Enforcing Home

  “Where’s Taylor?” I asked.

  Without looking up from his work, he replied, “She’s over there.” He nodded towards an area closed off with a curtain. “She’s sleeping now. She regained consciousness, but we sedated her so she can rest.”

  “Is she going to be alright?” I asked.

  “She’s suffered a severe concussion, in addition to all the lacerations. It probably qualifies as a traumatic brain injury.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  Doc looked at the nurse assisting him, and said, “Go ahead and dress it up; it’s the best we can do for him.” Looking back at me, he said, “She’s hurt bad, Morgan. But we’ve learned a lot about these injuries recently. She may have some lingering issues with memory and some changes to her personality. Some of these may not manifest themselves right away, and could take months to show up. But to answer your real question; for now she’s ok. She’ll live. She needs some rest; and we’re keeping her here to watch for swelling on her brain. If she looks good in the next day or two, you’ll be able to take her home.”

  Walking over, I pulled the curtain back. Mary was sitting with her. She was in a bedside chair, watching her sleep. Taylor was covered up, and appeared to be peacefully asleep. She still had dried blood on her face, the only part I could see. Looking at Mary, I asked, “Can you clean her up? I’m going to have to bring Mel up here, and I don’t want her to see Taylor like that.”

  With a slight nod of her head Mary replied, “Sure.” I smiled and nodded, then left to find Doc.

  “Doc, we’ll leave you to it. There’s nothing we can do here; and we’re just in the way,” Sarge said.

  Doc looked around. “Yeah; we kinda have our hands full at the moment.”

  Giving Doc a nod, I said, “Thanks,” and followed Sarge out the door.

  Outside, I looked at the girls. “She’s sleeping right now. Doc said she’s going to be OK; but it will take her some time to get back to normal.”

  “Can we go see her?” Lee Ann asked.

  I put my arm around her. “No baby; not now. They’re very busy in there.” Her shoulders dropped and she looked at the ground. “Sorry, kiddo. Later.”

  Sarge snorted and looked at me, “Now what?” He asked.

  I looked back towards the park. The fire was nearly out now; just some smoke rising from what was left of the truck. Taking a deep breath, I said, “Now I have to go tell Mel that Taylor was nearly killed in an explosion.” I looked off towards the lake before looking back at Sarge, “Then we get even.”