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“How bad is it?” Hugo asked.
Langston kissed his sister’s head, then went to Oscar’s side, bending to peer at the laptop screen. He whistled.
Walt pulled up a straight-back chair, positioning it in front of Sylvia. He lifted her hand off the table and away from the PDRS, positioning a throw pillow under it before settling it on his lap.
“You have a stable fracture on the proximal third and fourth phalanx, and a comminuted fracture of the proximal fifth phalanx. In addition, you have proximal interphalangeal joint dislocations on all four fingers.”
Grim silence followed.
“Give it to me straight, Doc.” Sylvia’s smile was clearly forced.
“You broke your middle, ring, and pinkie fingers. Of those, only the pinkie finger is a bad break. In this case, that means that the bone didn’t break cleanly in half. When it broke, a few smaller bone fragments broke off. Additionally, you dislocated all four fingers, meaning the bones don’t line up right now.”
“Can you fix it?” Sylvia asked.
“I can. First thing we’re going to do is correct the dislocations.”
“What about the breaks?” Oscar asked, still peering at his laptop screen. “Won’t that put stress on the bones?”
“Maybe, if I wasn’t good at what I do.” There was no arrogance in Walt’s voice. It was a statement of fact. The sky was blue, water was wet, and Walt Hayden was a good doctor.
“Will her hand…” Hugo was still seated beside Sylvia, and as his question trailed off, he put his arm around her.
All three of her brothers looked at Hugo, seeming to assess whether or not they were going to say something about the way he was touching their sister.
Hugo settled his arm more firmly around her shoulders and calmly looked at each brother in turn. Lancelot grinned. Hugo was protecting their woman, making sure her brothers knew that they weren’t intimidated.
“There is always the possibility of nerve damage.” Walt’s voice broke the tense silence. “And in one to two weeks, I’ll start you on physical therapy.”
“But my hand will work?” Sylvia asked.
“Yes, Little Sis. Your hand will work. It’s going to take a while to heal, but it will work.”
Sylvia blinked, and a tear rolled down her cheek. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I have to pop your fingers back into place. I’ve got some local anesthetic with me. And some Valium.”
“I don’t want any more drugs,” Sylvia insisted.
“The ketamine is out of your system by now.”
“Why do I still feel so loopy?”
“Shock,” Walt explained. “Langston, can you bring me my kit? Also, we’re going to need a 3D scan of her arm.”
Langston fished around in the backpack and brought over a small zippered case. Walt opened it up on the table, taking out two bottles and several capped needles. Langston peered at Sylvia’s arm. “What am I scanning for?”
Walt grinned. “You ready for this?”
Langston returned his smile. “I’m ready for anything.”
“We’re going to 3D print a custom cast for her.”
Langston whooped and pumped a fist in the air.
Hugo and Lancelot shared a confused look.
“Langston loves to 3D print things. He and Oscar have some patent-pending hardware/software interfaces.” Sylvia sounded both exasperated and affectionate.
