'I hope she gets better, whatever it is.'
'Yeah. Sure. But it's always the good guys that get kicked in the tail in this screwed-up world.'
A young woman in blue walked through the door.
'Morning, Kirk,' she said. 'How're you feeling today? You look so well I guess I better stay clear of you. Who's your friend?'
'That's Brent.'
'Hello, Brent. I'm Jewel, and that's no joke. I'll take care of you. You want anything, anything at all, you just ask old Jewel here and she'll get it for you. First thing I'm going to do for you is get you cleaned up a bit.'
She walked over to Brent's bed. Brent liked her face. She moved quickly and without any wasted effort.
'You going to hang around here and make things tough for me, Kirk? I'm sure not going to make that bed with you sitting in it when you can hike that body of yours out of here. Why don't you head on down to the washroom and take a shower. Lord knows, you probably need it. I'll have you all straightened out by the time you get back.'
'Okay, Jewel. I know when I'm not wanted. You watch her, Brent. First time I was left alone with that woman, she ripped the covers off and attacked me sexually.'
'Oh, go on, Kirk. You should be so lucky. Now scram.'
Brent looked across the room toward Kirk's bed and saw him shift himself uncomfortably until his legs were dangling over the side of the bed. He grabbed the pair of crutches that had been propped against the wall and used them to support himself while he stood up. Kirk walked slowly toward the door. He stopped and turned back.
'You be careful how you manhandle that character, Jewel. He's not feeling so hot.'
'Don't you worry now, Kirk. He's in good hands with Jewel.'
Kirk swung his body out into the hall and paused. In a loud voice, he yelled, 'Nurse Rush, Brent here's dying from the pain. You better get that medicine down here fast before I report you to the SPCA.'
Brent heard Nurse Rush's voice grate down the corridor. 'You keep your mouth shut, Kirk. There'll be no yelling in this hospital. I've got too much to do without trying to keep you in line. I'll be down there as soon as I can.'
Kirk turned and left, disappearing from Brent's view.
'Now let's see what we can do about a bath for you,' Jewel said.
Out of the cabinet next to Brent's bed, she took a large blue plastic basin and a washcloth. She crossed the room to the sink and filled the basin with warm water.
'Maybe later when you're feeling a little better, you'll be able to wash yourself up, but for right now, you just let Jewel treat you like a king. It won't last for long.'
She crossed back to the bed and pulled the curtain which blocked the bed from view from the hall. With gentle hands she soaked the washcloth in water, soaped it until it foamed, and began to wash Brent's face. The warmth and clean smell of the soap were good, and Brent began to relax a little despite the pain. He unclenched his fists. She rinsed the washcloth and wiped his face clean.
Jewel pulled the sheet down to Brent's waist and removed the hospital gown, exposing his chest. In a large circular motion she began at his neck and started to wash down his body.
Oh, Christ, Brent thought as Jewel's hand moved over his stomach. The moment of relaxation was gone.
'Now don't you fret none,' Jewel said. 'You've got no surprises for Jewel that she hasn't seen a hundred times before.'
Her hands disappeared under the edge of the sheet and Jewel continued to wash matter-of-factly. Brent couldn't help clenching his fists again. Jewel switched to the foot of the bed and lifted the sheet up from the bottom to his knees. She lathered and rinsed his legs.
'Think you can roll to one side?' she asked. 'It's all right with the Doc, so long as you keep your back stiff. It's called a log roll. You put your right arm out from your side and cross your left leg and arm over and you'll find you turn nice and stifflike right on over to your side. How about giving it a try?'
Brent kept his body rigid and rolled to his right side. He expected sharp needles of pain, but only the dull heavy aching continued.
Jewel began at his neck and washed his back, scrubbing surely and finely down his spine with a firm, tender hand.
'You're a good kid,' she said. 'Now we got to get these sheets changed.'
Brent considered the practicalities for the first time. How do you change a sheet when someone's lying on it? He pictured Jewel whisking the sheet from under him as magicians do tablecloths from under full dinner settings.
As if she read his mind, Jewel said, 'Now don't you worry about this either. You just follow my directions and we'll have you fixed up in no time flat. You stay lying on your right side just the way you are.'
She began on the left side of the bed, and Brent could hear the pulling and rumpling of cloth as Jewel stripped the sheet off the mattress. The bunching of the material created a light pressure against his back.
'Now roll on your other side,' she said, and Brent thrust against the lumped material ridging the middle of the bed and rolled over it onto his left side. He did it just as Jewel had told him to and his body stayed rigid. The motions continued on the side behind him. Brent was amazed to realize, when the fluttering and moving stopped, that the bed was tight and freshly made without his having left it.
Jewel bundled the dirty sheets into a ball and tossed them towards the door. Next she took a small basin and filled it with clear, cold water. From the bedside cabinet she took his tooth brush and toothpaste and handed them all to Brent.
'I figure you can handle this part yourself,' she said. As Brent rolled onto his back again and began brushing his teeth, enjoying the crisp peppermint taste that relieved the staleness of his mouth, Jewel attacked Kirk's bed and had it changed within a moment.
'When I get all the beds done that I got to do today, I'll be back to see if Kirk wants his usual Coke. Be good,' she said and left the room, her arms full of dirty sheets.
Brent looked up at the ceiling. There was nothing there to see, so he turned his eyes to the right and watched the slow rise of the bubbles into the bottle that fed his arm.
He closed his eyes and tried to wait for Nurse Rush to arrive with the pain-killer. It wasn't easy.
Chapter Two
Kirk made his way painfully down the hall from his room. Every step sent a shooting pain through his left hip and thigh.
Ahead of him he saw the open space of the sunroom. It was always the same. It hadn't changed for the months that Kirk had been there. For some reason, Kirk expected that some morning he would walk into the sun- room and the furniture would be different, or the drapes, or maybe there would be another magazine or two at least. But it never happened. It was always the same.
He entered the room and struggled over to an easy chair. He sank into it. Across the room two kids from Pediatrics were playing a game of checkers.
'Beat it,' Kirk said to them. 'Go on back to where you belong.'
'Make us,' one of them said.
'I'll make you all right,' Kirk said. He started to rise from the chair.
The two kids grabbed their checkerboard and hurried from the room.
Kirk looked out the windows that ran the length of the room. It was sunny out. He picked up a four-month- old copy of
He grinned when he saw Amy come into the sun-room. She moved across the room without a sound, her
