The hospital was the same as last time. The same dreary atmosphere. The same white walls. The same nurse who stood at the foot of her gurney, hands on her hips, giving her a disapproving stare.
"Miss Matilda, back so soon? What trouble have you gotten yourself into this time?" The nurse glanced at the chart. "Chest and abdominal injuries. Let me guess, slammed into your bike's handle bars?" Matilda shook her head with a weak smile. "Trampoline accident?" Matilda shook her head again. "Rollerskating while hanging on to the back of your mom's car bumper?"
"Heimlich." Matilda said.
"Sort of." Mrs. Rodgers threw in.
"I've got kids in here almost every day with broken bones from skateboarding, trying to jump homemade ramps on their bikes, the list goes on, but you're telling me you got hurt while eating?"
Matilda flashed a guilty sort of grimace. She hadn't wanted to go to the hospital, there was nothing they could do for her anyway. Matilda had begged Miss Honey to take her home every half hour that had passed in the waiting room without getting called. The hospital seemed to be packed today. Geriatric patients in wheelchairs complaining of chest pains and headaches filled the emergency room taking precedence over her cracked rib. Finally, after about three and a half hours, she had been called back.
Miss Honey had had to carry her in. She was in so much pain from sitting up in the chair for so long she could hardly give her name and the reason for her visit. She had even ignored all attempts at small talk from the triage nurse up front who had taken her vitals in an attempt to reign in her psychic powers as they had a tendency to get away from her whenever she was hurt or upset. The last thing she wanted to do was cause a panic, although she wondered if she would be seen faster if half the emergency room left in fear of the place being haunted.
"She'd also been tackled this morning by a larger child." Miss Honey threw in.
"Ah, the truth comes out, you were rough housing." the nurse said. Matilda didn't feel like correcting her. It sounded better than she had gotten hurt while eating and pooping, two supposedly mundane activities. "Well, let's take a look. Go ahead and strip down and change into this gown with the opening in the front. Mom, if you want to help her." She gestured down to Matilda, who could hardly move.
By the time they had gotten her undressed, with many yelps and grunts of pain, Miss Honey decided the gown wasn't worth the trouble of getting it on her, but Matilda insisted. If she was going to be in the hospital, she wanted the whole experience, patient identification on her wrist, oxygen monitor on her finger, and exposed bare butt in the open. She had regretted her choice the moment they had to sit her up. She had regretted a lot of her choices today.
At least she was out of her wet pants, Matilda thought, hugging the dry gown around her front.
Three hours ago they had asked her for a urine sample. Matilda had thrown logic to the wind (she blamed the pain) and insisted she didn't need help. She had even snapped at Miss Honey when she had tried to follow her in. Matilda had run into her first problem right away as soon as she had closed the bathroom door behind her. She couldn't get on the toilet. No matter, she had thought, she didn't need to pee in the toilet, she just needed to pee in this cup.
So instead of apologizing to Miss Honey and asking for help, she instead had the bright idea to use her powers and make the cup float in midair while she stood over it. Only, once she had finally managed to lower her pants enough and get into position, she found to her great disbelief, her plan had backfired. Instead of going into the cup like she had planned, it merely trickled down her left thigh and into her pant leg. When Miss Honey had come in to check on her, she found Matilda in tears trying to dry her pants under the hand dryer.
Matilda had fully expected a scolding, she knew she deserved one. Instead of rubbing it in her face or lecturing her, Miss Honey had simply helped her clean up as best she could, before they had to explain to triage they couldn't get a sample.
"You'll have to try again later."
When they got back to their seats in the waiting room, Matilda clung onto Miss Honey's arm and held it against herself. It was the closest she could get to a hug at the moment.
"I'm sorry," Matilda mumbled. "I can't believe I did that." Miss Honey smiled gently at her.
"We all do silly things when we aren't feeling up to par. Let me help me you next time." Matilda wasn't happy about it, but she nodded her head in agreement. "Tell me when you're ready."
It took a little over an hour before she thought she could try again. Miss Honey helped her down from the chair and stood her on her feet as Matilda whimpered. Unfortunately, they had lent out all their wheelchairs they had available, so she was forced to get up and down from the chair, each attempt growing more painful than the last.
Now armed with a new specimen jar, Matilda hobbled over to the bathroom, Miss Honey now beside her.
"Just pretend I'm not here." Miss Honey said. Matilda pursed her lips. It was a little hard to do with Miss Honey crouched in front of her while Matilda sat with legs splayed open on the toilet.
She's my mother not my teacher. She's my mother not my teacher, Matilda chanted in her head as she closed her eyes and relaxed. She hoped Miss Honey was able to catch it because there was no way she was doing this again.
"Is that it?" Matilda nodded, still refusing to open her eyes. "It should be enough."
Then the worst possible thing happened. Miss Honey must have forgotten to lock the door because suddenly the door was forcefully swung open and in strolled another woman. Matilda thought It must have looked bad seeing an adult reaching their hand under a child's privates, because Matilda had never seen Miss Honey jump away from her so animatedly. The woman had merely apologized and left, but the damage had already been done.
"Uh, mom, you dropped the cup in the toilet."
"So I hear you're 0 for 2 on the urine collection." the nurse said when she came back once Matilda had been changed into her gown. "Third times a charm." Matilda could see she was holding another specimen jar. She shook her head adamantly.
"I can't." Matilda said. Just the thought of trying to climb down off the bed was enough to break out in a sweat and feel woozy. It didn't help that she hadn't eaten anything since last night's applesauce.
"Still empty?" the nurse asked. Matilda nodded. She supposed she could have if she tried, it had been nearly an hour since the last attempt, but she had no interest in getting up and repeating the process. "We have ways to fix that." Matilda watched her leave behind the curtain. She breathed a sigh of relief and closed her eyes. Finally, she could rest for a bit. At least that was what she thought. No sooner had the nurse left than she had returned carrying a cup of something. "Bottoms up." she handed the cup to Matilda who looked inside and saw it was water.
Matilda sighed and downed the cup before handing it back. Before she could even get comfortable, she was handed another. And another. And another. By the time she was handed a fifth cup, she could only take small sips. She felt so full and bloated now.
"Ready to go yet?"
"No," Matilda lied even though she could hardly keep her legs from shuffling around. She refused to meet the nurse's all knowing eyes.
"Matilda, how about we go try again?" Miss Honey suggested before lowering her voice, "you're dancing around quite a bit."
"I don't have to."
"Matilda." Miss Honey said, much sterner sounding now. Matilda whimpered before motioning her to come closer.
"I can't get up; it hurts too much."
"Oh. Even if I carry you?" Matilda nodded.
"Is there a problem?" the nurse asked looking between Matilda and Miss Honey.
"Can you give her something for the pain?" Miss Honey asked. "She says it's too painful to get up."
"Is that what's wrong? We can work around that." Matilda scowled when she returned with a familiar looking pink object. If they would just give her something for the pain, she could get up and do it normally. "Ready?" Before Matilda could object, she was physically twisted, lifted and manipulated in the blink of an eye until she was lying on top of it with her gown wide open. She really did need to pee, but this was too much. "Well?"
Matilda stuttered out a weak objection.
"Best to just get it over with." Miss Honey whispered. Matilda silently grumbled. Why did this always happen to her lately? She felt like she was stuck in a never ending loop of getting hurt or sick. She stared at the ceiling tiles and tried to focus on the relief of the pressure ebbing away and not on the three adults watching her pee.
Matilda made a disgusted face when she was done. She felt just as wet now as she would have if she had gone in a pull-up. Angles and gravity were not her friend today.
"There, that wasn't so hard now, was it? Just sit tight for a bit, the doctor will probably want to do some labs as well. I'll bring you something for the pain in a bit."
It had only taken a few minutes for the nurse to return. Matilda thought it was odd she seemed to be avoiding eye contact with her as she put something into her IV, but in a few moments, Matilda was far from caring. She laid her head back on the pillow and sighed in relief. The world around her was fading and dimming. The pain, while still there, didn't feel nearly as excruciating. She could almost even say she was comfortable.
"My apologies," Matilda heard coming from far away now, "I got distracted when I left your room earlier by another nurse. I sort of forgot what I had intended to do, and I flushed your urine sample. I'll need another when you can."
. . .
Jennifer stared at the prescriptions dropped off by the bedside. It was nearly ten at night and Matilda was out cold. She doubted the girl had even heard the doctor come in and talk to them. It was a broken rib, and just like Eve said, there wasn't much anything could be done other than time and rest. But there was something else that worried Miss Honey. It could have been something, or it could have been nothing, the doctor wasn't positive. It could have just been a blip on the film, but there was a possibility one of her kidneys could have been injured, and there were small traces of blood in her urine. It was invisible to the naked eye, but it had been detected all the same.
Matilda needed to do another test with contrast to be sure, but it would be impossible tonight with the water she had consumed. The nurse from before came back with an appointment card a week from then and instructions on home care.
A part of Jennifer was glad Matilda had slept through this. Would Matilda be scared to learn she needed to be on the lookout for blood? What kid wouldn't be? If her at home remedy was to flush her kidneys, but she was scared of blood, would she try to put it off as long as possible? Even if the doctors had impressed she can't put it off? So Miss Honey brought up her concern.
"No, I mean, she really can't, that's why I'm writing her prescriptions for a muscle relaxant and an over the counter diuretic. Now if there is blood in the urine, or any swelling in her limbs, come back to the emergency room." Then he started taking worse case scenario: Dialysis, Catheters, and kidney transplants. Miss Honey's head was spinning.
The car ride had been mostly silent until they had gotten a few blocks from Mrs. Rodger's house.
"How do I tell her?" Jennifer whispered. "She was so happy to be out of pull-ups, but this medicine makes it sound like it's going to set her back."
"I mean her no ill will, but limited mobility, diuretics, and muscle relaxants." Carol grimaced and pulled into a nearby parking lot instead of heading for home. Miss Honey frowned. Why were they back at the pharmacy? "Do me a favor? I know you don't like to disappoint her, but, well, maybe pull-ups aren't the answer?" Miss Honey sighed.
"What if she won't take the medicine if she knows what it's going to do to her?"
"Then don't tell her. At least you can check for bleeding without her knowing."
"She's going to demand to know why she's in a diaper."
"Just tell her it's the same reason Eve had her in one, so she doesn't have to hurt herself getting up and down. If everything's good and well, and she's not seriously injured, she'll soak through the pull-ups, just letting you know."
"Okay, I'll get some." Jennifer said with a sigh. "If there is something wrong, what's the first sign?"
"Blood in the urine and retention. Peeing uncontrollably is better than not peeing at all. She can restrengthen her muscles, but she can't regrow them."
Miss Honey gave one last look to the girl asleep in the backseat.
"Sorry, baby." she whispered before sliding out of the car.