"What is her heart-rate?"
Tabitha was way ahead of me. "It is about sixty-nine beats per minute."
"How much blood loss has there been?" He seemed concerned. I realized part of the problem.
"I forgot to mention that she is very athletic and her resting heart-rate is probably much lower than that." I often get double-takes in the doctor's office when they take my pulse. Why are Americans so out of shape that when somebody isn't it's a surprise? The doctor/nurse whatever he is on the other end seemed to relax slightly.
"She's lost a considerable amount of blood. And there are glass fragments imbedded throughout her arm." Jim shouted over my shoulder.
The doctor, as it turns out, stayed online with us all the way to the door of the emergency room. When I told him we were pulling into the hospital he signed off and met us at the door. It must have been a slow day. He and an orderly helped us get 'Becca out of the car. By this time the towels were dripping wet with blood and 'Becca was getting very weak. We got 'Becca and the cooler with her appendage in it on a stretcher and they rolled her off. Jim tried to explain the accident but he had no idea why the nanotech chamber exploded. Most likely it imploded first. Tabitha had gotten Rebecca's purse and we rummaged through her wallet until we found her insurance card. Once the clerk had swiped 'Becca's card through the machine, there was nothing we could do but wait.
"Should we call her parents or anything?" Johnny asked.
"Well, she never knew who her dad was and her mom died when she was in high school. We're really all she has as far as family goes." And don't worry we're damn sure gonna take care of her, I thought.
"What did her mom die of?" Johnny asked.
"Bad crack," is all Jim said.
After Rebecca's mom had died she worked her butt off in school and at life to make sure she wasn't going to end up another tragic story. At least now she could say she had friends and that she was part of something—something big for the entire human race. Well, if it worked.
We waited while Jim paced the floor. I read everything I could on the Internet about lacerations and puncture wounds and amputations.
"God I hope they can save her finger." I cried.
Tabitha was the only one of us who stayed completely calm. It was from years of being in very dangerous situations, I'm sure.
At some point Johnny disappeared for a while and he returned with soft drinks for everyone and a box of chicken fingers. There's a little place about three or four blocks from the hospital that makes the best chicken fingers. We ate quietly. Johnny looked at his watch and told me that he had to go pick up his kids from baseball camp and his wife from work. Since he had been laid-off, they only had the one car. We were in my SUV, so someone had to take him back to the office. Jim was in no shape to drive and Tabitha didn't know the town well enough. So I had to leave. The thought of that killed me. Johnny didn't want to leave either, but we understood it had to be done.
So I took him back to the office and his car. "I'll get to work cleaning that lab up tomorrow boss," he said.
"No! Do not touch anything in there until I figure out what happened. Okay?"
He nodded and rolled up his driver's side window as he departed.
I woke up sometime around midnight with Tabitha nudging me. Sleeping sitting up in a hospital waiting room chair is no good for a person's neck—I'll testify to that in any court.
"What is it?" I stretched and yawned.
"Here comes the doctor." Tabitha pointed down the hall. Jim was already on his feet and Sara had joined us at some point.
"The surgery went well and she's resting now," I could hear him telling Jim as we approached. "We reattached the finger and there doesn't appear to be any complications. It will take some physical therapy but she should regain full use of her arm and hand."
"That's great, Doc!" I cried. No, I mean it. I cried.
"Anything else, Doc?" Jim asked.
"I've never seen that much glass in an injury before. Were it not for the new MRI we got a few months back we might not have found it all. There may still be microscopic fragments in there that will surface over time. I don't think she will need other surgeries, though. If we can keep the skin from coagulating and keep good blood flow to her hand, we might not even need cosmetic work. It's much too early to tell about that yet."
"Can we see her?" Tabitha asked.
"Go home and get some sleep folks. She'll be out until tomorrow."
Jim looked at me, "You go home. I'm staying. Just bring me some clothes tomorrow."
The doctor looked up at that. "No. She is in the intensive care ward tonight and cannot have overnight visitors. All of you go home."
"Doc, there ain't no way in hell that we're leaving her here alone tonight!" I looked him square in the eyes so he could tell I was dead serious.
He sighed. "I figured as much. I'll get the nurse to show you to the ICU waiting area." He left shaking his head but with a smile on his face.
"Okay Jim, Sara is going to take you home while I wait here for a while. You can drop Tabitha off at the office to get her car. Get some things and come back. Then I'll go home and take a nap. I'll be back here bright and early. How is that for a plan?"
Tabitha looked at me with fire in her eyes. "Well, first off, I'm staying for now. I'll leave with you later."
I left it at that. Jim went home. Tabitha and I found the ICU waiting room and got checked in as her "Parents." Once we finally got into 'Becca's room I nearly lost it. Tears welled up and I choked them back.
"I'm so sorry 'Becca." I touched her good hand and rubbed her cheek. Tabitha looked at me with puppy-dog eyes. I didn't know she had those. Death-ray eyes, sure. Fire-and-brimstone eyes, sure. But not puppy-dog eyes.
"She'll be fine, Anson."
"I should have known whatever happened was going to happen. Have you ever heard of a nanomachine construction accident?"
"Maybe it was something you couldn't have known about. What if there was a flaw in the chamber materials or seals?"
"Not likely. We paid a lot of money to make sure it didn't have any flaws."
"It isn't your fault. Accidents happen." This time she touched 'Becca's face. The two of them had bonded considerably in the short few months they had known each other.
"Maybe it's because I don't have kids of my own or I'm not married, but she and Jim are like kids to me. Like my kids. Sure, I would've had to have them when I was fourteen but that's possible. That's about how old people were when they had kids around here a hundred years ago. Hell, it still happens." I was blabbering. I'm not sure if it was because it was late or because I was so upset. Tabitha seemed to think it was cute. She said as much.
"What about you? Why don't you have kids?" I asked her.
"I do. I have a daughter, Anne Marie Ames. She will be starting college this fall on an Air Force scholarship." She smiled at me as she laid this on me. I was absolutely stunned.
"Are you married or were you?"
"No, I've never been married, Anson. I was planning on getting married but her father was killed in a car accident before I ever knew I was pregnant. He was such a good man, a Marine jump jet pilot. He taught me everything I know about flying Harriers." She paused for a brief second. "My parents helped me raise her when it got tough on me. She made it easy though. She's a great kid."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry so much." I felt even sadder than before.
"No, really, it's okay. I came to terms with that grief twenty years ago. Besides it always cheers me up to think about Annie."