Page 29 of Disciplinary Action
Gideon squeezed Cal’s hand. “I’m going to bring you some clothes and maybe your laptop, so you have something to do.”
Cal’s face collapsed. “Somebody stole my laptop and my tablet. The only thing they didn’t take was my stupid flip-phone. Where is my phone?”
“You just worry about getting well. I’m going to get you everything you need and check on your new canine companion.”
“Where is he?” Cal asked before shaking his head. “I thought I dreamed that.”
“You didn’t.Sheis with my veterinarian friend, Desmond. He’s looking her over. Since she didn’t tell me her name, I’ve taken to calling her Alexa. You can change it to whatever you like.”
Cal grinned. “I like Alexa.”
“Good. So do I. I’ll be back soon. Get some rest.”
The door was almost closed when Gideon heard the nurse say, “Wow, your dad seems like he spoils you.”
He heard Cal give an embarrassed laugh. “Yeah, he’s the best.”
The next three days passed in a blur of finger sticks and vital sign checks and a sea of nursing assistants and doctors wandering in and out of Cal’s room. As his blood sugars lowered to what the doctors considered an acceptable level, Cal’s thoughts cleared and his mood stabilized until he felt almost human again. They’d removed the tube in his nose and the catheter from his bladder, which made him feel more human as well. He still had little memory of wandering the streets, but maybe that was a good thing.
He’d had the same nurse the last two nights, Claudia, a beautiful older woman with umber colored sun-kissed skin, long braids woven with gold beads, and light brown eyes the color of his father’s favorite whiskey. The day shift nurses always seemed preoccupied; friendly but definitely all business, checking his lines and his heart rate before scurrying off to the next patient. Claudia never seemed in a hurry, maybe because the doctors weren’t there to bug the nurses at night. At least, that’s what she’d told him before giving him a melodic laugh that Cal wanted to listen to forever.
Claudia claimed Gideon visited Cal each night while he slept. She said he stayed for hours just watching him sleep. Cal had tried to force himself to stay awake last night, but it was impossible. They gave him something Claudia called a ‘sleep aid,’ but it hit Cal like a truck, causing him to fall into a coma-like dreamless slumber.
Gideon became Cal’s Santa Claus. This mythical figure who appeared while Cal slept and left gifts behind, each one wrapped in fancy silver paper with a tag that just read,From Daddy. Each time Cal woke to a gift, his fingers traced the elegant, masculine scrawl of the ink, his stomach fluttering whenever his eyes fell on the word Daddy. First, it was a new MacBook pro, then the latest iPhone, and last night, an iPad. But it wasn’t just electronics. He’d left Cal soft cotton pajama pants and t-shirts and even a plush navy blue robe and slipper socks. If Cal was there one more day, Gideon might leave him a car. It was crazy. Cal couldn’t let himself get too used to this, but he didn’t know how to keep the butterflies from his belly. It wasn’t even the price tag, just that Gideon cared enough to want Cal to be comfortable.
On night four, Claudia arrived at seven, just as she always did, standing outside Cal’s door, receiving report from the day shift nurse named Gina. Cal usually dozed through this part, sort of half listening as they talked about his diagnosis and illness, his meds, his procedures, and his labs, as if he wasn’t five feet away.
But this time, Gina said something that caught Cal’s attention.
“Did you see his latest haul?” she stage-whispered, her voice carrying. “That phone alone is worth, like, twelve-hundred dollars, and a tablet, and a MacBook? And what nineteen-year-old do you know who calls his father Daddy? None that I ever heard of.”
Claudia clicked her tongue. “Girl, hush. That ain’t none of our business. Besides, we all know you’d suck a dick for a movie ticket and a combo meal. Don’t hate the hustle. Did you see what that boy looked like when he got here? Somebody needed to take care of him.”
“I’m not hating,” Gina said, voice prim. “I’m just saying, that’s not his father. Should we be sharing medical info with him?”
Claudia’s voice grew icy. “You really need to learn to mind your business if you want to survive as a nurse. The boy clearly consents to letting the man know about his condition. He sits here every night for hours just watching him sleep and holding his hand. He clearly cares for him.”
“Or he’s just protecting his investment,” Gina snarked.
“Don’t act so high and mighty, princess. Now, hurry up and finish this report so I can get started with my night and you can get out of my face.”
Cal was eating dinner when Claudia finally made it into his room, busying herself with checking his lines and IV bags. “How’s my favorite patient?” she asked, giving him a bright smile.
“Thanks for defending me to Gina,” Cal said.
Claudia cut her dark eyes towards the boy, her mouth twisting. “I’m sorry if you overheard any of that. That girl needs to learn to keep her opinions to herself. She’s new, barely a year out of school, and thinks she knows everything about everything. Patients’ personal lives ain’t none of our business.”
“It’s okay. I’m sure people think it's a little weird,” Cal managed, blushing.
She waved a dismissive hand. “Who cares what people think? They don’t live your life. They don’t pay your bills, so they can keep their opinions to themselves.”
Cal smiled. “Still, thanks for saying what you did.”
She smiled back. “I have your night pills.”
“Can I skip the sleeping pill tonight?” Cal asked.
Claudia gave him a knowing look. “Wanna talk to your man, huh?”
