I’d discovered that my newly healed arm was like a weather warning system for rain and the cold. Holy shit, did it ache.
Still, holding it out in front of me, I twisted it from side to side, like I was proving there was nothing wrong with it. “Not too bad.”
“Does it still smell like cheese?” he teased, making me blush.
Okay, I had a good reason for that. When I’d had the cast taken off a while back, one of the techs who I’d never liked had been the one wielding the small electric saw to cut through it. He’d dropped the fucking thing twice before he’d pressed it on the cast, so I was slightly out of my mind by the time it came off.
My anxiety also wasn’t helped by the fact that I’d made the mistake of looking up how many cuts and accidental amputations happened while casts were being removed, and the information I’d found had kept me up for two nights. Just to make it even better, the helpful internet people even had photos of it all right there for my viewing pleasure.
I went into that appointment a wreck. I’m talking nerves, stress, and sleep deprivation so bad that the world seemed slightly unrealistic and weird. Because of that, I had less control of what came out of my mouth than usual, and the relief when I didn’t have someone sewing me back up after it made it even worse.
I’d walked out of the room holding my arm in the air like it was a championship trophy to where Garrett was sitting with Raoul and Rose and their newborn twins. They had a checkup appointment there that day, and when Rose found out I was at my one, she’d demanded that they find Garrett to keep him company. More like she wanted to see the end result…
Standing up, Garrett had walked over to hug me. “How does it feel?”
Holding it up to my face, I turned it around to look at it, wincing at how shriveled and pasty it looked. “It feels good to be free, but does it look a bit weird to you? Do you think it’ll stay this skinny for the rest of my life? Remember when Popeye ate spinach out of the can, and one arm would go muscly before the other one?”
All three of them snickered, but it was Rose who picked it up as we walked out and examined it. “No, you’ll get your spinach arms equal, girl, but you need to exercise it.”
All day it’d felt like I was walking through molasses and like the world was a surreal place, so I was not in a good place in my head still, even with the relief that I still had two arms. We were just walking into the waiting area when she said it, so all of the poor sick and injured people heard me shriek, “There’s a demon in there?”
Thankfully I was in the presence of two well-known P.V.P.D. members and a nurse because they were able to just smile and wave at everyone as they led me out of the building and into the parking lot like nothing was wrong. As we cleared the doors, Garrett pulled me in for a hug and rubbed my back.
“She didn’t mean exorcize a spirit or demon, baby. She was talking about doing exercises to build up the muscles again.”
Shit, I should’ve known that especially seeing as how I had four printed out pages of the things in my purse. I blamed a lack of sleep, the internet, and my irrational mind taking over from the rational one. Oh, and also Timmy the twat who couldn’t hold onto the saw correctly.
Swallowing loudly, I pulled back and nodded. I could’ve explained it all, but instead, I burst into tears.
“I’ve got a cheesy smelling gimpy arm. It used to look like this one,” I held up my left one, “which I wouldn’t mind being gimpy because it can’t do much. It’s useless. I don’t want it to smell like cheese, though.”
Leaning around his brother’s shoulder, Raoul looked down at my skinny limb. “Huh, kinda does look gimpy.”
Lifting it, I stuck it under his nose. “Smell it. Cheddar, right?”
Most people would’ve backed away, but curiosity got the better of him, and he leaned in to sniff it. “More like Roquefort. Jesus that needs to be washed. Maybe try bleach.”
Those words were a blow to my heart that felt like it was going to fly out of my chest still. Pressing my face into Garrett’s chest, I started crying even harder.
“I k-k-knew it. I should’ve let him cut it off when he dropped the electric saw. T-t-the people on the internet said it could happen.”
It’s probably not a surprise to admit that I was banned from looking shit up like that. For the person who loved weird and random facts, it was a huge blow, but the isolation and stress of the last two years had obviously had an impact on me mentally. At least, that’s what I figured when I got home, and Garrett rationalized it all for me.