COME TUMBLING DOWN
Disclaimer: They aren’t mine.
Chapter 4 : Back to the way things Were
Two weeks passed, and today Alex was going to the hospital for tests on his head, and to get his cast off. Now he sat with Megan in the parlor, while his parents finished getting ready.
“Are you afraid to go back there?” He shook his head, although truthfully he was a little afraid, but he would never tell her that. He wanted to be brave.
“Well I would be,” she admitted.
“Thats because your a girl,” That was obviously not the right thing for him to tell her. Megan stood.
“Well find then,” She ran out and Alex sighed. Sometimes she got to silly like most of the girls he knew, but she was still his best friend.
“All right pal, lets get this show on the road,” his dad said, coming in with his coat. It was very cold out today. With little effort Alex stood balanced on his crutches, and his dad helped him put his coat on. Once they were ready, Rick knelt down.
“I know you don’t like help, but its been raining and a little snow and might be slick.” Alex nodded and his father lifted him into strong arms. As they head to the door, Evelyn came out of the entry which led back to the kitchen, and when she was ready they all went out to the car, heading for the hospital.
It was in a little room that Alex sat with his parents, waiting to be called back. The first thing was to have X-rays done of his head. He was reading his copy of Jungle Book, when a nurse called them back. She led them to a small room, and took his temperature, the way Alex didn’t mind. When she took it out, all was fine.
“Dr. Brown will be in shortly. She left, and Alex walked around, looking at various things. There was a bottle full of cotton balls, and some other things, then his Dr. arrived, and Alex went and sat with his parents.
“Well Alex its good to see you up and about,” said his Dr. Alex nodded.
“The first thing I want to do is look at your ears.” This was done without any protest from Alex, and what the Doctor found was very pleasing.
“Good Alex, your ears have healed nicely.” He wrote some things down.
“Now we are going to go get some pictures of your brain. He looked at both parents.
“You will be able to stay with him while they prepare him for this, but then only the technician will be able to stay in with him.” They nodded and he led them down the hall, and into a large room. There was a metal table, and a very big machine, and Alex was beginning to think he would like to be gone. A pretty nurse came in with a gown, and asked that he put that on, and everyone but his parents left. Evelyn helped him out of his cloths and into the gown. He was doing his best to be brave, though he had begun to shiver. When Dr. Brown came back in it was with a few other people.
“All right Alex this next part I’m going to need you to be very brave for. Can you do that?” He nodded.
“Mr. O’Connell, if you will lay him on the table.” Rick lifted his son into his arms and placed him on the table. It was cold, and Alex held on to his dead, bravery ending right then and there.
“No I don’t want to do this dad.” Rick lifted him back into his arms, and Evelyn came over.
“Shh, this is the worst part okay, then when we get done, and your cast is off we will go to the park, and get your ship and sail it in the lake.” Alex sobbed. Try as he might to be brave and strong like his father, he was still just a boy.
“Alex we will stand right here,” Evelyn told him. After a moment, he let his dad put him on the table, and they stood by his head while the technicians got him covered with a thick lead blanket. One nurse wet a cotton ball with some solution, another nurse came and told him that they had to tape his chin down. He held to his dad’s hand eyes closed as they did this.
“All right Alex, your going to feel something cold and wet on you neck,” The pretty nurse told him. He just held his dads hand tighter, as she rubbed his neck with a rusty substance, that was to sterilize his neck for the next step.
“There. Now you need to hold very very still,” the nurse said as she took a long needle out. Evelyn held his other hand and she inserted the needle into his neck. He cried but held still. What she had done was to insert a tube into his neck. His blood spurted out, but not for long, as another nurse attached the small tube to a larger one. It was all taped down.
“This is the part that you two need to leave.” a nurse told them.
“Noo don’t go.” Neither had any intention, so they were fitted with led robes, then they did have to stand back as the room darkened and the machine turned on. It was loud, and Alex screamed from the noise, more than anything else. It was all over soon, and once he was unhooked from everything, Evelyn held him, wrapping him in a blanket.
“I don’t want to do that again,” Alex said still sobbing.
“Well thats all over baby,” she said swaying. In a moment he had relaxed, and they were led back to the little room to wait for a while. The next part was to get his cast off, and that wasn’t nearly so traumatic for him. They took an Xray of that, but it wasn’t but a simple little procedure, and an hour later Doctor Brown came with the pictures.
“Alex you are an amazing little boy,” The doctor said putting up one set of pictures.
“These dark spots on your brain are where you were bruised when you came in.” He put up another set.
“There aren’t any dark spots,” Alex said noticing that right away.
“No, and thats very amazing, because it takes most people a long time to heal from such an episode as you experienced. Your leg is all healed as well. So this means that you are aloud to go out and play, just as you want to. Though you still need to wear ear plugs when you take your baths, to make sure we don’t hurt anything.” He told this to both Alex and his parents. Then he left and they took him to the park as they had promised.
After such a bad experience with the tree, Alex decided to stick closer to the ground. He still loved to ride horses, both his own and Megan’s, but as far as trees went, he stuck to what he had promised, and even when he was much older the thought of climbing trees never crossed his mind. For now though he was happy to be back to normal, back at school, and back to being a little boy with out limits set on the things he could do.
THE END