Page 29 of Operation: Discovery

“Yes, go ahead. I’m glad you’re working with Sam. He is calm and quiet and he’s also the one who has helped me the most with my chair maintenance. He knows what to do, what to say, and when to step back. I think you’ll appreciate working with him.”

She shrugged. “The only thing that would be better is if he were a woman.” Rebecca slowly turned her chair to face the door, then left.

Not a minute later, Lacy’s head appeared in his doorway. “Did I catch you at a good time?”

“Yes, come in.” He waved her inside, still wishing Dee would find him. He might have to go out and see what was keeping her busy.

“I talked to Connor this morning and at the evening meeting last night he said that you’d requested that I look for a patron who would donate a chair for Rebecca. I combed through my database of people we contact when we’re in need. I may have found a donor. I just have to call and see if they’re willing. If not, I’ll have to keep trying.”

Brendon wrote down the information in Rebecca’s chart. That was the first good news he’d gotten in two days, so hopefully the positives would keep on coming.

* * *

Dee felta slight buzz in her pocket and tugged her phone from the front of her shirt. Rebecca’s text was short enough to read without opening her phone.

Hey,can you help me? I’m stuck in front of the house.

Instead of takingthe time to answer, Dee headed from the kitchen where she’d been talking to Victoria out the few feet to the door. Rebecca was still in the shade of the porch overhang, but her wheel was stuck between two of the boards.

“How did you get turned sideways?” Dee chuckled to hopefully lighten the situation so Rebecca wouldn’t feel condemned.

Rebecca snorted. “I was trying to turn around. I’d forgotten to get a long-sleeved shirt from my room. Now I’m late to meet Sam. I don’t have his number yet to let him know I was stuck.”

Her elderly patients didn’t find themselves in such predicaments. How could she leverage the chair out of the tight rut without tipping it to the side or back? Pushing it might get it loose, but she’d have to push hard and if she did that, she risked pushing too hard and shoving Rebecca right into the railing. Dee stopped to consider the best option as Moira and Adam waved at them from across the grass.

“Oh, please get me out. I’m not ready for more conversation,” Rebecca hissed under her breath.

“I’ve got you.” Dee gripped the bar, glad that it was a solid push bar and not the usual handles. “I’m going to have to tip you slightly to get the front wheels misaligned with the back, then lift the back wheels out of the rut.”

“Are you sure? I’ll be too heavy.” Rebecca sighed. “Why do things like this have to happen?”

Dee didn’t want her to sit there worrying and questioning, so in a few quick controlled movements, she got her loose. “There, you’re free.”

“Thank you,” Rebecca whispered as she quickly rolled her chair away.

Moira stopped by the stairs and shielded her eyes from the sun. “It’s so beautiful out here. We don’t get this in town. Thank you so much for inviting us to stay out here. I don’t know how we’ll ever repay this kindness.”

Dee invited her to sit in the rocking chairs that ran all along the front of the house. Moira chose one seat and Dee chose one next to her while Adam raced around in the grass, picking up sticks and other things he found. It struck her that he was probably used to making do with whatever was around to occupy him. He didn’t seem to care about video games or television shows.

As much as Dee wanted to ask about the day before, what had happened and what Moira had noticed, she wasn’t an investigator. There was no easy way to bring up her questions without sounding insensitive and nosy. “I’m glad you’re able to relax after such an awful experience.”

“Adam woke up screaming this morning.” Moira flinched. “I’ve never heard anything like that.”

Dee frowned in commiseration. Maybe just listening would be enough to find out what she hoped to learn. “He went through a lot. Does he remember any of it?”

Moira shook her head. “Not most of it. He remembers that they said they needed to check his blood sugar before they could give him his shots. He remembered that because they had never done that at the regular clinic. They poked his finger, then left him alone. When they came back, they told him they needed to put him up on the bed so that he would sit still for the shot.” Moira closed her eyes.

Dee waited, partly hoping she would continue, partly wanting to keep the truth outside of her own consciousness. Moira turned to look at her. “Thank you for listening. I just needed to talk to someone who wouldn’t judge me. Maybe they don’t really, but every time I replay the scene in my head, I feel it. Why did I let my son be separated from me? Why didn’t I question what was going on sooner? How could I have been so stupid?” She shook her head slowly as she leaned forward, her shoulders rounded in defeat. “I can’t tell you how often I’ve gone over what I did in my head. I wish I had done things differently. But when you’re put down for questioning things, you stop questioning anything.”

After being in the military in a medical capacity for a few years, she could understand the sentiment. In the military, you didn’t ask questions, you followed orders. “I don’t think you’re stupid. I was fooled by those signs. We were there because I’d asked Brendon to come with me. I wanted to give blood.”

Moira nodded. “I saw them pricking some of the adults with that same blood test that Adam told me about. I wonder what they were doing with that information. I’ve never had a nurse do that when I’ve given blood in the past.”

“I’ve never seen that either.” She tried to think of why they would need that information.

“Actually, it was odd. They took more than one drop. Usually, with a glucose test, they need one drop. For this, they were filling these little squeeze pipettes, labeling them with our names, then taking them in the back.”

Dee’s chest constricted and she closed her eyes. “How long did it take for them to return to the patients they’d tested?”

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