Page 76 of Resilience

He hooked his arm around her shoulders, and they stepped up to be with their family again.

Two paramedics brought the gurney down, and Leah climbed down after it. Gunner lay on it, almost flat. Athena couldn’t tell if he was awake; she was too short to see around the people in front of her, or to see if anybody was talking. But the group shifted, parting so they could push Gunner to and through the wide automatic doors. Then the family fell in behind and walked into the hospital.

To her, it seemed almost like a funeral procession, and that freaked her out. She tugged on Sam’s hand. When she had his attention she asked, “How is he?”

Sam smiled. “Considering everything, he’s okay. He’s Uncle Gun, just without the constant motion.”

“Is he awake?”

“No. Aunt Leah just said he needed some pain meds. His upper back gets sore. His doctor in Nevada said he needs to build up his muscles more on top to ...” He paused for a second, then spelled out a long word. “C-O-M-P-E-N-S-A-T-E. I just realized I don’t know how to sign that word.”

Athena made the sign for balance, since that was pretty much a synonym for what he meant.

“Of course. Duh. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t know how to sign a word.”

He seemed freaked about that, so she assured him, “I don’t even know all the words in ASL, and I teach it. I don’t know all the words in English, either. I think that’s pretty normal for everybody but maybe linguists.”

Then she recalled what he’d just said and added, “The doctor told Uncle Gun he needed more muscles?” She couldn’t help but grin.

Sam grinned, too. “Yeah. It was a whole thing. He was pissed—and we’ve all been giving him shit about it since.”

“That makes me feel a lot better about him. That people are giving him shit like normal. It’s scary to see him tied to a gurney with a bunch of machines.”

“Yeah. He looked bad when I first saw him. And he has some shitty days. But he’s tough. He’ll be okay.” Sam looked around. “Hey, where’s Blanche?”

“I left her at home. I know she’s trained to be with me in crowds and chaos, but our training is still new, and the clubhouse has been a lot lately. I worry about her. Aunt Willa and Uncle Rad’s dogs don’t like her much. Besides, there are a zillion people around there to handle whatever I can’t hear.”

Sam nodded. “I get it.”

They were all in the waiting room now. Uncle Gun had been rolled through some big metal doors, and Aunt Leah, Aidan, and Larissa had gone with him.

As usual in a big group situation like this, Athena felt pretty lost. Several people—including both her parents—were signing as they spoke, a habit she knew they’d developed for her, but it was the visual equivalent of white noise. As she understood that concept, at least. There wasn’t enough context for her to make sense.

Sam understood and mainly kept his focus on her, but he couldn’t help his attention getting pulled by things he heard around them. At least he tried to keep a play-by-play going for her. But she was beyond relieved when Mom headed toward them. She looked serious but calm as she stopped before them.

“It’s going to take some time for Gun to get settled. We’re starting to figure out who’s staying here until he is, and who should head back to the clubhouse and get started on the party. Why don’t you two do the Costco run? That way you can have some time alone and still be helping out. I know you’ve got some things to talk about.”

“Dad, too?” Athena signed, hoping her mom understood her meaning.

“Yeah, Dad and I will talk, too. As soon as we get some time alone as well. Yeah?”

“Okay. Thanks. Who’s got the list?”

“Sage, I think. I’ll have her text it to you.”

“Is something going wrong?” Sam asked, looking back and forth between Athena and her mom. “With you, I mean?” he asked Athena.

Mom rose onto her toes and kissed Sam’s cheek. “You’re a good boy, Sam. I’m glad about you two. We all are.”

With that, she turned and walked away.

Sam frowned down at Athena. “Frosie? You okay?”

“Yeah. Of course. But yeah. There’s stuff to talk about. Alone.”

“Then let’s get alone.”

––––––––

---