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Chapter 10


Joyce was pacing back and forth in the hospital corridor, every now and again she’d wipe her eyes, or her red nose and sniff, praying that her baby girl who was undergoing surgery be all right.

The double doors burst open, and Bernice and Willow Rosenberg came in

Joyce immediately went up to them

“I’m so sorry to bother – “

“Shush now, oh god, come here – how is she”

“I couldn’t think of anyone else to contact, I tried to contact Hank, but I remembered he was at a conference, and Maureen goes to stay at her mother’s while he’s away, I don’t have the number………so when they asked me if there was anyone they could call for me – it’s so early I know, but thankyou for…” Joyce’s voice cracked

“Shush now, don’t you worry – you did right, come on, let’s sit” Bernice said

Willow had that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look about her while she watched her mother gently lead Joyce to sit on the wooden seat.

“They had to cut her out of the seat, something about her foot being trapped, but it’s her head I’m worried about………she had a blow to the back of the head – “ Fresh tears fell for Joyce and Bernice got more Kleenex out of her purse.

“Here you go…try not to worry too much, she’s young and fit, and in the best place, hmm – come on honey” Bernice pulled Joyce into a side hug and Joyce was soothed.

“Will, go get us some coffee from the vending machine” Willow took the coins offered by her mother and went down the corridor.

Doing a balancing act, Willow bought back three cups of coffee and placed them on the table to her Joyce say,

“But it’s her life – if this foot injury is so bad, what if she can never skate again?”

Bernice passed Joyce a coffee and said,

“You cross that bridge when you come to it – for now lets just concentrate on her getting better, okay”

Joyce nodded and popped the lid off her coffee and sipped.

The three women sat there in silence, holding hands, offering up silent prayers for Buffy.

The door at the end of the corridor opened, and a distinguished looking man came down the corridor towards them, wearing a white coat. Joyce stood and looking terribly anguished she said,

“How is she doctor?”

Dr. Quentin Travers smiled and said,

“Well, we operated to remove a blood-clot from her brain, that was caused by the trauma to the head, there’s a lot of swelling and there’s tubes to drain fluid, and she’s on oxygen and a saline drip – the next 48-72 hours are crucial”

“What about her foot – if she can’t skate again, I don’t…”

“Ahh, now – we’re calling in a specialist, he’s brilliant in his field, he’s a special surgeon who deals with sports injuries and such, - he’s done all the top names, we’ve put a cage at the bottom of her bed to keep the covers off her foot, and he’ll be here by lunchtime. Dr Travers went onto name several famous American and Canadian sports stars that this brilliant surgeon had operated on…

“We’re flying him especially from Florida”

“Will it be okay until then – to leave it I mean?”

Dr Travers smiled

“Oh yes, don’t worry, Buffy won’t be any the wiser, she’s on strong medication at the moment”

“When can I see her?”

“Well she’s in the recovery room at the moment, but I’ll tell the nurse you can see her for a few minutes – remember, it looks worse than it is with the tubes and machines and that, its all there just to help her, okay?”

Joyce nodded and Dr Travers said he’d go tell the nurse that she could see Buffy for a few minutes.

She went over to Bernice and Willow to reiterate what the Dr had just told her.

***************


Joyce tentatively went up to Buffy’s bedside. The black corrugated rubber inside the glass tube rose and fell with a huff helping Buffy to breathe, and there was a little beep-beep-beep of the heart monitor. As the Dr said, there were tubes all over the place, her head was heavily bandaged, and there was a drip in both arms, one giving blood, the other a saline drip. Joyce teared up, her daughter looked so tiny and the machines looked so scary, she swallowed a couple of times trying to summon up the courage to touch and talk to her daughter – she was afraid to touch her in case she broke she looked so fragile…

Joyce gently touched her daughter’s hand and whispered,

“Buffy, honey – I’m here………please get better………” Joyce stemmed tears and continued stroking the back of Buffy’s hand

“I’ll try and contact your father – you might know, he’s away at a conference………” Joyce wondered why she was babbling on about Hank for – but she didn’t know what to say.

A nurse came in and checked the machines and the blood bag, wrote something on the clipboard that hung on the end of the bed.

“You’re going to be all right………I won’t let anything happen to my baby girl………you rest now and I’ll be here when you wake up”

Joyce left the room and Willow peeked in through the window, staring at all the machinery around her best friend’s bed.

As Joyce came out of Buffy’s room, she recognised Buffy’s coach and choreographer at the nurse’s station. She had her arm in a sling, and a bandage around her forehead, she was walking with a limp.

“Miss Rubinskya?”

“Mrs Summers – I’ve just come from the ER, I wanted to know how Buffy is?”

Joyce told her what the doctor had told her, and enquired after others she knew, starting with Illyria herself

“Oh me? - Well I was unconscious, slight concussion, a broken wrist and I hurt my ankle slightly somehow – I don’t know how, I just know it feels sore. Coach O’Connor got away with a few cuts and bruises, he burnt his hand clutching the plane door on the way out, and they’d only just put out the flames – he’ll live”

Joyce gave a small smile and nodded

“Was Buffy’s friend, that little gymnast Fred, was she on that plane?”

“No, she was flying to Boston, she wasn’t on this flight, that reminds me, I’ll have to contact her”

The elevator doors in the corridor opened and an intern and a candy-striper wheeled out drip stand and a bed, containing a girl who’d just come from surgery

Both Illyria and Joyce recognised the dark haired girl as Faith Hamilton.

“Oh, is that Faith…how is she?” Illyria called to the intern

“She should be okay, couple of broken ribs” they disappeared through double doors down to one of the private rooms like Buffy’s.

“I must go…I need to call a taxi” Illyria said, suddenly feeling more tired than she could ever remember.

“Here, I’ll help you, I could do with a breath of air” Joyce said, and she told Willow and Bernice she was just popping out for a few minutes.

In the reception part of the hospital, it was chaos, police, journalists and reporters, news crews, ambulance workers all milling around, along with the walking wounded and relatives of the injured were arriving all the time demanding news on their loved ones.

“Doesn’t look like I’m going to get a taxi any time soon…”

“Are you – yes you are – you’re that ice-skating coach aren’t you?” A reporter came up to Illyria just before she had the time to put on her dark glasses

“Leave her alone, can’t you see she’s in no fit state to be answering questions!” Joyce said quite angrily at the reporter’s tactlessness.

Illyria put her hand on Joyce’s arm and said to the man,

“Young man, take me home and I’ll tell you what happened, what I can remember anyway”

The reporter’s eyes lit p and he said

“Great! Come on, my car’s this way!”

“Take care Mrs Summers, I will pray for Buffy, keep in touch via the academy” Joyce nodded and turned and went back down to the relative calm and quiet of the corridor.

“It’s chaos out there, reporters, police, news crews…Illyria decided to give her story just to get a lift home off one young journalist”

“Well she would, publicity seeking type that one” Bernice said.

They stayed until lunchtime, when being up so early had started to get the better of them both.

“Why don’t you go home, have a shower and something to eat, then come back later, hmm?” Bernice suggested to Joyce

“Nun uh, I want to be here in case my baby wakes up, I promised her I would be”

“Okay then, do you want me to drop by and pick up some clean clothes for you?”

Joyce said she’d be grateful and gave Mrs Rosenberg her front door key.





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