He already knew her room number, and he’d already spoken with her doctor. To the nurses that lined their station she was a nobody. Even her doctor had to check his notes: that was how little he thought about her. She was a nobody to him too. But to Edmund she was somebody so special to him that he could hardly contain himself as he hurried to her room. She was somebody so dear to him that he was amazed by his reaction to her, and to the news of her misfortune.
When he got to her room, the door was already cracked and he could hear the nurse inside speaking with her. He stood outside of that room looking through that sizeable opening. He watched her as she watched that nurse. And just as he suspected, respect for Maude wasn’t high on that nurse’s agenda either.
“I understand what you’ve got to do,” Maude was saying to her, “but all I want is a little something to eat. I haven’t eaten since I’ve been in this place. Ya’ll won’t let me leave. Why is giving me a little something to eat that difficult?”
“I told you I’m not your waitress,” the nurse replied harshly. “I’m not your maid service either. We’re here to get you well so you can get out of here. Whether you eat or not is notmy problem. You should have gotten you something to eat when they brought the trays around this morning.”
“They brought them around but they didn’t bring me one. They said I’m not on the list.”
“That’s probably because your doctor has ordered tests for you and he doesn’t want you eating anything in the interim. How is that so hard to understand? Or are you just dumb like that? Now will you please just answer my questions?”
Edmund watched the strain on Maude’s face. She looked like a woman accustomed to being rushed, unheard, disregarded. “Go on,” Maude said.
“Who is your next of kin? You didn’t answer that on the forms.”
“Like I told the other nurse, I don’t have a next of kin.”
The nurse sighed as if she didn’t believe her. “Nobody?”
“No one.”
“So you weren’t born like regular people, but you dropped down from the sky?”
Edmund could tell that nurse had gone too far. “Look lady,” Maude finally said with anger in her voice, “if you don’t wanna be bothered with me then you can sail your ass up out of this room. Because what you aren’t gonna do is disrespect me like that.”
“I’m not trying to disrespect you.”
“I told you I don’t have a next of kin. Why you keep pushing it?”
“Let me put it this way,” the nurse said. “If something happens to you, who should we call to pick up your body or whatever? Your parents?”
“No.”
“Your husband?”
“I’m not married.
“Your children?”
“I don’t have any.”
“You must think I was born yesterday. A woman like you don’t have any children? I don’t buy it.”
Maude frowned. “I don’t give a goodgotdamn what you don’t buy lady! Just leave me alone!”
But Edmund could tell that nurse didn’t think enough of Maude to even give her the curtesy of leaving her alone. “What about a boyfriend?” the nurse asked her. “Surely you’ve got a boyfriend.”
“No I don’t,” Maude said. Which for some strange reason pleased Edmund.
“No boyfriend either?” the still-skeptical nurse asked.
“I told you I don’t have a boyfriend.” Just saying that word caused Johnny’s betrayal to surface again. “I mean, I did have a boyfriend but. . . Not anymore. He’s married.”
“So your boyfriend is a married man?”
“No! I wouldn’t date a married man.”
“That’s what you just said.”
