Chapter Ten - Paper Hearts

Part 10 (January 24th, 2007)
 19558499 

Hey, /b/. I don't have a whole lot to tell you about today, but I did sort-of promise to check in a bit earlier the next time I posted, last night, so here I am. Though I almost did prefer last night's thread, as it was free of spamming, short as it may have been (I don't count the loli pictures as spamming...I think). Anyway: Last night was mostly uneventful...I showed up, as usual, checked the logs, noted that a couple of comments had been entered on her new origami hobby, all positive, and eventually checked in on her after making sure my other 'wards' were peacefully dreaming of whatever it is people older than I can really fully comprehend within my own head dream of. I found that she was still awake, as usual, (we've discussed it, and she admits she's started staying up to spend more time with me...more on that later), and that her bedside table was covered in miniature paper animals.

 19558937 

I noted to her that she'd been pretty busy, to which she replied that she'd come to enjoy it after all, and gotten better; she offered one of her latest 'models', made just a half-hour earlier, in anticipation of my arrival, for inspection, to prove her point. It was as fine a paper crane as I've seen, personally, though I admit that one can really only 'perfect' origami so far. Still, she'd managed even tiny little details, like a creased beak to give it more 'depth', and folds along the mid-section of the wings that were then rotated slightly, giving them the illusion of being in mid-folding (the not-paper kind) as it came to rest. I gave her my honest reaction of impressed praise, which she clearly seemed to appreciate, even as normally subdued as her reaction was.

I took up the book and studied her other creations, finding that she'd been progressing through it...not as perfect as her crane yet, but still quite recognizable for what they were meant to be. It took me a doubletake, but I even noticed that she'd made a tiny origami bear, which was 'sitting' between her original bear's legs where it sat on the table beside her lamp. I made a joke that she'd left me behind in the dust, and could do fine without my he;lp; to which she grew a bit upset, and said I'd promised to practice with her...

 19559354 

I reassured her that I'd just been joking, and I wouldn't be giving up just yet; then proceeded to make mutant abominations of various sorts with my left hand for the next half hour, with her offering the occasional suggestion for how to handle some tricky parts every now and then.

I got called away just afterward by a patient that'd caught the flu after a visit from his family earlier in the week ('tis the season, goddamnit, hurray), so off I went; of course, once he'd been taken care of and sent back to sleep a bit more comfortable, another patient across the hall from him had woken up and gotten agitated...I swear, sometimes I think they develop some sort of geriatric hive mind, after a while. I eventually managed to calm her up as well, after nearly a half-hour's work, and got back to you-know-who's room, only to find that she'd since fallen asleep, a half-finished turtle still resting in her lap. I turned her lamp off (leaving her nightlight on), set her ninja turtle in training on her table, and tucked her in carefully...then let her be, and headed back to my station. No nightmares afterward, thankfully, so it ended as well as any night could, anyway.

 19559403 

is this a Nurse-kun thread? ;_;

Well, I guess so, as I'm 'Nurse-kun', and I started a thread? I've been doing that again, lately.

 19559676 

I've been thinking about what she's said a few times before...about how she's admitted to staying up even when she's tired, to see me, presumably because she doesn't feel very interested in most of the people around during the day, particularly her fellow residents. I can't say I blame her, since, well, would any of you really want to live with a bunch of geriatrics, let alone with many of them being senile, as well? I know I wouldn't, and I do it for a living, sort of. Plus, the nurses are always busy during the day and early evening shifts, said geriatrics keeping our hands full, to the point where I often barely managed to see her at all during the morning or day shifts while I was doubleshifting for a while there. She needs attention, and the system isn't really designed to give it to her, particularly since (though getting her to admit it even slightly was tough for me, let alone someone else) she feels uncomfortable around the other patients, particularly since it means she has to be confined to her wheelchair while she's amongst them (which she still hates), so group activities are less than optimal; since most of the 'attention-giving' in a facility like this is given to groups of patients at once, rather than one at a time, due to simple resource shortages...well...

 19560001 

Anyway, I'm considering looking into volunteering some of my off-hours to 'keep her company' during the day when she isn't busy with her rehab or whatnot, as a 'quasi-family-visitor', since they have the right to take their old person out of the home for outside activities and such, even if most of them rarely do, sadly. Of course, my being approved for that status isn't exactly going to be as simple as a rubberstamping, so I'll have to discuss it with her social worker and the head admin first, and expect some deliberations...still, if it is approved, and I think it may be possible, it could only he;lp any future chances with the adoption possibility (unless a meteorite hits her while we're in the park or something, but that's a slim possibility), so it'd be worth it.

Just something I'm thinking about today, and was yesterday, anyway...that's about it for my rambling storytelling manglings, though I'll be around my apartment for a while yet, and I'll check the thread. (will not be killing self just yet, apologies, fine sir)

 19560076 

Woot! Glad to hear from ya! So how's the legal process going?

Still in preliminaries, if that. My cousin dropped me an email on monday mentioning that he was going to be having lunch with his friend that works in family law next week, so he might have some more advice for me then.

 19560465 

Hate to rehash this nurse-kun... but /b/ really needs pictures [desperately]. I don't know what it will take... but whatever it is it must be done.

I'm aware of /b/'s 'needs', but at this point, I still don't think it'd be a wise course of action...I mean, not just legally or job-wise, even, but I think I'd feel bad if I did it...I know this is kind of GTFO material, but I'd feel guilty if I delivered her likeness into /b/'s clutches, her description and circumstances is bad enough.

 19561009 

She is being tested by our Lord (May he ninja forever), to see if she is fit. Perhaps this is the prophesied one who will save /b/ from gaiafags and their ilk.

Well, and I just remembered this incident, she got into a fight with one of the geriatrics a week ago, when she was waiting in the front lobby for her transportation to her rehab, and he wandered in to bother the front desk receptionist about whether his children had arrived yet to visit him (he apparently does this at least twice a day, even when they aren't scheduled or expected, even on his good days, on his bad days, well...). And after he'd bugged her for a couple of minutes, with the receptionist telling him they weren't coming, his attention drifted over to 'her', where she'd been sitting and reading relatively quietly, like she normally does.

Apparently, this was not one of his best days, and he approached her, and started mumbling something about japs (seems he fought in WWII), with her ignoring him at first, and him escalating in volume and intensity as he got closer, which the receptionist noticed, thankfully, and called for security. He was right in front of her by the time they arrived, ranting about the fucking japs and a bunch of other slurs and propaganda-pieces from the time at her, and he started yelling about 'his buddies' and how he was 'gonna show her'.

 19561338 

Now, when he'd started ranting relatively close to her and spewing the racial slurs, (including somewhat coherent suggestions of her being a rape baby from a white woman and a jap bastard) she'd started returning the favour. She set her book up, and looked up at him, and told him his family didn't really love him, that they locked him away in here because they hated having to take care of him, because he was too useless and stupid and ugly to be worth the trouble, cold as ice. That's when he really started flipping out and mentioned the whole 'show her' part, and that's about when security reached him just as he started reaching for her in her chair, and hauled him off.

I admit now, up front, that I was told about all this when I came into work later that night, by the Indian security guy up front, who'd heard it from the front desk receptionist, before she went home, and from his boys in security, too. I asked around, and other people verified the details, so it seems to be true...if she can drive a WWII pacific theatre combat vet to the point of violence, imagine all the gaiafags she could make cry with one post? God, I love her, I really do.

 19561886 

omg, hurse-kun. First time i have actuly see one of your threads on here! I've been reading your story from the wikichan and i have to say man, you are a modern day 'knight in shining armor'. You show that dispite the shit of the world theres still an awsome glimer of hope somewhare for the human race. it makes my heart fucking swell man, props to you.

I'm really not that special...I mean, it's not like I'm adopting some poor kid in Russia that I've never seen...I met her, I was exposed to her, I reacted to personal stimuli. I'd say that just makes me human, nothing more. I daresay most of /b/ would've felt something, though just what, and how much of it, would vary depending on which particular /b/tard it was, of course...

 19561979 

Time Paradox! According to the archives at Wikichan Mangled-chan was picked up by distant Japanese relatives. . . What do I beleive! How do I know you are the real Nurse-Kun?

Well, I didn't write that, but, as always, I don't particularly have any evidence to prove that. Guess you'll just have to trust me?

 19562312 

unfortunatly we are being spam-fucked Im glad she stuck up for herself that way - good for her - if I was her age I would have punched him in the nose and started crying :p

Isn't there a rule about needing to be 18+ to be on 4chan? I mean, maybe it's just me, but the fact that he showed up fifteen minutes after class lets out in k-12 on the east coast...

Ah, well. A one-limbed girl in a wheelchair still isn't a match for an 80+ year old guy, unfortunately. Thankfully, he was removed before the situation got any worse, and security's been a bit tighter around her since then.

 19562456 

She's practicing Origami? Last I heard she was playing her old Nintendo DS to improve her coordination. ..

She's still playing with her DS. She's just been having some fun with the origami since I gave it to her on monday night. Reminds me, I need to buy her more paper before I head in tonight...

 19562509 

May I suggest that Nurse-kun start a new thread...?

What's the point? Wastes of bandwidth like that will just move into a new thread as well, in addition to irritating more neutral /b/tards that see a new thread and mentally mutter to themselves about there being an infestation of them, which may drive them to become hostile as well...

Can't win if I do, can't win if I don't. Since the mods don't give a shit about bot-spam, there's really nothing I can do at all.

 19562822 

Get her some music! I'm dead serious, ask her what she likes and if it's shite, pick out something good. Something exotic that will offer her a escape from reality. Get her volumes 1-3 of Berserk to start with too. Too, that would be a perfect story for an amputee that's lost their family.

I already got her an iPod for christmas, as I've mentioned before, and it's full of various bits of music she asked me to load onto it for her.

I'm not sure Berserk would be looked upon as an age-appropriate gift for her. Hell, I might be charged with corrupting a minor if I gave it to her and got caught.