New Miserable Experience

Part Nine

style='mso-tab-count:1'> Joshays ays settled into a routine
by the next day. Donna, who would stay
the night, would leave around style='font-family:"Century Gothic"'>nine amstyle='font-family:"Century Gothic"'> when John came to take him for his first
session of physical therapy. After that
he would be brought back to his room for a bath and that was followed by a
nap. Lunch and then a
phone call from Donna about what was going on at work.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He knew she wasn’t allowed to tell him much
but it was worth it. The afternoon
always had him talking to one doctor or another, before his last session in the
gym. After that it was all he could do
to stay awake during dinner and what ever visitors came by.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Most nights he was asleep by Minute="0" Hour="20">8pmstyle='font-family:"Century Gothic"'>.

style='mso-tab-count:1'> Therapy itself was a daunting
task. Josh thought that it would be
easy. He was Josh Lyman, bulldog of the style='font-family:"Century Gothic"'>Bartlettstyle='font-family:"Century Gothic"'> administration.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Nothing could stop him.style='mso-spacerun:yesBut no matter how hard he pushed, how hard he
tried he was unable to get his legs to do what he wanted them to do.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>

style='mso-tab-count:1'> Donna was his cheerleader
though. By the end of the third day, He
was cleared for work. She
also went with him to his afternoon therapy, and was there to help push him to
continue trying.

style='mso-tab-count:1'> A few days later a phone call threw
him even more into a hole.

He
didn’t want to talk to anyone when the phone by his bedside rang.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “Josh.”
He answered it.

“Josh.n
sn
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> It’s Donna.”

“You
okay?” He noticed she didn’t sound too
good.

“No.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> My sister just called.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> My parents were in a car accident.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> I have to go home.”

“Are
they okay?”

“I
don’t know yet. They don’t know anything
yet. I just didn’t want you to get
worried when I didn’t show up.”

“Okay
Donna. Take care.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Call me if you can.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Send my best wishes.”

That
was the start of the week from hell. He
wasn’t feeling too well, but too stubborn to say anything to anyone.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Therapy that day didn’t seem to go well and
what ever progress he had made till then seemed to have been lost.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Then he got a call from Leo.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Something had happened and that no one would
be over to visit tonight. Someone would
be by as soon as possible.

Josh
didn’t hear from any one else until the next afternoon.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> It was Leo asking about a memo that Josh was
supposed to get for him. He was still
reading the information and compiling it.
He was having a hard time concentrating on what he was doing.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He went back to it after he hung up from Leo.

The
next thing he knew John was waking him up.
“You okay there?”

style='font-family:"Century Gothic"'>“Just peachy.”style='font-family:"Century Gothic"'>

“You
don’t look good.” John put a hand on
Josh’s forehead. “I’m going to get a
nurse.” John came back with Tasha who
took Josh’s temperature.

“Well
Josh, you are sick. You are staying in
bed relaxing.”

“Look.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> I have to get this memo done for Leo.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> And I got to work on standing up.”

“Not
today.” Tasha said grabbing the papers
that were on Josh’s lap. She put them
all together closed the laptop on the table and wheeled it to the other end of
the room. She then unplugged his phone.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “There, now no one will bother you.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> I’ll bring you some juice and Tylenol and
then you are going to get some sleep.”

“I
have work to do.”

“No
you don’t.” And Tasha walked out.

“John.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Please.
At least get me the papers.” Josh
pleaded.

“I’ve
been here long enough not to piss off Tasha.
You rest. I’m sure if your fever
is down later tonight she’ll allow you to have them back for a while.”

“I
thought you were on my side.” Josh
grumbled as Tasha came back in with the pills and some juice.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Josh obediently took them and he was left
alone. Tasha had even shut the lights in
his room. Before he knew it his eyes
were drifting close. Maybe the rest
would do him good.

Leo
crept into the room. He felt
horrible. When Josh never called him
back that night about having the memo done, he started to call Josh.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> The number kept ringing with no one answering.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> After a ten ten tries he called the hospital
to see why his deputy was not answering his phone.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He felt like a jackass when they told him
that Josh had managed to catch another infection and was sleeping.

Leo
made the choice to come in and take the stuff out of Josh’s office.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He could farm this out to someone else.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Josh should be resting and not rushing back
to work. Maybe he would hold off on some
things until Josh was better. He heard a
moan and turned to the bed.

“Leo?”

“Hey
Josh. I heard you are sick.”

“What
are you doing here?”

“I
came to get the work from you.”

“I
didn’t get a chance to finish it. I have
a cold or something.”

“That’s
okay. I can find someone else to take
care of it. You just rest.”

< cla class=GramE>style='font-family:"Century Gothic"'>“Hmmm.”style='font-family:"Century Gothic"'>
Josh nodded as he drifted back to sleep.

Leo
shook his head. He would call tomorrow
to make sure that Josh understood what was going on.

When
Josh finally woke up it was in the afternoon of the next day.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He felt marginally better and his fever was
back down. '> Joan came in to ask if needed
anything. He asked for his work and was
told that Leo came in to take it back to the office.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He was told not to worry about it and
tomorrow John would be in to start him back on track.

Josh
picked up the phone by his bed side and called Leo’s office number.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Margaret answered and told him that Leo was
busy, but she would leave him a message that he called.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Josh then tried Donna but remember that she
was out of town. He hung up the phone
and turned on the TV.

He
tried to focus on it but his mind kept drifting to the fact that Leo took work
away. Did Leo think that he couldn’t do
it? Maybe he couldn’t.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Who was he kidding?style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He was never going to walk again.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> And he obviously wasn’t going to be accepted
back at work. He wasn’t whole and the staff
didn’t want him around.

Depression
settled over him, and he spent the rest of his day silent in his misery.

Therapy
the next day did nothing to improve his mood.
His hands didn’t want to cooperate and neither did his legs.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He tried to call Leo again, but to no
avail. The same to all the others he
thought were friends. Now that he
couldn’t do his work they didn’t want anything to do with him.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>

Then
he had a meeting with Dr. Simons. It
wasn’t good. The fever that he had a few
days ago was a small infection from the knife wounds
in his thighs. He wouldn’t walk again
with out assistance. All they could work
on was movement to help him with crutches and braces.

He
couldn’t do his job anymore. Who was he
kidding? He was a failure and his
friends didn’t care anymore. He pulled a
piece of paper and pen off the table and started to pen a note.

End of Part Nine