Mother Hen Murray
By Janet Brayden
Murray Bozinsky check the thermometer he held in his hand.
"Still 100.3, Cody," he told his friend. "Have you been taking you medication? Your temperature should have come down by now."
"Yes," Cody croaked.
"Hmm." The slender, bespectacled younger man wasn't quite sure he believed that. "Where's your prescription bottle?"
Cody pointed to the shelf between his and Nick's bunks. Murray took it off the shelf and studied the label.
"Take two tablets three times a day," he read.
Removing the top and shaking the bottle he found that there were too many pills remaining for Cody to have been taking his antibiotics as instructed.
"So you've been taking your medication, eh?"
"Murray, I…"
Whatever Cody was going to say was cut off by the arrival of the third partner in the riptide Detective Agency – Nick Ryder.
At the sound of his "hi guys" Murray turned around and was shocked by Nick's appearance. The brunet was limping, his jeans were heavily smudged with dirt, grass stains and something else that Murray couldn't readily identify. His shirt was ripped – one sleeve almost completely torn off. On top of this he had a split lip and the beginnings of a black eye.
"What in the world happened to you?" Murray asked.
"I had a little accident is all," Nick brushed off his concern.
"You look like you ran into a buzz saw, as Cayce would say," Cody commented before losing his voice again.
"I was tossing a football around with some kids a few streets over from the pier," Nick explained. "One of them missed a toss and the ball landed in some lady's flower bed."
"You mean to tell me," Cody jibed, "that a little old lady hit you and gave you that shiner?"
"And the same little old lady gave you that fat lip?" Murray chimed in.
"She wasn't little or old!" Nick stated vehemently. "She's an Amazon!"
"Nick!" Murray's tone was chiding. "You don't mean that."
"Yes, I do!" the Italian exclaimed. "She's about seven feet tall – I'm not kidding!"
Cody looked at him skeptically. "You want us to believe that a seven foot tall woman gave you that black eye – and the split lip?"
"No. She didn't give me the black eye or the split lip. That was her husband. He's even bigger than she is!" was the defensive reply.
"If he gave you the shiner and the split lip," Cody asked 'How'd you hurt your leg?"
Nick blushed furiously and mumbled something under his breath.
"What was that Nick?" Murray asked.
"I said I tripped over a fence and fell."
'You tripped over a fence?" Cody was astounded and it was difficult not to laugh. His moustache twitched as he struggled for control. A brief coughing spell saved him from Nick's wrath.
Nick sat on his bunk and sighed. A fun day had turned into a disaster. With his partner, and best friend, down with pneumonia – though better than he had been – the agency had shut down except for the computer work that Murray could do.
Cody and Boz had urged Nick, who had been hovering for a week now, to go off and have some fun. Nick, wandering the area had fallen in with the teens. The rest, as they say, was history. The ball had landed in the woman's flower bed which upset her and made her husband angry. In trying to escape the altercation that ensued Nick had tripped over the ankle high fence that bordered the flower garden. He'd twisted his knee in the fall but it didn't stop him from beating a hasty retreat once he got to his feet. The husband was inches taller and pounds heavier and Nick had no desire to continue a fight he hadn't started.
Cody lay back in his bunk and Nick followed suit - dozing off for a few minutes. A gentle touch and Murray's voice woke him.
"Sit up, Nick," the computer whiz said. "I want to clean that cut lip and the scrape on the side of your face."
The youngest detective had gone into the bathroom for the alcohol and some cotton balls. He'd gotten a basin with some hot water and a washcloth as well. Then he'd gone to the galley and gotten some fresh ice cubes which he placed in their ice bag. The tempting aroma of chicken soup, simmering on the stove, wafted down the stairs. Boz was in full mother hen mode.
"Ow! Murray that hurts!" Nick complained as Boz applied the alcohol to his lip and the scrape.
"That means it's working," the thin man said, calmly ignoring his friend's complaint.
Murray made quick work of treating Nick's facial injuries then made him lie back with the ice bag on his eye.
"At least there's no broken nose this time," Murray said.
He left the cabin that Cody and Nick shared to dispose of the trash and the water. He wrung out the wash cloth before hanging it to dry – it would go in the laundry later.
Returning to the galley he dished up three bowls of soup and placed them on a tray along with spoons and napkins. He added two glasses of iced tea and one of juice and returned to the cabin below – miraculously without stumbling or spilling anything.
When they had finished and he and Nick had assured themselves that Cody had taken his medication – he took the dirty dishes back to the galley and cleaned up.
When he was through he went below and found both partners sound asleep in their bunks.
Murray retreated to his own cabin content that his mother hen skills had been up to the job at hand. In the morning, Nick would be sore and probably his eye would be swollen shut but he could take over Cody's cared while he, Murray, finished the background checks he'd promised a couple of clients.