People Change

“So, did the rabbit live?” the nurse asked Sydney as she finished stitching the four-inch-long gash on Sydney’s forehead closed. Sydney gave her an odd look, and the nurse smiled. “You said you swerved to avoid a rabbit. Did he live?”

“He better have,” Sydney answered, trying for a smile but not accomplishing it. “This isn’t worth it if he didn’t. And he better have been fucking Thumper, too, off to visit his good friend Bambi.”

“PETA should give you a certificate of appreciation,” the nurse agreed, tying off Sydney’s stitches and cutting the thread. She ran some antiseptic stuff across the sealed-up gash, which would no doubt leave a puckered scar across Sydney’s forehead for the rest of her life. “They’re getting the X-ray machine ready for you now. It probably will be about ten minutes before we cart you down to get that ankle X-rayed. Any special requests?”

“Can you send my brother in?” Sydney asked hopefully.

“Of course,” the nurse answered with a warm smile. She turned around and left the room, closing the door quietly behind her.

Sydney stared down at the brace they’d put on her ankle until they could identify just how bad she’d broken, fractured, or shattered it. She wiggled her toes sticking out of the brace, the nails painted violet just for Brian. She’d have to get nail polish remover when she finally arrived back at home and clean that nail polish off, along with throwing out anything purple that she owned. Well, maybe she wouldn’t go that far, but she felt like it.

What a dick move. Brian obviously hadn’t changed much since high school: he was still a dick. It had been silly of her to trust him. She’d thought he’d changed. That was laughable, now that Sydney thought about it.

Sydney looked up from her brace at the sound of the door opening. She smiled at the sight of Jimmy easing himself into the room, looking relieved to find her sitting upright on her own. He rushed forward and pulled her into his arms, jostling Sydney’s ankle as he did so, but she didn’t say anything. His shirt was still a little damp from the rain he’d had to walk through to step into the hospital. It still smelled like him, though, and Sydney found comfort in that.

“You know, it looks like someone took your brain out and then sewed you right back up,” Jimmy commented, his hands cupping Sydney’s face as they pulled away from the hug. Sydney smiled, grateful that Jimmy could make her smile so easily. “Anything else, other than the ankle?”

“Nope, just a lot of cuts and bruises,” Sydney answered. She knew it could’ve been so much worse, and she was grateful that it wasn’t. “They think my ankle went all wonky when the car began to roll and the metal slammed into my ankle.”

“So, have they done the X-rays yet?” Jimmy asked.

“No,” Sydney said, shaking her head. “That’s what I’m waiting for now.”

The nurse stepped back into the room at that moment, pushing a wheelchair in front of her. She smiled and nodded at Jimmy, wheeling the wheelchair up next to Sydney’s hospital bed.

“They’re ready to take your X-ray,” the nurse told Sydney, locking the wheelchair in place so it wouldn’t move all over the place. Sydney nodded and carefully swung her legs over the edge of her bed, wincing as the fractured or broken bones in her ankle shifted a little. Jimmy stood up and steadied her as she stood up on her good foot, turned, and sat down carefully on the wheelchair.

“Can Jimmy come, too?” Sydney asked the nurse.

“Of course,” the nurse answered, smiling between the two of them. “Follow me, please.”

“Will it hurt?” Sydney said as Jimmy pushed her wheelchair down the corridor after the nurse. She felt childish asking such a question, but she really wanted to know.

“Only when we move your ankle,” the nurse answered kindly with a knowing smile. “The machine just makes an odd humming noise, but it doesn’t hurt. It’ll be done in a flash and you can go back to your room.”

“Okay,” Sydney said as the nurse stepped into a dim room. She asked Jimmy to lift her up onto the table. Jimmy obliged, lifting Sydney easily out of her wheelchair and putting her down on the table. It had frosty paper sitting on it that crinkled when Sydney moved. “Jimmy, tell me about the stallion duck again.”

“Oh, Syds, I’ve told you that story millions of times,” Jimmy replied with a smile. He encased one of Sydney’s hands in both of his. She grimaced as the nurse slipped the brace off of her ankle and positioned it underneath the X-ray. The nurse threw a blue pad over the rest of Sydney’s legs to protect them from the radiation.

“But it never gets old!” Sydney protested, giving Jimmy puppy dog eyes.

“Fine...We were shooting material for our DVD All Excess and decided to head over to Central Park, our main place to cause trouble,” Jimmy began. Humming from the machine filled the air, and the X-ray was quickly taken. It was all over before Jimmy even finished his story.

“And good golly, that duck wasn’t scared at all,” Jimmy continued as the nurse slipped the brace back around Sydney’s ankle. Jimmy helped Sydney back into her wheelchair, still telling her the story she adored so much. They were nearly back to her room when Jimmy finally finished. “Feel better now?”

“Much,” Sydney answered with a smile. She settled herself down on the hospital bed and looked around at the nurse as she gently grabbed Sydney’s arm and slid a needle into it.

“I’m giving you an IV for pain-killers,” the nurse explained at the alarmed look Sydney gave her. “You’ll be real thankful tonight when you try to sleep. The X-ray should take about twenty to thirty minutes to come through. Would you like me to invite anyone else wanting to see you in?”

“Just invite Lanie in, but not Brian,” Sydney answered. The nurse nodded as she finished up Sydney’s IV and gave her the pain-killers. Sydney ignored the weird look Jimmy gave her, not speaking until the nurse left and Lanie came back into the room. The nurse checked Sydney’s vitals one last time before leaving them to privacy.

“You’re probably both wondering why I didn’t invite Brian in as well,” Sydney began. “I didn’t invite him in because he’s a total dick and I don’t want to see him now.” Jimmy and Lanie glanced at each other, looking very puzzled. Then, they looked back at Sydney, questions in their eyes. She took a deep breath and told them everything, starting with the phone call from Brian, and finishing with the wreck.

“I should go kick his face in right now!” Lanie exclaimed fifteen minutes later, after Sydney had finished her anecdote. “C’mon, Jimmy, let’s go kick his face in! And then I can crack his family jewels and laugh maniacally as he squirms around on the ground in pain!”

Jimmy remained silent, however. Storm clouds formed in his eyes, though, as he glared down at his hands. Sydney could tell he was very angry with Brian. She felt no sympathy for him. He deserved everything Jimmy gave him, and more.

Lanie, at least, had calmed down by the time the doctor came back in with the X-ray.

“It looks to me that your ankle is fractured,” he explained, raising the X-ray up to the light and peering at it. He, at least, didn’t notice Jimmy’s storm cloud eyes. “We’ll probably put it in a cast after making sure the bones will heal together correctly. You’ll have to stay overnight to make sure there aren’t any complications. We can probably release you around ten o’clock tomorrow morning.”

“That’s good news, right, Jimmy?” Sydney said, patting her brother’s hand consolingly.

“Yeah,” Jimmy answered. He spoke in a calm voice, but Sydney could hear the quiver of rage behind his words. “That’s real good news, Syd. Real good news.”