Lucky? I thought, and nearly laughed.
“I’ll wrap it for you. You’ll have to stay off it for a few days and keep it elevated for now. Just put some pillows under it when you go to sleep. When the swelling subsides, I’d like you to apply moist heat. You’ll be fine,” he said.
“How do I stay off it?”
“You can use crutches,” he told me. “We can provide you with them. Just have them brought back in a few days. I’m sure you’ll be fine by then.”
He had the nurse bring me crutches.
“Just try to keep your weight off it for a while,” she explained.
I hobbled out to the lobby, where Señor Garman was waiting. The nurse told him what the doctor had determined and the doctor’s instr
uctions. He helped me into the rear seat again and fit the crutches beside me.
“Good that it’s not broken,” he muttered, and we drove off.
Suddenly, all of the pain and fatigue settled in me, and I actually fell asleep before we arrived at the hacienda. Rather than have me hobble up the stairway to the front door, Señor Garman scooped me up again and carried me like a baby. I was terribly embarrassed, but to him, I don’t think I weighed more than a baby.
My aunt did not come out to see what had been done for me, but Señora Rosario appeared and listened as Señor Garman explained, still holding me in his arms. He carried me up the stairs to my bedroom and set me down just inside the door.
“Remember the pillows under your ankle,” he said.
I thanked him. I saw Sophia’s door opened just a crack and thought I caught her peering out at us. When Señor Garman turned to leave, she closed her door. I wished I had the strength to go at her, but all I could think of was getting into bed. It was now close to two-thirty in the morning. I fixed the pillows under my ankle and went to sleep so quickly I thought it was more like passing out.
If anyone had come to see how I was, he or she did not wake me. It was my phone that finally woke me, and when I looked at the clock, I saw it was close to noon. It shocked me to see how late I had slept. When I turned to lift the receiver, my ankle reminded me that what had happened was not simply a nightmare.
I croaked a hello.
I heard male laughter. “Don’t tell me you’re still sleeping, Delia,” Adan said.
“Unfortunately, yes,” I said, “but not because I am lazy. I fell down the stairway last night and had to be taken to the emergency care. I have a badly sprained ankle.”
“You’re kidding. How did you fall down a stairway?”
“I was helped,” I said cryptically.
He was silent a moment. “You mean, you were pushed?”
“Pulled was more like it.”
“Who did this? Sophia?”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Adan.”
“How horrible. I heard she was pretty bad, but this…can you still go to the Johnson party?”
“I don’t know. I’m on crutches for a day or so.”
“You just won’t do any dancing,” he said. “I’ve already spoken with Fani. I can come by at seven to pick you up. Do we know if Sophia is going to go with you?”
“Yes,” I said, “we know. She is not. How do you say it? If I do not see her or speak to her again, it would be too soon.”
He laughed. “I’ll call you later to see how you’re doing. Don’t let it get you down,” he said. “Just think how curious everyone will be to see you on crutches. You’ll be the center of attention.”
“I’d rather be invisible,” I said.
“I like your sense of humor, Delia. Talk to you later,” he said, and hung up.