Chapter Fourteen

By mid morning I was too exhausted to stay awake. The nurses told my brothers not to worry because it would be a few days before I began to feel strong again. Knowing I needed time to rest, Darry sent my brothers home with strict orders for Ponyboy to get his homework done and for Sodapop to spread the word that I was awake and doing fine. I feel asleep before my brothers left the room. I didn't wake until late afternoon.

"How are you feeling?" Darry asked as my eyes slowly opened.

Softly I answered him. "I'm good. I'm hungry though."

"Good. The nurses wanted you to try eating some food." Darry left the room to go to the nurse's station. I stretched my sore muscles and licked my teeth. I wondered if anyone had brushed them while I was unconscious. I figured they must have or no one would have wanted to come within five feet of my bad breath.

Down the hall I could faintly hear happy chatter. I heard footsteps quickly approach my room and Owen Jasper stepped inside. By chance, he was dressed exactly the same as he had been the day of the accident. Owen looked at me with grave concern and I smiled back at him. I noticed his eyes fill with tears as he cautiously stepped towards me and cried out in absolute relief. "Scout… I am so sorry for what happened to you."

Looking at his sorrowful face made me cry as well, so I lifted my arms to let him know I wanted him by my side. Owen quickly accepted the unspoken invitation and the two of us embraced and cried together. The boy sobbed about how hard each day had been for him knowing I hadn't recovered from the crash. The lump in my throat kept me from responding. Then he sat back, wiped his eyes and looked into mine. "Scout…" He took a deep breath to calm himself as the tears continued to stream down his face. "Scout… I want to know if you'll …. if you'll still be my girl?" Unable to speak I nodded my head in definite agreement. Owen leaned forward and kissed my dry lips. For the first time in my life I felt I had found my first love, and maybe my true love.

"Alright you two!" A brassy woman's voice chimed in behind us. "Enough with the tears! With a little hard work we're gonna have Sissy home soon, but first it's time for Jello!" The nurse was a chubby older woman with a cheery disposition. She shooed Owen to the other side of the bed so she could roll the bedside table up to me. She cranked the bed up so I could eat and handed me a spoon. "Here we go darling. Little bites, take them slow."

I grabbed the spoon and took a bite of the cherry Jello, which felt cool and refreshing in my dry mouth. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the nurse wink at Owen. Then she laughed a little. "I sure am going to miss having all you good looking gentleman hanging around this floor."

Owen laughed back and I could tell it wasn't the first time the nurse had ogled over any of the boys. "Don't worry Norma Rae, I'm sure you'll find some more favorites soon."

"Not like that brother of hers." Norma said and twirled her finger to tell me to keep eating the Jello and stay out of the conversation. She looked back at Owen. "In all my life I have never seen a young man as handsome as that Sodapop is."

"What am I, chopped liver?" Owen asked playfully. I could tell he had a good rapport with the nurse.

"Oh Honey! I do love chopped liver." Norma flashed a playful grin. "Chopped liver and Sodapop!" The nurse then looked at me and winked, "That older brother of yours would be quite the catch too!" I laughed and almost choked on my Jello. I realized how great of a nurse she was to be joking around with the boys when they came to visit. It was important to make them laugh in a time when they could find little else to laugh about.

"Don't listen to her Scout!" Darry's voice boomed from the doorway and he smiled, "Norma Rae would take a liking to me and just cheat on me later."

Indignantly Norma Rae turned to my brother and teased. "Now Hercules, you know Mama Rae would let you down easy, I don't want to cause no heart, no pain. I just like a good looking young man when I see one." Owen and Darry shared a laugh while the nurse checked the IV's in my arm and took my blood pressure.

"Sugar plum," she said to Darry. "Looks like your little Scout here won't be needing that feeding tube down her nose anymore. Swallowing seems normal, although we won't be trying anything but soft foods for a few days."

I made a look of disgust. "I had a tube down my nose?"

"You betcha sweetie! Three times a day we'd come in here to feed you by shoving a tube up your nose and down your throat."

I shook off the imaginary feeling of the tube being in my nose. "I'm glad I don't need to be awake for that!"

Norma Rae laughed and winked again at Owen, who just blushed. "Alright you two, no more tears. I'm going to get a few orderlies and Sissy's gonna see if she can stand up and use some muscles for me." The lady gathered my empty Jello bowl and looked toward Owen. "Cream puff, when I come back you'll have to wait outside for a little bit." The nurse left the room along with Darry.

"She sounds like a real character." I commented.

Owen sat back down on the edge of the bed. "Yeah, she is the best. She works the nights and a lot of weekends. As soon as she meets you, she never forgets who you are. I remember the first day I came up to see you. I brought this big bouquet of flowers and she insisted they were for her. After joking around a little she led me down the hall to your room and let me know what to expect when I saw you. I really appreciated that." Owen drifted off into thought for a few seconds. "I love how she always calls people sweetie and honey and stuff. Kind of makes her like a grandma or something."

I smiled up at the boy and summed up his feelings. "She's like a silver lining."

"Yeah…" Owen said quietly then pushed my hair back from my face. "Scout…" He leaned forward and gently kissed my lips. A rush of excitement sped through my body as if I was enjoying my first kiss with Owen all over again. The two of us continued to kiss till we heard the sound of approaching footsteps. My boyfriend looked at me with his ocean blue eyes. "I've got to get home. It's Sunday and you know how my mom can be with the Sunday dinner rules thing, but I'll be back tomorrow after school to visit. You take care and work hard. Okay?"

"I will."

Norma Rae returned with her orderly and Darry. Slowly, she explained how together everyone was going to help me to stand and we were going to count the amount of seconds I could be on my feet. I only half listened to instructions, because I knew I was strong and that standing was like second nature. I was wrong. The moment I slid off the edge of the bed my legs buckled beneath me. I had no strength at all and the feeling of helplessness panicked me. I cried out, but Norma reminded me that not everything would be like it used to right away. She told me how lucky I was that the only thing I was missing was muscle strength. "Darling, the limbs are working, we just need to get them practice is all."

I felt defeated as she tucked me back in bed. Till then I had been thinking like Sodapop. I figured I'd eat some Jello and jump right out of bed and be like I used too. Handling the truth was harder then I could have imagined, and my road to recovery was sure to take some time.

By the end of the day Casey had stopped by to talk to me about everything I had missed in the last month. Including Duke's trial and the testimony she gave to put him behind bars. She told me that they had some lady read all of my statements to the police and lawyers so even though I wasn't there I still helped to be sure he was put away for a long time. From her one-sided conversation it seemed like Casey had found a nice niche for herself in my home. She had been working at the Big Boy as a second shift waitress for the past few weeks. She said she'd stay with me during the day then work at night. Casey gave almost all of her earnings to Darry so he didn't have to work his second job. This gave Darry more time to watch over Ponyboy and me. My friend said she planned to keep the job even though she was going to go back to high school at the start of the second semester. Apparently, Darry said she could stay with us indefinitely. I imagined she started to ask him if she could and he only agreed to let her because she wore him down with her incessant chatter. Darry isn't the talkative type.

A knock at the door grabbed our attention. Two-Bit and Soda waltzed into the room.

Casey jumped of the bed in excitement. "Hey Two-Bit, hey Soda!" Casey took a look at Two-Bit then pushed my brother back towards the door. "Soda, why don't we give these two some privacy. My friend pushed my brother out into the hallway. Two-Bit watched them leave then wandered over to my side, roses in hand.

"Hey there Sissy," he said with a wide grin, "I got you something, and I didn't lift it. Paid for these with my own money."

"Two-Bit! They're beautiful!" I reached up to touch the soft red petals. "They are just what I need."

"I thought you would like them." Two-Bit said and he set them on the table by my bed. "So how they been treating you?"

"Pretty good. I ate my own supper tonight, but I can't stand on my own. Doc tells me not to worry and that we'll try again tomorrow."

"Well, if the doc says not to worry then I don't think you should." Two-Bit sat down on the edge of my bed and glanced at the paper he had taped to the wall a week ago. "Did you see my grade?"

I looked over at the paper and then back at the young man. "Yeah, I was wondering what that was all about."

"It's all about you."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember when you told me to stop messing around and start making something of myself after Johnny and Dally died?"

"Yeah… kind of."

"When you told me that it just made me mad at you. Then when I had to rush Casey and Ponyboy to your accident it all became clear to me at just how much I need to start taking care of myself. That week I went in to talk to the Principal and he said if I was serious he'd help me, but first I had to get my grades up to prove I was serious." Two-Bit cocked an eyebrow. "I got that grad last week, first grade I ever got over a C."

"I'm proud of you Two-Bit."

"Oh! And I got a job at the little grocery store near the DX. Get this, besides stocking shelves it's my job to catch shoplifters." Two-Bit laughed out loud. "How great is that? Plus you should hear my mom. Every time I come home in this little white shirt and black tie they make me wear she says, 'do I know you?' I never thought it would, but it makes me proud to have a job."

"I could have told you that."

"You should have told me that!" Two-Bit laughed and pointed at me.

I cocked an eyebrow. "I probably did!"