be·long·ing
a. To be in an appropriate situation or environment.
b. To fit into a group naturally
Chapter 4
The next morning I wake up in the hospital and panic. My arm feels sore and when I bring it to my chest it has a light blue cast on it. Nobody's in the tiny room with me so I scream as loud as I can.
"ABBY! CHUNY! CAROL! DR. ROSS!"
I repeat this twice more before Dr. Ross, Chuny, and Carol stand at my door. I crawl out from under the sheets and move over to the edge of the bed.
"What's the matter Ms. Carmella? Don't you like your cast?" Dr. Ross asks patting my head gently.
"What is this I'm wearing?" I ask curiously as I stand up on the bed.
"A hospital gown," Carol answers. "Your other clothes were almost unrecognizable."
"Well I don't like it very much," I say.
"Their definitely not a fashion statement." Everyone turns and I see Dave standing at the door with a big bag.
"Dave!" I cry excitedly as he comes over and sits down next to me.
"Look what I found for you," he says opening up the bag to show me.
"Dave where did you get all those?" Carol asks taking the clothes that are in the bag out to examine.
"Their perfect!" I exclaim as Carol sets down some dresses on the bed along with overalls and pants and shirts and socks. Everything I always wanted was sitting right here on my bed.
"They do have a hallway up here in pediatrics with tons of clothes for boys and girls. But I guess you knuckle heads would never be observant enough to know."
I giggle and hold up some long khaki pants and a long sleeved, white shirt with Hello Kitty on it. I remember watching Hello Kitty one morning with my Mommy.
"I want to wear these," I say.
"Look what else Dave has," Chuny says looking into the bag, clearly amazed Dave could come up with this sort of stuff she never even knew about. At the bottom of the bag was a coat, mittens, a scarf, a beanie, a pair of shoes, some boots, a hair brush, a toothbrush, and underwear.
"Necessities," Dave explained. He took them out and set them on the bed before reaching back into the bag and pulling out one last thing.
"This is just something I saw and thought you might like," he said handing me a fuzzy brown teddy bear. I giggled happily and took the bear from Dave. I held it close to my body. It smelled like warm vanilla and cinnamon. Sort of like a Hallmark store.
"Thank you Dave," I whisper feeling the tears come.
"What's the matter sweetie?" Carol asked kneeling down next to the bed.
"I never had a teddy bear before," I say hugging it even closer to me.
"All the more reason for you to love it," Dave said kissing me on the head. "Well I've got to get back to work before Dr. Weaver blows her gasket." Dr. Weaver was a lady I hadn't yet met but had heard about like 30 times already. And she was never really spoken about in a good light either. After Dave was gone Dr. Ross and Carol agreed it was time to get back to work too. Chuny stood and smiled.
"I told you Dave was quite the character," she said sitting down next to me and putting everything but the clothes I picked out back into the bag.
"Where's Abby?" I asked leaning over Chuny's arm to see what she was doing.
"It's Friday," Chunni said. "So she'll be on at 2. Then you'll get to see her again."
"Will I be able to stay here forever?" I ask looking up at Chuny. She sighs.
"I won't be making you any promises I can't keep Carmella."
"Can I put on my new clothes?" I ask anxiously.
"How about a bath first?" Chuny asked.
"What is a bath?" I asked. It was like Chuny was expecting my question because she was quick with her answer.
"It's sort of like…a swimming pool. Only you get clean." I looked back down at my bear.
"Then when were done I can make your hair look pretty," she said touching my head of matted hair. I smiled.
"Okay," I said taking Chuny's hand as she led me out of my small hospital room.
"Well somebody looks refreshed," Dr. Ross said coming over to the big desk place at the entrance of the hospital and sticking some charts in a cubby hole. I was sitting at a stool with Randi. I met Randi this morning and I found out that she was the lady Dave was flirting with the other day. I sucked happily on a green lollipop she had given me and I held my teddy bear tightly. I was wearing my new clothes and my new boots. The bath was really fun. The water was really warm and Chuny made my hair hang in a red bow so it was off of my neck. It was so neat. Dave put Neosporin on the cut under my ear.
"What's that?" I asked pointing at something Jerry was eating.
"A doughnut," Randi said scribbling something on a piece of paper and then folding it up.
"Hey Dave! Heads up!" She called. Dave was walking past us as the piece of paper hit him in the head and landed on his clipboard. Dave looked up, irritated, until he saw Randi smiling like a goof at him. He slipped her a smile and continued on his way, unraveling the paper she threw at him.
"Stop flirting Randi and get back to work," a voice from behind us said.
"Yes Dr. Weaver," Rand replied obediently answering a ringing phone. I turned around to look at the famous Dr. Weaver. She wasn't really what I had expected. She had really red hair. She walked with a crutch thing on one of her arms and she had glasses that she had to keep pushing up. She didn't look very mean.
"Randi," I asked once Dr. Weaver was on her way down the hall. "Why don't people like her?"
"It's not that we don't like her. It's just that she's the one that can and will fire us if we slip up," she said tossing her bare lollipop stick into a trash bin before popping a stick of gum into her mouth.
"Hi Carmella," a familiar voice said warmly. I turned around and saw Sam standing there with snow on her hat and coat.
"Hi Sam," I said jumping off of the stool and racing over to her. I hugged her knees and she giggled.
"How are you?" she asked getting down to my height.
"Good," I replied.
"That's a pretty nice teddy bear you got yourself," she said touching my bear on the arm.
"Dave gave him to me," I said.
"That was sweet of him," Sam said more to herself then to me. "It's snowing outside."
"Let's go play!" I said excitedly.
"I have to work right now sweetie. But Doug and Carol are out there," she said getting back up.
"Bye Sam!" I said scrambling to the ambulance bay doors.
"Wait Carmel," Randi came up behind me and fitted me into my coat and hat and handed me my mittens. She herself was ready to go out into the snow.
"Are going to come play with me Randi?" I asked.
"I sure am," Randi said.
"Yeah me too," Dave came up from behind Randi and put his arms around her waist.
"Me three," Dr. Pratt put some charts down on the admit desk and came over to us.
"But you guys. It's the middle of your shifts. Dr. Weaver's going to kill you," Sam argued.
"Hey what Weaver doesn't know won't hurt her," Dave smiled mischievously.
"Last one in the snow has to assist house-keeping after our next trauma!" Dr. Carter ran past us and we saw him race out into the snow.
Everyone raced after him. Doug and Carol were already out there having a snowball fight with each other. The snow was new and more continued to fall from the sky. I scooped up some snow in my gloved hands and threw it at the back of Dr. Carter's head. He turned around, startle, and stared down at me. I giggled hysterically as he started to chase me. He caught up to me and lifted me into his arms.
"Put her down or suffer the consequences."
"SAM!" I cried. She stood in front of Carter and me with a large snowball in her hand.
"That's the spirit Sammy!" Dave cried. He was flopped over in the snow making snow angels with Randi and Chuny. Dr. Carter put me down. I ran over to Dave and saw out of the corner of my eye Sam throw the snowball at Dr. Carter anyway. I jumped up on his chest.
"You're cold," I exclaim feeling his nose.
"You're colder," he argued. He tickled my sides and was able to wrestle me off of him.
"What in the name of god are you doing?"
Everyone froze for a second and looked towards the doors of the hospital. A not to enthused Dr. Weaver stood there glaring at everyone.
"Aw come on Dr. Weaver. We were just having some fun with our little munchkin," Dave said cradling me in his arms and standing up.
"Can it Malucci. What would have happened if a trauma had come in and I had no one on duty?" Dr. Weaver cried. Everyone was set into an uneasy silence. It was broken when all of a sudden Dr. Weaver got nailed on the side of the head with a snowball. Everyone held their breath and turned around to see the culprit who was as good as dead. It was Sam. I waited to see what Dr. Weaver would do. The next thing she did surprised everybody. She started laughing. She bent over and picked up a wad of snow and tossed it back at Sam. And all at once everyone started tossing snowballs at each other. Just as I was beginning to feel tired an ambulance siren pierced through are giggles and excited cries.
"35-year-old male who tried hanging himself in the basement of his home," on of the ambulance assistance explained wheeling a man out of the ambulance.
"Take Carmella inside!" Sam yelled over at Dave before she raced over to the gurney to help wheel him into the hospital. Dave held me close and rested his hand on the back of my head. Randi and Chuny followed us into the warmth of the hospital. Dave took me back to my hospital room and set me on my bed. He handed me the controls to the TV on the wall.
"I'm going to go see what I can do to help," he whispered. "You going to be okay?"
I nodded my head as he ruffled my hair and handed me my teddy bear.
"Good girl," he said and kissed my head before leaving. I smiled happily to myself and crawled under the sheets of my bed. I snuggled down into my pillow and sighed happily. Just as I was about to drift off to sleep Carol walked in and sat down next to my bed.
"Hey sweetie," she said tucking some of my hair behind my ear.
"Is that guy going to be alright?" I asked. She nodded.
"I think so."
"Dr. Weaver isn't mad at Sam is she?" was my next question. Carol laughed.
"No. I think this is as much fun as Dr. Weaver has had in a really long time."
"I need to stay here," I said.
"You do," Carol agreed as I closed my eyes. Before I fell asleep I heard Carol's voice.
"We want you to stay with us Carmella. You belong here."