Chapter 5

Recovery

Stephanie's Mom was at the hospital every evening for an hour between her two jobs. Stephanie was always happy to see her walk through the door, but it was heart-wrenching when she had to leave. Roy and Johnny kept their word and visited every chance they got. Dixie, the Emergency room nurse, kept her word as well and stopped by from time to time. Stephanie was grateful each time someone visited and she found that with the care of the hospital staff she wasn't alone for very long. Whenever Roy and Dixie stopped by they always brought her apple juice, and she was starting to get a little sick of it.

Three days after her surgery the doctors told her she was ready to go home. Her mother took the day off from her morning job, which was cleaning motel rooms at Motel 6, so she could pick her up and then stay with her for awhile to make sure she was settled in at home. As the nurse was pushing Stephanie out in a wheelchair, Roy and Johnny rounded the corner to say goodbye.

"Mom," Stephanie said. "This is Roy and Johnny; they are the two paramedics that got me to the hospital."Amy Mason stepped over to the two men and shook their hands.

"Thank you so much," she said as tears began to show at the corners of her eyes.

"No problem," Johnny said. "That's what we get paid to do." Roy gave Johnny a glare.

"We also enjoy helping people and we're glad that we could be there for Stephanie when she needed us," he said.

"Oh yeah, what Roy said," Johnny said quickly, almost jabbering.

"Mrs. Mason If it's alright with you, we would like to give Stephanie the phone number for our station, Station Fifty-one, so she can call if she should need help or even just to talk to someone," Roy said. Mrs. Mason turned to look at Stephanie to see what she thought about that idea. Stephanie was looking back at her mother with a big smile on her face. It was clear to all that she liked the idea.

After Stephanie and her mother got home, her mother settled her into the bed and brought her some orange juice. Then, with a note pad and pencil, she sat down on the edge of the bed and explained to her when she was to take her pain medication and how much to take. She told her to make sure she wrote down when she took her medicine each time she took some, that way she could make sure that it had been at least four hours since the last dose was taken. That taken care of, Stephanie's mother relaxed and lay down on the other side of the bed. The two talked and giggled together until it was almost time for her to go to work.

Amy quickly fixed Stephanie some dinner, brought it to her and then kissed her on the forehead before leaving. She made sure to lock the door behind her. Soon after her mother had left, Stephanie climbed out of the bed, moved into the reclining chair, picked up a book and began to read.

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When Amy returned home from work that night she found Stephanie in their bed asleep. Not wanting to bump her during the night she picked up a blanket and went to the recliner to sleep.

The next morning, when Stephanie woke up and realized what her mother had done, she asked, "Why didn't you come to bed last night?"

"I didn't want to disturb you dear," Amy told her, not wanting to make a big deal out of it.

"Mom, we have shared a bed for as long as I can remember. Not having you there would be more disturbing."

"What if I bumped your side?" Amy pointed out. "Then you would have been in pain and not able to sleep."

"Mom, if that worries you so much, then I'll sleep in the chair and you can have the bed," Stephanie suggested.

"No, that's okay Steph, it will only be for a few days, and then we can get back to normal."

"No, mother!" Stephanie exclaimed. "You work two jobs every day. You need to get a good night sleep more than I do. If I don't sleep well during the night, I can make up for it while you're at work." Amy turned to look at her daughter. Stephanie was all she had and she wished that she could give her more. It had torn Amy apart when the paramedic had called her at work to tell her that her daughter was ill and that they were going to take her to the Emergency room. There were many things she wished she could give her daughter, but the one she wished for the most was to be able to be there for her daughter when she needed her most. However that wasn't possible if they were to have food on the table and a roof over their heads.

"Don't worry about that now, Steph," Amy said. "We can talk about that tonight when I get home." Stephanie knew that her mother was just putting it off in hopes that she wouldn't have to discuss it when she got home. She sighed and looked at her mother.

"I love you Mom and I worry about you. You work so hard."

"I'm okay Steph," her mother said, using the same tone of voice she used when she wanted an end to the discussion. Stephanie relented, and Amy kissed her on the forehead before leaving the apartment, locking the door behind her. Stephanie had gotten a bit worked up worrying about her mother. She was frustrated and didn't know what to do to ensure that her mother got the quality night's sleep that she needed. The more she thought about it the more frustrated she became. Finally, she decided that she needed to talk with someone, anyone, to help her work out a situation to her dilemma.

Stephanie picked up the card Roy had given her at the hospital. "He said I could call if I needed anything…even just to talk." She picked up the phone and dialed the number, sitting down at the table. It only took two rings before someone on the other end picked up.

"Los Angeles County Fire Department, Station Fifty-one. This is Captain McGuire. How can I help?" The voice asked. Stephanie almost hung up the phone. Instead, she spoke quickly.

"Is Roy available to come to the phone?"

"No I'm sorry, he's not in today," Captain McGuire replied. "Can I help you?"

"No, that's okay," Stephanie said, and then a thought popped into her head. "This isn't an emergency," she quickly explained.

"That's always good to hear," the Captain responded, a bit of humor evident in his voice. Stephanie was just about to say goodbye when she realized that it would be good to know what Roy's work schedule was. That way, if she tried to call again she wouldn't be disturbing anyone else.

"When is Roy going to be back?" she inquired.

"Roy's next shift starts tomorrow morning," the Captain answered. "Would you like to leave a message for him?" Stephanie wasn't sure that was a good idea. After a few moments of silence the Captain spoke up. "Hello? Are you still there?"

"Yes," Stephanie quickly answered. "I don't think a message will be necessary." She said goodbye and was about to hang up the phone when Captain McGuire spoke again.

"Can I tell Roy who called?"

"Steph," Stephanie quickly said, and hung up the phone. She felt stupid for calling. This was her problem and she shouldn't need someone else to help her solve it. She vowed that she wouldn't call again.

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Back at Station Fifty-one, Captain McGuire kept thinking about the phone call he had answered from the young lady. He wondered whether he should give Roy a call and tell him or if he should just forget about it and let the girl call back tomorrow, when Roy was on shift. He had dismissed the thought to call Roy several times, but it kept returning to his thoughts, so finally he gave in and called Roy at home.

"Hi Roy, this is Captain McGuire."

"Hi Cap, what can I do for you?" Roy asked. He wondered why the captain from C shift was calling him. The first thought that came to mind was that one of their paramedics had been injured and they wanted him to come in early. "Has something happened to Brian or Toby?"

"No, everything is fine here. I got a call this morning from a young lady by the name of Steph," Captain McGuire explained. "She wanted to talk to you but she didn't want to leave a message. It's been nagging me all morning long, so I decided to call you and tell you about it."

"Thanks Cap," Roy answered. "I'm glad you did. I'll take care of it."

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Later that afternoon, Stephanie was sleeping when there was a knock at the door that woke her. "Who could that be?" she asked herself. She slowly made her way to the door and asked, "Who is it?"

"Roy DeSoto." Stephanie opened the door a crack and peeked around the door. Upon seeing Roy's friendly face looking back at her she opened the door all the way.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighborhood and thought I would stop by and see how you were doing," Roy replied. "Is everything going okay?"

"Yes," was all Stephanie said, as she stepped back and allowed Roy to enter.

"That's good. How's your Mom doing?" he asked, giving her a smile. Stephanie turned her back to Roy, and walked over to the recliner. She gingerly lowered herself into the big chair and wiped at the tears that were now spilling down her face. Roy followed Stephanie, and when he came around to face her, he noticed her tears. "Hey now, what's the matter?" he asked, as he knelt down next to the chair and reached out to take her hand.

"I'm worried about my Mom," Stephanie said, trying to stifle the squeak in her voice, with little success.

"Is she sick or something?" Roy asked.

"No, not yet," Stephanie answered with a sniff. Then she quickly explained about her mother's fear of hurting her during the night because they shared the same bed. "She's sleeping in the chair instead of coming to bed. You see, my Mom works two jobs. In the morning, she works at Motel 6 until three in the afternoon. Then she comes home, changes clothes, eats dinner and then she's off to her second job at Frankie's where she works until eleven at night. She needs to get her sleep or she'll get sick." More tears began to roll down her face.

Roy listened as Stephanie ranted on about her fears and concerns, nodding from time to time to let her know that he understood. Finally, after she had finished venting all her frustrations, Roy spoke.

"If you were asleep in the chair when she comes home, then she will either have to wake you up or go to bed to sleep."Stephanie was dumbstruck. Why hadn't she thought of that? It was so simple. If she was asleep in the chair when her mother came home, her mother wouldn't wake her. She would simply go to sleep in the bed. Now she felt embarrassed.

"You must be thinking I'm a silly boo-hoo girl," she said, she turning away from Roy and beginning to cry even harder. "You must think I cry over any little problem." Then she turned back to Roy. "I'm sorry for all the tears. I don't know why I'm crying so much," She apologized, sobbing as she wiped away her tears. Roy took her hand again and patted it.

"I know why you are so emotional. Your body is still working hard to heal it's self. This makes you tire easier. With that fatigue, your mind becomes muddled and you're more prone to emotional outbursts." Stephanie thought it was such a relief to have some kind of understanding of her situation. That helped her to relax and feel a bit easier about her problems. She quickly thanked Roy for helping her out and told him she thought everything was going to be okay now, and that he didn't have to stay any longer. Roy smiled and stood up, reaching down to ruffle Stephanie's hair.

"I'm glad I could help," he said. Then he pulled a piece of paper out of his shirt pocket and handed it to her. "If you need to talk again, please call. This is my home number and my work schedule." Stephanie stood and took the paper from Roy. She walked him to the door and thanked him again. Then she watched him walk down the stairwell. She closed the door when he was out of sight and locked it, glad that she had a plan to get her Mother to sleep in the bed. She was also grateful for this new friend of the family.

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When Amy came home that night, she found Stephanie asleep in the recliner. A little smile came to her lips and she raised her head to the ceiling and whispered a little prayer. "Thank you, Father, for such a loving and obedient daughter." Amy knew that in this world of teenagers, Stephanie was a minority. She saw other girls her age at the Motel and at Frankie's and the only people they seemed to care about was themselves.