Proger Seven

we waited half an hour as our baby screamed so hard sometimes she could not breathe until the nurse chose not to insert the i.v. after all a decision was made if the medicine appeared to work overnight we’d all go home otherwise the neurosurgery team was prepared to biopsy

her room in proger seven was bigger than our living room back home and so still and quiet only the window revealed we were hovering over Washington street it was a far cry from the gurney in the hallway they gave you at the emergency room in leominster where you languished for five hours vomiting with no fluid i.v. and no water allowed lest it spill

i was chosen to stay the night i fed her foul-smelling disposable bottles of formula that gave her diarrhea i sang her to sleep a few times the moon is like a boat my love i went out in the hazelwood as the Chinatown traffic evaporated below

she stirred again when i had closed my eyes at last and before i could rouse myself the night nurse was holding her calming her better than i knew how