"Sandy, you've been here for over a day and a half…" Reva said. "You need to eat something…"
"I'm not hungry…" Sandy said, pushing the tray away.
"Sandy, please…"
"Just go away… Just go home… Just leave me alone…" Sandy said, turning away from her.
"Are you trying to starve yourself? You need your strength… Come on, just take a bite…"
"I said I'm not hungry!" Sandy snapped.
"Reva, just let it be…"
Reva looked up to see Jeffrey standing in the doorway. "You're still here?" she asked.
"Who else is gonna protect him from you?" Jeffrey replied.
"I'm just trying to help my son…" Reva said.
"I believe that he told you to leave…" Jeffrey said.
Reva rolled her eyes, handing the tray to Jeffrey. "He needs to eat…" she said, before walking out the door.
"Thank you…" Sandy said, looking up from the bed.
"For what?" Jeffrey asked.
"Making her leave…" Sandy answered. "I can't get a moments peace…"
Jeffrey walked over to Sandy, setting the tray down on the small table next to his bed. "I need you to listen to me closely, Sandy, because you are never going to hear me utter this phrase ever again…"
Sandy raised an eyebrow. "What?" he said.
Jeffrey pushed the tray of food towards Sandy. "Your mother is right…"
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"What're you doing out here?" Ed asked.
"My son sent me out of his room…" Reva said with a slight laugh.
It was the first time that Ed had seen her smile since this whole ordeal. "Since when do you take orders from anyone?" he said.
Reva shrugged her shoulders. "He needs to eat." She said. "I figured he'd listen to Jeffrey more than he'd listen to me… Better yet, why don't you tell him to eat…"
"I can't force feed him…" Ed said.
"So…" Reva said. "You've already tried?"
"Tried and failed…" Ed answered.
"Well…" Reva said. "At least he seems to be in a much better mood than he was yesterday…"
Ed nodded slightly. "Just… Don't expect too much from him…" he said.
Reva raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"Most patients…" Ed said. "They have their good days and they have their bad ones…"
"Jesus, Ed… Quit sounding so ominous… It's not like he's terminally ill…"
"I know…" Ed said. "Physically he should recover just fine… I mean… It's going to take awhile… But he should recover just fine…"
"Then what did you mean by what you just said?"
"I mean…" Ed said. "The emotional scars caused by something like this tend to run very deep…"
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Sandy rolled his eyes. "Why don't you leave too…" he said.
"Because…" Jeffrey answered. "I know that you don't really mean that…"
"And what if I do?" Sandy said.
"If you did…" Jeffrey answered. "Then you wouldn't have that smirk on your face…"
"You can't force feed me, Jeffrey…"
Jeffrey raised an eyebrow. "Is that a dare?"
Sandy chuckled slightly. "Maybe…" he said.
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"Why are you telling me all of this right now?" Reva asked.
"I just… Don't want you to expect too much…" Ed said. "That's all…"
"How much longer is he going to have to be here?" Reva asked.
"At least until the end of the week…"
"Five more days?"
Ed nodded.
Reva sighed. "That seems like such a long time…"
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"Open your mouth, Sandy…" Jeffrey said, holding a spoon full of green Jell-O.
"You are not going to feed me!" Sandy said, laughing.
"Then feed yourself…" Jeffrey said.
"Hospital food is nasty…" Sandy said.
Jeffrey took a bite himself. "It's lime…" he said. "It's pretty good…"
"All right…" Sandy said. "Then you eat it…"
"They brought it in here for you…" Jeffrey said.
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"It'll probably take him a couple months to recover fully…" Ed said.
"Yeah…" Reva sighed again. "I kinda figured as much…"
"Just try to keep your focus on how much he's improved in the last day and a half…" Ed said. "I mean, he's gone from being on a respirator to being not only awake, but completely lucid…" he glanced at the window to the room. "And he's even smiling…"
Reva shook her head. "That he most certainly is…" she said. "That he most certainly is…"
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"Come on…" Jeffrey said. "Open up…"
Sandy opened his mouth, letting Jeffrey feed him.
"Now… That wasn't so bad, was it?" Jeffrey asked.
"No…" Sandy said. "But if you expect me to eat anything else off of that tray then you are sadly mistaken…"
"What?" Jeffrey said, looking over the food. "You mean, you don't want this… Gruel?"
"No." Sandy replied.
"Maybe a little later…" Jeffrey said.
"No…" Sandy said. "Never…"
"Maybe I can have them bring you something edible?"
Sandy chuckled. "Maybe…" he said.
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