Anarchist Knight

Chapter 1B-Recovery

Chapter 1B-Recovery

"Well, it's the bandages, that's why you can't see," his uncle continued, "there was something on her fingernails, to strengthen them or something and they peeled away some of your skin. We don't know why but it's raising hell with the healing process. The doc tried pulling the skin back together and sewing you up but there will be some scarring. It's going to be awhile before you get healed up. Don't worry about it, doc says your eye is going to be fine, but it was a close thing and he doesn't want any infection setting in. You rest now, just lay back and sleep a little more. We'll talk about it later OK?"

Tobal heard someone move near his uncle and felt something tug at his arm as the nurse injected something into the IV tube fastened to his wrist. He felt a wave of dizziness sweep over him and barely heard the creak of his uncle's wheelchair as it left the room.


He awoke to the smell of violets in the room.

"It's about time you woke up," came Fi's cheery voice from the edge of the bed.

He moved his head cautiously and opened his left eye. Fi was sitting in a chair near the hospital window. She set down the magazine she had been reading and moved closer.

"How are you doing," she asked in a concerned tone? "I've really been worried about you."

She reached out and gently touched his arm. He pulled it away. Fi was the last person he wanted to see right now.

"I don't know," he mumbled. "I just woke up."

He looked around the room for the first time. There were flowers and get well cards. The room felt hot and made his skin itch.

"Is my uncle here?" He asked in a more friendly tone and tried to smile but winced instead.

"Oh," her hand involuntarily leapt to her mouth. "Are you alright?" She rose out of the chair and came toward the bed with her arms out to enfold him in a hug.

He roughly pushed her away, feeling a pang in his chest and a burning in his eyes.

"I'm fine," he said bitterly. "I just want to be left alone, ok?"

There was a hurt and wounded look in her eyes and the beginning of tears.

"Can I come back later then?" She pleaded. "I'm really sorry about what happened. I came yesterday but you were in surgery and then sleeping. Maybe I can come over to your Uncle's and we can talk." She smiled bravely.

"Uncle Harry doesn't like visitors." He lied weakly. "Maybe we can get together back at school after Christmas break. How does that sound?"

"Sure, back at school," she said softly and reached for her purse. Tobal didn't see the tears in her eyes or hear the break in her voice as she turned away. "Take care of yourself Tobal."

He watched as she left the room. All he knew was that he wanted to be left alone. It never occurred to him how rude he was being until much later and then it was too late. He never saw Fiona again. He never even said goodbye.

A few hours later Uncle Harry came and took him home to the estate. In the weeks that followed he got cards, letters and emails from his friends and schoolmates, invitations to parties and dances. He threw them all away without bothering to even look at them. It was vain and shallow but he had always depended on his looks. Now he felt afraid and unsure of himself. He didn't know how his friends would react when they saw him. He hadn't seen his own face yet and he was not sure that he wanted to.

Thanksgiving came and went. There was no real celebration in the Kane household unless it was a private celebration held by the staff. His uncle was an embittered cripple and widower confined to a wheelchair. It was only Tobal's injury and depression that prompted his uncle's apparent interest now.

Tobal knew that it would not last. Uncle Harry was his only living relative. His parents were dead and he had no brothers or sisters. There was a time he had felt much closer to his uncle but that was long ago. It seemed Uncle Harry was as preoccupied as Tobal was.

"I don't understand what the Federation wants with a cripple," he snarled at dinner.

Lt. Col. Harry Kane was being re-activated and he was not happy about it. "I need to go away for a few days and see what they want. Can you handle things around here by yourself? Maybe you could have some friends over. How bout that girl friend of yours?"

Tobal squirmed uncomfortably and felt his face flush with heat. "We, ah, broke up," he said lamely.

His uncle snorted in disgust. "Well suit yourself." He turned and wheeled himself out of the room. "I've got to get ready."

Three days later his uncle returned and Tobal hardly recognized him. Overnight his uncle looked ten years older. His shoulders were more stooped and bags had formed under his eyes giving him a haunted look. It didn't take long to realize his uncle was avoiding him. The tension in the house was unbearable.

Other times Tobal tried to deliberately avoid his uncle. As the days passed he never knew if his uncle was in the house or called away on some important military business and he hardly cared. They had never been that close. His only curiosity over the years had been how a simple Federation Officer had managed the nearly impossible feat of enrolling him in Tavistock Educational.

One day he asked his uncle at dinner about it. "It was what your parents would have wanted," was all uncle Harry would say. Tobal never knew if his parents had moved in such high circles or if it was his uncle. It never seemed important before. He didn't know why it seemed so important now. All he knew was he didn't want to go back.