, so I’ve had every kind of shot known to man. I’m sure a pneumonia shot was included.”

  “Very good. All right, Nurse Annie, don’t take any crap from the patient. See that she stays hydrated, takes her medicine on time, and stays in bed at least two days.”

  “Two days?” Trudie protested. “I don’t want to lay around in bed for two days. There’s too much to do.” Trudie really didn’t have anything to do, but the thought of having to stay cooped up in the bedroom was depressing. She wanted to be able to look out the windows in the living room to see that life was still happening all around her.

  “All right, lay around on the couch if you prefer, but no work for you, Trudie. You need to get some rest. Understand?”

  Once again, Trudie felt like she had no control over her life, and it bothered her. But she was just too ill. She had no strength left to fight it. The one bright spot in all of this was that Annie would be by her side. Of course, the really bad part about that was that she would see her at her worst.

  “Understood. Thank you, Doctor, goodbye,” Trudie said. When the monitor went to black, she added, “You old quack.”

  “She didn’t seem like a quack to me,” Annie responded.

  “What? Oh. No, she’s not really, I just don’t like being sick. Listen, are you sure you want to do this? It’s going to be messy.”

  Annie put her hands on Trudie’s shoulders. “Here, come into the living room, and I’ll tell you the story of how I became a nurse.”

  Trudie shivered. The gentle touch, the compassion in Annie’s voice, sent hot chills through her feverish body. Sick as a dog and I’m aroused by a mere touch of her hand? Good God, give me strength.

  Annie led Trudie into the living room and moved the pillows off the couch so she would have more room. “Here, sit still for a minute while I get your pillows,” Annie instructed as she tucked the blanket around Trudie. Then Annie ran back into the bedroom and got the feathered pillows Trudie slept on. She carried them and another blanket back to the living room. Using a couple of couch pillows, she arranged them at one end and then put the feathered pillow on top. “Okay, lie back.”

  Trudie did as she was asked and leaned back against the pillows, appreciating how pampered she was.

  Annie spread the blanket over her and tucked it in. “Do you want the second blanket?”

  “Yes, thank you,” Trudie replied.

  Annie laid the second blanket on top of her. You poor kid. Two blankets, a thick robe and flannel pajamas, and still Trudie was cold. “I’m going to go find the Tylenol; be back in a minute.”

  Even as she shivered from the fever, Trudie felt a warmth in her heart that hadn’t been there since before Leigh was killed. She wasn’t sure what it meant or what it might lead to, but this time she welcomed it, just the same.

  Annie walked through to the kitchen and pulled a bottle of water from the fridge, unscrewed the lid and set it down on the counter. Uncapping the Tylenol bottle, she poured two tablets into her hand, and then picked up the bottle and walked over to Trudie.

  “Do you have a thermometer?” Annie asked as she handed Trudie the pills.

  Trudie sat up and tossed the pills to the back of her throat and washed them down with the water. “No. Never needed one before,” she said, leaning back against the pillows.

  “What about a humidifier?”

  “No. Same reason.”

  “I’ll be right back,” Annie said, and walked down the hall to the bathroom. Taking a washcloth from the cabinet, she turned on the hot water and let it run for a minute, then she soaked the cloth in the warm water and wrung it out. She went back into the living room with the cloth. “Put this over your mouth and nose for a few minutes.”

  Trudie rubbed her chin. “Oh dear. Do I have something on my face?”

  Annie laughed. “No, this is a poor man’s humidifier. It will help loosen the mucus and make it a little easier to breathe.”

  “I am impressed. You said you’d tell me a story, Nurse?”

  Annie took the washcloth from Trudie’s hand and placed it over her nose and mouth. Their eyes locked, and for a moment, their connection took them to another plane, another time, where their hearts beat as one. Annie pulled back, startled by the electricity between them, and the moment was lost.

  “Uh, breathe as deep as you can,” Annie instructed. She pulled the blanket up under Trudie’s chin and then sat on the side of the couch. I can’t do this. I can’t be this close and pretend I don’t want to take her in my arms and love her until the illness goes away.

  Trudie tried to breathe deeply, but it only caused a coughing spasm. She sat up and coughed into the washcloth. Annie quickly moved behind her and patted her on the back to help break up the phlegm. When the coughing stopped, Trudie leaned back, exhausted. Annie took the cloth to the bathroom and rinsed it out, then hung it on a rack to dry. She pulled out another cloth, ran it under warm water, then wrung the water out before carrying it back to Trudie.

  “Here’s a fresh one,” she said, lying the washcloth over Trudie’s nose and mouth.

  “Why are you doing this?” Trudie asked, her voice muffled by the cloth. Her eyes followed Annie’s every movement.

  Smiling, Annie said, “I was just in the right place at the right time, I guess.” And I care for you, more than I should. “Now, do you want to hear my story about how I became a nurse?”

  “Yes, please,” Trudie replied, leaning heavily into the pillows.

  “Okay, well, once upon a time, there lived a wonderful couple who had a wonderful daughter.”

  “Yes, you are wonderful,” Trudie said.

  Annie grinned. “Hush. Okay, so the daughter grew up to be a soldier with no other ambition than to be a soldier. But then one dark and stormy day, her mother was afflicted with a most evil disease, and the daughter left the service to care for her. Then the cure for the disease opened the way to another disease that could have been just as deadly. Night and day, the daughter was by her mother’s side, and then the daughter became the mother, doing whatever was needed to see her through that long, stormy night. Now mother and daughter are sisters on the plane of life, and they will live happily ever after, the end.”

  Annie looked at Trudie and smiled when she saw that Trudie had fallen asleep. She eased off of the couch. “Sweet dreams, princess,” she whispered, then kissed her on the forehead. Damn, you’re burning up. One last look at Trudie’s flushed cheeks and red nose, and then Annie went back to the pets’ room.

  Pew! Cat litter needs changed. “You poor babies,” she whispered to Lucy and Bruno. “Now where does Trudie keep the pet food?” Annie quietly opened several cabinets until she found what she was looking for. She put out plenty of food, refreshed their water and changed the cat litter. If this isn’t above and beyond, I don’t know what is.

  Once the pets were taken care of, she went in the bathroom and washed her hands,
then she went back into the living room and sat across from Trudie. You know once she’s better, you have to leave. Annie had no misconceptions that things would go back to the way they were as soon as Trudie was well again. Noella would see to that. Annie pulled her cellphone out and scrolled through her photos until she found the ones the photographer had taken on Saturday and sent her. Her favorite picture was the one where they both were acting goofy. Trudie had a carefreeness about her in that picture. Like she didn’t have a worry in the world. Annie would give anything to put that smile on her face again.

  Lucy suddenly went to the front door and growled. Annie jumped up in time to unlock the door before the delivery man rang the doorbell. She took the bag from him, and then dug in her jeans pocket and pulled out a five. “Listen, I’ll give you another ten if you’ll go back to the store and bring me a thermometer and a humidifier.”

  “Sure. Rectal or oral?” the young man asked.

  Annie looked over at Trudie briefly. “Oral. And some Tylenol, too, please.”

  “Will do.”

  “Oh, and don’t ring the doorbell. Lucy will let me know that you’re here,” Annie said, scratching Lucy behind the ears.

  The young man nodded nervously and left.

  Annie carried the pharmacy bag to the kitchen counter and dumped everything out. First thing she did was pull on the light blue latex gloves included in the bag. Then she set the bottle of cough syrup to the side and picked up the bottle of Amoxicillin. The label read 500mg orally, three times a day. Untwisting the cap, she peered inside and recognized the capsules as the same ones her mother had taken. Then Annie tore the plastic off of the syringe and set it down. Next, she picked up a plastic bag with cotton swabs in it, along with a small bottle of alcohol. That doctor thought of everything. Soaking a cotton swab with the alcohol, she sanitized the single injection vial of penicillin and then picked up the syringe again. Drawing the liquid into the syringe, she soaked a fresh swab with alcohol and walked over to the couch.