Wassamadder?

Myrtle was jerked awake by a deep chuckle nearby. She opened her eyes groggily and sat up, looking around. Giving her head a shake, she realized she’d fallen asleep, her head on the edge of Fred’s hospital bed, her hand still holding his. Fred was snoring softly beside her. She sniffed and looked up the two people smiling widely at the scene.

“I’m Dr. Wadkins,” said the man amiably. “I’m sorry to wake you, but visiting hours are over and we have to wake Fred,” he explained.

“Oh,” said Myrtle numbly, giving her head another shake and taking a deep breath. She never fell asleep like that. Ever. She didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or amazed. She let go of Fred’s hand and stood up.

Meanwhile, the nurse who’d come in with the doctor had moved to Fred’s side. Standing over him she gently tapped his cheek, saying “Mr. Luckinbill.... wake up now.”

Fred jerked awake, his eyes wide, his mouth open. “Wassamadder?” he enquired. Myrtle couldn’t help chuckling along with the doctor.

“Hey Fred,” said Dr. Wadkins, taking the nurse’s place over him. “How are you feeling?” Myrtle couldn’t help thinking it was kind of a stupid question, but she saw where it needed to be asked. The doctor smiled down at a still groggy Fred. “Are you awake, Fred?”

Fred snorted, then nodded his head. “What’s happening?” he squeaked.

“Everything went text book,” the doctor said, smiling. “Now we just really need you to get a good nights sleep, and hopefully tomorrow we can get you up for a bit.”

Fred blinked. “You woke me up to tell me to go to sleep,” he asked, quite plainly perplexed.

“Well I thought you’d want to know that the operation went well,” smiled Dr. Wadkins, as the nurse chuckled behind him. “Don’t worry, the nurses will see to it that you rest. I’ll be back tomorrow evening to see how you’ve done,” he finished, standing upright again.

The doctor turned and smiled at Myrtle, who sort of gathered her wits. “Oh.... yes... “ she said. “I’m going to go now, Fred,” she offered, patting Fred on the hand. “I’ve stayed past visiting hours, so I have to go. You rest. I’ll be back in the morning, ok?”

“Ok Myrtle,” sniffed Fred, looking at her, then back at the doctor, then at Myrtle again.

With that, Myrtle nodded at the doctor and the nurse and backed away, giving Fred a little wave as she did. Then she left the room and headed for the parking lot, hoping the car hadn’t been ticketed since she’d been there longer than intended. She was still marvelling at having fallen asleep the way she did. “Must be tired,” she said aloud to herself as she opened the car door. There was no ticket, so she started the car and headed for home.

Meanwhile, the doctor had departed Fred’s room, leaving the nurse to once again insert a needle into Fred’s IV. She smiled down at Fred, fluffed his pillow, then walked away too, leaving Fred staring at the ceiling, still wondering why they’d wakened him.

By the time Myrtle got home she was wide awake, so she started a fire in the stove to warm the damp cottage, then made sure everything of Fred’s that was still at her house was by the door. There was a backpack and a cardboard box. She knew Fred didn’t have much because everything had perished when his apartment burned down. But she also knew he’d been at his mom’s for awhile, so she hoped he’d packed up everything he really wanted from there before he went into the hospital. Myrtle didn’t know Flora very well, or how likely she was to hold a grudge, but she knew she didn’t want to have to go knock on her door to pick up anything of Fred’s that he might want. If he still had things he wanted at his mother’s, he’d have to get it himself, she thought.

That decided, she fixed herself a snack and considered where to go for Fred’s curtains. They never did get around to shopping for any and he was going to need them if he didn’t want his neighbours watching his every move at night. Myrtle didn’t really like picking out something like that for someone else, but she decided she’d see what she could find, then take her purchase to the hospital to check with Fred before taking them to his apartment to hang.

She sighed. No wonder she’d fallen asleep on his bed, she thought. Throwing another log on the fire, Myrtle chose a book from her collection and curled up on the couch beside the woodstove. Whatever tomorrow brought, it brought, she thought, opening the book.