"So…you were a nurse before or somthin'?"
Melissa looked up from the black man's injured forearm, who she now knew as T-Dog. They had been apprehensive about her help at first, not knowing if she was trustworthy which was good; Mel woulda been worried if there hadn't been at least some hesitation on their part. The world wasn't what it used to be-strangers usually meant bad news nowadays.
They were currently sitting behind the old man, Dale's, RV. To get out of the sun and try to keep cool. Melissa gave a soft chuckle before going back to stitching him up. The injured guy, T-Dog, had managed to get an infection. She had told him as much, and also mentioned that if he didn't get medication or some kind of disinfectant on it, he'd be dead. He didn't put up any fight, or even acknowledge what she was telling him. He looked down right exhausted. He seemed to want to avoid the topic of his injury all together, and started asking her questions.
Melissa gave a soft laugh before answering T-Dog.
"I grew up with three brothers and a mother who was a nurse-I learned how to stitch up a person when I was 10." T-Dog raised his eyebrows at that. He hadn't expected that. Beside the two, they heard the older fellow with the fishing hat-Dale as he had introduced-laugh quietly.
"Sounds like a full house" He stated, squatting down and watching her work. Melissa snorted.
"With three boys and two girls and a dad who loved animals, you could say that." The two men laughed, T-Dog's strained as he fought the urge to flinch again. In the corner of her eye she could see Dale looked as if he had a question on the tip of his tongue, but decided against it. Melissa knew what the question was. She appreciated him not asking it.
Where was her family?
Gone or lost. She sighed.
"So, if you weren't a nurse, what were you then?" T-Dog asked. She understood the twenty questions-anything to get his mind off the pain. Melissa paused mid-stitch.
"College student. I was studying abroad in Europe and had just finished my senior thesis. I had just come back when everything happened."
"What were you studying?" Dale inquired.
"I was tryin' desperately to get my masters in Psychology." T-Dog's eyebrows shot up to his nonexistent hairline.
Before any more questions about her personal life before all this could be asked, Melissa piped up.
"What about you two, what things have y'all done since everything happened?"
The two looked at one another, then looked back over to me. Dale gave an airy laugh and patted T-Dog on the shoulder gently.
"You go on and tell her-may make the time go by faster. I need to go back to fixin' up the ol' RV."
And Dale walked off, going down the road a ways and looking through the engines. T-Dog looked over at Mel, giving her a short look as she kept on with what she was doin'.
"How long do ya got?" He asked. Melissa looked up at him and couldn't help the incredulous look she gave him.
"All the time in the world now."
"Alright then, I guess I should start when we came together at this quarry…"