Read Online Once More With Feeling by Emilie Richards - Free Book Online Page A

with Elisabeth's. "Look, if you can hear me, if you
know what I'm saying, squeeze. Just a little will be fine."
    Elisabeth tried. The wrong hand clenched
spasmodically.
    The woman sighed. "Thought we had something
this time." She started to unweave her fingers, one by one.
    Elisabeth squeezed again.
    "Whoa . . ." The fingers wove back into
place. "Try that again, sweetcakes."
    Elisabeth squeezed.
    "Once for yes, two for no."
    Elisabeth squeezed once.
    "Do you know where you are?"
    Elisabeth squeezed twice. She had never done
anything more exhausting.
    "You really do understand, don't you?" The
woman laughed. She sounded absolutely delighted. "Look, I'm going
to bend over the bed so you can see just who you're talking to. My
name's Perry, and I'm your day nurse. You're in the hospital, and
you're as safe as a bug in a rug."
    A face appeared where ceiling tile had been.
The face was pale brown and unlined, with arching eyebrows and a
spectacular smile. The whole picture was framed in shoulder-length
dreadlocks. "I'm going to call your doctor now. Dr. James Roney is
treating you. You'll like old Jimbo well enough. I ever get in an
accident, I'd want him making all the decisions. Course, I couldn't
afford Jimbo myself. Uh-uh. I'd probably get some intern who'd
never seen blood before."
    Elisabeth was reluctant to let go of Perry's
hand. It was a connection to a world she still didn't comprehend.
It was an anchor.
    Perry seemed to understand. "You ought to
see all the flowers people have sent you. Couldn't keep them in
here. Too many machines, so we've been taking them around to people
who didn't have anything to look at themselves. Kept all the cards,
though, so you could see those when you came to. They'll keep you
busy for a while."
    Elisabeth wanted to respond. She opened her
mouth, but the same restrictions existed.
    "No, you can't talk yet," Perry said.
"They've got you hooked up to stuff that looks like it could blast
you straight to the moon if that's where they wanted to send you.
You've got tubes going everywhere, and some of them are strapped
across your face. But all this junk's kept you alive, and now
you're awake. Before long they'll wean you off of it, machine by
machine. Meantime, you just lie there and let us fuss over you.
Understand?"
    Elisabeth squeezed once.
    "Good girl." Perry withdrew her hand. "And
now I've got to get somebody to call Jimbo. But I'll be back."
    Footsteps pattered across the floor, then
the sound disappeared and Elisabeth was left alone with a driving
beat and a face still wet with tears.
     
    Classic rock blasted from the radio the next
time she drifted out of the clouds. Someone insisted over and over
that they weren't getting any satisfaction. She had an instant
impression of a dingy Manhattan apartment and a man with long dark
hair dancing across a worn linoleum floor, his arms
outstretched.Owen.
    "My guess is that she'll be waking up on and
off for a couple more days, just for a brief period each time.
Then, she'll become more and more lucid. Eventually, she'll be back
in the land of the living."
    It was a man's voice, not Owen's. This man
was soft-spoken, almost lyrical in the way he stroked and lingered
over words. Elisabeth had to strain to hear him clearly because the
music on the radio was so loud.
    Another man spoke. His voice was
high-pitched and anxious. "You're sure about that?"
    "I'm never sure about the human brain."
    "But you think she's on her way back?"
    "She is, and with luck there won't be too
much damage."
    "Damage. Sheesh! Give it to me straight,
Roney. What kind of damage are we talking about here?"
    "That's not a question I can answer with any
certainty."
    "Look, give me some idea. What could we be
facing?"
    "Anything from minor headaches to paralysis.
But more likely we can expect something in between. Memory loss
that may or may not abate. Disorientation. Some problems with
speech or hearing, perhaps. I've seen patients with similar
injuries who've forgotten the