The Training of Jeff Stintum, Chapter 25 (the first part)

Hey everyone!  So I'm about to go into work and I didn't get as much of this chapter written as I'd hoped today, but I'll just go ahead and post what I have now.  I'll update with the rest of the chapter in the next day or two :) 

Chapter 25: ??

Jeff lay in the soft sheets of the hospital bed, his mind descending into an odd state of agitated hibernation as he absorbed the knowledge that he would not be seeing Sarah for an entire week. His first inclination was to be hopelessly sad, very much like he had been a couple days ago when Sarah had left him alone in her house when she went to work — he had unconsciously whimpered with loneliness and longing then. But there was a lot more rushing around in his head now as he lay there in his hospital bed, half listening to whatever his parents were saying to him. Even though he badly wanted to see Sarah…to be around her…to smell her…to feel her touch…he began to feel an incredible relief pass over him. He glanced past his parents out the window, where the bright sun was shining happily, feeding the green foliage that grew on the windowsill. The sun’s warm luminosity, the glad smiles of his parents, and the absence of Sarah all coalesced into a staggeringly surreal vortex that paralyzed his mind and left it vacant. He suddenly noticed that he couldn’t move his toes.  

“I can’t…I can’t move my toes,” he said out loud, interrupting whatever his mom had been saying before.  

“That’s normal, Jeff,” said his dad. “That’s the effects of the epidural — they said it should be wearing off in a couple hours.”  

It was a truly bizarre sensation, to try and will his toes, his legs, to move…and to get no response from his limbs. It was as if the line of communication between his brain and the lower half of his body had been severed.  

“And…it’s…it’s normal that I can’t move my legs either?” 

Jeff’s mom smiled at him. “Totally normal,” she said. “They gave you a nerve block at the base of your spine so that you wouldn’t feel anything at all during the surgery.”  

“Well, actually, Jen, it was just to make sure that he didn’t have any random muscle spasms or anything like that during the operation,” said Jeff’s dad, looking sideways at his wife as he corrected her.  

“Oh come on Carl, seriously?” said Jen, turning her head to the side in rebuttal. “It’s for both things — remember? Sarah told us over the phone that it would help him get through the worst of the pain.”

“I thought she said the worst part would be the day after,” said Carl. “Isn’t that what she said?”

“No,” said Jen, laughing at their mini-argument, “she said that the worst pain would be the day after, with the assumption that he’d have the epidural…you see what I’m talking about, Carl?”  

“Uhhh, not really, no,” said Carl. He suddenly smiled, putting his hands up. “But whatever. I concede to you on this one.” He turned to Jeff and gave him a sly smile with a wink. “Always let her win the argument,” he advised, “even if you don’t even know what you’re arguing about.”  

“Oh stop it,” said Jen, playfully punching her husband in the shoulder. Jeff just lay there, finding it very difficult to absorb this routine interaction between his parents without his mind shooting out into hyperspace. It suddenly hit him that they had absolutely no idea, not a single inkling, of what was going on between him and Sarah…that is…if it actually was still going on. His mind wondered desperately into strange places. He strained to think back to his last interactions with Sarah — to her tears in the car when they were in the parking lot — to the knowing expression on her face as she dangled the sound in front of him and put it safely away in her nightstand — to the warm wrinkles around her eyes as she scrunched up her face at him, surely in a smile behind her white mask, when he was on the operating table. They did still have a “thing” going on, didn’t they?  

“Hey!” said his father brightly, gleefully retreating from the simulated argument with his wife, “let’s see those scars, why don’t we?”  

“Carl!” said Jen, “don’t pressure him into showing us all that — let’s just let him rest.” 

“No…no, it’s ok mom,” said Jeff, who was actually curious himself to see what the incision looked like. He jostled the bedsheets around his right leg and pulled them back. And there it was — a five-inch laceration that ran down his hip and upper thigh. It was all stitched up with black sutures. It looked completely even and professionally done…Jeff inwardly scoffed at himself. Of course it looked like it was done by professionals — they were in a hospital. He wondered whether Sarah had been the one to make the incision, or if maybe she sewed him up. The thought of her holding a scalpel over his unconscious body and slicing into him gave him chills, and yet, the thought was quite exciting as well. He felt his brain tire quickly as it rushed through the power dynamics of such a scene.  

“Oooo, look at that!” said his dad impressively, “now that’s a scar if I ever saw one!”  

“It’s not a scar yet, Carl,” said Jen. “It’ll become a scar when the actual scar tissue develops over it as he heals. Jesus, do some internet research once in a while, why don’t you?”  

Carl looked over at his wife with an incredulous expression. “Are you serious?” he said. She broke into a grin and they both descended into snickers. Jeff hadn’t seen his parents so relaxed around him in quite some time; they definitely were pretty cute, even though their antics could get annoying to him really quick.  

“Ok, there’s the one,” laughed his father, turning back to Jeff. “Now let’s see the other one.”  

“The…other one?” Jeff’s mind was blank.  

“Yeah, the other leg…the other…uh…I was going to say “scar,” but well, your mother…” and he turned his head to his wife in mock passive-aggressiveness.  

“Incision,” she said curtly through her smile.  

“What…what are you guys talking about?” asked Jeff, feeling a steady dread building in his chest. “I—I only had one hip replaced.”  

His mother turned to his father. “See?” she said to him, “this is why I agreed that Sarah should take care of him for the past week.”  

“Yeah,” said his father, smiling as he shook his head, “I guess that was a good move.” He turned and looked Jeff dead in the face. “Jeff — you really didn’t know? Come on, you’re not messing with us, are you?”  

“N-no!” said Jeff, his fear growing, “No! I—I don’t know what you’re talking about!”  

“Now settle down,” said his mother gently, reaching over and putting her hand on his thin forearm, squeezing it lovingly. “It’s ok — it’s fine. Everything’s fine Jeff.”  

“But…but what were you guys saying,” asked Jeff, his voice shaking a little, “about…about my other leg?”  

“Why don’t you lift the sheets and take a peek at it yourself?” said his father, smiling.  

Jeff looked down at the left side of his body, covered in the hospital sheets up to his midsection. What on earth were they talking about!? It was only his bad hip that they had replaced, surely!? He was terribly afraid to lift the sheets and see what awaited him underneath.  

“He doesn’t need to look at it, Carl,” said his mother. “Come on, let’s just talk about something else, ok?” But Jeff was already pulling back the sheet with a shaking hand; he had to see for himself what this was all about — he just had to.