The Second Heart (10 page)

“Why? What did you see on my scans?” Meredith
asked with a sharp stare.

“Well, this really isn’t my area of
expertise, so I’m going to hand you off to someone far more
qualified to treat you.” Dr. Sparling smiled and flipped Meredith’s
chart closed. “Don’t get too comfortable here, ‘cause we’re gonna
move you upstairs as soon as someone’s available to push you
there.”

“I can walk.”

Dr. Sparling laughed. “You can also trip and
fall and sue the pants off of us. No thanks!” Still chortling
softly to herself, she left them alone.

Vi scowled. “I am so annoyed that I can’t
hate her.”

Meredith chuckled. “I know, right? Like,
can’t she just be a bitch for our sakes?”

Just then, Meredith’s cell phone rang, and
Meredith answered it, seeing that it was her mother calling.

“Hi honey,” Amelia said. “They aren’t letting
us come back to see you. There must be a high-profile patient here,
because there are a bunch of reporters in the lobby.”

“Oh, what a drag,” Meredith said
sympathetically. “Well, the doctor just came in and said that
they’re going to admit me. Once I know what room, I’ll call you and
let you know.”

Meredith hung up the phone and handed it to
Vi for safekeeping. “Hey, so what were you going to say before the
doctor came in?”

Stowing Meredith’s phone in her purse, Vi
looked at her contemplatively. “Right. So on Wednesday, there were
fires everywhere, you know?” Vi waited for Meredith’s assent before
continuing. “And then yesterday, it rained all over the world.
Super weird.” Again Vi waited to ensure that Meredith was following
her line of thought. “And now, today, there’s a bunch of
earthquakes?”

“So you think they’re all related.”

Vi laughed. “Damned if I know. But, let’s say
they are. What’s the pattern?”

“Fire, water, earth… air!” Meredith
exclaimed.

Vi nodded in agreement. “Air.”

Surprisingly, Meredith believed her. “So what
should we do? It’s not like we can issue a tornado warning.”

“Why not?”

“Who would believe us, for one thing!”

Vi sighed. “Yeah, they probably wouldn’t.”
She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs, staring at the
floor.

Meredith sat thinking to herself for a
moment. Then, somberly she said, “But if we’re right… tomorrow we
would have to live with knowing that we did nothing.”

Vi looked up and her eyes met Meredith’s.
“Let’s let someone else decide to do nothing.” Grinning, she dug
around in her purse for her cell phone. She found Meredith’s first
and pulled it out.

After a quick internet search, Vi had the
phone number for the National Weather Service. She pressed the
phone to her ear as she listened to it ring on the other end. Then,
“I think there’s going to be tornadoes tomorrow. Can you issue a
warning?”

Impatiently, Meredith blurted, “Speaker
phone!”

Vi looked down at the phone and turned the
speaker on, holding the phone where they could both hear. The man
at the other end was saying, “Our weather predictions are based on
meteorology, not anonymous tips.”

Vi said, “I realize that, but it’s part of a
pattern--”

Cutting her off, the man said, “We appreciate
your feedback, and encourage you to send us email with your
suggestions for how we can improve our service. Do you need that
email address?”

Vi tried one last time. “Meteorology didn’t
predict the rain yesterday, did it? What harm is there in issuing a
warning? So people hang out in their basements for a while. Big
whoop.”

“I suggest you head to the library and check
out
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
, and then you’ll understand what
the ‘big whoop’ is,” he said snidely.

Vi told him where he could stick his book and
hung up the phone.

“Vi!” Meredith scolded.

“What? He was an asshole, and he pissed me
off.” In Vi’s mind, this was a perfectly reasonable explanation for
the string of curse words that she had lobbed at the man. Her
non-apologetic view of the world was one of the things that
Meredith loved about her.

Soon after that, Meredith was moved to a
private room on the second floor of the hospital, and she called
her parents to let them know her room number. She also made sure
the nurses knew to let them in, and then happily, with another dose
of morphine, she took a nap.

When Meredith
woke up again, Amelia and Rob were quietly playing a game of cards
on the rolling hospital tray while Vi read a book in the chair next
to her bed. Rob had taken off his jacket and rolled up the sleeves
of his plaid shirt, meaning they’d been there for a while.

Noticing that Meredith was awake, Vi closed
her book and sat up straighter in her chair. “Man, you were
out
.” She grinned and continued, “The nurse has changed your
IV bag twice.”

“What time is it?” Meredith croaked.

“About six,” Amelia answered, turning in her
chair at the foot of the bed to face Meredith.

Meredith pushed the button to raise up the
back of her bed and looked around. The room that she had been moved
to was actually quite spacious for a hospital room. The chair Vi
sat in was a recliner covered in a tasteful shade of beige, and
there was room at the foot of the bed for the hospital tray and two
foldout chairs. To Meredith’s right, a door led to what she
presumed was a bathroom, and to her left, a door opened out to the
hallway. The space on either side of the bed was occupied by
various medical paraphernalia and monitoring devices, and she was
still attached to the IV, which led to a bag of clear fluid hanging
from a metal tree next to the bed.

Meredith was surprised that she had only been
asleep for a few hours. She felt as though she had slept for weeks
on end. “What have I missed?”

“Nothing, really,” Vi said with a bored
huff.

Rob stood up from his chair and stretched
before saying, “Now that you’re awake, I am going to go see if I
can find anything out.” He deftly stepped around Amelia’s chair and
left the room. The door hissed as it shut gently behind him.

* * *

Turning left down the hallway, Rob headed for
the nurses’ station. In the hall, he was surprised to see the
nurse, Eleanor, from the emergency room downstairs. He caught her
sleeve as she walked by, and she stopped, looking irritated but
determined to be patient.

“Yes?” she said. Her whole body was rigid, as
if she were going to stalk away at any second. Her eyes darted up
and down the hallway, as if she were afraid of being caught
off-task.

“Hi, my daughter is the one who was admitted
for stomach cramps. Can you tell me what is going on with her
case?”

At this, Eleanor seemed to appraise him more
thoroughly. “Yes, I know who you are talking about. Has no one come
in to talk to you?”

Rob shook his head. “Not since we’ve been
upstairs. Dr. Sparling said they’re bringing in a specialist?”

“Well they’re probably just waiting for him
to get here then,” Eleanor returned dismissively. She started to
walk away, but Rob cut her off.

“Hey, come on. Nurses always know the
scuttlebutt. Off the record, what can you tell me?”

For a moment, Eleanor looked like she would
rebuff him again. Her eyes searched his concerned face, and she
seemed to make a decision about him. Then, she leaned in and said,
“I need a few minutes alone with your daughter. I can’t risk
talking in front of anyone else. Can you arrange that for me?”

Startled, Rob blurted, “What’s wrong with
her?”

Eleanor rolled her eyes and then looked
meaningfully down the hall at the nurses’ station. One of the
nurses was coming toward them. In a normal tone of voice, Eleanor
said, “I’m sorry, sir. I am a triage nurse, so this isn’t my area.
I can’t really tell you more about your daughter’s specific case,
but if you’d like, I can send your nurse in to check on you.”

The other nurse was passing them now. Rob
said, “No, that’s all right. I guess we’ll keep waiting.”

Once the other nurse was out of earshot,
Eleanor muttered, “I’ll be back in half an hour,” and then
continued down the hall.

Stunned, Rob turned and shuffled back into
Meredith’s room where the others were waiting. He wasn’t sure what
he would tell them, as he hadn’t really processed the exchange
himself. As he entered, they all looked up expectantly.

“I couldn’t find anyone,” Rob lied, sinking
down into the chair he had vacated only a few minutes before. His
mind was working furiously over Eleanor’s request to see Meredith
alone. What was going on with Meredith? Rob had never before found
himself in a position where he questioned whether to trust a health
care provider, and here she was asking him to trust her alone above
the hospital at large.

He considered what Vi had told them while
Meredith was asleep--that it seemed like Dr. Sparling was keeping
something from them. Was Dr. Sparling just trying to keep them from
worrying overly about Meredith’s condition? Or was she hiding
something bigger? Furthermore, if Eleanor were some sort of rogue
nurse, it seemed unlikely that she would arbitrarily choose to harm
Meredith out of all the patients in the hospital.

Something important had to be happening with
Meredith specifically; it seemed like the only thing that made
sense. On the other hand, there could be good reasons why the
doctors weren’t being more forthcoming. Perhaps the doctors didn’t
want to give them misinformation and preferred to wait until they
were sure of her diagnosis. He felt trapped in indecision. Should
he trust one nurse over the team of doctors who were supposed to
care for his baby girl?

“Dad!” Meredith’s voice cut through Rob’s
train of thought.

He looked up at her. “What?”

Meredith laughed. “I can smell your brain
burning. What’s up?”

“She’s had to say your name three times,”
Amelia added, looking at him with a curious expression.

For a moment, Rob was at a loss for what to
say. He wasn’t ready to confide in them about Eleanor. Suddenly,
something occurred to him. “I was just wondering who the celebrity
patient is. I’m going to go down and ask one of the reporters.”

“Ooh I hope it’s someone good,” Vi said,
clearly hoping for some delicious gossip.

Rob smiled and left the room again, this time
turning right down the hallway. He found the stairs and jogged down
them, anxious to discover whether his supposition was correct.
Downstairs, he strode purposefully down a long hallway to the front
lobby, where the reporters had been camped earlier.

He passed a nurses’ station and through a
pair of heavy double doors, which clanked loudly shut behind him.
In the lobby, a few different news teams were lounging around with
bored expressions.

Rob rolled his shoulders back and casually
walked over to a cameraman who was leaning against a wall with his
camera between his feet. “Hey,” Rob said with what he hoped was a
friendly smile.

The cameraman gave him a polite nod and went
back to picking at a hangnail.

Rob tried again. “Waiting around is the
worst, isn’t it?”

The cameraman looked up again, confused. “Do
I know you?” he asked.

Rob chuckled nervously. “No, no. I’m just
making small talk.”

“Oh.”

Rob decided to just go for it. “How come
there are news crews here? Celebrity overdose?” He laughed to show
that he was a good-times sort of guy, to say,
Hey, you can tell
me, we’re buddies!

The cameraman leaned away slightly,
understanding that Rob was there to press him for information. With
a resigned sigh, he said, “We got a tip that there is a woman here
with an unprecedented medical condition.”

Rob’s eyebrows knit together. “What is
it?”

With an irritated eye roll, the cameraman
said, “Do I look like a doctor?”

Noticing their exchange, a handsome reporter
standing nearby turned and introduced himself as Nate Dowering,
asking, “So are you here visiting a family member?”

Rob could have smiled. The reporter wanted to
know if Rob was connected to their story. He decided to play along.
“Yes, my daughter is here.”

Nate Dowering was smooth, but Rob detected a
glint in his ambitious young eyes. Nate said, “Oh, that must be so
worrisome.”

Rob nodded somberly. Then, “So why are you
news guys all here? She’d love to hear if a celebrity is here with
her.”

The reporter was all affability. “Well, for
all we know, the celebrity could be your daughter!” He chuckled,
maintaining eye contact and watching Ron’s face closely. “We heard
there’s a girl here who has grown a completely new organ that beats
almost like a second heart.”

Rob forced his face to remain impassive.
“That’s not my girl,” he said. “Mine’s here for pneumonia.”

Disappointed, Nate was still persistent. “Oh,
well if you hear anything at the nurse’s station, make sure you
tell me.”

They both laughed together, the best of
friends, and Rob walked away. He kept his gait deliberately casual,
though he wanted to race all the way back to Meredith’s room. With
such precious information that had been kept from them, Rob was
convinced that they should trust Eleanor. He glanced at his
wristwatch. He still had ten minutes before Eleanor would be back
to talk to Meredith. Plenty of time.

He walked back to the double doors and
pulled. They were locked. He looked around and saw a call button on
the wall. He pressed it, feeling impatient but hiding it from Nate
Dowering, who was still keeping an eye on him with some
interest.

The doors opened and Rob walked through them,
only to be stopped at the nurse’s station. “Hold on, sir.” A
security guard stepped toward him with a polite but authoritative
manner. She was a tall woman with dark black hair slicked back into
a bun at the nape of her neck. “We have a high profile patient here
in the hospital, and because the media is here, we can’t let anyone
back here who isn’t on the visitors list.”