Blind Eye Read Online Free Page A

Do you see me, honey?”
    JD’s arms now lay limp on the rumpled bed sheets. The noise she had been making in her throat stopped. Jennifer motioned for Pat to let go, and the younger nurse cautiously released her grip on JD’s arm. Jennifer leaned her head slightly to check her scalp. The eyes followed her.
    â€œWhat’s bothering you, sweetheart?” she asked, accustomed to talking to JD, even though the other nurses were sure she didn’t understand.
    A male voice came from the doorway. “I hear there’s been some trouble here?”
    Both women turned to see the physician who had just come in. Dr. Ahmad Baer spent three days a week, a couple of hours of each day, at the nursing facility. Baer was new to them, less than six months. But so far, Jennifer thought, he was doing okay. He had his own practice over by the hospital and saw patients at a retirement home in Woodbury, as well. Jennifer had heard last week that Baer was also teaching a course at UCONN Medical School every other semester. The staff here had already labeled him as workaholic, which was a nice change as far as Jennifer was concerned.
    â€œWe were having some trouble with her…until a couple of seconds ago,” Pat said, staring in amazement at the calm patient. “She was fighting us like crazy.”
    The doctor walked toward the bed and picked up the feeding tube off the floor. He handed it to Pat.
    â€œI can see that.” He took a small flashlight out of his pocket and moved to the head of the bed.
    Jennifer stepped away to give the physician room. She noticed JD’s eyes following her.
    â€œShe maintains a visual fixation on you,” Baer commented. “Is this usual?”
    â€œI spend a lot of time with her,” Jennifer admitted. “I’m one of the few who’ve been here from the first day they moved her in. I’ve thought she might recognize me. But Dr. Parker, who retired before you got here, always said it was wishful thinking on my part.”
    Jennifer had spent more than half of her life doing this. She was forty-nine, turning fifty in January. Understanding her patients was second nature to her, like eating or breathing. Still, she recalled one piece of advice she’d been given early on in her career—to not get attached to patients. And she hadn’t, until JD. There was something about the young woman that tugged at Jennifer’s heartstrings. It was more than the helplessness. Most of the patients she dealt with were in some kind of vegetative or minimally conscious state. This one she somehow connected with. She was certain that the young woman understood her words more than anyone believed. JD was just a little older than her owndaughters, and Jen frankly didn’t give two shakes what anyone else thought of the way she fussed over her. Seniority had its privileges. She could be extra attentive to a patient if she wanted.
    The doctor held JD’s chin steady as he checked the movement of the eyes.
    â€œI’m not as well-read as I’d like to be on this patient, Jennifer. What can you tell me about her?”
    Who was he kidding? she thought silently. He didn’t know anything about JD. The young patient was on the same medication and feeding schedule that she’d been on for years. There had been nothing new tried since the first year that JD was here. No rehab efforts, no new treatments. Standard physical therapy and that’s it. She’d hoped that Baer would see her sometime soon. But there’d been no reason for it before now.
    â€œHer chart is right here,” Pat Minicucci offered, pulling the clipboard from the holder at the foot of the bed. “But it won’t help much.”
    They were grossly shorthanded, and there were a dozen things that Jennifer thought Pat could be doing right now, but the young nurse’s aide was apparently curious about what was going to happen, too.
    â€œI’ll look at it later.