While My Sister Sleeps Read Online Free PDF Page A

at Molly's approach and, groggy, looked at her watch. Tiredly, she said, “I thought you'd be at the nursery by now.”
    Molly's eyes were on her sister. “How is she?”
    “The same.”
    “Has she woken up at all?”
    “No, but I've been talking to her,” Kathryn said. “I know she hears. She isn't moving, because she's still traumatized. But we're working on that, aren't we, Robin?” She stroked Robin's face with the back of her hand. “We just need a little more time.”
    Molly remembered what the doctor had said about the lack of response. It wasn't a good sign. “Have they done the MRI?”
    “No. The neurologist won't be here for another hour.”
    Grateful that her mother wasn't yelling about the wait, Molly gripped the handrail.
Wake up, Robin
, she urged and searched for movement under Robin's eyelids. Dreaming would be a good sign.
    But her lids remained smooth. Either she was deeply asleep or truly comatose.
Come on, Robin
, she cried with greater force.
    “Her run was going well until she fell,” Kathryn remarked and brought Robin's hand to her chin. “You'll get back there, sweetie.” She caught a quick breath.
    Thinking she had seen something, Molly looked closer.
    But Kathryn's tone was light. “Uh-oh, Robin. I almost forgot. You're supposed to meet with the Concord girls this afternoon. We'll have to postpone.” As she glanced up, she tucked her hair behind her ear. “Molly, will you make that call? She's also scheduled to talk with a group of sixth graders tomorrow in Hanover. Tell them she's sick.”
    “Sick” was a serious understatement, Molly knew. And how not to be sick in this place—with lights blinking, machines beeping, and the rhythmic hiss of the respirator as a steady reminder that the patient couldn't breathe on her own? Between phones and alarms, it was even worse out in the hall.
    Molly had had a break from it, but Kathryn had not. “You look exhausted, Mom. You need sleep.”
    “I'll get it.”
    “When?” she asked, but Kathryn didn't answer. “How about breakfast?”
    “One of the nurses brought me juice. She said that the most important thing now is to talk.”
    “I can talk,” Molly offered, desperate to help. “Why don't you take my car and go home and change? Robin and I have lots to discuss. I need to know what to do with the boxes of sneakers in her closet.”
    Kathryn shot her a look. “Don't touch them.”
    “Do you know how old some of them are?”
    “Molly…”
    Molly ignored the warning. There was normalcy in arguing. “We have to be out in a week, Mom. The sneakers can't stay where they are.”
    “Then pack them up and bring them home with the rest of your things. When you find another place, we'll move them there. And then, of course, there's the issue of her car, which is parked on the side of the road somewhere between here and Norwich. I'll send Chris to get that. I still can't believe you didn't drive her there.”
    Molly couldn't either, but that was hindsight. Right now, Robin made absolutely no show of hearing the conversation. And suddenly, for Molly to pretend that any part of this was normal didn't work. To be talking about old sneakers, when the runner was on
life support?
    Heart in her throat, she searched Robin's face. As a child, Molly had often waited for her sister to wake up, eyes glued to her face, hopes rising and falling on each breath. Molly would be grateful for
any
movement now.
    “If you need help packing,” Kathryn offered, “ask Joaquin. Check his schedule when you get to Snow Hill.”
    “I really want to stay here,” Molly said.
    “This isn't about what you want, Molly. It's about what'll help most. Someone has to be at Snow Hill.”
    “Chris will be there.”
    “Chris can't communicate with people. You can.”
    Molly felt tears spring up. “I'm a
plant
person, Mom. I communicate with
plants.
And this is my
sister
lying here. How can I work?”
    “Robin would want you to work.”
    Robin
would? Molly fought