Amelia sat in the waiting room. Her body was slumped over one of the hospital chairs. It was cushioned, but was not at all comfortable. Then again, it may have been because she was sitting there for so long.
Her head was bowed down as she felt herself drifting off to sleep. She wouldn’t allow it though. The doctor was going to come out any moment and give her an update on her grandfather. While her eye lids were heavy and they stung every time she blinked, Amelia was not going to rest. Not while her grandfather was in pain and possibly suffering.
Amelia had called her mother, her grandfather’s daughter. She had also contacted her sister and a couple of her cousins. A few never answered the phone and the others were on their way.
It was Amelia’s turn to visit her grandfather. It was her turn to make sure he was comfortable and to keep him company for a little while. And while she knew something like this was going to happen soon, she had never imagined that he would have happened on her watch.
She could now say that she had dialed the emergency number for someone. She could now say that she finally put her CPR class to good use. She could now say that this might be it for her grandfather and she would officially have no more grandparents left.
“Amelia South?”
Amelia shot out of her chair as though she was never half-asleep. She didn’t want to seem too eager, but how else was someone supposed to act in such a situation?
“I’m Dr. Hopper,” a tall man stuck out his hand.
Amelia shook it staring up at him as best she could. Her vision was getting a little blurry though. She didn’t know if tears were forming or if sleep was overcoming her while standing.
“Amelia South, as you know, how do you do?”
“I’m as well as I can be, thank you.” He nodded. “You’re Rusty’s granddaughter?”
“Yes,”
“Is there anyone else coming?”
“My mother is on her way. She’s his daughter. I don’t know what’s keeping her though.”
“Okay, well I’ll tell you so you’re not in such suspense anymore.” He cracked a smile.
“Thank you,” Amelia breathed. She didn’t know why he was smiling in such a dire time, but she was going to take that as a good sign.
“Your grandfather is going to be just fine. You can see him in a moment. He had an asthma attack and being 92-years-old, his body had a tough time fighting back.” Dr. Hopper explained.
Now the tears started to come. An asthma attack wasn’t good, but it was better than a lot of other things that could have happened.
“We’ve put him on oxygen and there’s a chance he’ll need to be on that for the rest of his life, but he’ll be able to go home. We’re just going to keep him overnight for observations.”
“Thank you,” Amelia said with a grateful grin.
“You can come see him.” Dr. Hopper took a step back and led the way down the hall.
Amelia trotted after the doctor like an excited puppy. She smiled when she saw her grandfather lying in a hospital bed wearing a gown hooked up to IVs, various wires, and an oxygen tank.
“Grandpa?” she asked.
He turned his head and smiled at her. “Hey, Amelia. Did you hear? My lungs tried to kill me.”
Amelia chuckled as she sat down in a chair beside his bed. “You’re very lucky, you know. If you had just gotten that cold checked out at the doctor’s like we all told you to.”
“Oh, hush. What good would that have done? An asthma attack is an asthma attack. It would have happened sooner or later. Besides, it’s all alright. It’s not my time to go just yet. Don’t you worry about that.” He stretched out his hand and Amelia took it.
A few minutes later, Amelia’s mother came running into the room. She let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the two of them together. She walked over to the bed.
“Dad… How are you?”
“I’m great,” he smiled.
“Well,” Amelia’s mother looked down at her daughter and let out a small chuckle, “That makes one of us anyway.”
They laughed and Amelia’s mother pulled up a chair beside her daughter. Then the three of them sat and talked for a while. After a while, Amelia had forgotten that they were even in the hospital.
Words: 756
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