All For Anna (6 page)

“Get me out of here!”

Kai turned the water
off. I sat shivering in the bath, looking at them both with what I hoped were
eyes of pure fury. Realistically, I’m sure I just looked pathetic. Stacie moved
quickly, handing Kai a towel. Then she left to get me some dry clothes. He just
stared at me, lips pursed, as if calculating his next move.

“Just give it to
me…please,” I said, pointing to the towel while avoiding his gaze.

He took my wet arm and
pulled me up in one smooth motion, steadying me cautiously. He wrapped the
towel around my shoulders.

“I did tell you this
way was
less
pleasant,” he said.

Stacie walked in with
shorts and a t-shirt for me before I could respond. Kai excused himself
momentarily while I changed. I was still shaking when I emerged in the hallway.
Kai placed one hand on my back and the other on my arm, leading me to the
couch. I felt an unfamiliar warmth surge through me. Stacie busily worked to
re-arrange the millions of throw pillows she had accumulated, making room for
me to lie down. Kai propped my feet up and gave Stacie instructions for my
fluid intake.

I was humiliated.

“I’ll make sure she
stays down. Thank you, Kai. I’m so glad you were the one who responded,” Stacie
said.

He knelt down in front
of me then, just inches from my face. I startled back a bit, surprised by his
lack of personal bubble…and mine.

“Now Victoria, I’m
gonna take you up on our deal, but first I need to make sure you’re gonna be a
good patient. Listen to your sister, drink lots of fluids and I will be back to
check on you when my shift is over tonight.”

He winked at me once
and then stood.

What is happening here?

Who is this guy?

Everything I thought to
say was stuck somewhere between my head and my mouth. I didn’t quite know how
to feel. Flattered? Upset? Angry? Grateful? Who knew heat exhaustion came with
so many mixed and conflicting emotions.

I watched him turn
toward Stacie.

“Her blood pressure is
fine, but if you notice anything unusual at all call me immediately, okay? I’ll
come back and check her again for signs of a concussion,” Kai said.

“Okay, thanks again,
Kai. I’ll tell Jack you stopped by. He’s really missing home, but he loves the
sights of Australia. I’m a little jealous…”

Jack? Kai knows our
Jack?

The door clicked shut
and Stacie was back in the room with me in two seconds flat. Her look was one
of a mom who had already counted to three and was now ready to dish out the
punishment. I winced a tad and her face broke. Her soft demeanor returned, leaving
just a hint of disappointment.

She will make a great
mother
.

“Victoria Grace Sales,
you already know what I’m about to say. No more running in this heat, okay?
Find a treadmill if you must, but please don’t be dropping on the sidewalk
anymore…the baby and I just can’t take it,” she said. She sat halfway on the
couch, close to my mid-section.

“I’m sorry Stace; I
didn’t mean to upset you.”

“I know. I’m just glad
someone saw you and called.”

“Yeah…who is that guy
anyway? Why was he at Mom and Dad’s the other night…and how does he know you
and Jack?” I asked, still dazed by the recent events.

“Oh, Kai? I forgot you
don’t know him. You must have moved before we could introduce you. He’s pretty
good friends with Jack now, actually. They met a little over a year ago,” she
said, “There was an
incident
at Jack’s company softball game.”

“Incident?” 

“Let’s just say
computer nerds aren’t always the best at sports coordination.”

She laughed and rolled
her eyes. I laughed too. It felt good—strange—but good. Stacie left the room to
get me some water.

“Ya know, Tori...Kai is
a great guy. Like a
really
great guy,” she said, from the kitchen.

Oh no.

“I don’t know why I
never thought about that before. Maybe because he’s Jack’s age…but surely that’s
not a big deal now. Tori, you should-”

“No Stacie. Don’t even
start. You’re not playing match-maker with me. I didn’t move all the way back
here for you to
play
house
with my life.”

But the twinkle in her
eye remained, “Fine, whatever you want, Sis.” 

By the time Kai came
back, I felt completely restored
.
When I heard the knock at the door I
contemplated pretending to be asleep, but I knew Stacie would give me away,
which would only mean more humiliation for me in the end. He was in shorts and
a t-shirt now, and looked freshly showered. I wondered how long this last shift
was for him today, but then remembered...I wasn’t supposed to care.

“Well, someone's
looking better now,” he said, strolling over to me on the couch.

“Yes, thank you. I feel
just fine now,” I said, hoping to make the exchange as quick and painless as
possible.

“Kai, can I get you
something? Ice water? Or maybe a Coke? Please feel free to sit down,” Stacie
said, glancing at me and smiling.

Urgh...this is going to
end poorly for me.

“Thanks Stacie, I can’t
stay long, but I would love a Coke,” Kai said.

I sat watching him
silently. I refused to be the one to speak first. This wasn’t a social occasion
after all. It was just a simple medical checkup by an EMT who knew everyone in
my family but me. As I assessed him, he seemed unfazed by the strangeness of
the day.

Maybe this was all
normal for him?

Picking up his friend’s
sisters and throwing them in a cold shower before a proper introduction had
been made.

I always knew EMTs had
to be a tad quirky in order to deal with the crazies they saw during their
day—before those same crazies were brought to me in the ER, of course.

Wait…was I one of those
crazies now, too?

Stacie handed him a
large glass of Coke with an abundance of ice and walked into the next room, too
far to be in a conversation, but close enough to still be within earshot.

“So, you’re a runner,
huh?” Kai asked, his bright white teeth standing out from his naturally tanned
brown skin.

I tried to place what
nationality he was. As I thought about the South Pacific, I flipped through
maps in my head like an old Rolodex: Guam, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Samoa?
Dallas had a large mixture of Islanders who had settled within the city. Vast
diversity was everywhere here.

“Uh, something like
that,” I said, swallowing hard.

“Well, I could
recommend a good gym down the road from here. Might be a better alternative for
the hot days that are left in September,” he offered.

“Thanks, I’ll probably
just wait it out. I prefer to run outdoors.”

“Alright, I just don’t
want to get another call about you lying in a field somewhere passed out—not
that I mind picking up
pretty girls—but still, there are other ways to
get a workout in.”

He laughed lightly and
took a gulp from his drink.

‘Pretty girls?’ He
thinks I’m-

No, don’t even go
there.

“Yeah, you won’t. I
promise.”

I snapped my mouth shut
after my last word, remembering.
Promise
. I was delirious when I had
begged him to take me home. There was no way he would actually take a stranger
up on any promise while she was strapped down to a gurney, right?

He smiled wide. It was
that same smile I remembered seeing in the ambulance.

Maybe I’m wrong.

“I believe that’s the
second promise you have made to me today,” Kai said. “How am I to know if
you’re even trustworthy enough to keep just one of those promises unless I take
you up on your offer?”

“I don’t recall making
an offer..." I said, shaking my head slightly in denial.

“Oh, I do...and since
I’m the one who
wasn’t
suffering from heat exhaustion, I think it’s safe
to say I’m a little more reliable in the memory department…at least for today.”

My mouth gaped open a
tad at his bluntness.

Guess he’s not exactly
a beat-around-the-bush type.
“Well then, please enlighten me with my
exact
words?”

“Let’s see,
I
wanted to take you to the hospital and
you
wanted to come here. Your
exact words were, ‘please, I’ll do anything’, and I do believe I kept my end of
the bargain.”

His eyes glimmered at
me in a way that sucked the breath right out of my lungs. I wanted him to be
ugly and repulsive in that moment, but he was definitely not either one of
those things. He just might have been the most attractive man I had ever
conversed with, and that was saying something. I had talked to a lot of good
looking men in the medical world.

Kai trumped them all—easily.

“What did you have in
mind?” I forced the question out, dread filling me.

“Let me take you out.
I’m a pretty resourceful guy, and I can promise you we’ll have fun. How does this
Saturday sound? I can confirm a time with you later in the week.” 

He beamed as he put his
empty glass down on the side table and walked toward me. I swallowed hard as he
got closer. My programmed response had always been to say
no
, but…

“Okay,” I said.

He leaned down over me
then, taking my face in his hands. I exhaled sharply as he stared deeply into
my eyes. If I could have been sucked into a giant sink hole in the earth, I
would have been far more comfortable than I was in that moment. I was quite
sure I was no longer breathing at all. My body surged with electric jolts and I
was actively telling myself to
calm
down
. He let go in a matter
of seconds, but held my gaze.

“No concussion, just
like I thought. I’ll see you on Saturday, Victoria…until then stay out of the
sun, okay?”

He winked again and
walked out of the living room, saying goodbye to Stacie.

And just like that he
was gone.

I could hear Stacie
laughing to herself after she shut the door. I waited for her teasing to start,
but it never came. That, was a far worse fate I was sure.

**********

I arrived early at work
Wednesday, grateful to start a shift without a probing therapy session first.
My mind was clear, or mostly anyway, and ready to take on whatever challenges would
to come my way—or so I thought. After checking in with Meg Holt, the charge
nurse, I was immediately handed a chart by an elderly nurse.

She looked like she had
started her career in an era long past. The name on the chart read “Henry
Albert, Jr.” and he was waiting to be seen in pod three. I thought I saw a smirk
on the nurse’s face as she passed me.

I pulled back the
curtain to the third pod and saw Mr. Albert. I understood immediately why I was
given his chart. Mr. Albert was most certainly homeless, and his aroma could
not be missed. I breathed through my mouth as I entered.

“Ooh, I get a young
pretty nurse today, huh? You must be new!” Mr. Albert said.

“Hello, Mr. Albert?” I
asked.

“That’d be me little
missy, but you can call me Henry.”

His smile was almost
toothless, but there was something sweet and genuine about it.

“It looks like the
doctor has already seen you Henry. You are here for...immersion foot, is that
right?” I asked, knowing this was going to be difficult to stomach, no matter
how trained or immune I had become.

“That’s right, Ma’am.
Does your chart also tell ya I have had this three other times this year?” he
asked.

“Yes it does, may I
take a look, Henry?”

There was not a lot of
skill involved in diagnosing or treating trench foot—or immersion foot as it
was sometimes called, but rather in its prevention. The difficulty was found in
keeping it clean, dry, and elevated so it could heal. Dry socks and shoes were
a must.

Henry’s foot wasn’t the
worst I had seen, but it wasn’t far off. I gathered the foot tub and made
preparations for him to soak it in the hot water. As I worked to roll up his
dirty pant leg, it hit me that cleaning this small area was a futile effort
when the rest of him was filthy.

“Henry, can I ask when
the last time you were able to shower or bathe was?”

His eyes dropped along
with his head. “I’m sorry, I must be pretty stinky to you little lady, my
apologies. The lake is quite a hike from where I sleep and my foot’s been in
too much pain to make it there lately,” he said.

“Well, that’s quite
alright. I’m just thinking we could get you a shower today instead of just a
foot soak. I think you’ll feel better and then we can do the hot soak for your
foot afterward. How does that sound?” I asked.