When I get there, they let me into the back to see Savannah. She’s screaming bloody murder, clutching to Sydney with one hand. They’ve already put the cast on her arm in the time it took for me to get here. Sydney looks like a wreck, and the guilt starts eating away at me for not seeing if EJ had a charger so I could bring my phone inside to charge at least.
“Savannah, come on. They have to do it so it won’t hurt.”
“No! No! No!” she screams.
“Hey.” It seems like a terrible way to announce my presence, but it gets their attention.
“Daddy! Save me! Please! Please!” Savannah reaches for me. With her head away from Sydney’s neck, I see the patch of gauze on her forehead.
I pick her up, rubbing her back. “What’s going on?” I ask Sydney, but the doctor is the one who answers me.
“We need to stitch up the gash on her head, and that means a shot.”
“No! No! No shot!” Savannah screams as she bursts into tears again, wiggling in my arms as if she could escape that way.
“They already tried giving her something to calm her down,” Sydney says. “It’s not working, or else it’s just taking a really long time.”
“I go home,” Savannah whispers to me. Her body is suddenly lax in my arms like she’s given out and she has no more fight in her.
“I know, but the doctor has to fix your forehead first. Mommy and I will hold your hand, okay?”
“No!” She wiggles in my arms again. “It hurts!”
“For like one second.”
r /> “Ian!” Sydney chides immediately.
“What? I’m not going to lie to her.” It makes Savannah cry more, though. “Savannah, look at me.” She lifts her head. “Daddy’s had stitches before.” Her eyes widen. “The shot for stitches? It’s not like normal shots. It feels like this.” I give her a small pinch for half a second. “That’s all it hurts. You’re a brave big girl, aren’t you? Can’t you handle that? I think you can.”
Her lips tremble, a few more fat tears fall, and she shakes her head.
“Please? We’ll take you to the store and you can pick out any toy you want.” Bribing can’t hurt at this point, can it?
She takes a good two minutes to think about that. “You hold me?” she asks.
I glance to the doctor. “You can lie with her on the bed.”
“That work, little Miss?”
Finally, she nods. I sit her down on the bed and sit next to her. She lies down, I do too, and she looks at me as the doctor tells her to. I take her hand. She squeezes it as hard as she can.
“You have to stay still, okay, Savannah?” the doctor says.
“We can do that, can’t we? We’ll have a staring contest. Can’t look away from my face, Savannah. If you win, you get cookies after dinner tonight.”
“Okay,” she whispers. “Mommy?”
Sydney stands. “I’m right here, buttercup.”
The doctor is about to give her the shot, so I say, “You know, now you have a cast like Lo-Lo.”
“Ow!”
“That part’s over,” the doctor reassures.
“Maybe Lo-Lo will draw on your cast like you drew on his,” I continue.
Savannah and I talk until the stitches are in. Her eyes are dry by the time it’s over. Soon, she’s discharged. She wants to ride home with me, and Sydney doesn’t put up any fight at all. In fact, she doesn’t talk to me unless she has to. On the ride home is when that medicine seems to finally kick in and make Savannah sleepy.