"I figure you can handle this part yourself," she said. As Brent rolled onto his back again and began brushing his teeth, enjoying the crisp peppermint taste that relieved the staleness of his mouth, Jewel attacked Kirk's bed and had it changed within a moment.
"When I get all the beds done that I got to do today, I'll be back to see if Kirk wants his usual Coke. Be good," she said and left the room, her arms full of dirty sheets.
Brent looked up at the ceiling. There was nothing there to see, so he turned his eyes to the right and watched the slow rise of the bubbles into the bottle that fed his arm.
He closed his eyes and tried to wait for Nurse Rush to arrive with the pain-killer. It wasn't easy.
Chapter Two
Kirk made his way painfully down the hall from his room. Every step sent a shooting pain through his left hip and thigh.
Ahead of him he saw the open space of the sunroom. It was always the same. It hadn't changed for the months that Kirk had been there. For some reason, Kirk expected that some morning he would walk into the sun-room and the furniture would be different, or the drapes, or maybe there would be another magazine or two at least. But it never happened. It was always the same.
He entered the room and struggled over to an easy chair. He sank into it. Across the room two kids from Pediatrics were playing a game of checkers.
"Beat it," Kirk said to them. "Go on back to where you belong."
"Make us," one of them said.
"I'll make you all right," Kirk said. He started to rise from the chair.
The two kids grabbed their checkerboard and hurried from the room.
Kirk looked out the windows that ran the length of the room. It was sunny out. He picked up a four-month-old copy of Sports Illustrated. He flipped through the pages quickly. He'd read it three or four times already.