“It’s fine,” Renie replied.
Judith stared at the mound that was her cousin.
“Look at me,” she demanded.
“I don’t feel good,” Renie said. “Leave me alone.”
“Coz.” Judith’s tone was stern, almost imperious.
“Get out from under there and talk to me. We don’t
keep secrets from each other.”
The mound didn’t move. Judith set down her fork
and folded her arms across her breast. “This cutlet is
quite good. I thought you were starving.”
“I’m not hungry,” Renie mumbled.
SUTURE SELF
221
Judith’s sense of apprehension mounted. “Coz, this
isn’t funny. Talk to me or I’ll . . .” She stopped, aware
that there wasn’t anything she could do to Renie except
get angry or sulk.
At last Renie’s head appeared from under the bedclothes. She propped herself up and regarded Judith
with a pale, drawn face. “Please don’t insist.”
Judith felt something sink in the bottom of her stomach, and it wasn’t the pork cutlet. “Out with it. I can’t
sit here and look at you look at me like that. You know
it’s impossible.”
Shuddering, Renie faced Judith head-on. “You know
Bill—how he has to build up to bad news in his careful, deliberate fashion. Finally, he told me Joe’s been
stabbed. He’s been taken to the hospital, and his
chances are fifty-fifty.”
Judith passed out cold.
FOURTEEN
HEATHER CHINN CAME running. It wasn’t Renie’s insistent buzzer or even her horrified shrieks, but the
sudden change in status on Judith’s monitor at the
nurses’ station.
“What happened?” Heather asked in alarm, seeing Judith’s unconscious figure and ashen face.
“She got some bad news,” Renie replied. “She
fainted.”
Heather began chafing Judith’s wrists and speaking to her in low, encouraging tones. Sister Jacqueline entered the room, followed by Dr. Garnett and
another nurse, who wheeled in some sort of equipment. Renie clung to the edge of her bed, eyes
wide, breathless.
“I didn’t want to . . .” she moaned, but was ignored.
Judith’s eyelids flickered open. “Ohhh . . .” She
tried to recognize the pretty face with the almondshaped eyes. It was someone she knew. Wearing
white, with a cap. A nurse. She must have fainted
during her labor. “The baby,” she gasped. “Is he
okay?”
Apparently, doctor, nurse, and nun weren’t unfamiliar with Judith’s type of reaction.
SUTURE SELF
223
“Everything is fine, Mrs. Flynn,” Dr. Garnett said in
a soft but authoritative voice. “You’ve had hip surgery,
remember?”
“Hip?” Judith was mystified. “What do you mean
‘hip surgery’?”
Dr. Garnett signaled for the nurse to back off with
the resuscitation equipment. “You had a hip replacement. What year is it, Mrs. Flynn?”
Judith looked down at the big dressing on her hip.
“Then I didn’t go into labor?”
“No,” Dr. Garnett replied. “Dr. Alfonso replaced
your right hip.”
At last, Judith grasped the present and tried to sit
bolt upright. But she fell back at once. “Joe!” she cried
in a thin, reedy tone. “What happened to Joe?”
Dr. Garnett, who was wearing surgical scrubs, took
in the puzzled looks of his colleagues.
“It’s her husband,” Renie said, some of the color returning to her ashen face. “He’s had a very bad accident. Mrs. Flynn just found out about it. That’s what
made her faint.”
All eyes were now on Renie. “If you don’t mind, I’d
rather not discuss it in front of everybody,” she said
firmly.
Sister Jacqueline was not put off, however. “Where
is Mr. Flynn? Was he in a car accident?”
Renie was looking mulish, but Judith intervened. “For
God’s sake, coz, tell me. I don’t care who knows what.”
Renie flung out her good hand in a gesture of surrender. “Okay, okay. Joe found out this morning that
another homeless man was murdered yesterday. He
couldn’t start investigating because of the weather, but
he managed to get out this afternoon after he chained
up your car.”
224
Mary Daheim
Though Judith’s gaze was riveted on Renie, she
sensed that the two nurses and Sister Jacqueline were
going into various states of shocked surprise. Renie
never took her eyes off Judith, and continued speaking in her most businesslike voice: “Bill didn’t
know the details, but Joe headed out for a park two
or three blocks from here, which was where the
homeless people moved when it started snowing so
hard. I guess many of them had abandoned that
place under the freeway along with some of their
other usual haunts. The city had opened up some of
the public buildings because of the bad weather.
Anyway, he was trying to question witnesses when
somebody stabbed him in the back. He was able to
stagger out of the park and get the attention of a
man who was shoveling his walk. The guy called
911.”
Tears stung Judith’s eyes. “I knew he was keeping
something from me. I should have guessed . . . Oh, my
God, will he be okay?”
“They notified Bill because both you and Joe have
our phone numbers for emergencies,” Renie said. “Bill
was told that his chances were even. But that’s not bad
odds, coz,” she added, her voice suddenly breaking as
she got out of bed and put her good arm around her
cousin.
Judith fought for control. Despite the tears, she managed to choke out a question. “Where is he?”
It was Dr. Garnett rather than Renie who answered.
“Mr. Flynn is here,” he said. “He’s in the intensive care
unit. I just finished operating on him.”
Peter Garnett explained that he had just been on his
way up to inform Judith about her husband’s stabbing.
SUTURE SELF
225
He hadn’t wanted to alarm her until the surgery was
completed. Because of the weather, all the other hospitals were full. Joe had been rushed to Good Cheer,
which was closest to the park where he was stabbed.
“What do you really think, Doctor?” Judith inquired, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.
“I think,” Dr. Garnett responded carefully, “that
we’ll have to wait and see. The blade went very deep,
and there was quite a loss of blood before he reached
the hospital. The good part is that the weapon missed
his vital organs.” He tried to give Judith a smile of
comfort, but his attempt seemed forced. “Nurse Chinn
will get you a sedative,” he said, nodding at Heather. “I
know this has been a terrible shock.”
Sister Jacqueline moved closer to the bed. “I’m very
sorry about all this. I didn’t realize until just now that
Mr. Flynn was your husband. I didn’t see him when he
was brought in. I do know that Father McConnaught
has administered the Sacrament of the Sick. I’m sure
that will help in your husband’s recovery.”
The Sacrament of the Sick, Judith thought, and felt
sick at heart. It used to be Extreme Unction or the Last
Rites, but had been renamed, and in some theological
feat that defied her understanding, revamped as an encouragement to heal rather than as a signal of impending death. On the other hand, she had asked to be
anointed before her own surgery. Maybe Father McConnaught’s efforts wouldn’t be wasted on Joe. She