Rescue - By Anita Shreve Page 0,79
He understands.
Just after midnight on Wednesday, with his head resting at the edge of the bed, Webster thinks he feels Rowan’s fingers move inside his own. He sits up with a start, not sure if he is dreaming or not. “Rowan?” he asks.
He waits ten minutes before she does it again. He has to be sure it’s not a reflex.
“Rowan, this is Dad. Your hand is in mine. If you can hear me, squeeze my hand or wiggle your fingers.”
He feels the movement of her fingers right away.
“Oh, God. Oh, Rowan.”
Webster stands, opens the door, and shouts for a nurse.
The nurse, when she comes, bends over Rowan, prepared to examine her pupils, but his daughter, bless her heart, opens her eyes on her own, startling the nurse. Webster has never seen anything more beautiful.
Rowan seems dazed, unable to focus. She can’t speak. But Webster is OK. He knows she will.
Ow,” Rowan says, her first word. “My head.”
Webster clutches her hand. He may never let go.
“I’m not surprised,” he says. “You’ve had a nasty crack.”
“I did?”
“You don’t remember it?” Webster asks.
“No,” she says, trying to think, but he can see that the effort is too difficult.
Dr. Lockhart booms from the doorway, “I hear we’ve got good news!” He walks to the other side of the bed. “Well, I guess so. Welcome back, Rowan Webster.”
Webster can see that Rowan is confused. Who is this man?
“I’m Dr. Lockhart,” the neurologist explains. “I’ve been treating you. You had a serious head injury.”
Webster observes Lockhart as he inspects Rowan’s pupils. He asks her to move her arms and legs, wiggle her toes, press down on his hands, and squeeze his fingers. Then he asks Rowan questions. What year is it? Who’s the president? What month is it? What’s her address? Rowan is OK with the year, a little slow with the president, completely confused about the month, but she knows her address.
“I’ll give you a B,” the doctor tells Rowan. “I’ll come back and ask you again in two hours, and I guarantee you’ll get a better grade.”
“I’m at Mercy?” Rowan asks her father when the doctor has gone.
“No, we’re in Burlington.”
Rowan glances around the room. “Why are we in Burlington?”
“You were airlifted here. What’s the last thing you remember?”
She studies him for a minute. He hopes he’s not the last thing she remembers. “I was at a dance,” she says.
“You remember anything after that?”
“It was hot in the gym,” she says. “And someone said we ought to go swimming.” She pauses. “And I remember being afraid, but I don’t know why.”
It would be surprising if Rowan remembered every minute leading up to the crack on the head. Trauma erases time.
“I’ll tell you what happened,” he says to her. “You tried to climb a tree over Gray Quarry. You fell and hit your head on a hidden ledge in the water. This was at two thirty in the morning on Saturday. Tommy went in after you, but when he got you on shore, you weren’t breathing. He did CPR on you. You coughed up water and started breathing on your own, but you wouldn’t wake up. Let’s see. The incident happened very early on Saturday. It’s early in the morning of Wednesday right now. You’ve been out for four days.”
Rowan tries to comprehend this. “Where did I go?” she asks.
“That’s what I’d like to know!” Webster says, laughing.
“So that’s why you look like a wreck.”
“You have no idea,” he says. “The worst four days of my life, that’s for sure.”
“The nurse said I went up in a helicopter.”
“You certainly did.”
“And I missed it? I never even knew I was there? I’ve never been in a helicopter.”
“You didn’t miss anything,” Webster says. “It was a horrible ride. Someday, when you’re better, I’ll tell you all about it. And you and I will take a helicopter ride just for fun.”
“Did you know I would wake up?”
“No.”
“I’m sorry, Dad,” Rowan says.
Webster smiles. “Rowan, you don’t have to be sorry about anything in the world. You woke up. That gives you a totally free pass.”
“Forever?” she asks.
He squints. “I didn’t say forever.”
A team of nurses asks him to move outside the room. He’s happy to do whatever they require. They explain that they want to try to get Rowan to sit up and then to stand. They’d like to be able to take the Foley catheter out, and they might try to clean her up, depending. They suggest he get something to eat.
“She’ll be right here when I get