The Encore of Us novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: The Atrium Piano

The infection was in the catheter, and the antibiotics went in through an IV the size of a pencil lead.

By two in the morning the fever had broken to a hundred and one.

By dawn Tove was sitting up in the children's ward with a plastic tray, picking raisins out of her oatmeal one at a time.

Anders had come to the ER with me, still smelling of rosin and me, and he had not once asked to leave.

He stood in the corridor when the surgeon came to talk.

She was a small woman with gray braids and a quiet, flat voice.

She spoke to both of us.

"The line has to come out," she said.

"We'll place a temporary one. Each infection makes the next one more likely, and her veins are running out."

"What does that mean for the transplant?" Anders asked.

"It's scheduled for the second week of December."

"If the donor clears his evaluation within seven days, I'll move it to the thirtieth of this month."

"What's the evaluation?"

"Cardiac, a CT scan, bloodwork, a psychiatric interview, and a social worker." She looked at him. "Most people take a month."

"I'll take a week."

"Mr. Brandvold, you've known about this child for four days."

"Then I have three more than I need," he said. "Where do I sign?"

She almost smiled.

I turned my face to the wall so he wouldn't see what it did to me.

At ten, Tove declared she was bored.

"I'm bored," she announced to the ward at large. "I want to go see the piano."

"What piano?" I asked.

"The one in the lobby. Rhea showed me. It plays by itself on Tuesdays, but nobody else is allowed on it."

"It doesn't play by itself, bug."

"It does if you're sad enough."

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Encore of Us from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.