Part VII of Here's the thing about losing a limb (part VI here)
"Ralph!" Dr. T sounds excited on the phone. "They found your arm!"
Ralph is excited. "When will they bring it?"
"They are taking it to the lab."
"But when will they bring it to me?"
"To you?"
"Yeah! Can they sew it back on?"
"Ralph, it's been DAYS. I mean. Also, there was a dog. I mean, a dog had it."
"Shit!" says Ralph, "Did he chew off any fingers?"
"No, but-"
"But it's MY arm! I want to see it! First!"
"Well, uh, uh, I will call the team. But Ralph, they can't sew it back on!"
"It's MY arm. Anyhow, I want to know what the lab is going to do."
"Uh, ok." says Dr. T. He hangs up.
Ralph can't stay still. He bounces by the window. The view doesn't change much. Day three, he knows which cars get to the parking lot first. Dr. Stibble parks down there, but the resident and the student don't. Dr. Stibble has a tessla, blue.
An hour later, the team shows up, with a wrapped bag. They come into the outer room, gear up, and enter.
"Ok, Mr. Jaunds. We've brought your arm. Are you sure you want to see it?" says Dr. Stibble. His voice rumbles with mild disapproval.
"Yeah," says Ralph. "Open it up."
"You need to know that the police found it with a dog. There are some bite marks."
"Whatever." says Ralph.
Dr. Span, the student, is carrying the bag. She puts it on the beside table and folds the plastic bag down. She unwraps Ralph's arm.
"Hey, it looks pretty good!" says Ralph.
Actually it does. There are some obvious puncture marks just above the elbow. The arm is not black and in fact, is nearly pink, though muddy and dirty.
"How many days has it been?" says Dr. Span, sounding a bit anxious.
"Five or six," says Ralph.
"Weird," whispers Dr. Span. The shoulder end is smooth, no signs of scarring at all. The bite marks have neat clots. Dr. Span gently turns it over. There is a patch on the other side.
"Hey," says Ralph, studying the patch. "You didn't tell me about that!"
"Maybe you fell," says Dr. Span. But they all lean forward. The patch is wider at one end than the other and looks like crosshatches.
"It's CHECKERED." says Ralph.
"Checkered?" says Dr. Span.
"Like a gun stock. That's checkering." Ralph sees the team looking confused. "Ok, so it's for gun stocks, to help with grip and it looks great too if you do a good job."
"Some one checkered your arm?" says Dr. Murk.
"It probably wasn't the dog," mutters Dr. Span.
"I know the local checkerers and that's a good job," says Ralph, reaching for his arm. "I just need a better look."
"Wait, don't touch it!" says Dr. Murk, her voice lowered and commanding.
"Did it twitch?" says Dr. Span.
The arm twitches again and Ralph pulls his hand back. "What?" yells Ralph, scrambling back across the bed, as the doctors all back up. The arm pushes the hand flat against the table with the elbow up, bracing the shoulder end on the table and the hand moves clockwise towards Ralph.
"WHAT DO I DO?" shouts Ralph. "IS IT HAUNTED?"
Dr. Murk has grabbed the phone and is saying "SECURITY. CODE UM, UM, SECURITY! ISOLATION ROOM ONE!" Dr. Span grabs a bedpan and is holding it like a weapon and Dr. Stibble has hold of the iv pole.
The arm hops from the table to the bed and Ralph is screeching on the other side of the bed, "DON'T LET IT GET ME!" as the arm jumps from the bed towards him. Ralph falls trying to escape, tripping over his gown, and goes down. Scrabbling, then silence.
"Mr. Jaunds?" says Dr. Span.
"Huh," says Ralph. He stands up, looking bemusedly at his arm. It's back in place. "Look, it works." He turns his hands back and forth and rotates his arm at the shoulder.
The team is silent.
"Does it hurt?" says Dr. Span. "Your lead level is normal."
"Good," says Ralph. "No, it's a little sore from the bites."
They are interrupted by security, two guards, out in the hall, then in the outer room. Dr. Stibble shakes his head and waves, saying, "No, no, cancel." Security stops putting on tyvek and slowly takes it off, watching the room.
Dr. Stibble says, "Mr. Jaunds, pull your gown back and let us look."
The arm is attached as if it was never gone. There is a faint pink line but it does not look like a scar.
Dr. Stibble takes Ralph through arm motions. Dr. Murk checks pulses and reflexes. Dr. Span has Ralph squeeze her fingers with both hands and checks his wrists and elbows. No weakness.
"Can I go home?" says Ralph cheerfully.
The team is silent.
"Yeah, no," says Ralph, his face falling. "Don't know if anything else will happen. Now what?"
The team members are carefully not looking at him. "Should have got that on video." says Dr. Span softly.
"Humph," says Dr. Stibble.
"I need a shaman." says Ralph.
"A shaman?" says Dr. Span.
"From South Africa. Who knows about springhare. I mean, they told me not to eat them. Or shoot them. Shouldda listened."
Dr. Stibble says, "Hmmm. Well. The team will discuss the case. We do have a South African physician on staff, in oncology. Dr. Mica. I will contact him and we'll continue testing."
"How about the glow?" asks Dr. Span. Dr. Stibble nods after a moment and Dr. Span goes to the switch. Lights out. Both of Ralph's arms are glowing pinky-orange, the left a bit more than the right. "Is it less bright?" says Dr. Span.
"No," says Ralph disgustedly. "Same or brighter. Well, bring on the next doctor. At least I've got my arm back!"
The team files out of the room and starts removing gloves and tyvek.
Iron 2023: 15
Checker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BkzkobHifo