Page 28 of Protect

Opp

You realize by saying that you’re actually just making me picture Scottie reading porn.

Cal

You realize by saying that you’re asking for an ass kicking

Cal sends through an image of himself and Roycie flipping Opp the bird. Behind them it’s smoky and charred. They’re still in the mountains near Skykomish, onsite still fighting the fire I was on two days ago. Opp sends a pic back of him sitting on a tree stump eating from a brown paper bag with a big old grin. They’re filthy, they look exhausted, and the pang of jealousy that flows through me is unstoppable. Even burned and battered, I wish I was there with them.

I hate that I’m not out there.

Cal

That’s why we put some tissues in there, in case you miss us.

I’ve cried so much I already went through the box.

Opp

He’s using the tissues for his tears? That’s what we’re going with?

I call bullshit. You’ve got that copy of Wicked under your covers, stop lying.

Sup

You know you aren’t supposed to do that when you’re in the hospital right?

Optimal time to pop in, Sup.

Opp

I mean a guy gets bored. I get it.

Cal

You can only watch so much TV.

Fuckers.

“How’s your pain?” my day nurse, Bonnie, asks me. She’s been here the last two days and she’s the little grandmotherly type. Her eyes are kind and her deep brown skin is weathered. She told me she’s been a nurse for thirty years and is about to retire. You get to know someone when you’re one of only three patients in the unit.

“Could use a little more painkillers, if I’m being honest,” I tell her

“We don’t want to give you any more if we don’t have to. Hydromorphone is no joke, we’ll be discontinuing your pump and starting you on oral meds for pain soon,” Bonnie says, pushing her big-rimmed glasses up on her nose with one finger.

I nod. “Yeah, I want to stay clear headed.” I look at the clock. 6:45. I know Vi is coming in soon, if she isn’t already here. I think she spent last night mostly checking on me when I was sleeping, and I’ll admit that I slept through a lot of it. I was wrecked after being in the field for days.

“We’ll start to wean you down over the next few days. The first five days are the worst.”

“Yeah,” I agree, but know firsthand that’s not exactly true. I’ve been through this before. Not to this extent but I know my skin is still blistering as we speak. It won’t be pain free for ten days at least, but it should get a little better every day.

“Looks like your dinner is here,” Bonnie says, checking my saline and my drip. “Eat up and get some sleep tonight. It’s pretty quiet in here right now.” She nods to the space where the guy who was talking in his sleep used to be and she grins, knowing he was loud as fuck. He left last night, which is why I slept.

“How’s our patient?” Violette pops her head in my door, avoiding my eyes and speaks directly to Bonnie. Bonnie looks at me.

“Well, he smells a little better, he got washed up and got one of those fancy new hydro baths today. We’ll probably put him in that every few days or so. Good news is, Doc doesn’t think he’s gonna need any grafting at all.”

I heard all about how lucky I was to get this new therapy when they took me down, apparently it’s relatively new to this unit.

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