CHAPTER 4

"Is he out yet?"

"You just asked me that five minutes ago." Said the young woman at the receptionist's desk. She liked the strange young man with the heavy accent and she felt sorry for him. The poor thing was so worried about his friend. It was sweet to see a man willing to show such tender emotion. However, his constant nagging was beginning to get tiresome. "I'll tell you as soon they call. I promise."

Balki managed to muster up a small smile. "Thank you." He turned and went back to his seat. He bowed his head and stared down at the speckled linoleum floor. What's taking so long? What could they possibly be doing to him?

"Bartokomous?"

Balki looked up at the sound of his boss's voice. "Mr. Gorply?"

Sam Gorply stood before him clad in a suit and tie and cradling his left arm. His hand was various shades of purples and blues and was about twice the size it should have been.

"What happen to your hand?" Balki asked in concern.

"Got slammed in a car door." He remarked casually, then rolled his eyes and said. "Pfff! Women! They take offense at anything." As if that was supposed to explain something. "What about you? What are you doing here? And where's Appleton? Aren't you two joined at the hip?"

Balki glanced down at his hip in confusion but decided it wasn't worth pursuing. He swallowed hard, trying to keep his voice from cracking. "Cousin Larry's in surgery."

"Really?" Gorply sat down beside Balki. There was no concern in his voice, only morbid curiosity. "What for?"

"He's having an app…an append…" Balki frowned, trying to wrap his tongue around the word. "

"Appendectomy?"

"Yeah, that. The doctor say it's a minor operation, but I really don't see what music have to do with anything. But I trust him. After all, he did take the hypocritical oath."

Gorply rolled his eyes. This was, indeed, the stupidest man he had ever met. "He meant minor as in simple, routine." He explained.

"Oh." Balki let out a small sigh of relief.

"Of course he was just saying that so you wouldn't panic."

"What you mean?"

Gorply grinned. This was going to be so much fun. "They didn't explain the procedure to you?"

"Of course they did, don' be ridiculous. The doctor say they are going to remove his index."

"That's 'appendix'." Gorply corrected. "But do you know how they remove it?"

Balki frowned. "He said something about an envision in the abnormal cavity. But I couldn't make heads or nails out of it." The immigrant paused for a long moment then looked up at his boss hopefully. "Do you know what it means?"

"Of course."

"Please tell me. I want to know what they're doing to Cousin Larry."

"Well, first they'll lay him out on this cold metal table. Then they take a scalpel…" He paused for a second and shrugged. "Ah, let's just call it what it is. They take a razor sharp knife," He couldn't hide a chuckle as Balki's eyes widened and his mouth dropped.

"Knife?" He asked in a hoarse whisper.

Gorply gave a curt nod. "Knife." He held up a fist as if holding a blade in his hand. "They'll take this big knife and slice his side open." With his uninjured hand he graphically gestured a stabbing and slicing motion.

Balki took in a horrified gasp and his face paled.

"Then they reach in grab his appendix, which is one of his organs, and hack it out."

Balki's hand went to his chest and he let out a small chocking sound and looked as if he were about to faint.

"Then they sew up the hole with a big curved needle." He held his index finger up in the shape of a hook.

Balki fairly leapt from his seat. "I can't let them do that to Cousin Larry!"

"Pipe down, Bartokomous. It has to be done." Gorply ordered curtly.

"But…but that's such a horrible thing. Why would they do this?"

"Because it would be much worse if they didn't."

"How could anything possibly be worse than that?" The distraught young man was on the verge of shouting.

"Well, your appendix is this little thing in your side about yay big." He held his fingers about two inches apart. "Usually it doesn't do much but sometimes, like in Appleton's case it gets filled with poison and swells up giving you the feeling that somebody is shoving a red hot poker into your side."

Balki took in a sharp breath and his hand moved to his side. No wonder his cousin had been in so much pain!

"And if they don't cut it out, it'll explode like a balloon and release all that poison into his body."

"So…so that why they have to make a surgery on him?" He swallowed hard, a tiny bit of hope creeping into his voice. "And that will make him better?"

"You never know about these things. It might work and it might not." Gorply said with what appeared to be an indifferent shrug.

"What…what you mean by that?"

"Well, sometimes the appendix will burst right there on the operating table. And you can probably guess what happens then."

Balki's hands balled into fists and tears rimmed his eyes. "This is all my fault!"

Gorply gazed at the Mypiot incredulously. "Your fault? How is this your fault?"

"I fix a Myposian dinner for him. And…and…" His accented voice began to crack uncontrollably. "…and I didn't know the chicken tongue went bad!!"

Gorply's nose scrunched in startled disgust, completely unmoved by the raw emotion before him. "Chicken tongue?"

"He always tell me he don't want Myposian food. Why I don't listen?!"

"Chicken tongue?" Gorply repeated. "You fed your cousin chicken tongue?"

Balki bowed his head and nodded.

After he had shook of the genuine surprise he spoke with as grave a voice as he could manage. "Don't you know that the misuse of chicken tongue is one of the leading causes of appendicitis?"

"Oh, Cousin, what have I done!" With a devastated sob Balki dropped his head into his hands.

Gorply looked down at the man sitting beside him and chuckled. He had taken a dislike to Balki the moment he had met him. Of course, he disliked most everybody, but the young foreigner especially so. The man was just too happy. Now, seeing him so disheveled and sobbing like a child gave him a deep satisfaction. Finally the idiot Mypiot was just as miserable as everybody else.

"Samuel Gorply." Called a nurse with a clipboard.

He stood, then turned to Balki. "By the way, nice PJs Bartokomous." He was still laughing as he approached the nurse.

The young woman with dark hair and a nametag that read 'Violet' gave him a funny look. "You sure are in a good mood for someone who just broke his hand."

"Ah, it's great to have a hobby." He remarked with a cryptically evil grin.

Balki sat doubled over with his face buried in his folded arms, which in turn, rested on his knees. Tears soon soaked his sleeves, turning the blue fabric a deep navy. His breath began to come in wavering gasps. The guilt was so overpowering he was certain that Comradriki, the Myposian god of friendship, had stabbed him in the heart with his Spoon of Familiarity as punishment for what he had done.

"Oh, Cousin," His voice cracked through the tears. "If you just get well I…I promise never to make Myposian food again! Just please…please get better."

He didn't know how long he had sat there in that position when a hand touched him gently on the shoulder. "Mr. Bartokomous."

Balki tried to wipe the tears from his face as he sat up to see a lovely woman with dark eyes, a mop of long curly hair and an expression of gentle concern. "Mr. Appleton is out of surgery."

He was instantly on his feet. "Is he alright? Can I see him?"

She gave him a smile that radiated reassurance. "He's going to be fine. And yes you can see him."

"Cousin?" Balki said softly as he stepped into the hospital room, this time one with real walls instead of a curtain. Larry lay quietly in the bed, his eyes closed and breathing evenly. His brown hair, although still an uncombed tangle of curls, was no longer wet from perspiration.

"The anesthesia hasn't worn off yet." The nurse said as Balki slowly approached the bed.

"Cousin?" He gently touched his cousin's forehead with the back of his fingers. He was instantly disturbed by Larry's lack of response. "But you said he's fine. Then why he is not awake yet?"

The nurse cocked her head a bit in confusion. Maybe he had not heard her. "The anesthesia hasn't worn of yet." She repeated.

Balki looked up with a perplexed frown. "What do a princess who lose her memory have to do with my cousin?"

The nurse blinked rapidly, the confusion on her face apparent. Suddenly her eyes widened in understanding. "Ooh. No." She shook her head, bouncing her nearly black curls around her face. "Anesthesia is something we gave Mr. Appleton so he would be asleep during the surgery. And he hasn't woke up from it yet."

Balki stared down at his friend's slack face. "When he wake up?"

"I'm not sure." She said honestly. "It's different with everybody." After a moment's pause she turned toward the door. "I have to go now."

"Thank you." Balki pulled her into a gracious embrace.

After overcoming her surprise at the uninitiated contact she patted him lightly on the back. "You're welcome."

After she left Balki moved over to the bed and pulled up a chair. When Larry woke up he was going to be there. He leaned on the bed and ran a hand through his cousin's hair, talking to him quietly. "That nice lady say that you are going to be fine." He swallowed hard. He was still afraid. And he knew he would be until Larry was awake and well.

It wasn't long before his eyelids began to get heavy and he found it increasingly difficult to keep his head up. The stress, lack of sleep and crying had left him physically and emotionally exhausted. He tried to fight it. He had to be there when his cousin woke up. But try as he might he slowly lost the battle, fatigue took over and soon he was fast asleep.