Chapter 8
Lily still couldn’t believe Slade was the mystery street hobo. She blinked her eyes slowly one more time, hoping he would disappear, but he didn’t. He was still there slouched over his hands. He was still staring at her, but his expression had changed from shock to complete relief. He looked almost happy. He stood up and walked his slouchy walk over to her bedside. He opened his mouth like he was going to speak, but then closed it and stepped back to snatch up the wobbly hospital chair from the corner. He placed it gently down beside the bed, set himself in it and resumed nearly the same position he had been in when he was across the room. Neither of them spoke. They simply stared at each other not knowing what to say. Lily decided she would be the bigger person.
“Why are you here,” she barely croaked out. Her mouth was so dry. Her tongue felt like gritty sandpaper rubbing against the roof of her mouth. Well if he was here, he might as well be put to good use.
“Water,” she requested in a whisper.
He bounded out of his perch and soon secured a small paper cup of water from the sink in her room. Lily weakly lifted her hands to take it, but he wouldn’t let her take it. He gently put the cup to her lips and tilted it so the glorious, cool water flowed into her parched mouth. When she had had enough, he set the cup on the table and set himself back in the chair. Lily began again.
“Why are you here?”
“I was hoping, well, waiting for you to wake up,” Slade responded shyly. “I guess I should call the nurse.”
Slade stood to press the call button on the hospital bed.
“No, wait. It won’t hurt to wait. The nurse should be in any minute to check on me anyway.”
“How do you know that?”
“I could hear them come in and jabber away at me. They come every hour or so.”
“Wait, you could hear everything this whole time?”
Slade looked a little alarmed.
“Not the whole time. Just for the past few hours, why?”
“No reason,” he replied quickly.
Lily was curious about his reaction, but didn’t have the energy to pursue it.
“Look,” Slade continued. “I know you must think I’m a jerk, but hear me out. If I had known this would happen, I never would have even touched your wheel chair. Not in a million years. I know it seems like I’ve done a lot of dumb things at school, but that’s not really me. I just want you to know that I would never purposely do this to anyone. I am so sorry that this happened to you. I hope that someday you can forgive me.”
When she didn’t immediately say anything he grimly stood up and started towards the door.
“I know.”
“You know what?”
“I know you didn’t do it on purpose. It was an accident. I do still think you are a jerk though. You’re horrible at school,” Lily spoke honestly.
“I know.”
“You do? Why do you act like that then?”
“Well, I…”
A thin, blonde nurse came in the room. When she saw Lily was awake, she jerked and her eyes widened in surprise.
“Oh, you’re awake! I’ve got to tell your aunt,” she said slapping her hand to her forehead. “Oh, and the doctor too, of course. Is there anything you need before I go?”
Lily shook her head gently. She was very weak from lying in bed so long. Slade had moved to the door and was holding it open as the nurse hurried out of the room.
“Are you leaving then?”
“Yeah, once your family knows you’re awake they will probably be here soon. I’ll just be in the way.”
“Okay, well goodbye then,” Lily said indifferently.
“Would it be alright if I came back tomorrow?”
“If you want,” Lily replied coolly, not wanting to show any shred of interest in him.
“See you tomorrow then.”
***
The next day Slade wasn’t the first to visit her. After breakfast, Malaya marched in the room. In her arms she carried a gigantic basket haphazardly filled with food, games, and books. Malaya dumped the basket at the end of the bed, and flung herself at Lily’s open arms. In the few hours Lily had been awake, she had already begun to loathe being in the hospital. She hated being away from home. Lily was so glad to have her best friend with her. Whenever she was with Malaya, she felt like she was home.
“I’m so glad you’re okay! I thought I might never see you again,” Malaya said nearly crying. Malaya never cried. Ever. Malaya straightened herself and went to retrieve the basket.
“Deep down I knew you would be okay, but I was still awfully worried. School has been torture without you. Well, life in general really. I’m so glad you’re going to be okay. So how long are they gonna keep you trapped here?”
“Probably a few more days, but I’m hoping to convince them otherwise,” Lily said smiling.
“Well, I thought you could use some amusement and nourishment. Hospital food is rubbish. I’ve got cheese crackers, tangerines, and chocolate chip cookies. I know they’re your favorite. Of course, who doesn’t like chocolate chip cookies?” Malaya pulled the food out of the basket as she spoke and placed it on the swing table at the side of the hospital bed.
“So are your aunt and cousins coming today?”
“Not until later this afternoon. They were here yesterday. As soon as Aunt Jenny saw me she was crying. It made Ruthie sad to see her mom crying so then she started crying. Then I started crying. Yep, it was one big cry fest last night. It was good to see them though. You’ll never guess who else was here yesterday.”
“Who?”
“Actually he was there when I woke up. Hmm, now that I think of it, the last person to see me was also the first. Weird.”
“Slade?”
“Yeah, it seems like he feels really bad about the whole thing.”
“Well, yeah, anyone with a beating heart should, even if he is a jerk. Anyway, I’m not surprised he was the one here when you woke up. He sure spent enough time here. I think he was here more often than I was.”
“He’s coming back today.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I’m not really sure why though. He said he was sorry yesterday, I don’t expect anything more than that.”
“Maybe he wants to make it up to you somehow,” Malaya offered.
“I don’t really want to see him, but you know me, I’m too nice to say no.”
Malaya nodded. Lily was one of the nicest people she had ever met, and it was unlike her to be outright rude to anyone.
“Anyway, I don’t really want to think about it right now. Let’s play a game. Do you have any card games in that basket?”
Over the next couple of hours they played almost every game Malaya had brought, a couple of them multiple times. They were about to begin the last one when the door creaked open. Both girls turned to see Slade standing awkwardly in the doorway.
“Oh, I see you already have company,” he said. “I’ll come back tomorrow after school.”
“That’s all right, you can join our game, if you want,” Malaya offered.
Lily gave her a “what do you think you’re doing” look. She didn’t want him to join them. She wanted him to leave them alone forever.
“Sure, sounds fun. As long as it’s alright with you,” Slade said looking at Lily for approval. Lily gave a barely distinguishable sigh, and then said, “It’s fine with me. Pull up a seat.”
“Oh, um, I never actually learned your names,” he said a little embarrassed.
“I’m Malaya and this is Lily.”
“I’m Slade. Well, at school my name is Slade, but that’s not actually my real name.”
With raised eyebrows the girls stared at him, their jaws dropping slightly. Malaya beat Lily to the question that they both wanted to ask.
“So what is your name?”
“It’s Landon, Landon Turner,” he said then he pulled a chair over to the end of the bed.
“If you don’t mind me asking” Malaya said cautiously. “Why do you go by Slade?” Of course Malaya would dare to ask. It didn’t seem like she was afraid of anything. Lily would have asked had it been anyone else, but she still wasn’t sure if the pleasant person Slade had suddenly turned into was actually real.
“Back in freshman year after I first moved in, I met the group of guys I hang out with now. We just decided one day to change our names to names we thought were cooler at the time. I actually really like my real name, but Slade stuck and my friend’s won’t call me anything else. For the past three or four years only my mom and teachers from school have called me Landon.”
“Well, Landon, you are just in time as we were just about to start a new game. Hope you’re good at drawing, because I totally stink,” Malaya said with a playful smile. Lily forced a smile and finished setting up the game. The three of them spent the next hour sculpting, drawing and acting out the various things on the cards they drew. Even though Malaya had claimed to be the worst at drawing, she ended up winning anyway. Lily was a little surprised how much fun she had. Not once did Slade, well, Landon, cheat or do anything objectionable. There were even a few moments when they were laughing at Malaya’s drawing of a dinosaur that she nearly forgot who he really was. As they packed up the game, Lily wondered what would come of this seemingly new Landon. Everything was fine and dandy when they were isolated from everyone else, but what would happen when they were back in school? Would he just go back to being “Slade”, or would he stay the Landon they had just witnessed? School would be the real test.
***
After some awkward goodbyes, Malaya and Landon left when a nurse brought in a late lunch for Lily.
“Enjoy your lunch,” Malaya said smirking at the grey and brown mass of food on the tray. She walked out the door, turning briefly to wink at her.
“Sorry it’s so late. We’ve been a little busy today,” the small, white haired nurse said to her.
“It’s all right,” Lily said. “We just finished our game, so actually it was perfect timing.” The nurse smiled at her and went on with her duties.
“My name is Louise, and I’ll be your nurse for the afternoon. So if there is anything you need, honey, you just let me know.” With that invitation Lily began her short speech she had prepared in her mind.
“Um, well, I know the doctor said he wanted me to stay here for a few more days, but I’m feeling just fine, and I was wondering if there is any way I can go home sooner. My aunt Jenny is a nurse here, so she would know what to look for if there were any problems wouldn’t she?” Lily crossed her fingers under the bed sheets, hoping that the nurse would agree.
“I don’t know,” the woman said slowly. “I’ll certainly ask though. What department does you aunt work in dear?”
“She’s in the maternity ward. I think it’s on the second floor, down the left wing.”
“Alright, I’ll see what I can do,” she said with a smile and bustled out the door. Lily ate what little she could choke down from off the lunch tray, but resorted to eating cheese crackers and a tangerine. She was curled up with one of the books Malaya had brought her when her cousins ran in and pounced on the bed.
“I totally beat you,” Jackson blurted out.
“Yeah, well, you’re bigger and have longer legs than me, so it wasn’t a fair race to begin with,” Ruthie lashed back.
“Okay, okay, enough you two,” Jenny said as she walked in the room. She gave Lily a short hug before sitting on the chair Malaya had left by the bed.
“How are you feeling? You look a little tired,” she said sounding a little tired herself.
“I feel fine. I do feel tired, but I’ve had visitors all morning.”
“Well you were in a coma for a week, so it will take some time for you to get back to normal,” her aunt said not sounding at all surprised.
“The nurses say I’m getting my strength back faster than most patients they’ve seen. I’m glad because I am so ready to be out of here. One more day is one too many for me.”
“Well I’m glad you feel that way because I’ve arranged for you to come home tomorrow morning. I just can’t afford to keep you here any longer. I’ve been taking an extra shift to cover the cost, but I don’t think I can keep that kind of schedule up anymore.”
“That’s funny, I just asked the last nurse to see if she could get me out early,” Lily said smiling to herself. “In fact take me home tonight,” Lily said perking up considerably.
“I’ve already planned with the staff for you to go home tomorrow, so will it kill you to stay here a few more hours,” her aunt asked with a chuckle.
“No, I guess not,” Lily said glancing at her cousins who were rummaging through the bag full of games. Jackson picked out a card game they all happened to like, and they gathered around the hospital bed to collect the cards Jackson dealt them. Lily had felt ready for a nap before they had even arrived, so by the end of the game she was yawning uncontrollably.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning then,” she said as her family left after their visit. Her cousins wanted to stay longer, but Ruthie had a project for a science fair that she had procrastinated long enough, and Jackson had homework to finish. So Lily was alone with her thoughts once more. She curled up under the stiff, cool hospital sheets, and reached for the book she had been reading, but it didn’t keep her attention. She had so much swimming through her mind that it was hard to focus on anything. Lily was so relieved that she would be going home so soon. One more night and she would be out of the hospital. She looked forward to snuggling in her soft, warm, sheets with her fuzzy green blanket. Her aunt’s scalloped potatoes where calling her name. She really felt that she would recover better at home anyway. She was so much more comfortable at home surrounded by her own things. Besides, she was over the worst of it. She was awake now, so in her mind things could only get better from here on out.