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It was almost six in the morning when Jersey shook my shoulder. A small cot had been brought in, and I’d dozed off. I think the only way I had been able to do that was because I knew I would need my energy once she woke up and because Jersey was there watching over her for me. I came awake instantly.
“Marisol is waking up, Char.”
I sat up, swinging my legs over the side and popping up like a jack in the box. I blinked a couple times to clear the sleep out of my eyes as they landed on Marisol. Her eyes were open, one side of her face mostly black and blue, and the whites of her eyes so stark in contrast.
“Oh, baby.” I sat on the edge of the bed, taking her hand, and touching the opposite side of her face.
“Momma,” She said softly, “My head hurts.”
“I’m going to go get a nurse,” Jersey said, and I nodded.
A few tears ran down my cheeks, “I bet your head does hurt, sweetheart. Do you remember how you hurt it yesterday?”
She shook her head slightly and winced. “No.”
I heard Jersey come back in and two other sets of feet right behind her. I did a double check when behind the nurse, I saw Doctor Young. He went to the head of the bed on the opposite side from me, smiling down at Marisol.
“Hey, Marisol,” She started up at him and glanced at me nervously.
“Do you remember him from yesterday, Marisol, at the park?”
She studied him slightly and seemed to push herself further back into the pillow as if she were trying to get away from him. “No.”
He gave her a smile, “That’s okay, it will come back to you. Do you know where you are?”
Her gaze slipped around the room, and she shook her head slightly.
“You are in the hospital. Yesterday you fell and hit your head at the park, when you did that, you hurt that little brain of yours. We had to go in and fix it, but now you’re going to start getting better.” He paused and waited, “I need to check a few things, one of them is to put a bright light in your eyes. It might bother you a little bit, but it’s important. Can I do that?”
She nodded, and he removed the penlight from the collar of his shirt and shined it into her eyes. She winced but didn’t otherwise react. “Marisol, what is your favorite toy?”
She turned to stare at me for a moment, “It’s okay, Mari, Doctor Young is a friend, not a stranger.”
“A doll.” She told him after a moment.
“What’s your doll’s name?”
“Cindy.” She replied.
He looked at me for confirmation, and I nodded. He asked Marisol a few other questions about the color of her room and if she could count or do her ABC’s. She did count to ten but got confused saying her letters. He didn’t seem the least be concerned and buzzed right past it.
“Marisol, can you take your right finger and touch your nose?” He asked her, and her brows shifted as if she were trying to frown, but then she lifted her right hand and put it to her cheek.
“No, honey.” I began to say, and he shook his head at me.
“That’s great, Marisol.” He did a few more little tests with her, and then she yawned and looked at me.
“You ready to go back to sleep?” I asked her.
“Yeah.” She whispered.
I leaned down and kissed her cheek. “You sleep. Mommy will be here when you wake up.”
She closed her eyes at once, and I found myself closing my own and thanking God for letting her wake up.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and glanced over to see Doctor Young motioning for me to follow him out in the hallway.
