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"No, ma'am."
She looked annoyed.
"Who are you and your brother living with, Miss?" she demanded.
"No one," I said.
"No one?" Her confused smile turned quickly to a look of anger. "I don't understand. We need this information," she insisted.
I couldn't help myself. I just started to cry, hard and loud. Even Gavin's embrace didn't calm me. He helped me to a seat beside Luther and kept his arms around me, my face pressed into the nook between his shoulder and his neck. The nurse behind the desk didn't ask any more questions or make any more demands. After a while I stopped crying and sucked in my breath. I sat back, my eyes closed. When I opened them, I felt numb, stunned by the events.
Up until this moment, I wasn't aware of anyone else in the hospital but us, but suddenly, when I turned, I saw other people in the waiting room and other patients in the hallway—one man with a bloody bandage around his forearm, another man in a wheelchair, his head back, his eyes closed. There was a lot more activity around us, too. Nurses were going to and fro, some following doctors, some alone. A nurse's assistant was wheeling patients into the X-ray department. Down the well-lit corridor, I could see people waiting by an elevator, all of them probably coming to visit patients.
Finally,after what was an interminable period of waiting, the young doctor and one of the nurses emerged from the examination room and started down the corridor toward us. They paused at the desk and the nurse handed them the form I had filled out only partially. The doctor's eyebrows rose. The nurse said something to him and then he looked at us and continued to approach us. I held my breath. Gavin squeezed my hand tightly. Luther nodded, his own hands clasped on his lap.
"Christie Longchamp?" he said.
"Yes sir."
"Your brother's name is Jefferson," he said, looking at the chart.
"Yes sir."
"Well then, it does look like he has contracted tetanus. He should have had a shot immediately after that wound on his leg," he said with a note of chastisement in his voice. I tried to swallow, but couldn't. "Didn't your parents know about his injury?"
I shook my head.
"Her parents are both dead," Gavin said. "They were killed in a fire."
The doctor stared at him a moment, his eyes narrow. Then he turned to me.
"First we'll talk about your brother," he said. "He's in a coma, something which usually follows convulsions caused by tetanus."
"Will he be all right?" I asked quickly. I couldn't hold back.
The doctor looked at Luther and then at me again.
"The mortality rate with tetanus is influenced by the patient's age and the length of the incubation period. It's more serious for young children and especially for those not treated soon after the bacteria has been introduced to the body," he said with a cold air. "Don't you have a guardian?"
"Yes sir," I said looking down. "My uncle."
"Well he has to be informed immediately. There are important forms that have to be signed. I'm going ahead with emergency treatment, but I need to speak to your guardian right away," he said. "You people come from . . ." He looked at the chart. "Cutler's Cove, Virginia?"
"Yes sir."
"Are you visiting relatives?"
"Yes sir, my aunt."
"Oh, well can I speak with her?"
"We ain't got a phone at the house," Luther offered.
"Pardon?'
"This is . . . my uncle," I said.
"Your guardian? He's been sitting here all this time?" the doctor asked, his eyes incredulous. "No sir. That's a different uncle."
