BOOK ONE: DECEPTIONS
Chapters One to Twenty Six
Vignettes 1 - 140

BOOK TWO: YESTERDAY ECHOES
Chapters 27 to
Vignettes 141 -

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Vignette #144: Little Conversations

Everyone filed outside, except for Billy, who was in the bed next to Ian. The doctor pulled the curtain between and pulled back the small blue blanket that was covering Ian.

“Mr. Justyn, tell me if this hurts…” The doctor stuck a pin in his right knee.

“Shit…oh damn yes it hurts…wouldn’t it hurt if I stuck a pin in your knee?”

The doctor laughed. He squeezed his thigh. Ian could see that it was swollen twice its normal size and looked like a really ugly calico swatch. The doctor lifted the hospital gown and put both hands in a vee and pushed slightly just below where Ian’s leg connected to his torso. “Can you feel this pressure?”

“Yes.”

“What about here?” He moved his hands to various places on his torso and groin, repeating the pressure and repeating the question. “Any sharp pains at all?”

“No. Is there going to be a problem?”

“I doubt it. But remember you had two people slam down on top of you from quite a distance. You cushioned their falls, but your body took three blows, one from the back and two from the front. Everything inside you got jostled around and bruised. Don’t panic if some normal functions are painful for a while or maybe don’t work as they normally would for a while…”

“I’m as comfortable as I can be, I guess. Can we let the bed down a little?”

“Actually no.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve had major rotator cuff repair. We need to keep pressure off, so the bed cannot go back any further than it is. Understand? No actual laying down flat for a while…”

“Sleep sitting up?”

“That’s right.” He turned to Billy as he pulled the curtain back. “And as for you Mr. Jarvis, I’ll be signing your release papers tomorrow morning. I’ll want to examine you again in a day or two before I release you to go back home.”

“Great!” Billy grinned.

“I’ll give you all the paperwork you need to get your physical therapy when you return.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The doctor turned back to Ian. “And you! Stay put!”

“How can I move? I’m stapled in place!”

The doctor laughed as he headed out the door. “You’re too funny!”

“Looks like just as I regain consciousness, I’m losing a roommate.”

“I’d volunteer to stay, buddy, but….uh…screw you!” They both chuckled.

“Billy, I’m so sorry.”

“For what?”

“This visit wasn’t exactly what you expected…”

“Are you kidding? I met a bunch of real live movie stars. I got laid and got in a fight…with guns! I’m in inbred heaven!”

“I guess you’ll have the house all to yourself.”

“Actually, the police still haven’t let anyone near the house yet. I think they told Kellen this afternoon maybe. We’ll probably all go over and clean up and put some plywood where the windows used to be…”

“Why do they still have it coordinated off, if they’ve closed the case?”

“I don’t know. I guess just in case they forgot to take a picture of a blade of grass or something.”

“I guess you’ll stay with Reese anyway.”

Billy blushed a little, “Yeah, we’ve got some unfinished business.”

“I’m glad…not that you didn’t get to finish…er…uh…”

He laughed at Ian. “I know…I feel kinda weird about the whole thing, between me and Reese. I think we could have something really special, but in a few days he’ll be here and I’ll be back in Virginia.”

“You could just stay, Billy…”

He nodded his head, “I could…but I have to go home and face my family. I refuse to let them think I ran away because I couldn’t face the truth. I have to go home and tell them that I’m gay and stay long enough for them to know that I am not ashamed of it.”

“I love you so, Billy.”

“Love you, too, buddy.”

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