Officer Sean's Case
by
Hannah Aldrich
(age 13)
Chapter 2
I opened my eyes. I could make out a blurry face in front of mine. After a minute I could see it was my wife's face.
“Sean?” She said.
I let out a weak. “Hey..”
“How you feelin'?” she asked me.
“Mmmmm?” “I don't know yet.” I answered very quietly. I tried to move, but a pain knifed at my shoulder. I groaned a little.
“Do you need more morphine?” asked a young man standing by the side of my bed, opposite my wife. I focused my eyes on him a minute. He was a nurse about 20 years old. I was too weak to talk again, but he pushed some buttons on my bed then said. “The morphine will kick in in a minute.”
I nodded weakly.
“Where's Anna?” I found the strength to say.
“She's at your mom's.”
“Oh.” I said. There was a knock at the door. The nurse let the person in. It was Sheriff John.
“Hey Sean.” “How ya doin'?” He asked smiling broadly.
“Eh.” I shrugged.
The nurse said. “Ok, guys, Mr. Waitie needs his rest.” My boss patted my right arm and left the room. Jane kissed my cheek and left with tears in her eyes. “It'll be okay," said the nurse as he led her out.
The next day the whole police team was there to see me:the boss, David, Sam, Shane. Everyone was there. I hoped I would be able to talk to Sam alone and make things right between us. The policeman that had heard the gunshots and called for backup was Matt. He approached me and handed me something. It was a new phone.
"Thanks Matt.” I chuckled as I forced my lips to make a smile. They all began to leave, so my nurse, Caleb wouldn’t have a conniption. I called for Sam in a low weak voice. “Hey, Sam.”
“Huh?” said Sam in confusion. I motioned for him to come over.
I hesitated. I tried to find words. Gathering myself up I began to speak. “Sam I... I'm so sorry for yelling at you like that, I wasn't mad at you, I want to make it up to yo...”
Sam interrupted. “Sean, it's all right. I was offended at first, but I understood after a while that you were not mad at me You probably had a bad morning, It's okay.”
I was dumbstruck at his understanding. I thought he would be mad at me, or at least upset.
I guess he saw my surprise because he said, “I was never mad at you, or even upset, I am sorry for knocking over your file, I should have been more careful.”
“No, there is nothing to be sorry for, I am the one who should be sorry.” And with that, we said our goodbyes, and Sam left.
I wasn’t exactly a fan of the food around here, but at least it was edible. The nurse came back in with my meds and stayed there to make sure I took them.
When he left, Jane came in. “Hey, Sean, was that all your work buddies?” she asked.
“Yeah, they are leaving, because they don't want to get kicked out by Caleb.” I said.
“Oh”
“What time is it?”
“About 9:30 AM”
“When can I get back to work?"
The doctor who was just entering the room heard the question I just asked. “You aren't going back to work for quiet a while Mr. Waitie.”
“Ugh.” I grumbled. “When can I go home?”
“We'll see how your doing by Friday, okay?”
I let out an exasperated sigh.
“Did you enjoy your breakfast, Mr. Waitie?” asked the doctor.
I nodded.
“Good. Now let's see that shoulder, shall we?”
Tuesday...Wednesday..Thursday.
The days dragged by. I was sitting upright reading a book on Friday morning when the doctor came in. Well!” said the doctor when he saw me. “You look like you're feeling better!” He inspected my shoulder and studied my chart. Then he said. “Well” “It looks like you're all set to go home, Mr. Waitie. I'll send you home with a list of instructions. When your wife gets here, she can take you home.”
“Thank you so much!” I beamed at him.
“All right, just take it easy.” He chuckled.
I used one hand to text Jane. She came over to the hospital a half hour later. “We can go home! Finally!” The doctor and nurse Caleb came in to see me out. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I set one foot on the floor..then the other and stood up. I thanked Caleb and the doctor who had cared for me this past week. I changed into my normal clothes. The doctor gave me a sling for my arm.
When I was checking, out I saw my boss and David coming in the hospital. I waved with my right arm.
“Good morning, Officer.” I said to David. “Mornin', Boss. I said to the sheriff.
They both said. "Mornin.”
“You headed home?” asked the sheriff.
“Yes I am.” I said with a broad smile.
“Good.” said my boss in approval. The sheriff gave me a light pat on the back. I turned to Dave and gave him a little smirk. I held out my hand. We high fived and shook each other's hand and did our special handshake we came up with when we became friends as young boys. It was a little childish, but it was fun.
“Ahh you two.” said our boss shaking his head and chuckling.
We got home around 2:00 PM. We had stopped at McDonald on the way home. Jane took the baby upstairs to put her down for a nap. I sat on the couch and turned on the TV. “Wait a minute.” I said to myself. “This is all I have been doing at the hospital. Why am I still doing it?” I got off the couch and went to the kitchen. I made some coffee and sat at the table with Jane.
“I want to show you something," she said. She went into the closet and came back with something wrapped in her arms, It was a small German Shepard puppy.
“Where did this come from?” I asked.
“He was in a box labeled free pups. “Can we keep him?” I looked at Jane. She clearly loved the little thing.
“Oh all right.”
“Thank you so so much!” She kissed me on the cheek.
“Did you name him?”
“I named him Trooper.”
“Nice name,". I said approvingly. She set the puppy down, and he began to run and jump around my chair begging to be picked up again. I bent down a little and picked up the puppy with my right arm.
“Sean!” snapped my wife disapprovingly.
“What? It's all right.” The puppy licked my face with joy.
Almost a week went by since I've been home. I had an appointment at the hospital.
“Well, it looks like you're healing-sowly but surely.” declared the doctor.
“Will I be able to work soon?”
The doctor looked at me with a serious look on his face. “In about two weeks, you can go to work three days a week. But you can't be doing anything that has to much exercise involved. You can answer calls or maybe cruise around and stop speeders. But that's about it. In two months, you can go five days a week. But still only do the things I just listed. Then we'll see.”
“What? Ugh! Two months!” It felt like my life was over. Oh well, I guess I'll take it one day at a time.
I went home and piled on the couch. I ran my hands down my face “BLAH”
Jane came down the stairs with little Anna in her arms.“Can you take her a minute?”
"Of course.” Jane placed the little cutie in my lap. I held her with my right arm. I cooed to her, and she babbled back at me. “Now Anna, you know it's rude to back talk,” I teased. We 'talked' back and forth until Jane came back with two cups of tea. She placed them on the coffee table and took Anna and laid her in her playpen. Jane handed me one of the cups and we talked and drank our tea.
(to be continued)
(original and unedited)
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