Kimberly

 

Kimberly

 

Something had happened on the Tower was all the pilot told Kimberly as he ran back to his helicopter. “Stay in the ER waiting room and I’ll be back shortly” were his instructions.

Suddenly, there was a lot of activity in the ER. Doctors and nurses were getting ready for someone to come through their doors and break the seal to Trauma Room 1. 

Kimberly was still in her leotard and the ER waiting room was very chilly indeed. The pilot had left her a blanket, but she forgot to grab it. 

“I’m freezing my butt off in here,” she complained to him. The handheld radio he gave her was a direct line to his radio.

She demanded to know what was going on and why he had dumped her in the ER. She had no idea what was going on and she was not a very happy camper.   One of the security guards offered her a jacket which she was glad to accept. At least now she wouldn’t turn blue from hypothermia. She ran to Stacy as soon as she saw her coming through the double sliding doors. 

“Stacy! What happened? Are you hurt?”

“No Kim, I’m not hurt. This isn’t my blood. I helped Dad with a patient.”

“Not Marco. Please tell me you didn’t help take care of Marco. He was going to let us get hurt and blame Mom, you know that don’t you? I hope he gets what he deserves!”

“Kim, Dad will be with us in a couple of minutes. Goodness, where are your warm-ups?”

“Somewhere on the Tower. I’ve been in there freezing my butt off. Look!” She displayed the goose bumps present all over her arms and legs.

“Here, take my jacket. I’ll be okay with just the pants. Come with me to the bathroom. I need to wash my hands.”

“We did it didn’t we!” Kimberly was now excited over their part in Marco’s downfall. “We made sure everyone knew he was just using us and Mom as well. It was perfect.”

“That was perfect.” Stacy had to agree with Kimberly. The plan had worked. “We both would have been hurt pretty bad if we did the routine on the bars he had set up. I think I got all the blood off. Do I?”

“Yeah, you’re clean. Aren’t you going to tell me who you helped Dad treat?”

“Not until Dad comes out and says its okay. You know they have all those new rules against talking about patients. I’d really feel better not talking about it until we’re with Dad and Aunt Laura.”

Stacy didn’t want to be the one to tell Kimberly about their mother. That was one thing she simply could not do by herself. Kimberly made sure she told Stacy about the way the pilot had just dumped her off in the ER waiting area. 

“Stacy. I swear that pilot just left me in here to freeze. He could have let me wait outside. What do they do in here to keep it so cold? Hello! I’m a gymnast and I’m low on body fat right now.”

Kimberly was pacing the ER family room, moving from one seat to the other, picking up every magazine there was to see. Basically, doing what she always did, bounce from one thing to another. She eyed the room carefully. 

“Stacy, think I can do a front flip in here?” Before Stacy could protest, her sister had popped a front flip, only to repeat her performance from the beach by busting her bottom on the carpeted floor. 

“Kim, do you have to do that everywhere? Save it for the gym.”

“I was just trying to make you laugh. That hurt by butt. Think I could get an ice pack?”

Kimberly’s last joke about the ice pack always got Stacy to laugh. For some reason, the sight of her sister with an ice pack covering her behind just brought up a hilarious image in her head. Stacy cracked up and almost fell from her seat.

“You always get me with that one, Kim. An ice pack on that butt of yours? Please!”

Kimberly was satisfied she had done her bit to help Stacy lighten up. She picked herself up from the floor and gently rubbed her behind. Maybe that ice pack wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all.