What No One Else Can Do
Everything after the muzzle flash was a blur for Jed. All he would remember was
a doctor coming out of the surgical bay in a paper smock and hat with eyes hidden behind clear goggles. He remembers the term
'a little to the right' uttered regretfully. After that everything's in slow motion. Next thing he knows, he's standing
at the foot of his wife's hospital bed and being told that she'll never be the woman she was.
"Sir, she's lucky to alive. If you consider this luck. She suffered serious brain
damage, Mr. President. Everything that made her your wife…was wiped out. Mr. President, the woman you're looking at
isn't the woman you know. She's not a wife, not a doctor, not a mother, or even a woman. She's a child in an adult's body,
but she's not going to know that when she wakes up." He finally snapped out of his fog and came to the situation. She was
going to need him.
"What can I do?" The doctor shared a skittish glance with the nurse who had assisted
him in his diagnosis. "Well, doctor, what can I do?"
"Personally, sir, I don't know. I can suggest several homes for the mentally handicapped
that would surely be able to accommodate the schedule you keep, but other than visit, I don't know."
"Oh, no."
"Sir--"
"No, I'm not putting Abigail in any home. She's my wife and I vowed through sickness
and in health. I will care for her. No one else has the right to."
"Sir, with your job, being what it is, I just don't see a way for you to care
for her. There's no way that she can be shuttled back and forth between locations, she's going to need the consistency of
a stable home as she heals. She's going to need stable people. I, sir, just with your job…” The doctor trailed
of apologetically. The answer had never been clearer to Jed.
"Then, I'll quit." The doctor dropped his clipboard with a clangor. They both
instinctively looked to Abbey for some response. She remained completely still. It unnerved both Jed and the doctor.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I said, I'll quit my job. If I quit, will you show me what I need to do to care
for my wife?" The doctor blinked and nodded.
"Yes, but you can't just quit." Jed raised an eyebrow at the doctor. The only
one person allowed to tell him what to do and that was the woman who no longer could and maybe never would again. "You're
the President. You have a responsibility."
"I have a responsibility to Abigail as well. She's my wife. The country will either
understand or it won't. I can't help mass disbelief or disappointment. My wife needs me now. I'd never be able to live with
myself having abandoned her now, above all other times."
"And your country?"
"Is not your responsibility. Tell me. If I had heard all that you'd just said
to me and then taken your suggestions for a home, would you regret voting for me." Jed was going out on a limb with the part
about the voting.
"I think I'd give it a second thought. But nevertheless--"
"No, but nevertheless. Those who understand my dedication to my country and my
family will understand this decision I'm making. They have to understand it. She's my world and I can't function as a good
President without her at my side. I need her too much. And now she needs me. So, Doctor, will you teach me?" Jed looked at
the doctor with fierce, but pleading eyes. The doctor sighed, but nodded.
"I will and what I don't know, I have colleagues who would be glad to help. You
have to understand, sir. This won't be easy, nor will it be pretty, may never be pretty. She's a child in her mind and her
body will have to follow until it has been taught or has taught itself otherwise. Everything, you did, as a father will have
to be repeated, only this time on an adult-child. Are you sure you're up for it?" Jed looked at Abbey lying so still and quiet.
She'd never been quiet a day in her life. She's always had something to say.
"I don't think I have a choice. And even if I did, I'd make this one. Yeah, I'm
up for it." Jed sat on the edge of the bed and stroked his fingers over the errant curls spilling from the bandages enshrouding
her head. She was so pale. Where was that life he loved so? Where was the soul? He guessed it too had gone and now it would
be up to him to mold it anew. He just prayed that he really was up for it and that he wouldn't fail her. He wouldn't fail
her. He couldn't.
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