“My foot went in a ho, and this hurts.” Her words got a shocked gasp from the others as Nemi pointed at her ankle.
“She means a hole,” I told them over my shoulder before turning back and untying the laces on her sunflower embroidered Converse and carefully working it off her foot. After that, the sock proved even more painful for her, to the point I quit trying after the first squeal.
“Why don’t you bring her inside, and we’ll see if we can get it off while she’s sitting down,” Linda Townsend suggested as she joined us. “Poor baby took a tumble.”
Ironically, her knees were skinned and bleeding, but it was her ankle that was bothering her.
Bond tried to lower her into the chair as we walked into the kitchen and reached the table, but she wouldn’t let go again.
“I wan-wanna stay with you, Bond,” she sniffled, melting all of our hearts. After watching some of the movies he’d told her about, she’d mastered saying his name now instead of Bund.
Looking slightly panicked, though, Bond said, “I don’t know anything about kids, Heidi. If I sit down with her on my lap, is that okay? Will it hurt her? Is it illegal?”
“I want Bond,” Nemi wailed. “Please?”
Smiling at him reassuringly, I pulled out a chair for him. “It’s not illegal, and it won’t hurt her. All you’re doing is holding her and keeping her feeling safe while we look her over, okay?” When he nodded and sat down, I added, “If at any point you want to call uncle, just do it, and I’ll take over.”
Linda appeared beside me with a first aid kit and some scissors. “Seems we’re using this more than I anticipated today. Just as well we buy this stuff in bulk.”
The two of us went about cleaning her knees, wiping off the grass and mud, and slicking Neosporin on the cuts and grazes on them.
“I’ve got some bright pink bandages, Nemi,” Linda told her. “Or I’ve got ones with Disney characters on them or blue and green ones. Which would you prefer?”
Nemi pulled her head away from Bond’s chest and thought about it.
“You got James Bond?”
Linda looked shocked by this, but then she must have put the pieces together and figured out why Nemi wanted them, because she smiled and then looked like she was thinking it over.
“I don’t think we do, but I’ll go hunting to see if we can find any online in case you hurt yourself again.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Town-zend,” my daughter said politely, shocking Bond, whose eyes widened as he looked at me. Yeah, my baby had manners. “You got Pirates Of The Caribbean? I love them.”
“As a matter of fact, I do. Crystal and Louis love those movies, too, so I make sure I never run out. Now, who’s your favorite character?” Linda pulled out a box and turned it over so she could see what was available. “You need to choose three or four so we can cover those cuts up.”
My girl didn’t even need to think about it. “Captain Jack and the Black Pearl.”
Smiling down at her, Linda nodded and went hunting through the strips inside. “Best choices ever. I personally like Will Turner as well, but the captain and the ship are the best parts of the movies if you ask me.”
While the two of them discussed it, Bond whispered, “I’m shocked. She’s so little, but she’s got the brain of someone much older.”
Running my hand over the top of my daughter’s head, I pointed out, “She’s got an old soul. You should see her when it comes to wildlife programs on television. She lectured me on the extinction of whales a couple of weeks ago, reeling off facts and statistics like she was going through the colors of the rainbow.”
“There,” Linda said, interrupting the conversation between the two of us. “That’s the cuts covered, and now we look at this little troublesome thing here.” She tapped Nemi’s sore ankle lightly and looked up at me. “You good if I cut her sock off? If she needs another one, I’m sure we can give y’all some.”
It was a sock, so I wouldn’t lose sleep over it.
Once I’d nodded, Linda went about cutting it off, and we all sucked in a breath when we saw the blatant bruising and swelling.
“I’m just going to FaceTime my grandson-in-law,” she muttered to us, taking her phone out of her pocket and hitting the screen before I could say anything. Then, while she waited for the call to be answered, she explained to Nemi, “He’s a doctor in Gonzales County, you know. He looks after sick people all the time, and if we ever have a problem, we call him.”
“Okay,” Nemi whispered, snuggling into Bond’s chest.
“You’re really brave,” he told her gently. “I’d be crying if I hurt my ankle like that.”