“So you know about the bandages” Tom said as he followed me into the bedroom. I was focused more on how impressed I was with myself as to how quickly I made it up the steps and down the hall. “Yes, I know silly” I replied as I sat down on the edge of the bed. “Is this bed covered in plastic” Tom asked as he blankly stared at me with his hand held out in front of him. “Yes, so you don’t get the bed dirty” I responded as I put my crutches on the floor and placed my bare right foot up on the bed. “Are you sure” Tom asked as his confidence seemed to be wavering. “Yes” I replied kind of harshly. “Now come on, I only have about an hour before dinner will be done” I continued as I motioned toward my right leg. Tom smiled as he took his dress shirt off to reveal his t-shirt. “You know I only have plaster, right” Tom said as he made his way to the closet and pulled a simple brown box from it. “And this is a problem” I replied? “No, the cast will just take longer to dry and be much heavier than a fiberglass one” He said. “Will it be dry in time for dinner” I asked. “It might be on the outside, but it will take a long time for the inside to dry” Tom replied as he pulled the box of casting supplies out of the closet and placed some rubber gloves over his hands. “You might just have to finish dinner” I chuckled as I watch Tom pull a length of white material out of the box. He carefully pulled it up over my leg as if it was a sock, all the way to my crotch. “You need to leave my toes free” I told him as I looked down at them covered by this large sock. “Don’t worry I would never cover those up” Tom replied as he smoothed the sock out.
Tom then stopped and looked over at the box of supplies. “Shit I need water” He said as he left the room and headed downstairs. I sat looking at the sock covering my leg as I tried to keep it stiff as to not create any wrinkles in it. A couple minutes later Tom came back into the room with a bucket full of water and placed it down on the plastic that was on the floor next to the bed. Tom gently pushed my toes back till my foot was at a right angle to my lower leg. Then I watched as he unrolled a cotton-like material starting at my toes and working up my leg covering the sock. As he did this he carefully bent my knee slightly, and then continued to unroll the material around my upper leg. “Now hold it like that” Tom said as he took a white package with writing from the box of supplies. My anticipation grew as he opened the package to reveal a roll of plaster bandage. The white bandage with dry plaster looked familiar to me from when I made a plaster mask in high school art class. I watched Tom toss the package aside and with his glove covered hand plunge the plaster bandage into the bucket of water. Then he pulled it out and squeezed it a couple of time to wring the excess water out. I smiled at Tom as he pulled the end from the roll and laid it over the top of my foot. I fully expected the plaster to be cold, but it wasn’t. Tom must have used warmer water, because as the wet plaster was flopped across my leg it was like a warm blanket. My ankle did not seem to be growing stiff; it felt more like it was being covered in a heavy wet sock. Tom continued unrolling the bandage around my ankle and lower leg till he ran out of material. He then spent a minute or so rubbing the plaster smooth. Then Tom pulled another roll from the box, unwrapped it and dunked it in the water just like the previous one. The second roll of plaster bandage began a little bit from the end of the previous roll that was on my leg already. At this point I noticed that my back was starting ach and laid back on the bed as Tom continued to cover my leg in wet plaster bandage.
I must have lost track of time and drifted off, because the next thing I remember is Tom gently rubbing my shoulder as he stood over top of me. “I’m done, you stay here while it dries and I I’ll get you some dinner” he said before he helped me sit upright and placed some pillows behind me in the bed. My eyes followed Tom as he disappeared out of the room through the door, however I did not watch that door for long as my gaze soon focused on my leg. The cast was smooth, it was a bright white and my toes had what looked like plaster splashed all over them. The warmth had started to disappear and was being replaced with a big of a cold clammy feeling. I slowly tapped the nail of my index finger against the top edge of the cast. It was hard, but I did not feel like I wanted to put any more pressure that the simple tapping of my fingernail. Tom had propped my leg up on a pillow, making sure the plastic I had covered the bed with was between the two. I looked down the length of the smooth cast still keeping my leg and ankle as stiff as I possibly could; I wondered when it would be hard enough that I could relax. “Can I wiggle my toes” I thought to myself as I slowly moved them up and down gradually. “Those need polish put on them” I thought as I watched them intently. Suddenly my focus was turned toward the door of the bed room as I could hear Tom making his way up the steps. He entered the room with a tray in his hands and placed it across my lap. “This looks delicious” I said as I picked up the fork from the tray and started to cut into the meatloaf on the plate. “Yes it does” Tom replied as he ran his fingers down my plaster covered leg and began to rub the plaster off my toes.
No comments:
Post a Comment