Part 3
Two hours later, Buck, Chris, and Vin were
waiting on the landing outside the clinic when Nathan and Josiah finally came
out.
“Where’s JD?” Nathan asked.
“Watching the jail,” Chris returned. “I’m going to go fill him in when
we get done here. How’s Ezra?”
“Not good, Chris,” Nathan sighed.
“He’s coughed up most of the water he swallowed, but there’s still some
in his lungs, so he’s at high risk for a lung infection. Worse than that though is the concussion he
suffered. From what I can tell he
actually hit his head twice. His pupils
aren’t right and there are two impact bruises, here and here.” Nathan touched the side of his own head to
indicate the left temple and then a spot about five inches farther up and
back.
“Will he survive?” Chris asked quietly, his voice harsh with suppressed
emotion. Nathan wasn’t painting a very encouraging picture of Ezra chances, and
the thought of losing one of his men through a simple accident was
heartrending.
“I don’t know, Chris,” Nathan admitted. Nathan has seen many things over
the years. He had seen men with much
worse wounds recover with no lasting effects, and he had seen men hurt a lot
less that died. Head injuries were
tricky things and there was no way for him to know which way it would go this
time.
Looking around at the men gathered there, Nathan noticed the horrified
and guilty expression on Buck’s face.
“Buck, it wasn’t you fault,” Nathan tried to reassure him.
“Ezra fell because I fired,” Buck argued despondently.
“If you hadn’t, he would be dying from the snake bite,” Chris reminded
him.
Buck just shook his head, and replied, “I should have been more
careful. There had to have been a better
way that wouldn’t have gotten him hurt!”
Chris and Nathan weren’t sure how to answer that. They both knew Buck had a tendency to feel
things very deeply and had become good friends with the enigmic
gambler. Chris had seen how concerned
Buck had been for Ezra since their return from Harvest Hills. Neither man had any idea how to deal with his
guilt.
Vin, however, knew that it had to be dealt with
now, before it totally crippled Buck. “Ez’s strong, Buck.
You’ll see. Pretty soon he’ll be
up and around and telling you so hisself.”
“I hope you’re right, Vin,” Buck said as he
stared at the door into the clinic, as if he could see through it to the man lying
insensate on the other side. Quietly,
Buck walked over to the door and stepped into the clinic. In his mind, it was his responsibility and
nothing short of Ezra telling him otherwise would change his mind, and maybe
not even that.
“Amen to that,” Josiah muttered as he followed Buck into the clinic.
Vin, Chris, and Nathan watched them go, all
troubled that they hadn’t been able to help Buck.
Looking back at the others, Nathan said, “You do realize that the longer
he’s unconscious the worse his chances are, right?”
They nodded that they understood.
Chris asked, “Any indication that he’s coming out of it?”
Nathan sadly shook his head. “Not
so much as the flicker of an eyelash,” Nathan said with a sigh as he turned to
enter the sick room again.
Vin and Chris looked at each other a moment,
before they turned to leave. Both were
unsettled, each having seen in the other man’s eyes the same sense of
foreboding that he felt.
~~~~~
Two days later, things were looking even worse.
Ezra had developed an infection within the first twelve hours, and was
now gripped tightly by the raging fever.
In the forty-eight hours since the accident, Ezra had barely stirred,
giving them little hope that he was coming out of the concussion either. Nathan had taken to mopping Ezra with wet
cloths almost constantly in an effort to combat the fever burning through the
man’s body.
Buck, still holding himself responsible for his friend’s condition,
rarely left the sick room unless forced.
He sat beside Ezra for hours, wiping the cloth across his face and
chest. As he sat and cooled Ezra, he
would babble on about a range of topics, everything from JD’s newest dime novel
and Buck’s success with woman to what Ezra could have done with the stuff shirt
that had gotten off the stage that afternoon.
Nathan had tried once to tell him that Ezra couldn’t hear him, but Buck
had only replied that there was no way of know that for sure, and he was going
to make sure that Ezra didn’t think he was alone. They had all learned long ago
that Ezra hated to be alone, even if he would never admit to it. After that, Nathan had left Buck alone as he
chattered away.
Just as Buck was considering regaling Ezra with another story about
Chris and him in their younger days, he was startled to see Ezra move his head.
“Nathan!” Buck exclaimed. When Nathan hurried over, he continued, “Ezra
moved his head.”
Nathan smiled as he leaned over to examine his patient. As soon as Nathan touched the bandage on his
head, Ezra moaned and moved his head away.
“Ezra?” Nathan called, but the only response he
got was a groan, so he tried again.
“Ezra, open your eyes. I need you
to open you eyes.”
Ezra turned toward the voice calling and struggled to open his
eyes. For some reason, he knew it was
important, but it took almost all of his energy to do it. When he had accomplished it though, he was
presented with a mystery. “Who are you?” Ezra asked.
Nathan and Buck’s hearts sank when Ezra spoke. It just got worse with Ezra’s next questions.
“Where am I? I want to see
Rachel. And where are Jonathan and
Josiah?”
Neither of the two men could think of a thing to say to the confused man
on the bed. As it turned out they didn’t
have to say anything, since he drifted off to sleep again quickly. Nathan and Buck looked at each other in
shock.
Buck looked back at Ezra and sat down in the chair, then lifted the
cloth to resume wetting Ezra’s brow.
Recovering slightly, he looked up at Nathan as asked, “What the hell was
that about?”
Nathan just shook his head, “I have no idea.”
