It was impossible for Judith to get comfortable. She
called the main desk and asked for Sister Jacqueline,
but the nun was unavailable. Then she dialed Woody’s
number at home.
Woody sounded half asleep when he answered. Judith briefly apologized before explaining that Joe had
gone missing.
“How can he be missing?” Woody asked, sounding
confused.
“Maybe that’s the wrong word,” Judith said as she
heard Sondra’s sleepy mumbling in the background.
“But I don’t know where he is. Which makes him
missing as far as I’m concerned.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Woody said. “Frankly, I
think it’s just a mix-up. Try to calm down. It isn’t good
for you to get yourself so upset after surgery.”
Judith had confidence in Woody, but realized that
the most he could do at the moment was try to send a
254
Mary Daheim
couple of patrol officers to the hospital. They might
get the runaround, too. She cudgeled her brain to
think who else she might contact for help. Feeling
impotent and distraught, Judith considered taking the
Valium to settle her nerves. But it might fuddle her
brain, so she set aside the yellow pill in its tiny
pleated cup. It was almost eleven o’clock; she considered turning on the late-night news. She might see
the story on Joe. But, she decided, that would only
upset her.
For a quarter of an hour, she twisted, tossed, and
turned—at least as much as she could without disturbing the artificial hip. She was about to ring the front
desk again when Renie staggered into the room.
“Coz!” Judith cried. “Where have you been? Did
you find Joe?”
Dragging herself to her bed, Renie shook her head.
“No. But he’s not dead. I finally got that much out of
Bertha down there in the ICU. They moved him to a
private room on the fourth floor.”
Judith clutched the bedsheet to her breast. “Does
that mean he’s better?”
“It may,” Renie replied, collapsing onto the mattress. “Bertha wouldn’t give me any details. The only
way I got any information was to grab the power cord
to her computer with my good hand and threaten to unplug her. To tell the truth, I don’t think she knew anything else. Remember, she just came on duty. Joe was
moved before she got there.”
Judith grabbed the phone. “I’m calling the nurses’ station on four.”
A man with a foreign accent answered. “Very sorry,”
he said after Judith stated her request for information.
“We cannot give out any word on that patient.”
SUTURE SELF
255
