Waves

CHAPTER 028

NORA

When Dr. Garrison felt her thyroid, Nora felt both a strange sense of lumpiness and an explosion of pain. She tried to open her mouth to say stop, but a wheeze came out instead.

Still, Dr. Garrison must have understood what she was trying to convey. He pulled his hands away from her instantly and stepped back. "I can tell that something isn't right because I wasn't pressing against your laryngeal nerves at all, so something else is," He said.

"What are you going to do about it?" Mouse asked.

"I want to run more tests. Make an appointment at Sydney Children's hospital with one of their endocrinologists, and please do it soon," Dr. Garrison responded.

Nora winched as she sat up. Now her throat was hurting. She tried to open her mouth to speak again, but her voice wouldn't come out at first. Her eyes widened as she began to panic.

Dr. Garrison realized what was happening and put his hands on her shoulders, "Nora, Nora? Nora, listen to me," He said quickly, "It should come back. Don't worry. I want you to write down when you lose your voice and when you gain it back from now on, alright?"

"But she hadn't lost her voice at all before this appointment," Mouse protested.

"I have a feeling that's going to change."

(}--|#!#|--{)

Nora leaned her head against the door of the car as Mouse pulled back up to the house. She still hadn't gotten her voice back, but Mouse's and the doctor's reassurances had made her panic cease, at least.

Nora opened her mouth to try and say something again, and surprised herself when a small sound came out of her mouth. In the seat diagonally in front of her, Mouse jumped. "Was that you, Nora?" He asked.

"Yeah," Nora's voice came out as a hoarse whisper, but at least it was back. She pulled out her phone and entered the time into her notes app.

"Do you still want to go surfing when we get back? I'd understand if you didn't," Mouse told her.

"I still want to go."

"Okay," Mouse turned a corner and the apartment buildings came into view. "Have you visited Rosie yet this week?" He asked.

"Twice," Nora confirmed.

"Good girl."

Nora blushed at the comment and then leaned forward in her seat as Mouse pulled into his parking spot. She unbuckled her seatbelt and hopped out of the car, eager to change into her wetsuit and get out in the surf. Compared to the weather as of late, it was unusually warm. Maybe she should wear her normal suit instead.

"Are you going to wear your normal suit or your wetsuit?" Mouse asked.

"You read my mind!" Nora protested, "Probably my normal suit, do you think?"

"Sure," He put a hand on the small of her back and led her up to the lobby.

(}--|#!#|--{)

Nora threw herself down on her bed with a groan. The page of math problems from Mr. Hayler hadn't been difficult for her, but the poem for Mrs. Sketcher was stumping her. She'd written at least three poems already, but none of them had come across as meaningful to her.

How come it was more easy to write a poem about Mouse's socks than it was to write one about something meaningful to her? Well, not that it wasn't important to Nora to avoid her host's stinky laundry, but Nora had a feeling that a poem about that wasn't really what Mrs. Sketcher was looking for.