Cal’s War Wound

by Bridgid and M

Cal was pretty fed up with the damn press. The new one would be delivered in six weeks and he just had to keep this one working for that long but it seemed like each and every day brought some new surprise. It spewed ink, it clanged and banged and today it had a special treat for him. It bit him.

Somehow he'd gotten his fingers stuck in it and blood blended with black ink on a few copies of the Glen Times.

"Shit, damn and every other word I can't think of." he growled as he pulled his hand free. For a split second he thought of putting his throbbing fingers into his mouth but the thought of the ink stopped him. He wrapped his bloody digit up in his shirt until he found a towel in the office bathroom.

Cleaning the wound up as best he could he managed to see what a gape the pinch made. He was surely going to need a stitch or two. Damn, he was late with this issue as it was without having to stop to go to the doc's office but if he neglected the wound he could end up with an infection, or worse.

Frustrated and grumpy, he walked over to Doc Knights office without giving her the courtesy of a phone call. Well, he couldn't push the buttons on the phone anyway.. He was right handed and index fingered. and that's where the blood was draining from.

Part way down the street he opened the towel to look at the laceration again.  Good gravy he nearly fainted from all of the blood. Maybe he should have had breakfast or something.

Using his left hand and his shoulder he opened the office door and walked in. "Hello....is there a doctor in the house?"

She looked up and over the top of the half eye glasses she was wearing.....  One look at the blood soaked towel had her moving from behind her desk towards the injured man.

"I'm the doctor." She said as she crossed the floor.  "Why don't you take a seat and tell me what happened?" 

She would remember afterwards that she had been wise to place the chair where it was because Cal sat on it just before he passed out.

Elevating his injured arm with one hand she pushed his head between his knees with the other.  She needed to look at the wound but in this position she could not move to get latex gloves or to scrub her hands before examining him. Luckily he was not out for long.

Seconds later his head lifted and he grinned at her. "Keep it up." she ordered moving his left arm to his right as she moved quickly and efficiently to a box of gloves and pulled them on. "Now, let's see what we have here. Can you tell me your name?" She asked as she unwound the bloody towel.   

"Did I just faint?" he asked sheepishly. "Tell me you won't let anyone know about this, Doc. It's just the sight of blood, my own blood, makes me a bit woozy."

He sat back but kept his arm up as he was told. "My name's Cal. I cut myself on the press over at the newspaper office. Is it bad?"

She smiled. "Well nice to meet you Cal and you did faint but that secret is safe with me, you're going to need some stitches and I'm going to have to clean this up. What did you do to the press to make it attack you?"

The wound was deep but that wasn't what worried her. The poison of the ink did, cleaning it out was going to hurt, and badly.           

He smiled up at her appreciatively.

"I didn't really do anything to it. It's vicious all on its own. Colleen, my partner in the business, and I have corded a new press but until it arrives were stuck with that old sonofabitch."

With a little shrug he smiled again, as best he could anyway. Cal was more than a little embarrassed about the fainting thing and swearing in front of the doc just made it a little worse.

"I just got my fingers caught in the mechanism is all. Stupid of me don't you think? It's the sight of my own blood that makes me dizzy. I know, I'm a baby. Aint much else that can make me swoon, doc."

"You're not a baby and I don't think you're stupid. It's nasty and I bet it hurts like hell. The thing is Cal it's going to get much worse before it gets better.  So here's the deal, you have three choices. I can put you under for a while and you won't feel a thing, I can give you a local anesthetic and you still wont feel a thing but you'll see everything or..." she paused "you can be a martyr opt out of both of those options and not only see everything but feel everything too."

She firmly hoped he would go for the first choice she had given him but, she would leave it up to him. 

"By the way Cal, how long ago did you eat,  when was your last cup of coffee and isn't there a lovely lady somewhere who makes you swoon?"

She would wait to tell him that whatever option he chose he would still have to suffer the indignity of a pretty large needle in his posterior, of course as a professional medic and a woman very committed to her partner she couldn't possibly wonder what that posterior looked like could she? 

He was pretty lucid now and the choices she gave him made him grin. "A local will do. I've had stitches before so I think I can deal with it. I ate breakfast, had about five cups of coffee today and as far as women are concerned, I don't have time for anyone right now. Colleen and I are just getting things off the ground and I can't think of anything else but getting this paper on its feet."

As she drew up the shot she wondered about the man in her surgery.

"Tell me some more about the paper and Colleen." She asked as she plunged the needle into his finger and watched his face pale. He may very well have had sutures before but today, with the amount of caffeine and adrenaline rushing around his body she knew he would be out cold before the catgut went in.

"Huh?" was all he managed to say before he turned his head away. He could feel something rise up from the pit of his stomach then his body went all cold. Closing his eyes, Cal struggled to stay conscious but everything was coming in flashes and waves. He could hear the docs voice but it sounded as if she were in a big room, all alone. It sounded kind of hollow.

"Cal it's me, the Doc, Marisha, you OK?" As she watched his eyes open, close, then open again she knew he was going to be alright. He had found her because her surgery was only moments away. Would other people find her as easily?   

"My gosh," he managed to slur. "I have a cut the size of a molecule and I end up in la la land."

Cal straightened in the chair before running his undamaged hand through his hair. "Doc, I'm okay, really. Did you ask me something? Did I answer properly? Did I answer at all?"

"Welcome back Cal." M smiled. "You're all done but I'm afraid you're going to be out of action for a couple of days.  The wound is pretty deep, I had to put in four sutures and there's a lot of swelling. No press for you until we can get a finger stall on it and that wont be for at least two days. "You OK to get home or do you want me to call someone to pick you up?"     

He pondered for a moment. Should he give Colleen a call or should he just walk his butt home to tell her that the paper was hers to deal with for a few days?

Maybe it was best that Colleen come to meet him at the doc's so she could hear first hand that he was not allowed to touch a press for a few days. Cal sighed.

"I guess we could call Colleen. I feel like such and idiot though. I'm never going to hear the end of this. Never," he added the last word for effect.

TBC