chapter 10

10   It happened two weeks later.I was running late. I had to pick Nat up from her home and take her to the embassy for her visa appointment. I had tried calling Nat to tell her I might need another fifteen minutes, but she didn’t answer the phone. Just as I got out of the apartment block and turned into the freeway, the traffic light at the end of the road began its countdown. I had thirteen seconds to beat it. I stepped on the accelerator and the car bolted forward. My eyes were glued to the countdown clock; the light had already turned red when I crossed the line, beating me by just three seconds. I heaved a sigh of relief, momentarily closing my eyes. That’s when the truck hit me.When I came to, I had a splitting headache and was lying on a bed in a hospital. An IV tube was hooked to my left arm, my right shoulder hurt like hell and I had to squint to focus. There was a blinding light in the room and involuntarily I turned towards it. I couldn’t have gotten up to shut theblinds myself but turning towards bright light must have been an instinctive impulse, considering it was the first time I had opened my eyes after the accident.‘Hey!’I looked up and saw Nat standing by the bed. ‘What were you doing?’‘Rushing to pick you up,’ I mumbled. ‘What happened?’ ‘That’s what I thought. You got hit by a truck and the car turned turtle. You were lucky. Just a mild concussion and a bruised shoulder, but otherwise you are fine. ThankGod!’ she said, gently stroking my forehead. ‘The car?’‘I haven’t seen it. How are you feeling?’ ‘Numb.’‘Hmm.’ She made an unhappy face. ‘When I saw a missed call from you I assumed you were calling to say you couldn’t come, so I asked Rajat to drop me. Which ruined his morning and we ended up fighting.’Even my concussed brain could tell she was exasperated. ‘Anyway,’ she continued, ‘mine was the last number you called and when someone redialled the number Rajat picked the phone. They told him you’d had an accident, so he checked you in here, then came back to pick me at theembassy and is now sulking in the lobby.’ ‘Sorry.’‘Rubbish. Don’t worry.’ ‘What time is it?’ ‘Four.’‘What a waste.’‘Shut up, Sid! This could have been worse. I told CD what had happened. They were all here a couple of hours ago, you were still asleep.’‘Isn’t Roy in Goa?’‘Yes, he is. CD and Aanya were here. CD said he’ll come by and check in on you later.’And Cara? I almost asked but certainly couldn’t.‘Don’t worry, the office is fine. CD took care of your insurance and things. He also knows someone here so everything is in control. You just get back on your feet soon.’I smiled and then winced at the sudden pain.Nat ruffled my hair again. ‘Rest,’ she said soothingly, ‘you will hurt now for a while. Do you want something?’‘Water.’She poured me some in a small dispensable glass and held it to my lips while I took a few sips. I didn’t know water could feel this good. I drank some more. Then I closed my eyes and lay back on the bed. My shoulder was hurting and I was extremely uncomfortable. I squirmed around a bit trying to find the right position to sleep in.‘Aah!’ I winced in pain again, having twisted in the wrong direction.‘Hang on, hang on, what do you want to do?’ Nat asked firmly.‘Sorry, Nat.’‘Don’t keep saying that. What do you want to do?’ ‘I’m uncomfortable.’‘Let me get help,’ she said and rang the bell connected to the nurses’ station.A man walked in and gave me a serves-you-right-for- having-that-accident look, but helped me sit up a little on the bed, set a smaller pillow under my shoulder and leaned me back to recline. I felt a lot better.‘He shouldn’t move so much,’ he told Nat accusingly as he checked on the IV.‘Does he need a painkiller?’ she asked him.He shook his head and walked out without saying anything.She shut the door behind him and came back to me smiling. ‘Behave! You don’t want to get on his wrong side.’ I smiled weakly and shut my eyes. Groggy from the medication I briefly forgot Nat was still in the room and fell asleep. When I woke up again, the TV was on. I looked at the couch which doubled up as a bed and saw Nat sittingthere watching a show.‘Hey, sleepyhead!’ she said when she saw I was awake. ‘Fuck! You’re still here?’ I asked, genuinely surprised. ‘Yes. Where would I go?’‘Home? Don’t tell me you’ve been here all day!’ ‘Shut up, Sid.’‘No, really, Nat. You needn’t.’‘Sid. Chill! I won’t stay all night. Can’t stay all night,’ she smiled. ‘You haven’t eaten anything all day, the doc said you should eat something when you wake up. I’ll sit with you while you have your dinner and then leave. Don’t worry.’‘Nat, this is so unnecessary. I feel terrible. First I don’t pick you up this morning and now this.’‘Don’t worry, Sid. Dinner will be here any minute, eat and then I’ll leave. Rajat knows I am here and he is better off by himself actually, prefers it that way. In any case, he doesn’t get home before ten. I might as well be here with you than sit at home by myself.’Secretly I felt relieved. I hadn’t been in a hospital in a very long time, fortunately, and didn’t quite enjoy the fact that I would be alone. Nat was a comforting and warm presence. I kept quiet and began to watch TV with her.Someone knocked on the door, and then proceeded to wheel in dinner. The nurse followed and laid out the tray for me. She checked the IV and told Nat that I might need one more bottle in the night. Nat nodded and asked her how I was doing.‘No problem, all his vitals are okay,’ the nurse replied and left the room.‘I am so sorry, Nat!’‘Would you stop saying that?!’ she said, screwing up her eyes.I ate quietly. Nat hovered over me, removing the foils and moving things around on the tray so it would be comfortable for me.When I finished she smiled and said, ‘Okay, I’m going down to get myself a cup of coffee, do you want one?’I said yes, and she left to get cappuccinos from the coffee shop in the food court. Private hospitals were a boon.Nat had left the TV on and the noise was beginning to get to me but the remote was on the table. I rang for the duty nurse and when she came in asked her to reduce the volume of the TV. She promptly took the remote from the table, gave it to me and turned to leave. Nat walked in at the same time and as soon as she saw the nurse she asked, ‘Is something wrong, Sid?’ And then turning to the departing nurse she demanded, ‘What did he want?’‘Nothing. Remote,’ she replied. ‘Oh, okay. Thank you.’‘You don’t have to terrorize her, Nat.’‘All these girls are useless. Ask them anything and the standard reply is wait for the doctor in the morning.’She then carefully removed the lids off the styrofoam cups and stirred in the sugar. We drank in silence, watching news ‘break’ every second. I turned to look at her as she sat on the sofa, knees folded under her, holding the cup in both hands. Nat was five years older than me but sitting there, shaking her head in disapproval at the presenter’s antics, she looked like the little girl she once must have been.‘Stop staring,’ she said, her eyes still fixed on the TV, and smiled.I started laughing.‘Okay, I think I’ll head home now. I’ll see you in the morning,’ she said, and got to her feet. She took the cup from my hand, and disposed both in the rubbish bin. She then came around to the bedside table, filled a glass of water and placed it and the bottle of water within easy reach.Straightening the sheets around my feet, she slapped me on my knee when I flinched trying to get my feet out of her way. And then she did what I was hoping she would – gave me a hug. I needed one. Her hair smelt of lavender.‘Do you want anything from home?’ she asked. ‘I can go and pick up your stuff.’‘No. Did I already ask you about the car?’‘Yes. And I told you that I haven’t seen it. My husband did. I’ll ask him about it. Though you’ll probably need a new one. They brought a bag with them, it’s lying here. Your Mac and everything else is intact. Were you wearing a watch? You didn’t have one when he got there.’‘Fuck!’ I loved my g-shock! ‘Thank God!’ I heaved a sigh of relief.‘What happened?’‘It’s fine, I wasn’t wearing anything expensive.’‘It doesn’t matter! It could have been worse, a lot worse.’ I sighed again.‘Okay, I’m going now. I’ll try and be here by eight,’ she said as she turned to leave.It was meant to be a simple morning. Now here I was – busted head, broken shoulder, totalled car, lying in bed watching a Hindi soap. The only saving grace was that I had got to spend time with Nat. I had always known it but today I felt it even more – Nat was special. As I was thinking about Nat and how lucky I was to have her in my life, it struck me that I hadn’t heard from Cara.‘Do you know where my phone is, Nat?’‘It’s in the right-hand drawer but out of battery. I’ll get you a charger tomorrow and then you can talk to whoever else there is to talk to! Until then all I want you to do is get better. We can push the US trip to later if you don’t feel well enough by then.’‘We have time, right?’‘I think so. My visa is going to take at least ten days. Okay, I must go now. I’ll be back in the morning, when the doc gets in. Good night,’ she said, blowing me a kiss, which was a little strange. But I loved it.The moment the door shut behind her, I felt sad that she was gone and, for the first time in a very long time, I felt lonely. I was also annoyed with myself that I hadn’t spoken to Cara all day. She must have wondered where I was. Aanya might have told her but then she hadn’t called me here either.It’s just one day anyway, I told myself, I’ll make it up to her, and nicely.On her way out Nat called from the lobby to tell me that the night nurse, the one wearing spectacles, would take care of me. She had taken her mobile number too and would call her again to make sure I was fine. They probably gave me a tranquillizer along with the painkillers because I slept through the night like a baby.