Page 128 - In Five Years

Chapter Twenty-Two

On Tuesday, October 4, I arrive at Mount Sinai on East One Hundredth Street an
hour before the scheduled surgery. I still haven’t spoken to Bella, but I come to
her pre-op room to find both her father and mother there. I don’t think they’ve

been in the same room in over a decade.
The room is loud, even boisterous. Jill, her hair blown out and impeccably
dressed in a Saint Laurent suit, chats with the nurses as if she’s preparing to host

a luncheon, not for her daughter’s reproductive organs to be removed.
Frederick chats with Dr. Shaw. They both stand at the foot of Bella’s bed,
arms crossed, gesturing amicably.

This isn’t happening.
“Hi,” I say. I knock on the side door that is obviously already open.
“Hey,” Bella says. “Look who made it.” She gestures to her father, who turns

around and gives me a sideways wave.
“I see that,” I say. I put my bag down on a chair and go to Bella’s bedside.

“How are you?”
“Fine,” she says, and I see it right there—the indignant stubbornness that has
been avoiding me for the past week. Her hair is already in a cap, and she’s
wearing a hospital gown. How long has she been here?

“What did Dr. Shaw say?”
Bella shrugs. “Ask him yourself.”

I take a few steps down. “Dr. Shaw,” I say. “Dannie.”
“Of course,” he says. “Notepad woman.”
“Right. So how is everything looking?”
Dr. Shaw gives me a small smile. “Okay,” he says. “I was just explaining to

Bella and her folks here that surgery will take about eight hours.”