My Familiar Stranger Read Online Free PDF Page B

I know you can’t say much right now, but, when you can, and when you want to, I’ll be here. We’re all very curious about how you came to be… our guest… and about what hurt you like this…”
    The nurse came in. “That’s enough visiting for today.” He nodded at the nurse over his shoulder without taking his eyes away from the pitiful creature in the bed. “Do you need anything? Something we may not have thought of?”
    Elora stared at his face with a pained expression and spoke with effort. “Hwinnn.Doh.”
    Storm frowned just a little, but enough for a couple of small lines to appear between his eyebrows. A window was out of the question. They had just built this… holding cell… especially for her. And it had no windows. “We don’t have a room for you with a window. I’m sorry.” He seemed genuinely apologetic. “Is there something about not having a window that would retard your recovery?”
    Elora shook her head almost imperceptibly and thought Storm might have looked a little relieved. “You just like to look outside?” Tiny movement of her chin in an up down direction. “Yeah,” he smiled. “Me, too. Okay. I’ll be back tomorrow.” He turned away then thought of something else. “You know, when you’re better, maybe we can go outside sometimes. That’s even better than a window.”
    “Thane ooh.”
    His smile illuminated his eyes, brilliant and beautiful as a cloudless night. “If there’s anything else…”
    “Ah ke.”
    He frowned again. “Sorry. I don’t know what that is.” The patient seemed to respond with agitation and he knew it wouldn’t aid recovery if she was upset. “It sounds like ‘ah ke’ to me. Is that what you’re saying?” She shook her head no almost imperceptibly. “You’re not able to say the word clearly because of the swelling around your mouth?”
    She sighed. “Hmmm.”
    “Pretty soon, maybe even tomorrow you’ll be able to tell me. For now, I’ll think of it as a puzzle and try to solve it.”
    He said he would come whenever he could. That turned out to be every day for most of the day. Elora’s speech started to improve and soon she was able to enunciate her full name and correct the misimpression.
    Storm didn’t ask a lot of questions nor did he reveal anything pertinent. He would make small talk about weather and ask how she was doing. Every day he asked if she needed anything and everyday she answered that she wanted a window, but one day she followed that with a request for “locket”.
    “Locket.” He looked perplexed. “You had a locket with you?”
    “Yes.”
    “Are you sure it was with you when you came here?”
    “Yes.” Although she could form words at this point, it was still with great effort so her sentences were as efficient as possible. “Saw them take.”
    He said he would try to find it. He asked the nursing staff about the locket, but no one was on duty who had been there when she arrived. While he was there, he made sure they understood that the bursar in the Operations Office had been instructed to release funds for whatever she wanted when she was able to ask, unless it was a weapon or something that could obviously be used as one. He anticipated the day would come when she would want some of her own clothes or toiletries and such.
    Storm came back into the room to let her know he would look for the locket and asked if there was anything else before he left for the day.
    “Where am I?”
    “You’re in a hospital unit on a military base. We don’t know how you got here, but, when you’re better, we’re hoping you’ll tell us. Right now just use your energy for getting well. That’s your only priority. Everything else can be sorted out later. Right?”
    “Okay. And thank you. It’s nice they assigned me to somebody named Angel.”
    “You speak German?”
    “Some.”
    “Well, don’t start setting the bar too high. It was wishful thinking on my mother’s part.”

     
    Sol looked up from reading a