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Wondering if the guide was going to pass out, Riley looked at him and gestured to the boys. “Maybe you could help the others?”
With one last look at the bleeding leg, the young guide nodded, then went over to where Stan had the boys searching for stray bits of trash in a game of seeing who could find the most.
Justin and Riley worked to clean Stephen’s gaping cut, rinsing it with saline to make sure there was no stray debris or germs.
“Needs sutures,” Riley observed, hating the pain that showed on Stephen’s contorted face. Still, the boy was being a trouper.
Justin nodded, called Stan over. “Looks like we’re going to be upping the scar count.”
“Does that mean you’re sewing me?” Stephen asked, tears streaking his face.
Giving the boy an empathetic look, Justin nodded. “I think so, buddy.”
“I figured you’d need to when I saw how much he was bleeding.” Stan sighed, then bent next to his son to kiss the top of his head. “It’ll be all right. The doc is going to take care of you.”
Not looking thrilled at the prospect, Stephen nodded nonetheless, as if he had already had this done repeatedly and knew the drill.
“I appreciate it,” Stan told Justin, shaking his head. “Saves us from another run to the emergency room.” Turning to Riley, he added, “Dr. Brothers has sutured this kid on three different occasions. He thought I’d asked him to help with the group because I needed another adult, but really it was just to have an on-site physician for my kid.”
Stan patted his son’s shoulder. Stephen had stopped crying, but his poor face was tear-stained and dirt-streaked.
His eyes were puffy and red as he told Riley, “I’m accident-prone.”
“Just a little,” Justin teased. “You ready for this, big guy?”
Wincing, and appearing to brace himself for what was to come, Stephen took his dad’s hand and then nodded.
Doing one last thorough wash and inspection of the gash, Justin turned to Riley. “There’s a vial of anesthetic and a syringe in there. Will you draw me up three milliliters?”
Riley did so, then changed the needle over to a small gauge and handed it to Justin.
He squirted some of the numbing liquid into the open wound, waited a few seconds and then, moving through the wound, began anesthetizing the area.
Dabbing the gash every so often, Riley kept the blood from obscuring the wound so that Justin could see it.
“Grab that suture kit and open it for me, please.”
Riley got the kit, opened it, and held out the small packet while trying to maintain a sterile field the best she could on a riverbank, while also dabbing the wound to clear away the blood.
When Justin had the needle held in the needle holder Riley patted the area. Then, balancing the kit on her thigh, she pushed the edges of the cut together as best as she possibly could to make Justin’s work easier.
“Thanks,” he said as he pushed the needle through one side of the cut and then curved it around to come out on the other. He pulled it through, then began tying knots, wrapping the Ethilon in opposite directions with each loop. When he’d made several ties, he snipped the thread, then put in the next suture.
The cut was jagged and ended up requiring seven sutures to close it. When he’d finished the last one, Riley wet a piece of clean gauze and began cleaning dried blood from around the laceration.
“Nice work, Dr. Brothers.” Despite his crude work area the sutures were perfectly placed, and the wound should heal nicely.
“Thanks. Stephen keeps me in practice—don’t you, bud?”
Not that he didn’t get plenty of practice in surgery, Riley thought, but kept her mouth closed.
“He’s a trouper, for sure,” the boy’s father praised.
“’Cause I know the drill,” Stephen informed them, looking up at them. “Do pirates have lots of scars, Captain Brothers?”
“Usually three or four, so you’re good,” Justin assured him as he removed the T-shirt strip from the boy’s leg, watching the closed wound to make sure the bleeding didn’t restart.
When it didn’t, he turned to Riley. “Thanks for the assistance, Nurse Riley. We’re going to have to either set you free or officially have you join the crew as an honorary medic. Which is it going to be?”
