I woke up with a sore head and my ears ringing from the sound of two angry voices shouting at each other.
"What have you done to her?" Jerry's angry voice said.
"Why would you ever think that I'd do anything to her?" Ben's angry voice replied, not much calmer than Jerry.
I tried to sit up, to stop their fighting, but fell back weak and dizzy into what appeared to be my bed. They were standing just outside of the room, and I decided to try to call them instead.
"Hello" I said, obviously too low for them to hear me.
"Stop fighting" I tried a bit louder.
"Hey!!" I shouted, pressing my hands to my aching head.
Two wild-looking men came running into the room, hair on end, worried frowns on their faces.
"Stop fighting!" I repeated, glad that I'd finally gotten their attention.
"I was hit by a coworker, Ben took care of me when I came home" I told Jerry.
"I met Jerry at work, he'd been tricked to go there, probably by that same coworker" I told Ben.
They stared at each other, somewhat shamefaced, and then looked at me, obviously still worried. I looked back at them, instantly seeing the similarities, taking my time scanning them for differences. They both had strong faces, dark hair and brown eyes. Ben was taller, but slightly thinner than Jerry. Jerry had a lot of laughter lines in his face and Ben seemed to have more distinct worry lines on his forehead. My thoughts about the possible differences in their personalities that their faces seemed to indicate were interrupted by Jerrys low laughter. He had obviously seen me staring at them, my appreciation of their physical appearances hopefully not as easy to see.
"You fainted," Ben said, still serious "and we didn't reach you in time so you hit your head."
"Again?" I answered with sigh.
"What, again?" they both answered in chorus.
"Right," Ben said, his voice tense "you're going to the hospital!"
From that point, all of my attempts at convincing them I was fine and that I didn't need to go see a doctor were in vain. I was not used to my decisions being overridden by anyone, but the power of two stone-faced, stubborn men was too much for me right then and there. When I refused to get out of bed, Ben lifted me up and held me upright; when I refused to get dressed, Jerry just shrugged, started untying the belt to my bathrobe and told me he'd gladly help. In the end I was standing up dressed, hair brushed, wearing shoes, holding my purse and staring angrily at two of the most annoying men in world.
After being half pushed and half carried to one of their cars, I sat silent and grumpy in the passenger seat. I didn't like being told what to do; I didn't like going to the doctors; I didn't want to go in their stupid car.
Of course I realized that the thoughts that were circling in my head all sounded like those of a whiny child, but seriously, I was a grown woman, if I wanted to stay at home and sleep the pain away, I should be able to do that.
"Stubborn, annoying, manhandling bullies" I muttered under my breath.
"What was that dear?" Jerry asked with a sweet smile, making it quite clear that he'd heard what I'd said.
"Nothing," I answered "absolutely nothing."
I could see my face reflected in the side window of the car and the fact that I was looking like that same angry child that was stuck in my head didn't exactly improve my temper. It did however make me realize that the careful mask I usually wore had slipped off completely.
"Who needs visualization techniques," I thought to myself "when the careful touch of three heavy-handed men is so effective."
I was still annoyed when we reached the hospital, but some of the worst irritation disappeared after Ben helped me when I almost fell on my way into the reception area. I was still dizzy and there was something wrong with my sense of balance; perhaps I needed help after all. As my anger wore off it was quickly replaced by a familiar feeling of dread. I really didn't like hospitals.
Ben must have sensed that something was wrong, because he turned a worried pair of golden brown eyes my way and smiled an encouraging smile. He then put his arm around my shoulders and walked me to the reception. I managed to focus on talking to the nurse in charge of admittance and filling out a registration form, but after taking a seat I could feel tension spreading through my body. My breathing became shallow and quick, which in turn made the dizziness worse.
"Please," I begged Ben "I can't do this. I want to go home."
He took my hand and tried to calm me down by telling me stories about his and Jerry's childhood adventures, at least all of the ones ending up at the hospital. My eyes were nervously circling the borders of a large painting on the wall, my ears were listening intently to Ben's whispered words and the rest of my body was shaking from the effort of sitting still.
Jerry came walking after having parked the car and sat down beside me. He leaned over to talk to Ben who tried to communicate something to him using facial expressions and nods. As Jerry looked at me his eyes went wide and his facial expression turned to one of surprise and shock. After another silent conversation between the brothers, Jerry started rubbing my back. Ben talked as Jerry ran his warm hand up and down my back and somehow my fear was kept in check by their joint effort.
I don't know how long we sat there waiting, but both Ben and Jerry sighed in honest relief when my name was called by a young, blond, kind-looking nurse.
