Page 49 of Soar

Someone did something stupid.

Unfortunately, it was a real possibility.

First surgeries of the day—generally speaking, about seven a.m.—they rarely had this problem. Kids were brought in about five a.m., and breakfast wasn’t really a thing so early in the morning, so it wasn’t a struggle to keep the kid from eating anything before surgery. But this surgery was at two p.m.—a whole different ballgame. Kid got hungry, parents often tried to sneak a snack in or something, and if they weren’t caught by a nurse? Then real trouble came crashing in.

Like now.

Salem wasn’t certain that was what had happened here, but he unfortunately saw it far too often, so the chances were good. Snarling, he whirled around, heading for the door. Over his shoulder, he snapped out orders.

“Clean her up, get her into a room, monitor her closely. I do not want anyone leaving her side for more than two minutesuntil we’re sure she’s out of the woods. Tren, with me. We’re getting to the bottom of this.”

“Oh, I’m right with you.” Tren cracked her neck to either side, anger creeping into her voice. “I’mma bitch slap someone if they did feed her.”

“Only if you beat me to it.”

Salem took off his gloves and tossed them in the can, removing the outer surgical gown but not bothering to change beyond that as he speed-walked down the hallway and into the waiting area. There were several anxious parents waiting on news of their children, and he had no true recollection of Clarissa’s parents, having only met them briefly for five minutes.

He stopped in the doorway of the waiting area and called out, “Clarissa Anderson’s parents?”

Three people responded immediately. Unless he missed his guess, it was mother, father, and grandmother. Or at least, the ages looked about right. The blonde woman in jeans and a sweatshirt had to be related to the grandmother, as they had similar heart-shaped faces, their blue eyes a perfect match for each other. Clarissa took after her father with her dark brown hair and olive skin tone.

“Is she all right?” the mother demanded, nearly running for him. “You just went into surgery, it was supposed to be longer than this, right?”

He had no interest in answering her questions until he had an answer for his own. “Did you feed her?”

The mother stopped dead in front of him, baffled. “No, of course not. She didn’t even get a sip of water after midnight. Did something happen?!”

So she hadn’t done anything. But the grandmother had gone deathly pale, cringing with guilt, and Salem had a feeling he knew what had happened.

His attention zeroed in on her. “What did you feed her and when?”

“It-it was just a granola bar,” the grandmother stammered, her voice reedy and thin. “She was so hungry, and?—”

The mother whipped around, aghast and spluttering. “Mom! What the fuck is wrong with you?”

The father started muttering in Italian, sounding disgusted. Also distraught. He switched to English to demand, “My daughter is fine?”

“No. No, she’s not. She damn near died on the table.” Tren muscled in closer to face the grandmother down, body language saying she wasthisclose to pushing up sleeves and starting a fight. “We nearly lost her. We nearly had a dead child on our hands becauseyoucouldn’t follow simple instructions.”

Clarissa’s mother latched on to Salem, eyes pleading. “Tell me she’s alive.”

“She’s alive.” Something he was glad to say. “Tren’s correct in it was a damn near thing, but she is alive.”

“Tell me exactly what happened.”

It was a demand he was willing to respond to because the grandmother needed a wake-up call. “She stopped breathing, heart stopped, literally all life functions were shutting down.” The next part he delivered while staring at the grandmother, who was looking quite corpse-like. “That’s why we say no food before a surgery. The body goes into shock and often there’s precious little we can do to reverse the situation if the child crashes. Fortunately, CPR got her back to breathing. I have a nurse watching her closely until we’re sure she’s out of the woods. I’ll let you two back in there shortly so you can sit with her as well. But you?” Salem looked at the grandmother. “You don’t see her at all until she’s out of this hospital.”

“Not even then,” Mom snarled at her own mother. “Get out. Now. Do not try to contact us before we call you. It might beyears before you get to see Clarissa again. I’ve had it with your stupidity.”

The tears were overflowing. “She-she was just hungry. I was only?—”

“Out!” the father snapped at her. “Now!”

Salem didn’t blame him for the outburst. He shared in the anger.

Tren took it a step further, signaling hospital security and having her escorted out. The grandmother cried and wailed the entire way, but no one had sympathy for her.

“I am so sorry.” Clarissa’s mom had tears ready to fall. “My mother has always been stupid with anything medical. She tries to sneak Clarissa cookies all the time too, despite Clarissa being a severe celiac. It’s been a nightmare. Please, please tell me you can still do the surgery.”

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