The Ballad of Paul and Jill

Chapter 6

Charles Wallace rushed back to his apartment building and made his way to his sister's suite.

"Hi, Meg!" he said.

"Hi, Charles Wallace" said Meg quietly.

Charles Wallace noticed how his sister's face was like stone and was puzzled by the way it looked.

"Gee, Meg; what's with the face?" he said.

"It's not extreme, biscuits. We just started Chad's physical therapy" said Meg.

She was watching two physical therapists try to get Chad off of his wheelchair.

One of them was a fat old lady with black hair. 

"Alright, Mr Stuart. We're just gonna see if we can straighten your knee. This may hurt" she said.

"Yes, Dr Givenchy" Chad whispered.

"You'll be fine, sir; just close your eyes" said the skinny blonde nurse patting his shoulder.

Chad patted the nurse's hand and closed his eyes. 

Dr Givenchy bent down and lifted Chad's leg to unbend his knee joint. 

"Ow! Ow!" Chad winced. 

"I told you it was gonna hurt" said Dr Givenchy. 

Meg and Charles Wallace stayed watching and Meg was wincing with her husband.

"Just hang in there" said the nurse.

"Debra, can you help me here?" said Dr Givenchy.

"Sure, doc" said Nurse Debra.

She pressed down on Chad's knee ever so gently, but it still hurt.

"Ouch!" Chad moaned.

"Mr Stuart, I am so sorry" said Nurse Debra.

Meg sprung up, approached the doctors and said "Please don't do this to him."

"Miss, we need to do this to get your husband back on his feet" said Dr Givenchy. 

"But you're hurting him" said Meg.

"Well, what do you expect, Meg? He's recovering from knee surgery. It's not easy" said Charles Wallace.

"And being a surgeon yourself, Mrs Stuart, I'd expect you know knee surgery is one of the worst" said Nurse Debra.

"I... I guess. I'm still certain my husband needs a break from it" said Meg.

"We just started. Let's just do it one more time" said Dr Givenchy.

Meg hesitated to answer.

"Just hold your husband's hand, honey. We'll only straighten his leg one more time. It's getting late anyway" said Nurse Debra. 

Meg nodded and squeezed Chad's hand.

Dr Givenchy then lifted his leg one last time causing Chad to wince in pain again.

Meg squeezed his hand tighter and stroked his hair. Her own breathing was becoming shaky as it was.

"Ow... ow" Chad whispered.

After a few seconds, Dr Givenchy let him go and Meg took deep breaths as if she'd experienced the same pain.

"You alright?" Chad whispered to her.

"Uh-huh" Meg whispered back.

"That was fine, Mr Stuart. We'll be back tomorrow for some more tests" said Dr Givenchy.

"Tomorrow?" said Meg fearfully.

"Yes, ma'am. You're gonna have to get used to seeing it. It's gonna take your husband a while to move again" said Dr Givenchy.

"Yeah, how long will it take?" said Charles Wallace.

"Well, we're not exactly sure, hon. He could be on his feet by next week" said Nurse Debra.

"But he won't be painlessly walking for a while. And even then, not very far. Until then, see to it he gets a good night's sleep" said Dr Givenchy. 

"Yes, doc. Good night" said Meg as the doctors left.