Shit.“I thought you said you didn’t want to leave me hurt or embarrassed,” he said in a whisper.
Ru grabbed his phone from the bedside table, almost called Ink to tell him he was going to get a train up there, then changed his mind. This was his problem to solve and if he called Ink now, he’d end up telling him about the pool incident and about Jasim, and his brother would worry, would maybe even come down here.
So no, he wasn’t going to tell Ink, nor was he going to tell him he was at Benning Park. Ru could deal with this.
He didn’t think he’d sleep, but when he closed his eyes again, he went under.
When he woke, he found Jasim sitting in a chair next to the bed.
“Are you okay?” Jasim asked.
“Did you just wake me?”
“To see if you were okay.”
“I’d be more okay if you let me sleep.”
“Bad luck. How can you tell if a horse is cold?”
“Feel behind its ears.” Ru drifted off.
Jasim woke him again.
“How long was I asleep?” Ru yawned. “Ten minutes? What’s the capital of Uzbekistan?”
“I’msupposed to be checkingyoufor cognizance.” But Jasim smiled. “Tashkent.”
“Correct.” Ru fell asleep again.
One time when he woke, he heard Jasim talking to Bela.
“He’s okay, Bela. He’s sleeping. I’m taking care of him.”
And Ru smiled his way back to unconsciousness.
When he felt Jasim gently shake him, Ru opened his eyes and said, “Nephelococcygia is the practice of doing what?”
“I have no idea.”
“Finding shapes in clouds. I love doing that.”
“Did you memorise a dictionary?” Jasim laughed.
“I tried.”
The next time Ru woke, he saw Georgia in the room, and wondered if he’d imagined Jasim and the weird quiz questions. She put her phone down and walked over to him.
“Hi, Ru. How are you feeling?”
“Grand.” He pushed himself to a sitting position and drank the entire glass of water that sat by the bed. “What time is it?”
“Just after nine.”
So late?“I should be working.”
“No, you shouldn’t. You hit your head hard yesterday. Jasim’s not going to let you do any physical work for a while. He’s out on his bike, by the way. He asked me to sit with you and make you breakfast when you woke. What would you like?”
“Nothing, thank you.”
