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Levi and Echo both let out a sigh of relief when they pulled into the circular drive in front of the hospital, and they snagged Mina a wheelchair. The process of checking in to the ER had only gotten worse since the last time Levi had been in one. He was opening his mouth to decline face masks for both him and Mina when he remembered that HIV was an immune deficiency virus. Then he accepted the two white masks the attendant was handing out.
By the time Echo came in from parking the car, Levi had completed all the paperwork that he could and was concentrating on how much he cared about Mina in an effort to push the sneezing, coughing and moaning happening all around him out of his head.
No one talked much in the ER waiting room. By the time Mina’s name was called, they were all stiff from the uncomfortable chairs. Only one of them was allowed back, though, so Echo sank down while Levi pushed his rag doll through the swinging doors.
It took what felt like hours and an amazing journey through hallways, into rooms and back to the waiting room before they were in a small exam room where the physician’s assistant came back with a diagnosis of the flu. “Do you know if she’s had the vaccine?” the woman asked.
He looked at Mina for her to answer, but she was lying on the bed with her eyes closed. She probably wasn’t sleeping—he didn’t know if anyone short of death could sleep under all the fluorescent brightness and the buzzing—but she didn’t move to answer. “She never mentioned it.”
“It doesn’t really matter. Only that she should have been one of the first people to get a vaccine. And she should get one every year.” The woman shook her head. “It’s so important for people like her, and they can be so careless with their health.”
“People like her?” Levi asked, raising an eyebrow. “College professors?”
“I’m right here,” Mina said weakly, her eyes still not open. “And I got my thirty-percent-effective flu vaccine. I also read the news. There are a couple strains going around that the drugmakers didn’t anticipate. Looks like I got one of them.”
“Looks like,” Levi agreed.
“Well,” the PA huffed, her only acknowledgment that she’d judged too harshly. But she did turn her attention to Mina. “The most common flu the vaccine doesn’t cover is a particularly bad strain, especially for those already at high risk. But you don’t need to stay in the hospital. I’ve got a prescription for an influenza antiviral for you. Take it for five days. Get lots of bed rest. You’re dehydrated, so drink lots of water.”
The PA turned back to him. “You’re her...?” The question trailed off, so Levi could supply an answer.
“Her boyfriend,” he supplied.
If the PA was inclined to make more comments about “people like her,” she didn’t. The woman kept her face neutral. “Make sure she drinks fluids. One of the side effects of the antivirals is diarrhea, and I don’t want to see her back in here for dehydration.”
“Oh, good,” Mina said from the bed. “More drugs that cause diarrhea.”
“Any other instructions?” Levi asked.
“Come back within the next forty-eight hours. Twenty-four, if there’s been no improvement.”
“We will,” Levi assured the woman before slipping the prescription into his back pocket and gathering Mina up for the slow walk back to Echo and the waiting room.
* * *
WHEN SHE WOKE up the next morning, Mina had only vague recollections of the night before, but those were enough for her to know that she’d been to the hospital. Every piece of her body ached, like her skin, muscles, bones and joints were all being pulled in different directions. She couldn’t gather them together to stay with her in bed, and she certainly couldn’t get out of bed to go get them.
The back of her throat started to tickle. Then she started to cough so hard that she wished she could take off to parts unknown with her skin cells. Instead, she was stuck curling into a ball while tears and snot made their escape.
“Here,” her favorite voice said as the coughing fit slowed. Levi was holding tissues in one hand and a glass of water in the other. “I want to make sure you get your meds before I leave for work. Then we’ll get you downstairs in front of the TV for the day. I bought some cans of chicken noodle soup, so lunch should be easy for you to reheat. And I’ll be back after work with real, non-canned food.”
