I was about to suggest to Frank that maybe the nurse knew already, but from the indulgent way she smiled and came to his elbow I imagined she had lots of experience with people in bloody white coats showing her how to do things she already knew how to do.
“See her pupil contract when I do this? That’s a good sign,” Frank said. “With brain damage, I get no response when I flash the light. If the pupils are different sizes, then we’ve got real trouble. The injuries we have here are minor. Superficial scalp lacerations, swelling and bruising, maybe a concussion. We’ll keep tabs on her for the next twenty-four hours to make sure she doesn’t show evidence of an intracranial bleed.” Frank hopped down without turning anything over or bringing the bed curtain down with him. So that was a relief.
“Is that so?” the nurse asked. She winked at me.
“That’s what the paramedic said,” Frank said.
“Pretty much word for word,” I added. “Frank has an incredible memory.”
“Maybe Frank should go to medical school. The triage nurse says he’s told her plenty about cholera outbreaks in London in the nineteenth century.”
“John Snow proved it a waterborne illness by tracing the 1854 outbreak to London’s Broad Street well,” Frank said. “He removed the pump handle and within days the outbreak ended. Would it be all right if I checked you for brain damage, too?”
“Sure,” she said, and settled on the chair Frank had carried over.
Holding that penlight somehow freed him to study her face closely. “You look like Tinkerbell,” he said, then snapped his light on. It was true. She had blue eyes, a pert nose, and pink lipstick, plus lots of blond hair done up in an elaborately casual topknot.
“Thank you,” she said. “Does that mean I’ll live forever and never get old?” I wasn’t surprised by her question. She had a smooth, unworried brow that looked suspiciously younger than her hands.
“I’m just saying you don’t have brain damage,” Frank said.
“Well, if I’m not going to be young forever, then I’d better get back to work.” She checked the bag of fluid flowing into Mimi’s arm and made notations on her chart.
“My father was a doctor,” Mimi said. “Frank would love medical school. But first he has to make it through elementary school.”
“Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade,” Frank said. “No?l Coward—”
“Frank,” I said. “The nurse is busy.”
“Oh, that’s okay,” Tinkerbell said. “I’m done. So, Frank, just to be extra sure your grandmother’s brain is in good shape, we’re sending her upstairs for an MRI. That stands for magnetic resonance imaging. It’s a way of taking pictures inside her brain without actually having to poke a hole in her skull to see how everything looks on the inside.”
“My grandmother?” Frank said. “My grandmother died in 1976. You could look inside her skull through one of the eye sockets without having to poke a hole, but I doubt there’d be much to see in there anymore.” He plunged both his hands into his hair, as if he needed to make sure his own brain was still under there someplace.
“It’s okay, Frank,” Mimi said. Then, to Tinkerbell, “He’s my son.”
“Oh.” Tinkerbell’s eyes flicked from Mimi to Frank to me. “I thought—oh, forget what I thought. Doesn’t matter.”
By then Frank had uprooted a tuft of hair. I took it from him and slid it into my pocket, but not before everyone else had seen it, too. “Stop that,” I murmured, aiming for the tone my mother used on me when I cracked my knuckles in church. I didn’t want to make a big deal of it.
“I’d better see where we are on that MRI list,” Tinkerbell said, hanging Mimi’s chart on the end of her cot and smiling overbrightly before slipping away.
“You two should get going,” Mimi said.
“I don’t want to leave you here alone,” I said.
“This is not a negotiation. You and Frank need to clear out. Now.”
“You aren’t coming with us?” Frank asked.
“The doctors need to keep an eye on me here tonight. Alice needs you at home. She’s afraid of being by herself.”
“It’s true,” I volunteered. “I’m terrified of the dark.”
“There’s nothing in the dark to be afraid of,” Frank said. “It’s out there, and we’re in here. You’re safe as long as I’m with you.”
“I’m lucky to have you then, huh, Frank?” I said.
“Yes,” he said.
“So am I,” Mimi said. “I love you, Frank.”
Frank didn’t answer. I could see his shoulders rising. “We need to go, Frank,” I said. “You heard your mother.”
Frank threw his shoulders back when I said that, saluted smartly and said, “Aye-aye, Alice! Tell me, do you have the stupid parking ticket, or are we doomed?”
“DO YOU NEED me to fly out?” Mr. Vargas asked when I called the next night, after Mimi had been released from the hospital. It was pushing midnight in New York. I’d hoped he’d still be awake but I could tell by the groggy sound of his voice that he must have been asleep for a while already.
“No. Don’t worry. I have everything under control now. Sorry to call so late, but I wanted to give you a heads-up in case word leaked out.”