[“Fragility”] She hopped to the door, slowly, but had the door unlocked before the two garishly painted vans arrived in the driveway. She tried to follow the medics up the stairs to Uncle Ram, but two stayed with her and all but held her down to look at her ankle while three more went up the stairs. They fetched a gurney from the van, and in a practiced motion, lifted her onto it. She winced as she was moved, and kept watching over her shoulder as she was trolleyed out, feeling like a sack of groceries. As they finished lifting her into the van, she saw the front door open again and a second gurney being moved out. She saw Uncle Ram’s thin figure stretched across the white sheets, still in his dressing gown, still partly askew and tangled. The door slammed shut, and she was alone with the medic and the bright light in the back of the ambulance. A prick to the arm brought her back from trying to see out the window. “Ow!” “Sorry.” The medic had attached an IV line to her before she had had much chance to protest. “Here. This should help you feel better.” She remembered feeling fuzzy and not all that aware of the trip. ---- She woke to a dull pain in her leg and her back was aching like mad. She rolled and was surprised to find a cold metal rail. *Oh. Right.* she realized she was in the hospital. A nurse in a starched uniform pulled back the curtain around her bed. “Oh, good. You’re awake again. Medics gave you a little too much for the pain and you’ve been in and out for a bit.” She blinked, trying to get the room to come into focus. “I don feel so g...” she trailed off as she felt a wave of nausea. She rolled and the nurse deftly grabbed a bin to catch. “Yeah. You’re pretty sensitive to morphine.” She retched again and felt the nausea subside somewhat. “My uncle. Is he okay?” “Uncle? Oh. Right. He came in the ambulance right behind you. He’s upstairs in intensive care.” *Intensive care. That’s not good.* “Is he alright?” “I don’t know, dear. We’ll send some one to find out in a little while. Try to relax. You’re still pretty out of it.” Meera felt a wave of nausea come and go, and felt very, very tired again. ----