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Dec. 11th, 2004 05:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lastgunslingerRoland has been awake for some time.
His coughing has yet to stop.
His eyes are bright and glassy.
He's really tired of looking at the ceiling.
Welcome to hell, he thinks. You deserve it.
His coughing has yet to stop.
His eyes are bright and glassy.
He's really tired of looking at the ceiling.
Welcome to hell, he thinks. You deserve it.
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Date: 2004-12-12 04:11 pm (UTC)His throat hurts like hell.
It's a fight to get them down. He does. He's trembling again.
Roland hates being sick.
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Date: 2004-12-12 04:17 pm (UTC)So he sighs.
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Date: 2004-12-12 04:24 pm (UTC)Carefully, he sets first the glass of orange juice and then the bowl of soup on the nightstand.
Then he eases back down into the bedclothes and draws the blankets around his shoulders.
For perhaps five seconds, all is well. Roland allows himself to get his hopes up. Then: coughing.
"Fuck."
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Date: 2004-12-12 04:26 pm (UTC)"Okay. Here is what is going to happen."
"You are going to stay in bed," he says firmly, glaring down at his dinh. "I am going to go get Peter. He is going to do what he can - without using magic. And you are not going to complain or say no."
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Date: 2004-12-12 04:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-12 04:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-12 04:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-12 04:33 pm (UTC)"Stop being so fucking stubborn."
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Date: 2004-12-12 04:35 pm (UTC)Then, even quieter: "Go get him."
Roland sounds utterly defeated.
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Date: 2004-12-12 04:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-12 04:40 pm (UTC)Joe's voice is in his head again: What happens to the Tower if you die of pneumonia?
Roland doesn't say anything.
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Date: 2004-12-12 05:28 pm (UTC)"Are you awake?" he asks, opening the door wide enough for Peter to come inside.
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Date: 2004-12-12 05:32 pm (UTC)Roland hasn't moved.
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Date: 2004-12-12 06:13 pm (UTC)Instead, he does as doctors have done for years--noting the smell of illness, listening to Roland's heart and lungs with a stethoscope and surprising Roland with a digital thermometer that's designed to be inserted into the ear.
"101.8," he reads aloud. "Fairly high. And you have fluid in your lungs. You're in the early stages of bacterial pneumonia. You need rest, food, antibiotics and something to open those airways so that you can breathe more easily.
"First, the expectorant." Peter gets the spray from his case and places it on the table next to Roland. "This is to open up your lungs and throat, and to let you breathe. These"--he places several blue and white boxes beside the spray--"are Keflex. They'll help clear up the infection in your lungs and bring your fever down.
"And this"--he concludes, hooking up an IV--"is to make sure that you get fluids and nutrients, because your body needs those as badly as it needs medicine.
"And no getting out of bed till I say so," he adds sternly. "Not even if you feel fine. I know you don't like it and you're probably gnashing your teeth, but if you push yourself too hard too fast--as I think you're inclined to do--you'll get worse. Much worse."
He is tempted to add Please, sai?, but does not. It would be too much like begging.
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Date: 2004-12-12 06:25 pm (UTC)He doesn't do anything about it. Even when the needle goes in his hand.
He doesn't look at Jake, but: Is what he's doing accepted practice in New York?
The Cheflet reassures him slightly, but it's best to make sure.
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Date: 2004-12-12 06:35 pm (UTC)Common medical practice. I went through it many times when I was younger.
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Date: 2004-12-12 06:38 pm (UTC)He turns his face to the wall.
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Date: 2004-12-12 06:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-12 06:48 pm (UTC)The words are flat. He's still looking at the wall.
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Date: 2004-12-12 06:52 pm (UTC)"I appreciate everything that you've done, Peter. Is there anything I should know in case he gets worse?"
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Date: 2004-12-12 07:09 pm (UTC)He turns to Jake. "Keep him warm and fed, make sure he takes the Keflex at four-hour intravals and make him rest. If his breathing gets worse and his lungs don't clear, I'll set up an oxygen tent to help him breathe. And I'll be round to see how he's doing; there might be things I'd notice that you wouldn't."
He glances back at Roland. "I'll knock first, sai.
"In the meantime, however, I think you're set. Good night, sai Roland. Good night, Jake."
And with that, Peter exits the room.
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Date: 2004-12-12 07:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-12 07:55 pm (UTC)He so badly wants Jake to stay with him, wants someone who knew Eddie there with him -- and yet. Yet.
Kill 'em all and let ka sort it out, says Joe in his head, scornfully. Roland is a killer. More: he is Jake's teacher. But Jake is the only one here who knew Eddie -- surely --
No. He cannot think that way. Such is weakness. All right: so Roland is once more a lone sojourner in a foreign land. There's no call for megrims. No need. He's done this before. He can do it again.
He turns his head back to Jake, now that the interloper has left. There is still hesitation in his eyes. They were ka-tet. Are ka-tet, he tells himself fiercely. And when the tet breaks, it is not a bad thing to share khef with those of the tet who are still here.
As you will, and his tone is perhaps less impassive than the words alone would seem.
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Date: 2004-12-12 08:16 pm (UTC)The he leans forward and presses a swift kiss to his forehead as a son would do to his father.
Perhaps it is absolution. Perhaps it is comfort. Jake thinks that it is somewhere in between the two.
I will stay for awhile, and he sits and pulls a tattered paperback out of his pocket.
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Date: 2004-12-12 08:22 pm (UTC)But he breathes easier.
After five minutes or so: "What -- " He stops. No use talking that way. What are you reading?
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