Page 24 of Rocky Ride

“Yes. Tell Billy and Virge Tammy is safe and pass the news along to Travis when he comes home.”

“I will, Mom. Thanks for calling us.”

“Love you guys.”

Wolf Pass Clinic. Rocky Mountains.

The narrow mountain road had been plowed once but with the new snow, it was becoming treacherous again. Sunday drove Travis’s truck around the switchbacks and at times, the ass end of the truck fishtailed on the slippery road.

“Take it easy,” said Travis. “You’re going too fast.”

Sunday slowed down to a crawl and Travis relaxed a little. “You okay now, big guy?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” The pain in his leg was so intense he could hardly keep from hollering out loud.

After a slow drive down the mountain, Sunday parked close to the front door of the clinic and helped Travis inside. The waiting room was empty and the nurse at the front desk showed Travis into a treatment room.

She helped him up onto the table and went to get the doctor. Sunday sat on the chair next to the wall and read the posters on the wall.

“What can I do for you, sir? I’m Doctor Tony Garber.”

Travis was in too much pain to answer, so Sunday got to her feet and answered for him. “He’s got a bad bite on his leg that needs stitches.”

“Can you remove your pants so I can see it?” asked the doc.

Travis nodded and winced as he struggled with his fly and then shoved his jeans down to his ankles.

The young doctor was suitably horrified when he got a look at the bite. “Oh, my, this is a bad one. A dog?”

“Wolves,” said Travis. “Three wolves took me down.” He pointed to the grazes on his neck, still red and raw.

“A close call,” said the doctor.

Travis glanced at Sunday. “My neighbor came along, or I wouldn’t be sitting here.”

“Timing is everything,” said Doctor Garber. “I’m going to inject a lot of freezing before I attempt to clean this up. You must be in tremendous pain.”

“That’s a true story,” said Travis.

The doctor injected the freezing in four places and when the numbness took hold, Travis began to relax.

“I’m sure even the numbness feels better than the pain you’ve been in,” said the doctor.

“It does. I’d take that frozen feel any day.”

“How long ago did this happen?”

Travis looked at Sunday and she said, “Three days ago. He was delirious for about twelve hours the first night it happened.”

“I can believe that,” said the doctor. “This leg is badly torn. I’ll do the best I can to pull the skin together, but there will be scaring.”

“I’m okay with a souvenir,” said Travis. “A reminder not to go up the mountain without my rifle. Didn’t do me no good sitting in the cabin. Stupid move on my part.”

Putting the stitches in was arduous and time-consuming. When the doctor was finished, the nurse came in and put a snug bandage over the entire stitched up area.

“Thanks,” said Travis. “Feels a lot better.”

“I have a prescription for you for pain medication and one for an antibiotic. A leg this badly damaged will take longer to heal.”

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