Memory's Edge: Part One Read Online Free

packed up her books, along
with papers in need of grading, and drove across town to the hospital. By
Wednesday evening, the duty nurses stopped in to say hello as much as to check
on John. Thursday, there was a cup up tea waiting for her in John’s room.
    The nurses
told Gretchen her visits were helping him heal. She knew there was research
validating they said, but she felt she was the one benefitting from her visits
the most. Concern and responsibility slowly morphed into a calming sense of
purpose. When she walked into the room, the day’s craziness gave way to the
gentle rhythmic sounds of his breathing. It felt good to watch over John,
though she doubted her presence made any difference to him.
    Gretchen
told no one at work about continuing to visit John, except her best friend
Desi. They had all heard about the incident of course, but after a few “How are
you doing?” comments, their interest faded away as the bell rang. They probably
all assumed Gretchen had forgotten the experience as quickly as they did.
    Desi,
however, thought it romantic. She asked once if Gretchen wanted her to come
with her, but she said no. Gretchen didn’t want to share her time with him, or
admit how much she enjoyed the quiet visits. So Friday afternoon, she packed up
her weekend stack of grading and hurried to the hospital alone.
    Stepping
out of the elevator on the fifth floor, Gretchen took her usual route past the
nurses’ station, pausing to say hello to everyone, and down the hall to John’s
room. Lynn, a nurse she had become friends with over the week, was busy
checking his vitals when she walked in. She looked up when she heard Gretchen
bump into the side table. “Hey, Gretchen. Violets?”
    Gretchen
glanced down at the potted plant in her hand. Violets weren’t the showiest flower
in the world, but their delicate beauty always drew her in. “I thought they
might brighten things up,” she said.
    “They’re
beautiful,” Lynn said. She stuck her pen back in her scrubs pocket and put her
hands on her hips. “How are your high school hooligans doing? You ready for
summer yet?”
    “Don’t even
mention summer to me. It’s still two months away. If I start thinking about
summer now, I’ll never make it.” Gretchen laughed as she said it, but it was true.
It was her first year of teaching and she was ready for a break.
    “That bad,
huh?” Lynn grinned as she started toward the door. “Just be glad my son isn’t
in any of your classes. That boy is the bane of his teachers’ existences. It
will be a miracle if he graduates.” She laughed as she walked out of the room.
    Gretchen
set the violets down on the table next to John’s bed. Lynn griped about her
son, but the smile in her eyes said he couldn’t really be as bad as she made
him out to be. Still, Gretchen couldn’t help but be glad she wasn’t his
teacher.
    After
watering the violets, she sat down next to John. He already looked so different
from the first time she had seen him. His bruises were starting to heal.
Instead of black and purple, his skin had lightened to a mottled brown and
yellow with a few splotches of deep purple that lingered where the more serious
injuries were. The casts would stay on for another six to eight weeks, but many
of the stitches were already beginning to dissolve. Even the cuts were looking
significantly better. The steady beep-beep of the heart monitor was reassuring
white noise Gretchen heard without really noticing anymore.
    He was
healing. At least his cuts and bruises and broken bones were healing. What was
happening to his brain? Nobody really seemed to know. Information from the
nurses had dropped off in the last few days. Unless something changed, which it
didn’t, they didn’t have any news for her. They kept encouraging her. Keep
talking. Keep visiting. Have hope. He’ll wake up soon.
    Gretchen
clung to those thoughts.
    She told
herself it was because then he would be able to explain what happened and go
home,