Chapter Four B: Homecoming

When Aaron first became cognizant of what was happening around him, the drugs had taken hold and he was breathing without tears. He actually found himself taking inventory of his basic body parts to be sure everything was there. A nurse was attaching a drip to his right arm and on his left he focused on a familiar face.

“Jack! Have you been here all along?” Aaron asked, startling the older man.

“Only for the past hour, kid. Looks like it was a waste of my coming out, though, they’re not going to let you go home tonight.” Jack was gruff, but there was an ounce of relief in his voice at hearing Aaron come round.

“Why not? I feel fine now.” Aaron started to push himself up, but collapsed back on the bed with the searing pain from his right ribcage before he could be stopped by the nurse.

“You’ll really want to rest that a while before you start moving too quickly,” she said.

“Yes, ma’am. I hear and obey,” Aaron gasped. He turned his head to look at Jack again. “How did you find out I was here? I couldn’t get a phone signal after the accident.”

“What do you mean you couldn’t get a signal? You called and like to scared Theresa to death when she answered the phone. She nearly fell down the stairs getting a phone to me at the table. All I could hear was you mumbling to yourself about getting to the church. Then it sounded like there was a regular meeting going on, though we couldn’t make out anything that was being said. Sounded like several voices, though. Your phone went dead and about ten minutes later some lady said she called your ICE number and you had been in an accident.”

“ICE,” Aaron said. “Oh, yeah. In Case of Emergency. Damn, that was a good idea wasn’t it?”

“Well, it was this time,” Jack answered. “She said she’d called 911 and an ambulance was coming from Ossian. She figured you’d be coming to Lutheran. So I drove right over to Lutheran, but they didn’t have any record of you. I badgered them until they tracked you down here at Parkview. Then I drove over here. It’s just a little before midnight now.”

“Who was she?” Aaron asked.

“Didn’t say,” Jack scratched at his beard. “Nice voice though.”

“Unbelievable,” Aaron mused. “How am I going to find her?”

“Well, if worse comes to worse, you can lay some money on the table and I’ll send my ace researcher out on the case,” Jack laughed. “Why do you want to find her anyway?”

“I don’t know,” Aaron said. “Maybe she’d like some of these nice drugs they’re feeding me. What is this stuff, nurse?”

“Toad hairs and eye of newt,” the nurse said.

“What was that?” Aaron asked, dumbfounded.

“Toradol on a slow drip,” the nurse responded more clearly. “It takes effect almost immediately and can be released over a period of six to eight hours. Dr. Henry prescribed it right after the first examination. We had to get you through the x-rays first though and you didn’t seem to be conscious of the pain at the time.”

“So, what did the x-rays show?” Aaron asked.

“Dr. will come by to talk about it in the morning,” the nurse said, but it appears to be nothing more serious than a couple cracked ribs.”

“What happened to his hearing?” Jack asked. Aaron couldn’t think of anything wrong with his hearing at the moment.

“Doctor thinks he was in a position to receive a direct shock vibration which temporarily deafened him,” the nurse replied.

“Is that ‘him’ you two are talking about supposed to be me? I don’t feel like I’m deaf.” Aaron snarled a little petulantly.

“I’m sorry Mr. Case. It was apparently temporary.”

“Apparently,” Aaron said.

“So, apparently, was your good humor,” the nurse smiled. “I think we’d better let you get some rest now. I’m just down the hall. If you need anything, your call button is right here by you hand.”

“Okay, kid. Do what the nurse says,” Jack leaned down close so that only Aaron could hear. “She’s bigger than you are, so don’t challenge her to a wrestling match.”

Aaron started to laugh and then gasped again as the motion jabbed at his ribs. He groaned aloud.

“Okay, okay. Sleep sounds like a pretty good idea right now,” he gasped shallowly. “Jack, thanks for coming.”

“Thank your guardian angel, not me,” Jack replied. “See you in the morning.” Jack and the nurse left and Aaron was surprised to find that he was, indeed, ready to sleep.

Morning was streaming through the windows when he woke up and soon thereafter came breakfast, the first and second consultations with the doctor on rotation, a little prodding that elicited a little gentlemanly screaming, and lights shone in eyes, Aaron was released from the hospital and Jack took him home. Theresa was adamant that Aaron stay at their house for a few days, but Aaron begged to be taken home and left to recover where he had his own bed, pillows, and toilet.

As a result, Theresa arrived minutes after Jack and Aaron with armloads of groceries and began cooking. She was determined, she said, that all Aaron would have to do is pull the next container out of the freezer and put it in the microwave.

As for Aaron, when he came off the Tordol drip he switched to oral doses of Vicodin and as long as he didn’t move to rapidly, laugh, or sneeze, he could function slowly. He intended today to spend most of his time sleeping. That was the thing about painkillers. You could always sleep a little more. Jack and Theresa were still puttering around in his kitchen when Aaron pulled a blanket over himself, propped up in his bedroom lounge chair in front of the television and went to sleep.

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