Deenie (8 page)

"Dr. Stewart makes all the molds," Daddy told her. "I asked the nurse about it."

At the hospital Daddy checked with some woman behind an information desk and then we went down a long hallway to a door marked plaster room.

"This is it," Daddy said, knocking. A nurse opened the door and Daddy told her I was Deenie Fenner and that Dr. Stewart had called. The nurse smiled at me and said, "We have five girls to mold today and you're number three." Then she told Daddy and Ma they could wait outside and Dr. Stewart would tell them when I was done.

Ma grabbed me, hugged me and cried a little. But Daddy said, "Deenie's going to be just fine."

I pulled away from Ma and buried my head in Daddy's jacket. I whispered, "Don't go … I'm too scared."

Daddy kissed the top of my head and said, "There's nothing to be afraid of. I promise. Just do whatever Dr. Stewart tells you and it will all be over soon." He lifted my chin so I had to look at him. "Okay?" he asked.

"Okay," I said.

The nurse closed the door to the plaster room as soon as I stepped inside. I didn't even have a chance to look around before she pointed to a door and said, "You can change in there. Take off all your clothes, including your shoes and put on both of these, one over the other." She handed me two things that looked like very big socks.

The dressing room turned out to be a supply closet and I thought for sure somebody would open the door while I was naked so I tried to keep my back pressed against it the whole time I was getting changed. The things I had to wear were like body stockings. They fit very close and after I had gotten into the first one I looked down and noticed that you could see everything right through it. By the time I pulled the second one over the first you couldn't see as much and I was glad. Not that I have a lot to see but I didn't want Dr. Stewart to see anything.

I adjusted the body stockings so they stretched from my neck down to my thighs. Just as I finished the nurse knocked on the door and called, "Ready, Deenie?"

"I guess so," I told her, opening the closet.

When I came out I saw that Dr. Stewart was already there and so was some other guy dressed in a white coat.

Dr. Stewart said, "Deenie, I'd like you to meet Dr. Hubdu and Mrs. Inverness, who will both be assisting me."

Mrs. Inverness' was the nurse who gave me the body stockings and Dr. Hubdu was from some other country. I could tell by his accent.

"Jump right up here, Deenie," Mrs. Inverness said.

I climbed onto an examining table.

"Now lie down … put your head back … just relax."

Dr. Stewart and Dr. Hubdu were busy studying my X-ray, which was flashed on the same kind of screen I saw in Dr. Griffith's office. They mentioned a lot of words like
lumbar
and
thoracic
and I didn't know what they were talking about.

I looked around the plaster room trying to figure out what was going to happen. The room wasn't very big. There was a counter with a sink, like in our kitchen. And right in the middle of the room was some kind of strange steel contraption with a rope hanging from a wheel on the ceiling.

In a minute Dr. Stewart was measuring me again and calling out funny numbers and names to Dr. Hubdu, who wrote everything down. The only words I got were
iliac crest
and
body firm,
whatever they meant. ť.

82

"Okay, Deenie," Mrs. Inverness said. "You can come off the table now."

Dr. Stewart sat down on a stool in front of the contraption with the ropes. He motioned to me and I walked over to him. He held up some funny looking thing and said, "This is a head halter." While he was talking he slipped it on me. It was made of two strips of white material and some string. One section of material fit under my chin and felt like a scarf was tied there. The other part fit around the back of my head and felt like I was wearing a head-band.

As soon as that was on me Dr. Stewart attached a little wooden bar to the rope coming from the ceiling and somehow he hooked my head-halter to that. I was sure he was going to pull on the rope and leave me hanging in mid-air but just as I was about to ask him what was going on he said, "We call this
hanging the patient
but you aren't really going to hang, because your feet won't leave the ground."

I was glad to hear that.

Mrs. Inverness said, "Hold onto the bar above your head, Deenie. With both hands please."

I reached up and grabbed hold of the bar.

"That's it," Mrs. Inverness said. "Very good. You hold that the whole time."

Dr. Hubdu was behind me adjusting another wooden bar which came just under my backside. Dr. Stewart told me to lean against it. I did but I guess I didn't do it the right way because Dr. Hubdu said, "Squat a little, please. Now just rest yourself against the bar as though you were sitting on it. That's better."Dr. Stewart said, "Lean forward a little. Good … just fine."

Mrs. Inverness ran a long piece of felt under my body stockings and down my back. Then Dr. Stewart tied a strip of adhesive around my waist and attached each end to the wooden bar I was resting my rear end against.

After that he stood up and opened a small package of rubber gloves. I watched as he pulled them on. While he was doing that Mrs. Inverness was busy at the sink in front of me. She was wetting strips of something. As soon as Dr. Stewart sat on his stool again, Mrs. Inverness handed him the wet strips and he began to wrap them around me. But after the first few he said, "I'm not happy with this plaster, Nurse. Give me another roll please." And he ripped off the strips.

As he waited for Mrs. Inverness to wet some more he told me, "When this dries it will become solid plaster. I have to wrap you tight in order to accentuate the hip line and chest. The brace will be made from this mold."

I didn't say anything.

Mrs. Inverness handed him some more strips and after he wrapped a couple of pieces around me he said, "That's much better." He wrapped me from my waist down to my hips and then from my waist up to my armpits. All this time Dr. Hubdu stood behind me and I could feel his breath on my neck. "Make sure her back is perfectly straight," Dr. Stewart told him.

"Yes sir," Dr. Hubdu answered. I got the feeling he was just learning about what was going on.

As Dr. Stewart wrapped me up he smoothed the plaster with his hands. I didn't like it at all when he had to smooth out the strips across my chest.

"Head up, Deenie," Dr. Stewart said.

"Watch a point in front of you," Mrs. Inverness suggested.

Now both doctors were pressing on me, one at my back, the other at my front and I tried hard to stare at the handle of the cabinet over the sink.

"Stay just like that," Dr. Stewart said, as he moved his hands faster. "We'll be finished in no time."

"There are still some creases in the back, sir," Dr. Hubdu said.

"Smooth them out," Dr. Stewart said. "We can't have any wrinkles."

I thought about telling Dr. Stewart that he was wrapping me too tight. That I really couldn't breathe anymore. But that's when he said, "Deenie's very cooperative, isn't she?"

And Dr. Hubdu told him, "She certainly is."

I knew Daddy would be proud to hear that so I didn't say anything about feeling like a mummy.

A second later Dr. Stewart ripped off his gloves and said, "That's the worst of it, Deenie. In a minute the mold will be hard and we'll cut you out of it."

"It's very tight," I said. "And it's starting to feel hot too."

"That's the chemical reaction. It's changing into hard plaster now."

"I'm glad I don't have to wear anything like this mold," I told him.

"Some scoliosis patients are still put into casts," Dr. Stewart said. "But your brace will be a lot different. You won't mind it at all once you're used to it."

Soon Mrs. Inverness tapped me and said, "It's hard, doctor."

Dr. Stewart felt me himself. "Good … " He whipped a ballpoint pen out of his pocket and drew little lines up and down my mold. Then he measured me again and Dr. Hubdu wrote everything down, just like before. "This will help the brace man," Dr. Stewart told me. "Okay, Deenie … I'm going to cut it off you now. My saw makes a lot of noise but you won't feel a thing."

His
saw!
I thought. He must be kidding!

But he wasn't. He had a regular power saw that made an awful noise and as he stood behind me running it along my back I was so scared that my teeth rattled. I tried hard not to move at all and prayed that Dr. Stewart wouldn't miss with his saw and slice me in half.

At last he turned it off. "Scissors please, Mrs. Inverness." A few seconds after that, he said, "Spreaders … " I didn't know what he was doing back there but he kept pulling at me. Finally he said, "There we go! Turn to the right, Deenie."

I did and I was out of the plaster mold. Dr. Stewart cut the tapes and took my head-halter off. I was free! That's when I looked down and discovered that I was wearing only one body stocking. Where was the other one? It must have stuck to the wet plaster and ripped right off. If they hadn't given me two of them I'd be naked! As it was I knew they could all see everything and I was so embarrassed I almost died. I tried covering my chest with my arms and bending over to hide my other half. I'm sure my face was purple and I felt like crying.

Mrs. Inverness handed me a wet cloth and said, "This will help wash the plaster off. You can go and change now."

I ran for the supply closet. I didn't even realize the plaster had dripped on my legs and feet until then. But I didn't care. All I wanted was to get dressed and out of that room.

That night I took my new nightie out of my bottom drawer and tried it on. I stood in front of the mirror and moved just enough to make it turn from pink to purple to lavender. Buddy Brader would never get to see it now and nobody would bring me pink roses either. I took the nightie off and packed it back in the Drummond's Department Store box.

I went to the phone and called Midge. Her line was busy so I tried Janet's number but that was busy too. They were probably talking to each other. I waited a few minutes before I dialed Midge again. The phone rang three times, then Midge answered.

"Hi … " I said, "it's me."

"Hi Deenie … me and Janet were just talking about you. How'd it go today?"

"I'm not having an operation." My voice was barely a whisper.

"You're not? How come?"

"I don't need one after all."

"Well, that's great news! Isn't it?"

"I suppose."

"You sound funny. Is anything wrong?"

"No … I'm fine. I just called to tell you since I'm not having an operation I'll return the nightie. Listen … I have to run now … bye." I hung up before Midge could say anything else.

I put the Drummond's box into a brown bag and carried it to school with me the next day. I knew it would be safe inside my locker. At lunch Janet said, "We're really glad you don't need an operation, Deenie."

I nodded.

"Were they wrong about your spine?" Midge asked.

"Not exactly."

"But if it's crooked don't they have to do something?" Janet said.

"The doctors are trying to decide about that," I told them.

"Me and Midge think you should keep the nightie anyway. Your birthday's in January so it can be a birthday present instead."

"I really don't need it now," I said. "I'd rather return it … if you don't mind."

They looked at each other.

"It's okay with us," Midge said. "We just didn't want you to think you
had
to return it."

After school the three of us went to Drummond's. The same salesgirl was behind the counter. I handed her the box.

"She's not having her operation," Janet told her.

"So she doesn't need the nightie," Midge said.

"Well … aren't you lucky!" the salesgirl said to me, and she didn't even try to talk us into keeping the nightie or choosing something else in its place.

I tried to smile. I could tell that Janet and Midge knew something was wrong.

I stopped hanging around the cafeteria after lunch. I told Janet and Midge I had a lot of work to make up because I'd been absent so many times. As soon as I finished eating I went to the library where I sat with my books spread out on the table while I scribbled in my notebook or looked out the window.

One day, while I was sitting like that, somebody sneaked up from behind and covered my eyes with his hands.

"Guess who?" It was Buddy Brader. I'd know his voice anywhere.

"I give up," I said.

He took his hands away and leaned up against the table. "What're you doing in here, Deenie?"

"Make-up work," I told him.

"I came in to watch the fish." Mr. Balfour, our librarian, keeps a big tank of tropical fish on the table in the corner and a lot of kids do wander into the library to watch them.