Her Mother’s Grave

Chapter Sixteen

JOSIE – SIX YEARS OLD

It seemed like an eternity before the doctor came. He was young—he looked young like her daddy—and he asked a lot of questions. Her mother answered them all with the same sad, tear-stained face she used when she talked to the nurses.

“What about Josie’s father?” he asked. “Where was he when all this happened?”

“He works overnight at the gas station out by the interstate.”

“Have you called him?”

Josie’s mother gave a wavering smile. “For a little cut? No, I didn’t want to bother him.”

The doctor raised an eyebrow and walked to the bed where Josie lay. Gently, he lifted Josie’s hair and leaned in, studying the side of her face. He frowned at Josie’s mother. “This is not a little cut, Ms. Rose. I’m afraid your daughter is going to require several stitches.”

Josie’s heart did a somersault. Tears threatened, and she concentrated as hard as she could on holding them back. The doctor’s palm was warm on her shoulder. When she looked up at him, he smiled. “I’m going to give you some medicine so they won’t hurt, okay, sweetie?”

She nodded, not sure whether to believe him or not.

The doctor looked at Josie’s mother again. “I think Josie’s father should be here. Why don’t you go call him?”

Alone with Josie, the doctor called in another nurse, and they asked her a lot of questions: Did her mommy hurt her? How did she get the cut? What was she doing in the woods, and was there another person there who hurt her? And last of all, was she scared of her mommy? Josie knew better than to tell the truth. She kept mumbling, “I fell,” again and again like a broken toy. At first the lie was hard, but the more she said it, the easier it became, until it was as normal as breathing and her body didn’t know she was lying anymore.

The doctors and nurses insisted on checking her limbs and torso for injuries as well, and they asked more questions until Josie could barely keep her eyes open. By the time the doctor started the stitches, Josie didn’t even care what they were or whether they would hurt. She just wanted to go to sleep. She didn’t have to be held down. No one had to tell her to hold still. She just turned on her side and closed her eyes. The doctor was right. She felt the needle he gave her to make her face numb, but that was it. She didn’t feel a thing.

Her daddy came while the doctor was hard at work on her cheek. She knew he was there because she could hear him fighting with her mother outside the curtain. She only heard some of the words he said. “You… your fault… sick… leaving… never see… police… abuse… custody… hate you.”