Elmer's eyes moved back and forth from his father to Lona,
frantically trying to think of something, anything that he could do. He
couldn't leave his father's side, not now. If his dad didn't get the blood
to replace what he was losing.... But Lona's moans were growing louder,
now, obvious pain in her voice. How could he not do something to help her?
but if he did, his father would die. How.... No, there had to be a way
to save them both! There had to be!
"Elmer, please, don't do this to yourself." Louis said softly.
"Help Lona." Should he tell his son what had happened before with the
light? Would maybe the knowledge that there was nothing that he could have
done, that there was nothing he could do now convince his son that the
right course of action was to save Lona instead? "Elmer, I got hit in the
head by one of the lights during the quake. It.... There's nothing you
can do, son. Go to Lona. If you don't, it will haunt you forever." Maybe
it was the bloodloss weakening him or his fears for his son but Louis felt
a tear slip down his cheek. Emma, would she forgive him when....
"Like my mother's been haunting you?" Elmer said gently. "Dad, no
one's going to be haunting anyone here. Believe me, his hospital doesn't
need anymore ghosts." Well, the giant anteater that he wasn't sure
actually existed mentioned a little girl. Perhaps that ghost could stay.
"I'm going to fix this, I promise. I'm going to fix everything. You and
Lona are both going to be fine."
"Elmer...."
"No, I'm going to fix this! Are you really that eager to go be with Edgar?" Elmer demanded as he looked down at his father once more before forcing himself to focus on the problem at hand. He couldn't leave his dad's side but Lona needed him too so how.... Even if he thought he was strong enough to do it, could figure a way to do it while keeping the IV line running, he didn't dare rink trying to move his father. Moving....
Suddenly Elmer's eyes fell on Blondi as suddenly formed. Okay, it was probably mounting weakness from the bloodloss that was leading him to think this could work but....
The dog looked suspiciously at the human. Humans looking like that with their eyes bright and not really focused never seemed to bode well and Blondi knew Elmer was one of the stranger humans around here. 'Whatever you're thinking....'
"Hey, you're supposed to help with security, aren't you? Well,
this doesn't look very secure now does it?" Elmer couldn't believe he was
arguing with Otto's dog, a dog that was now talking back to him but.
The table Lona was on had wheels as well as a handle to adjust the height.
If the dog could just nudge it over here, then he could take care of both
of them and fix things!
'What do you think I am, Lassie? She was a girl.' Blondi said
with a shake of his head. He supposed he ought to do something though.
The human was right about it not being very secure down here.
"Actually, I think Lassie was a boy. Or was that maybe just some sort of urban legend?" Elmer muttered. He was relieved to see the dog heading over to the table and starting to nudge it, though. "The wheel lock! Push on the wheel lock to release it first!"
'What do you think I am, a puppy? I know more about these things
than Bobby Druse, you know. Lost a patient for six hours, once.' the dog
muttered as he nudged at the wheel, trying to release the lock for several
moments before finally getting it to give so that the table would roll.
'Where do you want her?'
"Elmer?" Louis called for his son. He could feel something, the
blackness fading slightly and a wave of fear washed over him. The blood,
he knew that if it was anything, it had to be that. How much blood was his
son losing? "Elmer? Elmer, please, you have to stop this now! You have
to go and look after Lona. Elmer, please, I swear to you that it's too
late for me! There's nothing that you can...."
"Dad, be quiet! You're going to be fine! So just do what I tell you and let me take care of this, okay?" Elmer couldn't believe he had just said what he did to his father but.... He spoke once more in a gentler tone this time. "Dad, I'm sorry but I'm not ready to lose you here, okay? Please, you have to hold on for a few more minutes." That anteater if he hadn't been hallucinating it ought to be back with the medicine soon. Surely once he got that into his father, then everything would be fine. He just had to get the medicine and get Lona tended. They would both be fine.
"Elmer, Lona, she needs...." Why couldn't Louis make him understand t he was making a mistake that....
"Dad, I'm going to fix both of you, I promise." Elmer said gently.
He could feel a wave of dizziness washing over him as he looked down at
his father and then up as Blondi rolled Lona over to his side, nudging the
table until he had turned it so her injured side was closest to Elmer. He
struggled, forcing the dizziness away as best he could. He couldn't give
in to it now, had to do whatever he could for his father and Lona. He
would never be able to forgive himself if something happened to either one
of them. He fumbled with his free hand, trying to lower the table without
jolting Lona too much.
"Lona? Sweetie?" Elmer called for her as soon as the table was
down to a level he could reach fairly easily. He supposed the low setting
had to be in case you had a midget doing an autopsy or something. He
reached out, gently touching her face, checking her pulse. It was weak,
not as weak as during surgery though. This time, he didn't hesitate as he
nudged aside the blankets, putting a hand gently on her chest. He was
trying to help, just trying to help and he had no time for anything sexual
anyway. Lona would understand that.
As soon as he put his hand on her, gently feeling her breathing, he
could tell what had happened. Somehow, the chest tube had been dislodged,
causing the lung to start to collapse once more. He sighed slightly in
relief. Okay, a collapsing lung wasn't good but he had fixed it before.
He could fix it again.
"It's okay, Dad. Lona's going to be fine. I'll get her fixed
right up and we'll have the medicine for you in just a few minutes.
Everything's going to be fine. Both of you are going to be fine." Elmer
said softly but firmly as he felt gently, trying to locate the tube so that
he could reposition it. This was going to be okay. He wasn't going to
lose either one of them. No way would he lose either one of them.