Open Wounds

March 16th, 2019

I took a young woman to Walgreen’s early on Saturday morning. She needed sterile gauze. The girl got scalded, and had an evil burn on her left shoulder that was oozing. I went with her into the store. I am not sure if that was helpful. We looked with uncertainty at a variety of different types of gauze and tapes, and then we asked a guy wearing a white lab coat for his opinion. Nhan, the white coat guy,  told us what to buy. Apparently, we didn’t explain the situation to him adequately, because I had to go back to the Walgreen’s later to get the correct type of tape.

While we were at the store, I looked more closely at the young woman. She looked rough. She had deep, dark rings under her eyes. The girl had already had a busy week. She had a chemical burn near her right eye that was just starting to heal. She also had four staples in the back of her head. They were behind her right ear. They were from a fall that seemed inexplicable. When I looked at her, I saw red burn marks that ran across the left side of her mouth, her throat, and down to her chest. I asked her about them.

She seemed frustrated and embarrassed. She told me,

“Those are from the shower at the motel. It suddenly got super hot, and that is how I got burned.”

Okay. Sure.

Is that what really happened? I don’t know. I wasn’t there. All I know is that this woman has suffered some truly nasty injuries within a very short period of time.

A suspicious person might think that she was using drugs. I’m a suspicious person. I’m suspicious mostly because I want this young woman to survive. Is it possible that she just had a terrible run of bad luck? Yes, that is possible. Is it possible that she has been so fucked up on some chemical that she did not even realize that she was being injured? Oh yeah, that could be too.

Like I said, I don’t know. I can’t know. In this situation, not knowing scares me. It scares me a lot.

Later yesterday, I took this young woman to stay at a different motel in Kenosha, since she needed a new place to live, and our house does not qualify with her probation officer. The motel is not so bad. Her place is right next to Lake Michigan, and she has a nice room.

I left her feeling uncertain. She had all of her stuff, but was she okay? I had no idea. I still have no idea.

When the girl checked into her room, she noticed that the refrigerator had a freezer. She remarked with a smile,

“Now I can get ice cream!”

I didn’t sleep much last night.

This morning I texted her: “Are you okay?”

Hours later, I read, “I’m OK.”

I wrote back to her, “Should we buy ice cream after your meeting tomorrow?”

Hours later, she wrote back, “Sure.”

That’s a win.