The flash and thump of the heart monitor put Caleb’s mortality and fragility on the forefront every few seconds. The weight of this knowledge had become almost too much for Rebecca Issacson to bear. She longed to get away from that sound and yet found herself mesmerized. Her feet tapped with the rhythm.
Beside her, Imelda took in a gossipy magazine purporting to share some starlet’s supposedly simple secret for losing an unlikely number of pounds in an impossible timeframe. She twirled a strand of hair around one finger as she took in the strangely similar ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos. Becca wondered how her older sister could be so cool about their father wavering between life and death but stopped herself from asking, certain her sister would say something superior-toned and refuse to talk to her after that. Becca needed a listening ear more than she needed to make Immy pay for her attitude.
A nurse trotted into the room and unlocked the wheels on their father’s bed. Becca rose, arms crossed, and bleated, “Where is he going?”
“Surgery, child,” the nurse told her. An orderly stepped in to take charge of all the monitors and tubes that would go along, while the nurse removed some of the connections.
Immy dragged herself to her feet and said, “Come on, Becca. We’ll sit in the waiting room.”
“I want to be here when he comes back.”
“It’ll be a long time, honey,” the nurse advised. “Why don’t you go on down to the gift shop and get a change of scenery? Ask the charge nurse for a beeper so we can call you when the time is right. You can wander anywhere you want on the hospital grounds or even go for a walk in the neighborhood. I’m sure you won’t get out of range on foot.”
“I don’t want to go.”
Despite applying the strength of her will, Becca could not hold back against Immy’s guiding tug. It might have been the pinch her sister landed on her waist, causing her to yelp and lose her focus. She found herself walking down the hall with Immy pulling on her arm.
“Hey,” Becca asked. “Where’s Shauna Rae? She’s been gone forever.”
“She was on foot. Like the nurse said, you’re not going too far off the grounds like that, especially if you’re Shauna Rae. Her legs ache when she has to walk down the hall at home.”
“Little brat. It’s just like her to make us have to find her. She never thinks of anyone but herself.”
“She’s a kid. That’s what kids do.”
“I wish she’d never been born.”
Immy growled. “You don’t say stuff like that.”
“Like you haven’t thought it too.”
They stopped at the nurse’s desk to claim the beeper. “Hey,” Becca said. “Maybe since she’s our half-sister, we only have to look for her halfway.”
It had sounded so clever in her head, but nobody laughed.
