The Doctor Scientist awoke in an infirmary. The lining of her throat felt torn as if it were tatters, a ripped sheet, tender and raw. Her mouth ached with sores. Breath burned it fiercely, the cold lil a sharp nailed claw. She could not speak.
Her arms were useless, her shoulders bruised. Beneath the strings of bandages she could see the skin was black, like a wild duck underneath its down. Her head buzzed and she suffered through a term of never ending headache. She could not sleep, instead longing for the warmth of unconsciousness than this state. The pain was tremendous and only frequent administration of salicylic acid eased it.
Not being able to speak, her nurses, all nuns, could offer little in the way of exposition. It was only after the second day did one of the more desultory nurses let slip that she was at the Saint Barnabas hospital in Livingston. She was well North of Menlo. Far enough away to have no affectation on the goings on there.
Ida managed to write instruction, but her hands lost their impotence after little more than a few words. The nuns learned her name and did what they could to lead her to health. "Dearie, it's God's Providence that you are even here, so let there be less talk (and littler worry) over your affairs at Menlo. The young man that brought you here, Partridge, had to fight off wolves to get to your cold body. You were on the verge of death, if you had not died already. God sought to bring you back from the Nether. Are you not humbled?"
The question was loaded to her. She was humbled. Perhaps there is a God, but I seek to find out in my work of the spaces in between. She asked for a new roll of pencils and wrote up plans. After the fourth day, the headache finally broke and she was eating her first solid food. They gave her a aspic of chicken with cranberries. It was meant to kill any infection. It was delicious and proved its potency for vigor.
Ida was harangued for attempting to stand. During one such episode a striking figure came to the aid of the nuns. The Scientist felt instantly ashamed for her behavior and was the freshest moment that her wont could be considered insane. Her cheeks flushed.
The man stared at her quizzically. His eyes were sharp and black. His face was long and oval, almost perfectly so. He had a shock of thinning black. He showed signs of his age around his mouth. Partridge. Willem Partridge. The nun introduced him but was ashamed herself for the display that Ida put them both into. It was uncalled for.
Partridge hardly blinked and felt the need to detail each moment of her saving...
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