Wrangled

by Natasha Stories

  All of a sudden, I had a powerful thirst that I hadn’t noticed before. But I also needed to piss, and it didn’t look like I was gettin’ off this bed anytime soon. “I, uh, I mean, yeah, I’m thirsty, but…” Ah, hell. This was embarrassin’, tellin’ a lady I had to piss. “I’m sorry ma’am, but I need to…”

  Understandin’ came over her face, and she said, “It’s okay, just let go.”

  “In my bed?!” I might’ve been injured, but no way was I gonna piss my bed.

  “You have a catheter, Mr. Wayne. It’s okay, I promise.” She picked up a little plastic box with buttons on it, on a cord, and put it right by my hand. “Here’s your call button. If you need anything else, just push the biggest button.” She had me feel it, and when I found the biggest button, she said, “Yes, that’s the one. Are you sure you don’t want some water before I go?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I would, thank you.”

  She pushed a straw between my lips and I had just one sip of cool water before she said, “That’s enough for now. We don’t want you getting sick if you have to have any surgery.”

  Surgery? That set them machines a whoopin’ and janglin’ again, and the lady put her hands on my chest. “Please try to relax, Mr. Wayne. You’re in good hands. The doctor will be in soon.”

  Then she left me alone to think about what all was gonna happen to me. I didn’t know much about surgery or hospitals, but I knew that broken bones and rodeo went along together, and that it was pricey. How was I gonna pay for all of this? Especially since I couldn’t work until they let me outta here, and who knew how long after? It was kinda a low-level frettin’ not enough to make them machines go nuts, but enough to keep me from restin’. I needed to get up outta here and get back to work!

  Along about half an hour later, here come a man in a white coat, with one of them listenin’ things around his neck. Somethin’ scope, they’re called. He didn’t use it on me, though. Instead, he picked up a clipboard off the foot of the bed and looked at it, then he looked at the machines. Finally, he came around where I could see him good, and said, “Good evening, Mr. Wayne. How are we doing?”

  “I don’t know how you’re doin’, Doc, but I had better days.”

  He smiled a little. Guess he heard that one before. “Any pain, Mr. Wayne? Especially in your head or neck?”

  “Nossir, I don’t think so.”

  “Hmmm. Mr. Wayne, you have a contusion right on the top of your head where it hit the fence, do you remember that happening?”

  “Nossir, the nurse told me what happened, but I cain’t remember it.”

  “Not surprising. Well, you have a concussion. That means that your brain was injured, but we won’t know the extent of the injury until we see how well you recover. Your skull sustained a shock, but doesn’t seem to be cracked. X-rays on your neck are inconclusive, we’re going to have to do a CT scan. Your right leg is broken and will need a full-leg cast for a few weeks, and about four months’ recovery time for full use. No other injuries. I’d say you were a lucky man.”

  “I don’t feel so lucky, Doc. What’s a contusion? And what’s inconclusive mean? When can I ride again?”

  “A contusion is a bruise. The top of your head is going to be tender for a while, young man. And when the pain medication wears off, you’re going to have a pretty good headache. Inconclusive means we couldn’t see one way or another whether your cervical spine has sustained major injury. And before you ask, that’s your neck. ”

  My heart started racin’ again and the machines started screamin’, ‘til the doctor pushed one of the buttons on the loudest one, and then came back to talk some more. “I’m sorry, I should have said that differently. We don’t think you have a major injury there. We just need to be careful in case there’s a minor injury that could get worse. I’m afraid you’re going to have to stay in that head restraint, at least until after the CT scan. As far as riding again, we’re going to have to take that slowly until we see how you progress. We’ll see to the leg after the CT scan.”

  I heaved a big sigh. I wasn’t out of the woods yet, but he said they didn’t think my neck was broke. At least, that’s what I thought he said. On the other hand, it looked like I might be outta my job for four months. I didn’t know how I was gonna handle that, for money anyway.

  “Okay, Doc, but it’s mighty borin’, layin’ here lookin’ at the ceilin’. Can my uncle come in?”

  “Yes, I think that will be fine, as long as you can stay calm. You’re scheduled for the CT scan in about an hour, or as soon as they’re through with the patient that’s being scanned right now. We’ll come and get you when it’s time.”

  “Thanks, Doc. Oh, and Doc? Will you tell my uncle what-all you told me? I want him to get it straight, and I’m not sure I can remember exactly how you said it.”

  “Yes, son, of course. Try not to worry.”

  Easy for him to say. He didn’t have a rodeo career ridin’ on the results of that CT scan.

  A few minutes later, Uncle Hank came in. I knew it was him because I recognized how he smelled, but I couldn’t see him yet. “Uncle Hank?”

  “Yes, boy, I’m here. Just looking at all this fancy stuff they have you hooked up to. How do you feel?”

  “Like a turkey trussed up for roastin’. Can you come over here where I can see you? They don’t want me to move my head, so they’ve got me tied down.”

  Uncle Hank stepped into my view. I was shocked by how he looked, his face all gray and drawn, and his hair standin’ straight on end. I hadn’t seen him look like this since my mom died. “Uncle Hank, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, boy, why?”

  “Nothin’. I thought you was worried, that’s all.”

  “Well, of course I was worried! Ain’t every day your only livin’ relative gets drove headfirst into a fencepost! You’re just lucky you got such a hard head, the doc said.”

  “You always said I was hard-headed,” I joked.

  “Ha ha. This ain’t all that amusin’ boy.”

  I knew that. “Just tryin’ to get you to lighten up, Uncle Hank. I’m gonna be okay.”

  “Sure you are, Cody. Sure you are. You’ll be back on that idiot horse in no time. How’d he come to throw you like that?”

  “I dunno, Uncle Hank. I cain’t remember. I guess I wasn’t sittin’ just right in the saddle. I think he shied, just as I threw out my lariat, but he musta stopped dead real quick, or I woulda just fell off under his feet, right?”

  “That sounds right. I’ll see if the other hands that was watchin’ can remember.”

  “Uncle Hank, was Annalee there?

  His face darkened. “Thought I told you that girl was trouble.”

  “You did. All I’m askin’ is, did she see the accident?”

  “I s’pose so. Ain’t she hangin’ on that fence every night?”

  “Could you call the ranch, and get someone to tell her I’m gonna be okay?”

  “Sure, Cody, I can do that.”

  “Uncle Hank, how am I gonna pay for all this? ‘Specially since the doc said it might be four months before I can use the leg again?”

  “Don’t you worry about that. I’ll figure it out. Just get better, and then we’ll worry about payin’ for it.”

  “Thanks, Uncle Hank. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” I was about to get all choked up, but Hank saved me by punchin’ me in the arm.

  “Kin gotta stick together, boy. Don’t say another word, you hear?”

  After that, he started jokin’ how he was gonna ship ‘that worthless horse’ to a glue factory, with me threatenin’ to kill him if Abo wasn’t right where he belonged when I got home. It was the only way we knew to be, since talkin’ about lovin’ each other was out of the question. I knew it, and he knew it. We had no need to say it. For the thousandth time since my mom died, I thanked God for my uncle, all the while givin’ him the same shit he was givin’ me.

  In no time at all, the same nurse was back, unhookin’ all the machines exc
ept one. Well, that one wasn’t really a machine, exactly. It had a bag of some clear stuff hangin’ on it, and the tube come down to my arm. It was drippin’, one slow drop at a time, down the tube and I guessed into me. I asked the nurse, “What is this stuff, anyway?”

  “Fluid to keep you from getting dehydrated, and we’ve put some medicine in there to keep your pain level tolerable.”

  “Oh.” I guessed that was why my head didn’t hurt like the doc said it should. I wasn’t lookin’ forward to that.

  Then two big guys wearin’ the same kind of pajamas that the nurse had on come in, fiddled with somethin’ underneath the bed, and suddenly I was rollin’ down the hall, bed and all, with the nurse pushin’ that thing with the bag hangin’ on it. We got to a room with big double doors, and they pushed me on through and up next to a weird-lookin’ machine, looked like a bed with a big ol’ doughnut at the top, made of plastic or somethin’. Next thing I knew, Nurse had unhooked the tube from my elbow and them two big ol’ boys just lifted me up, sheet and all, and over into the bed with the doughnut. Then all three of ‘em disappeared as quick as they’d come.

  Another guy in pajamas came over then and explained they was gonna send me, still layin’ on the bed, through the hole in the doughnut, and it was gonna take pictures of my innards. It was just like a X-ray, he said, only sideways, whatever that meant. All’s I cared about was he said it wouldn’t hurt, and I just had to lay still. I could do that. In fact, I couldn’t do anything else.

  After the CT scan, everybody came back, put me back in the first bed, and took me back down the hall to the same room again. I wished they’d tell me what they was doin’, but unless I asked, they didn’t say nothin’. Except, they all laughed when I asked could I get some grub. Don’t know why that was funny, I’d missed dinner and I was hungry.

  I slept for a while after that, and the beeps and hisses of the machines made me have weird dreams, some where I was layin’ on the hay bales with Annalee, and she had no clothes on. I could see those tits, with big pink nipples, plain as day, and I was reachin’ to touch ‘em. Just then, someone bumped my bed and I woke up, gaspin’ for air.

  “Mr. Wayne, sorry to wake you, but your breakfast is here.” It was a different nurse, and her cheeks was all pink. I was confused for a minute, until I remembered where I was and why. Somethin’ was awful uncomfortable down between my legs, and I strained my eyes to see what was goin’ on down there. Under the sheet was a big ol’ lump, and suddenly I knew why the nurse’s cheeks was pink and I had a pain there like I’d never known. I had a hard-on to beat sixty, with the tube from the catheter stickin’ straight up out of it. At least, that’s what I figured, from what I could see that was under the sheet. The embarrassment took care of it pretty quick, though. The pain faded as my dick got soft. Nurse didn’t say a word about it, though.

  After breakfast, the doctor came to see me. I was finally gonna get to know whether I could ever ride again, or whether my life was over.

  “Mr. Wayne, good morning. How are we feeling?” I still didn’t know how he felt, but I was gettin’ tired of bein’ talked at like a kid.

  Instead of answering, I said, “What’s the word, Doc? Am I gonna be ridin’ next week?”

  He smiled a little at that. Guess he’d heard that one before, too. “Well, maybe not next week, Mr. Wayne. We’ll leave it up to you after a few months. You have sustained what we hope is only a minor injury to your neck, a sprain. You might call it whiplash.”

  Oh, yeah, I knew about whiplash. Bronc riders got it sometimes, but they went back to ridin’ as soon as it healed. I began to have hope.

  “Technically, you have some torn ligaments in your neck, but your spinal cord hasn’t been affected, other than some possible bruising.”

  “How do I get over that, Doc?”

  “There isn’t a lot we can do for it medically. We’re going to give you a neck brace to help you keep it relaxed and rested. We’ll recommend you treat it alternately with ice and heat, and avoid any activity that might cause a violent movement to your neck. No bronc riding for now,” he smiled.

  “I don’t ride broncs,” I said. “I’m a tie-down roper.”

  “Well, that’s good, but I still wouldn’t recommend riding for several months, at least. In any case, you’ll be in a full-leg cast for at least six weeks. After that, come back to see us and let’s see how you’re healing.”

  “Okay, Doc.”

  They took me to another room where another doctor set my broken leg and put me in a full-length cast they told me not to get wet. I started wonderin’ how I was gonna take a bath, but they had some other stuff to tell me. I wasn’t to put any weight at all on it until I come back for a follow-up in six weeks. I had no idea how I was gonna manage the bunkhouse, with its six steps up to the front porch, but I guessed Uncle Hank and I would figure it out when we come to it.

  More people come in with a slew of papers for me to sign, and then Uncle Hank was there to take me home. I don’t know what I looked like, but it was probly funny, with my neck stretched up in a heavy brace and my right leg stickin’ straight out. I had to ride in the back of the boss’s SUV, on a pallet of blankets they’d put down for me after foldin’ down the back seats, because I was too tall to fit sideways in the car and I couldn’t bend that leg. What a humiliatin’ position to be in.

  ~~~

  It turned out Uncle Hank and the boss, Mr. Russ, had it all figured out between ‘em. Instead of takin’ me to the bunkhouse, Uncle Hank took me right to the back door of the ranch house, where Janet supervised while they carried me in on their crossed arms, with my arms around both their necks. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but all the hands were gogglin’ at me on the outside, and all the girls were gathered on the inside, holdin’ back the kids so’s they wouldn’t get in the way. By the time they got me all the way down the hall to the bedroom they’d fixed up for me, I was bone-tired, and they was huffin’ like a steam engine. I had some heft to me, had grown some muscle since high school, all of it earned in ranch work.

  Uncle Hank said he had to get back to work, and left after puttin’ his hand on my shoulder and squeezin’. Mr. Russ stayed to explain things.

  “Cody, your uncle said you were worried about the hospital bills. I want you to know that you’re fully insured; all of you hands are. It’s group insurance, the same as any employee in any of my businesses. The only thing you’ll be responsible for is the deductible, and I know the hospital will work out a payment plan for that. As for your job, don’t worry about that, either. It’ll be waiting for you when you’re fully recovered. Until then, you’re my guest here in the house where you can be more comfortable. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

  Truth be told, I was struck dumb with what he’d already said. All my worries wiped away, all I could think of was I was a damn lucky man to be where I was instead of some ranch that woulda turned me out because I couldn’t work. Now I owed the boss even more than ever, and I aimed to pay him back somehow, soon as I could.

  “Nossir, you’ve done so much already. Only thing I can think of now is, I’m kinda sweet on Annalee, if you didn’t know it. I want to make sure she knows I’m gonna be okay.”

  “She knows, but I’m going to send her in to see for herself,” he said. “She wants to see you, and I believe she’s appointed herself your head nurse. You let me know if there’s anything else, you hear?”

  “Yessir. Thank you!”

  “No worries. You’re a good hand, Cody. I don’t want to lose you, and that isn’t anything to do with Hank being your uncle. You get better, and when you can go back to work, we’ll talk about how to best use your talents.”

  That set me to wonderin’ what he meant. So far, the only talent I’d shown was a talent for gettin’ myself thrown into a fencepost. If that counted for somethin’ in ranchin’, I sure didn’t know what it was. When the boss left, I closed my eyes for a minute, and then I was gone, finally gettin’ a restful sleep for the first time s
ince I woke up in the hospital.

  The curtains were open in the room when I woke up, mid-afternoon sun streamin’ in and hittin’ me in the eyes. It was kinda a struggle to sit up, between the leg cast and the neck brace, but I finally managed it. Then I rested back on the headboard and a couple of pillows I stuck behind me, and looked around. This was a fine room, finer than any I’d ever slept in. The walls was dark green, and there was antelope heads on the wall on one side, and a big paintin’ of the mountains on the other. On the other side of the room from the bed was a big chester drawers, but kinda low, and on it sat a TV. Next to the bed was a stand with a lamp and a radio with a clock on it, and a remote control for the TV. There was a bell, there, too, like you’d see in a store, that you could just hit the top and it would chime out once. Under the bell was a note, that I figured was for me, so I picked it up to read it.

  ‘Cody, let me know when you’re awake and I’ll bring you some lunch. I’m so glad you’re home. Annalee.’

  That cheered me right up. Annalee and some lunch, both. I couldn’t think of anything better. I hit that bell four or five times, real quick.

  No sooner did I stop ringin’ the bell when Annalee came runnin’ in, and stopped dead at the foot of the bed when she saw me.

  “Cody, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothin’s wrong. The note said to ring the bell…”

  “Oh,” she said, with a whoosh of breath, sitting down on the end of the bed. “You were ringing so fast, I thought it was an emergency.”

  “It is,” I grinned. “I’m plumb starved to death. The note said you’d bring me some lunch.”

  Annalee got up and come to the side of the bed, then, and touched my cheek. “One ring is enough, Cody. If you pound on that bell like that again, you better be having a heart attack, you hear me?

  “Yes’m,” I said. “Can I please get that lunch now? I could eat a whole beef.”

  Her pretty blue eyes twinkled as she said, “I’ll see what I can do about that Cody Wayne. You keep your hands off that bell for a minute.”