DAY ELEVEN

Barb and her mom took some small boxes to the apartment and she began packing for her move.  She donned her pylon for the job.  Although she needed her crutches to get to the apartment and the stairs were still a challenge once inside the apartment she found that she could navigate most of it on the pylon by occasionally holding on to furniture and the counter in the kitchen to steady herself.  She moved two chairs to strategic points in the kitchen where there were no other handholds so she could cross from one side to the other at these points.  For the first time since the shooting she was functioning as she must to rebuild her life.  She had no desire to be dependent.

About two hours of packing was about the limit of her physical endurance.  She had not regained her strength.  In addition it was all her stump could take of being on it.  She went to the living room took her crutches from the wall where she had leaned them when she came in, flopped on the sofa, pulled off her pylon, rotated to lay on the sofa and propped her leg and bare stump on the arm of the sofa.  Her mother came out of the bathroom and saw her there sleeping.  She was about to say something about covering her stump when she realized that Barb must become comfortable with it and even letting others see it.  She finished packing the kitchen and bathroom.   

Penny and her mom started packing her things.  By noon they were finished with everything but a few items she would need until Saturday.  Penny’s mom was well into the ritual of the final cleaning of the apartment. 

“Mom, do you want to knock off and get some lunch with Barb?”

“Sounds good.  Don’t you want to include Margie?”

“Would but she’s out of town visiting her brother today.”

“I can break any time.  See if she wants to go.”

Penny dialed Barb’s apartment.  Barb was sitting next to the phone.  She picked it up on the third ring. 

“Hello,” she said in a voice that told the caller she was asleep.

“Hi sleepyhead,” Penny responded.  “What’cha doing?”

“We are about finished packing.  I just dropped here for a nap.”