two?" he asked. and I turned red and nauseous at the
thought of it. I just shook my head.
"I don't know." I said.
He closed his eyes and periodically moaned
about the pain and how he wanted to turn over or get
out of bed. His whining seemed never-ending. Finally
Mommy came in and up to the room, and he directed
all of his complaints at her in shotgun fashion, "It hurts, I want to turn. I want to get out of bed.
I don't like peeing in a jar. How am I going to do
number two? Can I play with my trains?"
"Stubborn in, happiness out." Mommy said.
"No one told you to climb that tree. You should have
listened to me."
She checked his splint and looked at his toes. "I'm going to make you a cast." she said. "and
you're going to have to be like this for a long time.
Noble. If you don't listen and obey, you'll make it
worse, and you might never walk or run again
properly and certainly never run again. do you
understand?"
"It hurts." he said.
"It will hurt, and that is good because it will
remind you how important it is to listen to what I tell
you to do and not to do. I'm going down to make you
something to eat. Celeste will read to you to help you
take your mind off it she said, looking at me. "I don't want her reading to me. I want--" "What you want doesn't matter now." Mommy
said calmly. "Just do what I tell you, and we'll make
you better," she added and kissed him on the cheek.
"Read to him." she ordered.
At the doorway she paused to voice her own
thoughts.