to the window.
“The sun’s out,” Renie announced. “Maybe it’s
warming up enough that the snow will start melting.”
Judith ignored the remark as she dialed the fourthfloor nurses’ station. To her dismay, the line was busy.
“It’s a cruel plot,” Judith declared, “just to make me
crazy. Furthermore,” she went on, taking her frustration out on Renie, “I don’t see how you seem so awake
this early when you’re in the hospital. The rest of the
time, you don’t get up until almost ten, and even then
you’re not exactly bright-eyed.”
“At home, I don’t have thirty people running around
outside my bedroom door,” Renie replied. “Nor am I
usually in pain. Not to mention that until recently, I
could sleep in more than just one position. Hospitals
are not conducive to sleeping in.”
Judith barely heard the rest of her cousin’s explana-260
Mary Daheim
tion. She dialed the fourth floor again; the line was still
engaged.
Corinne Appleby appeared, going through the usual
check on the cousins’ conditions. Renie asked the
nurse if the weather was getting warmer. Corinne
didn’t know, and seemed unusually glum.
“What’s wrong?” Judith inquired, hoping to ingratiate herself so that the nurse might prove useful in the
quest for Joe. “Has being stuck over in the residence
hall gotten you down?”
“In a way,” Corinne replied without looking up from
Judith’s chart. “My mother’s not feeling at all well, and
I can’t be home with her.”
“Is she alone?” Judith asked.
Corinne made some notations before responding.
“We’re lucky to have a neighbor who can look in on
her. Stay with her, too, when I’m on duty. But this is
the longest time in years that I’ve been away. It’s very
hard on Mother.”
“And on you, I imagine,” Judith said with sympathy.
“You must worry so. I know I do when I’m away from
my mother, though we have wonderful neighbors who
help out.”
“You’re fortunate,” Corinne replied, fine lines appearing on her forehead. “Is your mother able to get
around on her own?”
“She uses a walker,” Judith replied, then glanced at
Renie. “My cousin’s mother is pretty much confined to
a wheelchair, but she has very kind neighbors, too. Of
course our mothers are both very elderly.”
Corinne gave a brief nod. “Yes. My mother isn’t
much older than you are. You’re really blessed that
you’ll be able to come out of this surgery and be independent. So many people don’t appreciate the good
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