Wrangled (4 page)

I knew what he was gettin’ at. But there
was no hair on my palms, I reckoned that was a myth, like your eyes stickin’
that way if you crossed ‘em. I kinda smirked as I showed him.

Then he cleared his throat. I guessed there
was more comin’.

“Cody, I couldn’t be a mom to you when
yours died, but I’ve tried to do my best by you. You’re more a son to me than a
nephew. You know that, don’t ya?”

“I do, Uncle Hank, and I’m real proud to be
a son to you. Thank you for takin’ care of me after mom died and dad run off.”

“Least I could do, boy. And I don’t know if
this is right or not, but you’re the only young’un I’ve ever had to raise, and
I just want you to be safe.” With an embarrassed look all over his wind-burned
face, he handed me a string of little foil packets, all pokin’ out in little
circles.

“What’s this, Uncle Hank?”

“Them are condoms, boy. You get to doin’
the dirty with that girl, you put one of these on, every time, you hear me?”

I didn’t know whether to look embarrassed
like him or laugh. This was the last thing I would’ve expected, and at the same
time, I was grateful. I didn’t get to town much, and I hadn’t thought that far
ahead. Likely I woulda nailed her bareback if we’d got that far.

“Thanks, Hank. I’ll remember that. But
we’re not…”

“I know; you said that, Cody, and I believe
you. But I’ve seen the way she looks at you, and it won’t be long now, unless
you put a stop to it. I’d ruther you do that. I told you once, and I’ll say it
again. That girl’s trouble. But at least if you won’t stop seein’ her, stay
protected.”

I wanted to defend my girl, wanted to know
exactly what kind of trouble Hank could see comin’, but all I did was nod. I
wouldn’t stop seein’ her, not even if Hank forbid it. I was of age, and he
couldn’t stop me. But, I could be safe, with a couple dozen condoms in my kit,
thanks to him. Next time I went to town, I’d buy a case. I reckoned we’d have
some catchin’ up to do, once one of us reeled the other in.

~~~

I didn
’t know what
got into Abo that evenin’. Maybe a long shadow, or a rabbit inside the fence.
One minute I was sendin’ my lariat out in a long, flat arc to rope the calf,
and the next thing I knew I was flyin’ through the air toward the fence. Then I
didn’t know nothin’ for a while.

When I woke up, I was in a white room on a
little bed, and there was all kinda noises comin’ from machines that was
crowded up next to the bed. No one else was there.

“Hey!” I hollered. When no one answered, I
tried to get up. That’s when I got scared. I couldn’t move. For a minute, I strained
to sit up, and then I laid back, tryin’ to figure out what happened. I couldn’t
remember nothin’ at first, and then I remembered I’d been practicin’ with Abo.
He musta throwed me off, and this must be a hospital. But, why couldn’t I move?
Oh, shit fire! Was I paralyzed? Soon as I had that thought, my whole body
started shakin’ and the noises from them machines got louder. A lady wearin’
some kinda pajamas come runnin’ into the room and stuck her face right in mine.

“Mr. Wayne, are you in pain? What just
happened?”

“No, I ain’t in pain. But I cain’t move.” I
coulda died right then, embarrassed as all hell when a tear rolled down my
cheek. Her face relaxed, though.

“Mr. Wayne, I’m sorry no one was here when
you came to. You’re going to be fine. You can’t move because you’re restrained
so you
won’t
move. As soon as the doctor evaluates all of your x-rays,
we can try to let you loose, okay?”

“I’m not paralyzed?” My voice came out all
shaky, and I was glad nobody I knew was there to see me bein’ a sissy.

“Not that we know of. But we don’t want to
risk further injury to your neck. That was quite a fall you took.”

“I don’t remember, did…”

“Your uncle came with you in the ambulance.
He said you were riding in a training corral and your horse threw you headfirst
into a fence post.”

“Aw, shit. Oh, I’m sorry ma’am! Do you know
if Abo is okay?”

“Abo?”

“My horse.”

“Oh. No, I’m sorry. But your uncle is here.
He’ll be able to come in and see you when the doctor says it’s okay. Shouldn’t
be too much longer. Do you have any other questions I can answer right now?”

“Yeah, is anything broken?”

“I’m sorry, that’s one I can’t answer. The
doctors are looking at your x-rays now. Would you like a sip of water?”

All of a sudden, I had a powerful thirst
that I hadn’t noticed before. But I also needed to piss, and it didn’t look
like I was gettin’ off this bed anytime soon. “I, uh, I mean, yeah, I’m
thirsty, but…” Ah, hell. This was embarrassin’, tellin’ a lady I had to piss.
“I’m sorry ma’am, but I need to…”

Understandin’ came over her face, and she
said, “It’s okay, just let go.”

“In my bed?!” I might’ve been injured, but
no way was I gonna piss my bed.

“You have a catheter, Mr. Wayne. It’s okay,
I promise.” She picked up a little plastic box with buttons on it, on a cord,
and put it right by my hand. “Here’s your call button. If you need anything
else, just push the biggest button.” She had me feel it, and when I found the
biggest button, she said, “Yes, that’s the one. Are you sure you don’t want
some water before I go?”

“Yes, ma’am, I would, thank you.”

She pushed a straw between my lips and I
had just one sip of cool water before she said, “That’s enough for now. We
don’t want you getting sick if you have to have any surgery.”

Surgery? That set them machines a whoopin’
and janglin’ again, and the lady put her hands on my chest. “Please try to
relax, Mr. Wayne. You’re in good hands. The doctor will be in soon.”

Then she left me alone to think about what
all was gonna happen to me. I didn’t know much about surgery or hospitals, but
I knew that broken bones and rodeo went along together, and that it was pricey.
How was I gonna pay for all of this? Especially since I couldn’t work until
they let me outta here, and who knew how long after? It was kinda a low-level
frettin’ not enough to make them machines go nuts, but enough to keep me from
restin’. I needed to get up outta here and get back to work!

Along about half an hour later, here come a
man in a white coat, with one of them listenin’ things around his neck.
Somethin’ scope, they’re called. He didn’t use it on me, though. Instead, he
picked up a clipboard off the foot of the bed and looked at it, then he looked
at the machines. Finally, he came around where I could see him good, and said,
“Good evening, Mr. Wayne. How are we doing?”

“I don’t know how
you’re
doin’, Doc,
but I had better days.”

He smiled a little. Guess he heard that one
before. “Any pain, Mr. Wayne? Especially in your head or neck?”

“Nossir, I don’t think so.”

“Hmmm. Mr. Wayne, you have a contusion
right on the top of your head where it hit the fence, do you remember that
happening?”

“Nossir, the nurse told me what happened,
but I cain’t remember it.”

“Not surprising. Well, you have a
concussion. That means that your brain was injured, but we won’t know the
extent of the injury until we see how well you recover. Your skull sustained a
shock, but doesn’t seem to be cracked. X-rays on your neck are inconclusive,
we’re going to have to do a CT scan. Your right leg is broken and will need a
full-leg cast for a few weeks, and about four months’ recovery time for full
use. No other injuries. I’d say you were a lucky man.”

“I don’t feel so lucky, Doc. What’s a
contusion? And what’s inconclusive mean? When can I ride again?”

“A contusion is a bruise. The top of your
head is going to be tender for a while, young man. And when the pain medication
wears off, you’re going to have a pretty good headache. Inconclusive means we
couldn’t see one way or another whether your cervical spine has sustained major
injury. And before you ask, that’s your neck. ”

My heart started racin’ again and the
machines started screamin’, ‘til the doctor pushed one of the buttons on the
loudest one, and then came back to talk some more. “I’m sorry, I should have
said that differently. We don’t think you have a major injury there. We just
need to be careful in case there’s a minor injury that could get worse. I’m
afraid you’re going to have to stay in that head restraint, at least until
after the CT scan. As far as riding again, we’re going to have to take that
slowly until we see how you progress. We’ll see to the leg after the CT scan.”

I heaved a big sigh. I wasn’t out of the
woods yet, but he said they didn’t think my neck was broke. At least, that’s
what I thought he said. On the other hand, it looked like I might be outta my
job for four months. I didn’t know how I was gonna handle that, for money
anyway.

“Okay, Doc, but it’s mighty borin’, layin’
here lookin’ at the ceilin’. Can my uncle come in?”

“Yes, I think that will be fine, as long as
you can stay calm. You’re scheduled for the CT scan in about an hour, or as
soon as they’re through with the patient that’s being scanned right now. We’ll
come and get you when it’s time.”

“Thanks, Doc. Oh, and Doc? Will you tell my
uncle what-all you told me? I want him to get it straight, and I’m not sure I
can remember exactly how you said it.”

“Yes, son, of course. Try not to worry.”

Easy for him to say. He didn’t have a rodeo
career ridin’ on the results of that CT scan.

A few minutes later, Uncle Hank came in. I
knew it was him because I recognized how he smelled, but I couldn’t see him
yet. “Uncle Hank?”

“Yes, boy, I’m here. Just looking at all
this fancy stuff they have you hooked up to. How do you feel?”

“Like a turkey trussed up for roastin’. Can
you come over here where I can see you? They don’t want me to move my head, so
they’ve got me tied down.”

Uncle Hank stepped into my view. I was
shocked by how he looked, his face all gray and drawn, and his hair standin’
straight on end. I hadn’t seen him look like this since my mom died. “Uncle
Hank, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, boy, why?”

“Nothin’. I thought you was worried, that’s
all.”

“Well, of course I was worried! Ain’t every
day your only livin’ relative gets drove headfirst into a fencepost! You’re
just lucky you got such a hard head, the doc said.”

“You always said I was hard-headed,” I
joked.

“Ha ha. This ain’t all that amusin’ boy.”

I knew that. “Just tryin’ to get you to
lighten up, Uncle Hank. I’m gonna be okay.”

“Sure you are, Cody. Sure you are. You’ll
be back on that idiot horse in no time. How’d he come to throw you like that?”

“I dunno, Uncle Hank. I cain’t remember. I
guess I wasn’t sittin’ just right in the saddle. I think he shied, just as I
threw out my lariat, but he musta stopped dead real quick, or I woulda just
fell off under his feet, right?”

“That sounds right. I’ll see if the other
hands that was watchin’ can remember.”

“Uncle Hank, was Annalee there?

His face darkened. “Thought I told you that
girl was trouble.”

“You did. All I’m askin’ is, did she see
the accident?”

“I s’pose so. Ain’t she hangin’ on that
fence every night?”

“Could you call the ranch, and get someone
to tell her I’m gonna be okay?”

“Sure, Cody, I can do that.”

“Uncle Hank, how am I gonna pay for all
this? ‘Specially since the doc said it might be four months before I can use
the leg again?”

“Don’t you worry about that. I’ll figure it
out. Just get better, and then we’ll worry about payin’ for it.”

“Thanks, Uncle Hank. I don’t know what I’d
do without you.” I was about to get all choked up, but Hank saved me by
punchin’ me in the arm.

“Kin gotta stick together, boy. Don’t say
another word, you hear?”

After that, he started jokin’ how he was
gonna ship ‘that worthless horse’ to a glue factory, with me threatenin’ to
kill him if Abo wasn’t right where he belonged when I got home. It was the only
way we knew to be, since talkin’ about lovin’ each other was out of the
question. I knew it, and he knew it. We had no need to say it. For the
thousandth time since my mom died, I thanked God for my uncle, all the while
givin’ him the same shit he was givin’ me.

In no time at all, the same nurse was back,
unhookin’ all the machines except one. Well, that one wasn’t really a machine,
exactly. It had a bag of some clear stuff hangin’ on it, and the tube come down
to my arm. It was drippin’, one slow drop at a time, down the tube and I
guessed into me. I asked the nurse, “What is this stuff, anyway?”

“Fluid to keep you from getting dehydrated,
and we’ve put some medicine in there to keep your pain level tolerable.”

“Oh.” I guessed that was why my head didn’t
hurt like the doc said it should. I wasn’t lookin’ forward to that.

Then two big guys wearin’ the same kind of
pajamas that the nurse had on come in, fiddled with somethin’ underneath the
bed, and suddenly I was rollin’ down the hall, bed and all, with the nurse
pushin’ that thing with the bag hangin’ on it. We got to a room with big double
doors, and they pushed me on through and up next to a weird-lookin’ machine,
looked like a bed with a big ol’ doughnut at the top, made of plastic or
somethin’. Next thing I knew, Nurse had unhooked the tube from my elbow and
them two big ol’ boys just lifted me up, sheet and all, and over into the bed
with the doughnut. Then all three of ‘em disappeared as quick as they’d come.