Things You Should Know by A. M. Homes Read Free Book Online Page B

have a broken neck.”
    She thinks they are talking about a swan, a swan has been injured.
    â€œDon’t go to sleep,” they say, pinching her awake. “Stay with us.”
    And then she is flying again. She remembers nothing. She remembers only what they told her.
    â€œYou’re very lucky. You could have been decapitated or paralyzed forever.”
    She is in a hospital far away.
    â€œYou have a facet dislocation, five over six—in essence, a broken neck. We’re going to put you in a halo and a jacket. You’ll be up and around in no time.”
    The doctor smiles down at her. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
    She can’t nod. She tries to but nothing happens. “Yes,” she says. “You think I’m very lucky.”
    In the operating room, the interns and residents swab four points on her head. “Have you ever done this before?” they ask each other.
    â€œI’ve watched.”
    â€œWe’re going to logroll you,” the doctor tells her. Andthey do. “Get the raised part at the back of the skull and the front positioning pin lined up over the bridge of the nose, approximately seven centimeters over the eyebrows with equal distance between the head and the halo all the way around.”
    â€œHow are your fingers? Can you move your fingers?”
    She can.
    â€œGood. Now wiggle your toes.”
    â€œYou don’t want it too high, it pitches the head back so she just sees sky, and you don’t want it too low because then she’s looking at her shoes,” the doctor says. He seems to know what he is talking about.
    â€œFeel my finger on your cheek—sharp or dull?”
    â€œSharp.”
    â€œLet’s simultaneously tighten one anterior and its diagonal opposite posterior.”
    â€œThanks. Now pass me the wrench.”
    â€œClose your eyes, please.”
    She doesn’t know if they’re talking to her or someone else. Someone looks directly down at her. “Time to close your eyes.”
    She is bolted into a metal halo, which is then bolted into a plastic vest, all of it like the scaffolding around a building, like the Statue of Liberty undergoing renovations. When they are done and sit her upright—she almost faints.
    â€œPerfectly normal,” the doctor says. “Fainting. Dizziness.” He taps her vest—knock, knock.
    â€œWhat am I made out of?”
    â€œSpace-age materials. In the old days we would have wrapped you in a plaster cast. Imagine how comfy that was. I assume you didn’t have your seatbelt on?”
    â€œDo these bites on your head hurt?” one of the residents asks.
    â€œWhat bites?”
    â€œLet’s clean them, put some antibiotic on, and make sure she’s up to date on tetanus,” the doctor says. “Get someantibiotics on board just be to sure, you never know what was in that water.”
    â€œWhere am I?”
    â€œStonybrook,” the resident says as though that means something.
    â€œDid someone say something about a swan?” she asks.
    They don’t answer.
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    Her grandmother is the first one who comes to see her. Ninety-seven years old, she gets her cleaning lady to drive her over.
    â€œYour parents are in Italy, we haven’t been able to reach them. The doctor says you’re very lucky. You’re neurologically intact.”
    â€œHe was drunk.”
    â€œWe’ll sue the pants off them—don’t worry.”
    â€œDid anything happen to him?”
    â€œBroke a bone in his foot.”
    â€œI’m assuming he knows the wedding is off.”
    â€œIf he doesn’t, someone will tell him.”
    â€œDoes that come off for bathing?” her grandmother points at the plastic vest.
    â€œNo. It’s all bolted together.”
    â€œWell, that’s what perfume was invented for.”
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    Her girlfriends come in groups.
    â€œWe were fast asleep.”
    â€œWe heard the