“He’s awake, Mom,” King called. “He can’t see anything.”
“I thought you had the tumor removed?” Gravel asked. “Why the hell can’t you see?”
“Doc,” Dad called. “Explain it to them. I’m gonna go for a walk.” I heard a chair move back and the door open and close.
I guess Dad wasn’t up for Ethel and Gravel’s surprise visit.
“Who are you?” Ethel asked.
I had to assume she spotted Birdie.
“Probably his ol’ lady,” Gravel snickered. “You know all of the kids are starting to shack up.”
“Oh, uh, I’m not Easy’s ol’ girlfriend,” Birdie interrupted.
“Ol’ girlfriend,” Meg laughed. “That’s a good one.”
“Lady?” Birdie corrected herself.
“She’s Easy’s doctor. She’s helping us better understand what is going on,” Mom explained.
“She doesn’t look like a doctor. She doesn’t even have a stethoscope,” Gravel scoffed.
“It’s in my bag,” Birdie explained as if having a stethoscope was the sign of a doctor.
“Gravel,” Meg laughed. “Would you leave the poor girl alone? She’s not on the clock right now. Easy asked her to come down and be his translator.”
“Translator? Is he speaking in tongues now?” Ethel gasped. “I saw something like this on Dr. Phil. The woman had a stroke, and when she woke up, she could only speak Italian.” A hand rested on my shin. “Sei qui, Easy?” Ethel asked.
“Since when the hell do you speak a foreign language?” King grunted.
Gravel hmphed. “For as long as she’s been watching Dr. Phil and mentioning him in every conversation we have. She’s been learning Italian while watching Phil.”
“Shh, shh,” Ethel hushed. “Come ti senti?” she called.
“He’s not speaking in tongues, Ethel,” Mom laughed. “Birdie is here to help us better understand the doctor jargon. Easy’s neurologist is very good at his job, but he seems to only be able to speak in ten-dollar words.”
“Oh,” Ethel gasped. “That makes more sense, but if you feel like you need to speak in Italian, honey, just know I can understand,” she promised.
I set down the calzone in my lap and blindly reached out to rest my hand on Ethel’s. “I’ll just stick to English, Ethel.”
“Why can’t he see?” Gravel demanded from my side.
Birdie gave Ethel and Gravel the rundown of what was going on with me.
Each time I heard her explain everything, the more it sunk in.
I was blind, and no one knew how long it was going to last. I had a tumor, and we didn’t know if it was cancer or not yet.
Hell, they couldn’t even tell me for sure that I wouldn’t be blind for the rest of my life.
Everything my life had been before finding out about the brain tumor was going to completely change if my vision didn’t come back and I had cancer.
I may never be able to ride my motorcycle ever again.
I may die.
“So, this is all temporary?” Ethel asked when Birdie was done talking.
