Page 59 of A Life Imagined
Mathias pulled into the hospital car park and found a spot.Throngs of people were gathered by the entrance.He and Rayan were in for a long wait.
They took a seat in the crowded waiting room, and Mathias fought the urge for a cigarette.Two of his least favorite places in one day.What a fucking treat.
He glanced again at the wound on Rayan’s forehead.“The cops do that?”There’d be more than a letter of complaint coming their way if that was the case.
“No, it was… an accident.”
“Your boss seemed rattled.What happened out there?”
“The police got orders to start tearing things down.They closed the south end of the camp.”
“And you just happened to get caught in the fray?”
“I didn’t feel like playing nice.”
Mathias allowed himself a smile.“Attaboy.”
Rayan leaned back and closed his eyes, and Mathias jostled him with his shoulder.“Not until someone’s seen you.”
“I won’t fall asleep.”
“Famous last words.”
Rayan opened his eyes, and his mouth gave a slight tweak.“Keep me awake, then.Tell me a story.”
“You must think I’m easy.”
“Tell me about the time you lived in Paris or when you started out with the family.The first time you met Tony, anything.”
“I don’t do stories.”
“Then read one from here.”Rayan picked up a magazine from the pile on the table between them and handed it to Mathias.
Mathias flipped through.“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me… ‘I left my husband for my blind brother-in-law’?”
“Sounds like a winner.”
After what seemed like forever, a nurse holding a sheet of paper emerged from behind a set of swinging doors.“Mr.Ayari?”
Rayan stood, and Mathias followed him through the doors to a bustling room filled with curtained cubicles.The nurse gestured for Rayan to sit on an empty exam table and drew the curtain closed around them.
“Do you know what it was that hit you?”she asked, inspecting the gash with her gloved fingers.
“A rock, I think.”
“Someone threw a rock at you?”Mathias seethed.
“Pretty sure it wasn’t me he was throwing it at.”
The nurse checked him for signs of concussion then cleaned the wound and inspected it closely.“It’s quite deep.I will need to go ahead and close this up.”She placed a tray down on the edge of the table and retrieved a small syringe.“It’s just a local anesthetic.Do you have any allergies?”
Rayan shook his head.
The nurse pressed the needle of the syringe into the skin near the cut.“Give it a moment to kick in.”She disposed of the syringe and returned to the tray, where she began threading a surgical needle.When she was ready, the nurse leaned forward and pinched the skin around the wound with one hand.“This shouldn’t take too long.Bear with me, okay?”
Then, with the other hand, she gently inserted the needle.Rayan jolted, and his arm flew up, knocking her hands away.In her surprise, the nurse stepped backward and upended the tray, its contents clattering to the floor.
The color had drained from Rayan’s face, and his chest rose and fell rapidly.“Sorry.”
