Camy Tang - Sushi for One?

“What are you talking about?” Lex tugged at the container. She loved Chinese food. She ate anything Jenn’s dad served her, even when he didn’t know the English name for it.

“I’mgettingtherestofyourbed.” Venus disappeared like a ninja.

Mrs. Chang motioned to the food and beamed. “You like?

Good.”

Lex cracked the cover open.

Ugghhh.

She didn’t think anything could smell so rotten in her life. She cranked the lid back down. Her eyes watered, but she slapped a toothy smile onto her face. “Th-thanks, Mrs. Chang.”

“You want more, you ask me.” She turned and strolled away.

Venus reappeared with another part of her bed, then gagged as she entered the studio. “You dummy. I told you not to open it.”

Lex wiped at the tears gushing from her stinging eyes. “What the heck is that?”

“Stinky tofu. From what I’ve been told, it’s an acquired taste.”

“You can actually eat that?”

“My parents’ cat won’t even eat it.”

“Ugh.” Lex tossed the container onto the counter. “I heartily apologize for not listening to you.”

“You? Apologizing? That’s a first.” Venus drew her eyes wide.

“Oh, bite me.”

Venus chuckled and started putting the bed frame together. “This is kind of a long commute to work for you, isn’t it?”

“It’s only temporary.”

“Is your boss okay with your leaving?”

“Yeah, Russell okayed my leave, no problems.” Lex tugged at one of the Velcro straps on her brace. “Besides, the doctor said I could go back to work six weeks after surgery. But I’ll still be in rehab, so I’ll need to take off time to go to physical therapy sessions each week.”

“I guess I’ll have to take you to PT until they say you can drive.”

Lex winced. “Yeah. Thanks a lot, Venus.” She coughed at the dust in the air. “After the surgery, when my knee can handle stairs again, I’ll look for a room in a town house.”

Venus snapped the aluminum frame into place. Something seemed to catch her eye. She squinted toward the far corner. Lex glanced over.

A small spot on the carpet.

The spot moved.

“Aaaiiieee!” Venus climbed to her knees on top of a box of books. Lex sat on another box and drew her legs up.

The mouse scurried away.

She couldn’t pray.

Lex huddled in the middle of her bed and stared at the clock. She should try to get some sleep for surgery tomorrow. It would also keep her from thinking about the bottled water in her fridge that she’d like to chug in defiance of the “no water after midnight” rule the surgery nurse had given her.

Even after a week in her apartment, Lex still kept her ears strained for rodent-like sounds. The mouse hadn’t made a repeat appearance, but she still surrounded her bed with traps.

The blessedly silent studio seemed like a cage with walls too thick to let her prayers through. Would God even hear her if she did pray?

I’m pretty mad at You, You know. Yeah, You probably already know.

Maybe she should read her Bible. Except… it still lay packed somewhere in her boxes. Besides, she had no idea where to read. Knowing her luck, she’d open it up to a list of genealogy. Or worse, some bloody, violent war.

She felt abandoned, just like when Mom had died. The chemo that made her sick, and then the futility of it all. Dying at home, with Lex’s hand holding hers. Mom had even dressed up for the occasion.

Lex shivered. It probably wasn’t the wisest thing to think about Mom and dying the night before knee surgery.

She needed to be strong. She should think about what she did have. She had Venus taking care of her after surgery. She had a ground-floor apartment, found last-minute, and the mouse hadn’t returned. She had a terrific surgeon – the doctor for the Oakland Raiders, no less.

So go to sleep and let him do his thing tomorrow.

Lex lay down. Listened to the quiet apartment.

Couldn’t sleep. Obsessed about water.

“You’re not going to need anesthesia.” Venus nudged her again. “You’ll fall dead asleep on the table.”

“Can you not use the word ‘dead’?”

Lex shifted in the uncomfortable chair in the surgery center’s waiting room. Actually, it wasn’t that uncomfortable, she just didn’t like sitting in it. Especially when she wanted to drink a lake and eat a horse.

The door at the other end of the room opened, and a nurse clad in colorful cartoon scrubs smiled at her. “Lex Sakai?”

She trudged through the door into the main area of the surgery center. The nurse directed her to a bathroom, where she set a gown, socks with rubber treads, a bonnet, a bag for her clothes, and a urine cup on a chair.

Lex picked up the cup. “I haven’t drunk any water since yesterday.” She sounded kind of whiny.

The nurse had a venti-size order of patience. “That’s okay if you can’t go, but please try. Now change into everything, but you can keep your underwear on.” She closed the door behind her.

At least this bathroom had a chair. Lex unstrapped her leg brace and undressed, shivering in the chilled tile room. The bootie socks were warm, but the gown gaped in front (at least it didn’t gape in back). She also managed a trickle into the cup and left it on a shelf with a huge sign “Urine cups.”

Oh man, she was thirsty. She wanted a tall glass of ice water, chilled beads of condensation dripping down the sides, pooling at the base.

She whimpered.

Lex exited the bathroom, and the nurse who’d been leaning against the wall waiting for her, gave her a pat on the back. Lex twitched away, even though the nurse had meant her touch to be reassuring.

She led Lex to a small room with two recliners separated by a curtain, each in front of a TV set. Venus stood inside, talking to a dark-skinned Asian man who seemed to be demonstrating a strange contraption. He saw her and introduced himself as Alan.

“This is your CPM machine – Continuous Passive Motion machine. After surgery, you’ll put this on your bed and strap your leg into the cradle – ” he pointed to a metal cradle lined with soft faux lambskin – “and turn the machine on. It will bend and straighten your leg very slowly, and for only a few degrees at first. You’ll increase the degree during the next two weeks.”

“Alan told me how to set it up when I get you home.” Venus was far from flirty or chummy with Alan, but it had been years since Lex had seen her so relaxed around a male. He must be one of the few who had the courtesy not to ogle her gorgeous face and lust-inspiring figure.

The nurse sat her in the recliner and then covered her with warmed blankets. Warmed. A perfect temperature. The gown didn’t seem so skimpy anymore.

“Take this marker and write ‘yes’ on your surgery leg and ‘no’ on your good leg.”

Okay, now that was just scary. “You mean sometimes they open up the wrong leg?” Her voice had a screech at the end.

The nurse winced at the sound. “No, don’t panic. They don’t open you up. This will be arthroscopic, so he’ll only cut three small holes into your knee.”

“He can repair it with only three small holes?” Her voice still had that screechy thing going on.

“Oh, yes, it’s the best kind of surgery. Don’t worry.” She set a hand on Lex’s shoulder. Lex jumped.

Another nurse joined her. They started an IV on her and scrubbed down her bad leg with some neon orange soap that looked like it zapped every last germ.

The nurses left, and Venus sat in a chair next to her.

Suddenly, the magnitude of what Lex was about to go through smacked her across the head with the force of a two-by-four plank.