Chapter 13 The Message
That evening they went to the bonfire and enjoyed socializing with everyone. As the fire started to burn down, Stan moved over beside Jeffrey and handed him a book.
"What's that?" Phineas asked.
"Famous Arab Scholars of the Middle Ages," Jeff read him the title then turned to Stan, "I didn't think there were many scholars at all in the Middle Ages," he said.
Stan raised his eyebrows, "well, then you might find this book interesting." A moment later, Olivia approached and Stan got up immediately, "time to go," and they walked off together.
Jeffrey fingered the book. It wasn't as good as an adventure story he could get lost in, but Stan was a voyager, and a very smart one at that. Jeff was sure he'd enjoy looking through the book, even if he didn't want to read every word. He wished he could read it now, but it was too dark, so he sighed and stared into the fire. He was glad that he was back on good terms with Bogg. He had really seemed to feel better after Jeff told him about all the times that he'd disobeyed his father. Once Jeff had started to talk about it, he had come up with a lot of examples.
"Phineas Bogg?" the unfamiliar voice made them both look up.
"Yes?" Bogg said.
"This just came for you," said the stranger as he held out a slip of paper.
Phineas took it, "okay, thanks."
Jeff looked on in confusion. "What does it say?"
Phineas held it up to read so the dying firelight shined on it. "Nothing important, come on," he said rising. "I need to get some sleep, it's been a long day."
"But what did it say?"
"I just told you it's not important."
"It's important enough to send you a message at 11 o'clock at night," Jeff persisted.
Bogg glanced sideways at Jeff as they walked. He could tell that the kid wasn't going to let this go. He sure was stubborn as a mule. "I have to go back to the Medical Center tomorrow."
"Why? I thought we were done."
"Dr. Bradshaw just wants to talk to me again," Phineas finished as they got to the room.
"About what?"
"I guess I'll find out when I get there," he answered. As he got ready for bed, he thought worriedly about what the test results might show. He didn't want surgery, especially with Jeffrey in tow. What would happen to Jeff if anything happened to him? He shook his head, he was getting ahead of himself and had better calm down or Jeff would catch on and not be able to sleep.
Jeffrey watched his guardian from across the room. He could tell he was distracted, and that meant that something was wrong. No one else had talked about being called back to the Medical Center. Something serious was wrong and Jeff had a bad feeling in his stomach. He idly flipped through the pages of the book Stan had loaned him, trying to think of a way to ease the tension, without asking about whatever was wrong. As he glanced at the book, his eye caught a few words and he began to read.
"Hey Bogg?'
"Yeah"
"I bet you don't know any famous Arabs in history."
Bogg looked up and smiled when he saw that Jeff had the book open. "Try looking up Al-Idrisi," he said.
Jeff located the section and looked up at him in disbelief, "okay, so what did he do?" he challenged.
"He was an expert in geography and mapmaking. He made a world globe out of pure silver and engraved it with the seven continents, trade routes, mountains, lakes, rivers.. a lot of stuff. His maps were used in Europe for hundreds of years. Christopher Columbus used his maps too. He lived in Sicily around eleven hundred."
Jeffrey stared at him in shock.
"Don't look so surprised kid, I may not know exactly what you know, but that doesn't mean I don't know anything."
"Did you ever meet him?" Jeff asked interestedly.
Phineas nodded, "it was amazing to see."
"See what?"
"That silver globe he made. But his other passion was interesting too."
"What was that?"
"He knew a lot about medicinal herbs. He was probably the most knowledgeable person in his time about them." Phineas had laid down as he spoke, "good night Jeff."
"G'night, see ya tomorrow," Jeff answered and settled down to think. He always enjoyed it when Bogg surprised him with his knowledge. It turned out that Bogg was a lot smarter than Jeffrey first thought. He tried to put whatever might be wrong out of his mind. There was no sense in worrying before there was anything to worry about, after all. He'd heard his father say that more than once. He hadn't really understood what it meant until now. As he drifted off to sleep he wondered what his parents might have had to worry about. What could have prompted his father to say that?
They were up early and arrived at the Medical Center before 9 o'clock. Phineas had Jeffrey sit in the waiting room while he went in to talk to the doctor.
"So what did the test show?" Bogg asked immediately.
Sid Bradshaw, MD, took off his glasses and looked him square in the eye. "We need to operate on that shoulder, it's not going to get better by itself. Dr. Gillespie is a specialist, I'd like you to meet him today and have some pre-surgery testing done. That way he can take you whenever the operating room is free."
"Isn't that kind of fast?"
"The sooner the better."
Bogg sat in shock before he answered. "Does this really need to be done in an operating room? It's only my shoulder."
"Dr. Gillespie won't know until he takes a look inside your shoulder what really needs to be done. He has to be able to fix anything he finds. Chances are it will be a fairly simple procedure, but it's still surgery. Today you'll need to see him, have an EKG to check your heart and get some blood drawn."
Bogg sat still, a sinking feeling in his stomach. He had convinced himself that his shoulder would get better by itself. "I can get by fine just the way I am, do I really have to go through all this?"
"If you want to be cleared for voyaging, then yes. If you want to work a desk job here, assuming they have one for you, you can do that."
Phineas sighed, there was no way around it, "will I have to stay overnight?"
"Just one night. Then you'll need someone to stay with you, you'll need help for a few days. Is that going to be a problem? I can arrange for you to stay here a few extra days if it is."
"No," Bogg said quickly, "I've got someone." The last thing he wanted was to stay in the hospital an extra few days.