Alrighty Then - What Next? (Pt. 4)

Hello, all. It has been a rather harrying day. I went to the hospital to see Zaniah, and it was worse than what I thought. It seems that she did indeed have a shattered kneecap, and it had to be removed. So she is looking at six months of being off of work and tough rehab. The good news, if these things can be termed good, is that because she had no arthritis in the knee, she should make a full recovery without having to have total knee replacement surgery. Poor little young'un, you know her being an orphan and all, she has nobody, so me and the Missus have sort of taken her under our wing.

Whew! It makes a body plumb mad! She slept off and on most of the day. She kept mumbling about shadows and the lights being dim or blown. You know; come to think of it, she said something like that when I came to her rescue in the parking lot. Wonder what all of that means.

But you know what folks, what near tore my heart out? When she insisted on feeding herself, even though her arms were scabbed and bruised and her fingernails were torn down to the quick in places. That little young'un with tears rolling down her cheeks said to me, "That's okay, Mr. Woodward. I can do it. I'm not a baby." Then you know what she did, y'all? She wiped her arm across her face and started it to bleeding again and said, "See Mr. Woodward it did not bleed as much this time." And the nurses had to promise to let her get up tomorrow for just a bit. Y'all she wanted to try to walk today! I tell ya; I wanted to get my hands around the necks of them two scalawags and clump both their heads together until they bled. The Missus told me that I can't say things like that, and I know that I shouldn't, and I ask to be forgiven for thinking 'em and sayin 'em. Y'all, I gotta go. I done got myself all worked up, and I won't be no good for my shift tonight. Y’all take care and I will give you another report on tomorrow.

 

Doing What I Can, While I Can,

Alma Jones

Aside -  Well, dear reader, how did you like the way I carried you into this part of the story through the viewpoint of the night watchman, Mr. Woodward? I thought it would be a nice touch since she has no family. That is enough for today. Now, let's see, She has to contend with her knee being injured and the trauma of being violated. Makes a body think, surely nothing else! This is too much. Just too much! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that they are running some tests on her vision tomorrow. Ugh, nothing else...I hope.