07.S03 Chapter Seven, Snippet Three

New Prairie Woman
Susie Rosso Wolf
Chapter Seven, con't

Falling into deep slumber in Brenda’s deliciously comfortable bed came quickly after the long trip so the moment I closed my eyes I drifted into the astral world of fluttering flickering dreams as I floated up and over the mountains and rivers and lakes with water angels dipping at the edges of the lake shore in ethereal dance steps as golden dragon flies and fire flies dodged and darted playfully through the air. I could hear a buzzing in the dream and I remember thinking those bugs are buzzing and getting louder and louder why are they buzzing like that? And then I could hear them calling my name in a strange buzzing voice; Suzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzie…..Suzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzie…..the buzzing continued to grow in volume then suddenly I was aware of a shaking feeling, a grabbing feeling on my shoulder. My senses kicked in to note a familiar smell although it took a moment or two for me to fully recognize the unmistakable scent of beer breath. “Susie, wake up, come on I need you, Baby, wake up please, come on open your eyes.”

“Kurt, I hope you have a very good reason for waking me up from a wonderful dream.”

“Yes I do I need your help.”

“What now? You’re drunk.”

“Yes I know I’m drunk but forget about that I’m hurt I need you to wake up.”

“Hurt?” Instantly I lifted up off the pillow and opened my eyes to see the dimly lit room from a night light in the wall below the end table near the bed that illuminated my husband’s face leaning over me with his hands reaching out to my face.

“Help me Susie, I’m really messed up,” he slurred. “I fell off the back porch steps and I think I broke my ankle.”

“Kurt, no, tell me you didn’t.” I placed the palm of my hand on his chest gently pushing him out of my way then ripped the blankets off of me while swinging my legs over the edge of the bed. I looked down at the floor to see one foot raised up while he hobbled on the other. “Crap, how the heck did that happen? And where have you been?”

“I was out on an Indian walk just enjoying this incredible place and all of the stars, Susie you should see the stars they’re amazing and the moon and all the coyotes howling and the cows mooing in the distance, I just love it here so much I can really feel the energy and the souls of the Indians.”

“Oh God, you’ve turned into Brenda. Great, Kurt, this is just great. Well, I guess we need to drive you to the nearest hospital. You’d better go wake Robert up so he can tell us where to go.”

“Oh no no no no no….I don’t need a hospital.”

“Yes you do, you have a broken ankle so you need to go in right away.”

“It’s probably just a bad sprain.”

“What? You said it was broken. Let me see your ankle. Sit down on the edge of the bed.”

He turned around and lifted himself up to slide onto the bed. I squatted down and gently lifted his injured right ankle into my lap. Pulling up his Levi boot cut pant leg, I could see the swelling and purple bruising in the poorly lit room. “I need to see this in good light. I’m going to lower your leg for just a moment, okay?”

“Okay, thank you Baby.” I put the foot down onto the floor and he winced. I eased off the bed and walked to the door to flip on the light switch. I turned back to see the foot and ankle and was not impressed by what I saw in the light. It did not look like it was broken. I rotated the foot from side to side, had him wiggle his toes, even had him pump his ankle flexing the foot up and then point the toes down. The flesh around the ankle bone was swollen and very colorful, but I did not feel or see a broken bone.

“Kurt, this is not broken.”

“I told you.”

“No, you woke me up and said you had a broken ankle!”

“I know but I wasn’t sure and I needed you.”

“Kurt, I’m gonna kill you. Get yourself into the bed and go to sleep.”

“Noooooo, I want to take you on an Indian walk! Come on Susie, let me show you this magical place Robert has here! You haven’t seen it yet.”

“I’m not kidding Kurt, get to bed. I’m tired and want to go back to sleep and you need to stay off that foot, elevate that ankle and get some rest. In fact, you should probably take some aspirin but you’ve been drinking so you can’t.”

“Oh pishaaaw. I don’t need any aspirin. Let’s go for a walk!”

“Kurt! If you don’t get your butt into this bed I’m going to take the truck back to Northridge and leave you here with your Indians! Now get into bed and go to sleep!”

“You’re a real buzz-kill,” he said.

“You’ll thank me in the morning,” I told him.

The next morning I was awakened by the sound of his soft snoring and throat clearing in his sleep. Quietly, I slid off the bed and lifted the covers at the foot of the bed to see his right foot and ankle. Discovering it had slipped off of the two sofa pillows I had put under it once I convinced him to get into the bed, I slid my hand under his foot and placed it onto the pillows. The ankle looked very swollen and bright blue with deep black markings running thru to the toes. It didn’t look good at all. I made my way out to the kitchen and discovered April standing at the sink pouring water into her coffee maker. She bid me a good morning and I returned the greeting then asked her if she had an ice pack in her freezer. She did and handed it to me. I wrapped it in a hand towel them placed it on Kurt’s ankle then woke him up to take some aspirin. He wasn’t too pleased about being shaken awake and refused to take the pills but finally did swallow them after I threatened to beat him within an inch of his life. I put the old man back to sleep then went off to the shower to  and dress then had coffee and toast at the dining room table.

Every now and then I checked on Kurt’s ankle, changing the ice pack for a cold one and making sure the foot remained elevated on the pillows. He didn’t rise until four in the afternoon that day, feeling hung over and the pains from his unfortunate accident. Angry with himself for his stupidity, he apologized for “ruining our trip” knowing that his injury would put a damper on our planned activities.