Page 48 (1/1)

"Thanks"

She pulled the curtain along its track, shielding hi in the hall He waited until she was gone and then rolled to his left and angled his penis into the opening of the urinal Despite his best intentions, nothing would co else, but the only thing he could think about was his need for relief He would have laughed if the need to pee hadn’t been so i si infertility treatments and he was asked to ejaculate into a cup so his sperm could be examined under a microscope and then washed before each of the five fruitless intrauterine inse his bladder would relent A pointless enterprise He gave up for thethe nurses’ station Fifteen minutes passed before the aide appeared She palpated his abdomen and then went to consult a nurse, who returned to the room accompanied by a student nurse She had a catheterization packet with her, and she opened it and took out the Foley, a pair of latex gloves, and a packet of lubricant She viewed the situation as a teaching opportunity She grasped his penis and explained how to pass the Foley into the bladder by way of his urethra

"I hope you don’t mind," she said to hiet on with it, his bladder would burst He only half listened, distancing hi on

"The size of a Foley is indicated in French units," she was saying to the student nurse "The most common sizes are 10 F to 28 F; 1 F is equivalent to 033 millimeters or 013 inches, 1/77th of an inch in diameter"

After she instructed the student nurse in the proper technique, she encouraged her to try her hand at it The girl was apologetic Her fingers were ice cold and tre After two failed attempts, the nurse took over and inserted the catheter with remarkable efficiency The relief was a , but he was already converting it to an a anecdote he’d tell at the next cocktail party

He finally h he akened four tins, once when the pain in his ribs became insistent and he had to ask for medication, and once because an aide ca he was soht he realized Blake Barrigan, the shit, had never stopped by

At 8:30 the next ured she’d just dropped Fletcher and Linnie off at preschool At least he was alert now and fully awake, though he still drew a blank when it came to the accident He knew they had top-notch insurance coverage, so he wasn’t worried about the expense It was the hassle of paperwork and the inconvenience of being without transportation until he picked up a rental car The headache was creeping up again, starting at the base of his skull

Carolyn took off her coat and placed it over the arister the fact she wasn’t looking at hiry she was Carolyn was ordinarily easygoing, but once in a while so set her off and then there was hell to pay This e

"Is so he kneould follow He had no idea what she was so pissed off about, but if he didn’t ask now, she’d freeze hian didn’t stop by last night to bring you up to speed," she said

Fleetingly, he thought Blake’s being reht explain her attitude Carolyn took these h standards for herself and she expected others to anticipate her requirely If Blake said he’d stop by, then by god, he’d better do it

Walker said, "Not that I’ical floor--"

"You killed a girl"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard what I said"

In a flash, he felt his body disconnect from his soul, like a caboose uncoupled and left behind on the track as the rest of the trainin one corner of the roo down on himself He could see the expression of bewilderment on his face He could see the crooked part in Carolyn’s hair, her features foreshortened from his perspective For a moment, he wondered if he’d died Actually, he hoped he had because what she’d told him was too horrendous to absorb His mouth was so dry he couldn’t muster speech