"How long was I out?" Walter asked.

The man stood up, walked over, and handed Walter a baby wipes, which Walter used to wipe off the rest of his face. "You've been here for about 6 hours. You blacked out for about a minute in the hall. Got blood all over the carpet. Opened your eyes long enough to apologize, and then fell asleep on the cot. You've been conked out here since then." He stood in front of Walter. "What's your name?"

"Walter."

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen."

"Do you have any pets?"

"One pigeon named Lovey."

"Good job. You most likely suffered a severe concussion, but you recovered very quickly. Someone who showed symptoms as severe as yours were when you came in here shouldn't be able to answer one of those questions."

"Okay." Walter breathed a sigh of relief. At least he was ok.

"Of course, you'll have to take a month off of work."

"What?!" Walter jumped out of the cot, wincing at the stabs of pain the light gave his eyes. The nurse noticed his squinting.

"Don't do that. No sudden movements for a month or two. No driving around, no sports or inventing. You can only sit and recover. You must be gentle on yourself. Also, dimmed lights wherever you go," He told Walter as he walked to the light switch and turned off two of the fluorescent light bars.

"I just got this job! I can't take a month off of work!"

The nurse looked thoughtful. "The lowest I can give you would be two weeks. It would count as a paid vacation, of course. Your life was in danger here, and if you get a paid vacation to make up for it, you'll be unable to sue us about it."

Walter laid back down on the cot, processing this information. "I wasn't going to sue you in the first place."

"All the same, this company endangered you, and we have to make up for it somehow. You'll be getting this no matter what."

Staring up at the ceiling, Walter asked the nurse "How will I get myself food? How will I exercise?"

"You won't exercise, at least, not for the next month. As for your first question, do you have a parent or sibling you could briefly move in with?"

"No siblings. My parents died when I was young. No living relatives."

"Any close friends?"

"Nope."

"Geez. You're stuck, then. Better find a colleague or acquaintance that likes you enough to move in with you for a month. You really don't have any other options. You just started at this company, so you don't have the money to hire a live-in nurse, and that's the last conceivable choice."

"Well, now what am I supposed to do?"

The nurse circled the room and sat himself down at his desk, filling out numerous forms. "Get everything you need off your desk. Then go home and make some calls. You gotta find someone. You don't have a choice."

"Ok." Walter stretched, and stood up. He took his lab coat from where it was slung over the edge of the cot and put it on.

"Thanks, Mr…?"

The nurse smiled. "Mr. Earnshaw."

"Thank you, Mr. Earnshaw." Walter took his stuff and left.

o0O0oo0O0oo0O0oo0O0oo0O0oo0O0oo0O0oo0O0oo0O0oo0O0oo0O0oo0O0oo0O0oo0O0o

Walter piled his stuff into his backpack, layering all his different inventions one on top of the other. He zipped it up, and put it on. He grabbed the photo of his mom and him off his desk, tucking it under his arm. Then he walked out. As he turned the corner, he heard his name.

"Walter!" He turned to see Theo racing down the hall, waving some papers. "Hi!" she said. "Going home?"

"Yeah," Walter replied. "For two weeks." Theo's eyes grew wide, and she involuntarily took a step back.

"Wow...that's long."

"Tell me about it," Walter sighed, pulling one hand down his face.

"Well, anyways, what I came to talk to you about." Theo held out the stack of papers. "I took your fidget spinner down to Manufacturing, and they processed and registered it. If you fill out this paperwork, then you'll be able to take out the original prototype whenever you want to alter it or create new updates for its software."

Walter took the paperwork from her. "Whoa. Thanks, Theo. Wait...how'd you get my fidget spinner?"

"When I took you down to the nurse's office-"

"That was you?! I probably got blood all over you. I'm really sorry about that." Walter was mortified. He had hurt himself so bad, that Theo had needed to stop her important assignment to take him down to the nurse's office because he was stupid and clumsy, and got his face all bloodied up.

Theo merely laughed and brushed it off. "It wasn't a problem. No need to apologize. And if you did get blood on this shirt-" she held out the crimson red tee-shirt she was wearing, "-I certainly can't tell. In any case, when I got you down to the nurse's office, you blacked out, and it fell out of your pocket. I took it because you seemed to really want it taken care of."

"I really appreciate it." Walter checked his watch. "I gotta go. The nurse's making me stay home. I also gotta make some calls, arrange some stuff to take care of this mess," Walter said, pointing to his head.

"How are you getting home?" Theo asked him.

"Uh, probably walking. I'm not supposed to jetpack."

"Jetpack?! You gotta be kidding me!"

Walter shrugged, took his pen out of his pocket, and clicked the red ink clicker. He rose upwards on dual jets of air being forced out of the air turbines on the bottom of his backpack. He steadily continued moving upward, until he looked down, and his head spun. That wasn't good. He kept his vision trained on the ceiling above, and gently let himself down until he felt his feet touch the floor. He immediately stumbled.

"Whoops. That usually doesn't happen."

"What?"

"Got all dizzy. This stupid concussion is ruining my life! Now I've gotta walk!" Walter threw his arms up with exasperation. He just couldn't catch a break could he?

"If you need a ride, I can take you," Theo told him.

Walter turned around. "What?" he asked.

"I've got a couple paragraphs to write on the China press release, but after that, I can take you home. It won't be more than an hour."

"Are you sure? I won't be too much of a burden?"

Theo waved her hand dismissively. "No, it's okay. You'll be great. It's usually really lonely on my way home. I live about forty-five minutes from here, and the commute sucks. I'll be glad to have some company for a part of it."

"You're a lifesaver, Theo."

She smiled. "Don't I know it. Take a nap in your office. I'll wake you when I'm ready."