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“You’ll need to fill out these forms,” the nurse said as she handed over a clipboard.
“My insurance probably won’t cover this,” Jun said. “I mean, my deductible is pretty high.”
“I’ll cover it,” Kai volunteered.
“That’s generous of you, but I can’t accept that.” Jun folded her arms across her chest.
“Yes, you can. He had this episode at my house, and I’ll cover it,” Kai said, resolute. He could see fight brimming in Jun’s dark eyes, but she wasn’t going to win. He felt responsible for the boy and covering a thousand-dollar ER visit was the least he could do. And it had been his call to get an ambulance. He took the clipboard from the surprised nurse and began filling in his information.
“All the bills will come to me,” he said, handing the clipboard back along with his credit card. The nurse took it before Jun could protest further.
“Don’t fight me on this,” Kai warned her. Jun, seemingly too anxious about Po to argue more, let it drop.
Po came awake, it seemed, glancing around him at the adult faces.
“Mommy?” Po asked.
“I’m here, sweetie. I’m here.” She rushed to his side and held his hand.
“Hi, big guy,” Kai said, taking up a position behind Jun. The boy smiled at him.
“Kai!” he exclaimed, happy.
“Po, I’m Dr. Hill,” said the resident. “Do you remember what happened?”
“I was sleepy,” he said. “I took a nap?”
“That’s it?”
Po nodded.
“Okay, I’m going to shine this light in your eyes, all right? It will be bright.”
Po nodded again, and the doctor took out the pen light and examined Po, and then she plugged the stethoscope to her ears and listened to his heartbeat.
Po lay very still, his dark hair a rioting mess around his head. “Breathe in and out,” Dr. Hill told Po as she listened to his lungs through the stethoscope. “That’s it. Just like that.”
Eventually, she withdrew. “You did just fine, Po. Thank you.” She grinned at the boy and the boy smiled back.
Dr. Hill looked at Jun. “Ms. Lee, I think Po is fine.”
“But what happened this afternoon?” Kai knew what he’d seen. The boy wouldn’t wake up.
“If I had to guess, what Po experienced was something we call night terrors, although that’s really a misnomer, as they don’t always happen at night.”
“Night terrors?” Kai hadn’t heard of them before.
“It’s like sleepwalking, except there’s intense fear involved,” Dr. Hill said. “Has Po been having trouble sleeping lately?”
Jun nodded. “We both have,” she admitted.
Kai glanced at her. They both hadn’t been sleeping? He wondered why not.
“He’s been having a lot of nightmares,” Jun explained to the doctor. “And not a lot of sleep. And he’s been coming into my bed but...” Jun swallowed hard. “I was raised kids don’t sleep in adult beds, so I’ve been walking him back a lot.”
“Night terrors often happen when there’s lack of sleep involved,” Dr. Hill said.
“What about...the tsunami? Could that be...?”
“Stress plays a factor,” the doctor said, tucking her stethoscope around her neck and putting her hands in the pockets of her white coat. “This could be residual from that event, but children are usually amazingly resilient. Have there been any other stressful events lately?”
Jun recounted the day-care biting incident and, of course, the teacher nearly throwing him in the pool, and then the close call with the waves near Kai’s house. Dr. Hill nodded her head sympathetically.
She smiled at Po. “So you don’t like the water?”
Po’s eyes grew wide in fear as he shook his head vigorously.
Dr. Hill took note of that in her file. “Perhaps, Ms. Lee, you might consider having Po talk to a child therapist. I can recommend one.”
“Thank you, but I think we’ll be fine.”
Kai stood by listening, floored. Why wouldn’t Jun even consider having Po talk to a therapist? Of course, on some level, he understood. Hadn’t he avoided his own trip to a leather couch in the past year? Hadn’t he brushed off suggestions from his physical therapist six months ago to go see a sports psychologist?
