Boundaries by Joan Powers

[Reviews - 0]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer

- Text Size +

"Boundaries", Part 7
by Joan Powers

Her world seemed hazy, almost 'fuzzy'. She felt as if she were wrapped up in some sort of protective cocoon which was warm and safe -- she didn't want to ever leave.

But a distant voice kept prodding her, she couldn't make out what is was saying. She didn't especially care. She stirred slightly, trying to get more comfortable when the voice became more coherent,

"Mom! Mom!"

*Uly? Where are you?*

His voice became louder, "Can you hear me Mom?"

Her eyelids were far too heavy to open. She was vaguely aware that her son was holding her hand so she tried to squeeze his small hand back. It took a surprising amount of effort. *Guess I'm not dead* she thought as deep sleep overtook her.

Other voices, both male and female, intermittently floated around her but she lacked the ability to fully comprehend them or respond to them. She realized that words like "compromised immune system", "lost ground" and "highly susceptible to opportunist infections" should bother her, but oddly enough -- they didn't. She was content to rest in her protective haven.

In addition to the voices, there were also hands -- touching her. Some tenderly clasped her hand, interlocking their fingers between hers, or wiped her forehead with a cool cloth, while others examined her body in a more clinical fashion.

Eventually the haze began to lift and she became curious about the voices. She was able to pry open her eyelids for short glimpses into the real world. The first sight to greet her had been her Teacher vigilantly perched by her bedside. Other times she observed Dr. Heller's serious frown as she concentrated on examining her patient with her diaglove. Uly's worried but smiling face frequently beamed at her, and even John had sat by her side covering her hand with his own.

She had no idea had much time had actually elapsed before she finally had sufficient energy to turn her head and attempt to speak.

"Devon!" Yale gleefully replied as he noticed her stirring, "How are you feeling?"

As she cleared her throat, which was painfully dry, Yale brought a glass of water to her mouth.

"Here, drink this." He supported her back to allow her to sit up and sip the water.

"Yale, what's going on?" Devon croaked.

"You've been ill Devon. As Julia had feared, since your immune system is not fully restored you're more susceptible to infection. These cuts on your hand and arms became infected. You had trouble fighting it off. You're lucky we found you when we did, you had a pretty high fever."

Though she hated to ask, she knew she must, "How long have I been out?"

"Two days."

Devon closed her eyes and lay back on her cot. Two entire days? More lost time. The thought rankled her.

"What happened out there Devon?" Yale asked nervously.

She sat up as she collected her thoughts, "Hmm, I swam in the pond. Then I did...something else." Her mind wasn't fully up to speed. *What else did I do?*

"We presumed you got lost on the way back from the pond. But we found you on the side of the pond opposite our camp. Did you run into trouble?" The fear in his eyes was evident.

"Oh no!" It came back to her in a flash. "I saw a Grendler and tried to follow it."

"What? Devon, why didn't you come back to camp first?" Yale's tone sounded suspiciously like the one he used to admonish Uly.

As all the details flooded into her mind she remembered her own anger. And stubbornness. Yale wasn't going to let her get away with a feeble excuse, he knew her too well. She'd have to come clean.

"I was tired of feeling useless and wanted to do something to help the group" she admitted as she pretended to examine the bandages on her hand and arms.

"Oh. I see. Scarring us all half to death for almost three days helps the group" he sternly responded.

Devon felt as if she were nine years old again and caught in the midst of a childhood prank. With hot cheeks and downcast eyes she mumbled, "I guess not."

"What happened to your gear?" This question had obviously been bothering him.

"I..don't know. When I tried to use it, it was dead" she stammered. *Please don't ask when I tried to use it.*

"When was this?" he asked, noticing her obvious discomfort.

"About dusk." Her confession was barely audible. She became tense, anticipating that Yale would scold her. But he was silent. She darted a quick glance towards him.

"Yale? Please talk to me."

"What do you want me to say?" was his soft response.

"Okay, I messed up. I wasn't using my head. I'm sorry." She grabbed one of his hands and squeezed it. Surely Yale understood how difficult it was for her to say those words.

"Maybe that will do for me, but what about the rest of the camp?"

"What do you mean?" Her reply was muffled.

"Don't you think you owe them an explanation?"

Mortified Devon pulled back from him and cried, "I can't do that. Please, don't tell anybody." It was embarrassing enough for her to admit her mistake to her long standing confidant. But to tell the entire group? To set herself up to face their possible anger or disapproval? She couldn't do it. She *wouldn't* do it. After all, she had learned from her father that it was a mistake to show weakness. It would be best to downplay the incident and just let it blow over. Things would get back to normal soon enough.

"You're not a child. I'll tell everyone the facts. That you tried to follow the Grendler and got lost. And that your gear was broken. However you decide to handle the rest is up to you. But keep in mind that every member of this camp has gone out of his way for you. I think you owe them something" Yale reminded her.

"Hey Dad!" True shouted over to her father who was lying on his back with his body partly wedged beneath the Dune Rail, "Devon's awake again -- wanna go see her?" She scampered over with a grin on her face, figuring that this news would make her father happy. To her surprise, he didn't look up from his work.

"No. I'll go later" he sharply replied.

True froze, she recognized that tone of voice. Her father wasn't just mad, he was furious. She began to breath rapidly, panicked that something had happened. "Daddy are you okay?"

"I'm *fine*" was his blunt reply. As a show of his good will, he crawled out from beneath the Rail to look at his daughter. Despite his rotten mood, the sight of his little girl always brought a smile to his lips. More gently, he added, "I'll be all right True-girl. Why don't you go ahead."

"But...I could help you." She didn't want to desert her father if he needed her.

He shook his head. "Thanks but I'm sure Julia could use your help. I just need some time to myself. I'll talk with you later."

She nodded and backed away slowly as her father reached for a wrench then returned to his work. What was going on? She knew he hadn't been sleeping much lately. Perhaps that was it? He had spent so much time by Devon's side the past few days that she thought he would have jumped at the chance to talk with her.

She headed back towards the main camp, for the vehicles had been parked a short distance away on a flatter surface. On her way to Devon's tent, she over heard a statement which caught her attention, causing her to pause.

"Why should we be mad at Devon? She tried to help us out by tracking the Grendler" a voice insisted.

Was that Walman? What was going on? She discretely paused behind a tent which obscured her from view of the people having the conversation.

"Come off it, she shouldn't have even been out by herself. She pushed the limits and made herself sicker" Magus's voice claimed.

"Okay, I know I shouldn't have let her go off by herself" Bess voice said with heartfelt guilt.

"That's not the point" another voiced added. "If Devon had used her head, stayed by the pond and called back to camp when she saw the Grendler this whole mess could have been avoided."

"Don't you think you ladies are being a bit harsh? Look at what the poor woman's been through. Can you blame her for wanting a little privacy?" Walman's voice argued in her defense.

"But look what she put us through. All the anguish. Searching for her half the night. This infection could have killed her. And what about poor Uly and Yale?" Magus's voice retorted.

"What about poor Danziger?" Bess's voice added.

Walman chuckled, "He's got it bad."

True's eyes grew wider. She had heard enough so she hurried over to Devon's tent. Julia greeted her as she entered,

"Hi True. Can you help me?" The doctor was seated on a camp stool beside Devon's cot. Her hand and arms had been unbandaged, revealing several gashes which were a dull red color.

"Why do they look like that?" True pointed to Devon's wounds.

The doctor explained, "They look much better than they did two days ago. Since Devon's immune system is weak, they got infected and it's taking some time for them to heal. Here, hold her arm steady. I want to irradiate the cuts with this instrument. It'll sting a little Devon."

The other woman nodded, acknowledging Julia's statement.

"I'll need to irradiate about half a minute in each sector, okay?" conferring with her helper. True nodded and complied with Julia's directives. The doctor pressed a button on the small hand held monitor to produce a glowing red light. She suspended these beams over each of the wounds.

"Why are you doing this?" True asked.

"Infections are caused by foreign micro-organisms. I'm helping Devon's body kill these invaders by using this technique. Unfortunately she wasn't strong enough for us to try this before now. I'm also hoping to stimulate faster regeneration of the tissue."

Several minutes later Julia turned off her instrument and checked with her patient, "How are you feeling?"

"Okay" Devon replied as she tentatively flexed her fingers.

"Thanks for your assistance True. I'll be back in a few minutes to apply fresh bandages." Julia stepped out of the tent.

True turned to face Devon, prepared to glare nastily at her for upsetting her father and the rest of the camp. But the woman looked so pale and tired, not even as good as she had looked before she got lost. More charitable thoughts rushed into the little girl's mind as she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just tired" the older woman wearily answered.

"Were you scared?" Being lost alone in the woods most of the night sounded pretty creepy to True.

"A little" Devon smiled weakly towards the girl. "Where's your Dad?"

"He's busy" the young girl quipped, her defensive posture returned.

"Is something wrong?" she asked with alarm.

Though it was apparent to her that something or most likely some *one* was bothering her father, she wasn't about to share that information with the probable enemy camp. "Don't think so. Since we've been stuck here, he figures it's a good opportunity to re-check the vehicles. Pretty standard procedure."

"Oh" Devon seemed disappointed.

"Good morning Devon" Bess announced flatly, lacking her typical cheeriness as she entered her tent then produced an unusual type of fruit for her breakfast.

"What is this?" Devon scrutinized the object. It was oblong, almost like a cucumber with a dull brown skin.

"It's pretty good. Try it. Alonzo and Morgan found a whole bunch of them so I've been playing around with recipes."

Devon took a tentative bite. "Not bad."

Bess took a breath and sat down on the camp stool by Devon's cot. "I think we need to clear the air here. I'm sorry I lost my temper with you the other day. But regardless of your feelings, I should never have let you go off by yourself."

Devon was stunned by her directness and took a moment to respond, ""I...I would have done the same thing in your position. Look, it doesn't matter anymore. I'm back and I'm safe, that's all that's important. Let's forget about it, okay?" She offered a weak smile.

The other woman bristled slightly, "I don't know if it's that simple. You scared the hell out of us." *And if one of us had behaved in that fashion, you would have given the guilty party a tongue lashing that he'd never forget.*

Despite her weakened condition, Devon proceeded to commander the conversation forcefully stating, "But it's over now. Let's just move on."

Bess thought to challenge her but she recognized that her opponent was better versed in these matters than she was. This was probably the only form of an 'apology' that she was going to get from Ms. Adair so she might as well make due with it. But she suspected that certain others might not be so willing to forgive and forget.

To cut off any further reprise from Bess, Devon artfully changed the subject, "Are we going to move on today?"

"Don't think so. Danziger wants to make sure that you're okay first"

Devon frowned, "I could ride in the back of the Trans Rover. I hate for us to lose all this time."

"Hey, I'm not the person to convince."

"Have you seen John lately?" Devon was trying to be casual, but not succeeding. "Is he okay?" She bit her lip nervously.

"He's thrown himself into tinkering with those vehicles." Bess replied. Seeing Devon's crestfallen expression, she felt she had to say more, even though she wasn't pleased with the woman. "Do you want to know what I think?"

"What?" She half whispered.

As Bess opened her mouth, Devon blurted out, "No. I think I can figure it out myself."

(end of part 7)

You must login (register) to review.