#38: I need some food please
Shelby had been a patient in that ward for years and he had NEVER pressed the call button. It got Deborah’s attention. She come running. She had expected him to be unconscious for a long time. She had really expected him to die from alcohol poisoning. No one could drink that much, that quick, and live.
Apparently he could.
“I’m sorry to bother you Nurse Scurf” Shelby said politely. “but I’m about to go into a coma. I needs some food please. Protein would be a plus, something with MEAT perhaps?”
Deborah was flabbergasted. She stood and stared at Shelby. If her cat had began discussing same sex marriage she would not have been any more surprised.
Shelby calmly returned here gaze.
“Please” he repeated.
That jerked her out of her reverie. “Certainly dear.” she said “I’ll be right back.”
She brought him a big bowl of New England Clam Chowder. That suited Shelby just fine.
“Are you feeling Ok? Dear?” Deborah was curious. Years and years and he’d never said a word. He had drooled but not talked. Now he appeared perfectly normal. That must have been some drug, or possibly it was the Alcohol.
“I’m a lot better” Shelby told her. “The voice in my head is back. I missed it.”
“Yeah. I know how that goes.” Deborah said. “Well you hang in there. I’m so glad to see that you finally snapped out of it.”
Shelby continued to improve. Nothing was said about the incident in the operating room. It was impossible...it could NOT have happened...so it hadn’t. Sane people didn’t believe the impossible. That way lay madness. They rationalized what they saw and eventually forgot about it.
The Doctor had tripped.
Ironically Doctor Brad hadn’t died. He should have but he hadn’t. He had gone catatonic from his injuries. There had been talk about injecting him with the same anti-catatonia drug.
Finally the decision was made that Shelby was pretty much healed, or at least well enough to move to a different ward in the building. At some point in the future he would be released onto the unsuspecting public. In the mean time he needed a wheel chair...or prosthetics...or both. Decisions were made. He was given a WWI surplus wheelchair with promises of better things in the future. He was moved. He met other disabled veterans who would actually carry on a conversation instead of just staring out into space and drooling.
Shelby was polite but he wasn’t particularly interested in conversation. Maybe later. Much later. He had years and years of unread Science Fiction to catch up on. He requested books. Lots, and lots of books.
The Next Episode is
#39: It never went well when he mentioned voices in his head.…
The Previous Episode was
#37: 200 Proof…
the First episode was
#1 : Prologue
I'm
@everittdmickey
.
I write
SPECULATIVE FICTION
I have books on Amazon too.
Sometimes I also comment on the news
Sometimes it's hard to tell fiction from the news.