Thanks for all of the reviews. Happy tenth anniversary RENT!
Now on with the show…
Lucky
Maureen's POV
After I got the call from the hospital, I called Caryn, the girls' babysitter, to ask her to come over to watch the girls. While, I waited for Caryn to arrive, I decided to tell the girls about what had happened to Joanne. They had been watching cartoons on the TV in Joanne's and my bedroom, and were currently sitting on our bed and laughing at some cartoon creature on TV when I walked in.
"Girls can we talk?" I asked them
Rachel immediately turned off the TV and sat down next to Katie and Megan.
"You know how the bad men bombed the towers today? " I asked the girls. They nodded as I continued. "Momma was in one of those towers today, but she is ok. I just received a call from the hospital and they are going to make her better."
"Can we see her?" asked a very scared sounding Megan
"Not yet, mommy hasn't even seen her yet." I responded
We talked for a while until Caryn arrived and then I finally left for the hospital.
I didn't know what to expect when I walked in to the emergency room and asked the nurse at the front desk if I could see Joanne. She led me through the emergency room toward the cubicle where Joanne was. I held back tears as I saw Joanne. She was lying on a gurney, her clothing covered in dust, blood and sweat, cringing in pain. I pulled up a chair and sat down by her head and took her hand in mine and tried to comfort her best I could.
"It hurts Maureen" she moaned
"What hurts baby?" I asked her softly
"Everything" she said
Just then the doctor walked in to talk to us, he explained that Joanne had two broken legs, a broken arm and had three cracked ribs.
"She'll need to stay here for at least a week or so" said the doctor
" I also want to know if you would like some morphine to help you with the pain , Joanne" asked the doctor
She said yes to the morphine and soon the nurse came and escorted us to Joanne's room. It was a two person room but she was the only person there at the moment. The room was less dreary then the hospital rooms where Angel, Collins, Mimi and Roger had died but it was still the hospital and I still hated it. I helped Joanne change into a hospital gown and then she was taken to get casts on her legs and arm. While she was away, I called her parents to let them know what had happened and I called Mark to let him know that Joanne was safe and that we were okay. Mark had gotten a job in New Mexico as a cameraman and he lived there now with his wife Abby and their daughter Kylie. Mark sounded concerned and asked if he should fly down to New York to help me. I told him that we were fine and that I would keep in touch and call him if anything came up.
By the time, I got off the phone; Joanne was being brought back to her room. I watched as the nurse put Joanne' s legs up in traction and hooked her up to the IV that would deliver the morphine. After the nurse left, I got up from my chair and lay down next to Joanne on the bed and wrapped my arms around her. She put her head on my chest and started crying. Through her tears, she told me everything she had gone through today and I tried to comfort her by gently rocking her in my arms and kept repeating that she was safe and ok. I started to sing her my old protest song Over the Moon to try to calm her down as if she was one of the girls and had woken up after a nightmare. Finally, she fell asleep and I got up to go and get something to eat. When I got back, Joanne was awake again and was also hungry, so I went to the nurse's station to see if it was ok for Joanne to eat. They said it was ok just as long as the food wasn't heavy, so I went and bought Joanne some chicken noodle soup in the cafeteria. While she ate, I told her about the girls and told her that they send their love and that her parents said hello and would be around to see her. I also told her that Mark said hi and he wished her well. She wanted to call her parents so I brought the phone over and put it on her tray table. Since she had broken her right arm, I dialed the phone for her and handed her the phone. She talked with her parents for a while, repeatedly reassuring them that she was fine. After she got off the phone, I lay down next to her on the bed and we watched TV and talked for the rest of the afternoon. At about six in the evening, dinner was served and the nurse came around to say that visiting hours were over at eight and that she thought that Joanne was in better sprits then she had been earlier. After Joanne ate dinner, she insisted on calling the girls and telling them personally that she was ok. She seemed happy to talk to them and had a big smile on her face when she hung up the phone. I left the hospital at about seven thirty finally feeling some sense of relief after what had been the longest day of Joanne's and my life.