The Witness  Chapter 4  I woke with a start to find a nurse
bending over me. I bit back the shout that had boiled out of my
throat and it emerged as a squeak.  Great, now I sound like a
fucking mouse.  She smiled at me reassuringly which did anything
but placate me.  "What are you doing?"  "It's time to change
your dressing." Her name tag said Emily Thornton and her bearing
was very long suffering. Patients were clearly a pain in the
ass.  I could handle that. "Why?"  "Doctor's orders."  "Where's
the doctor, then?"  "He'll be in for morning rounds."  Meanwhile
he left Nurse Ratchett in charge. "They train you in nursely
sadism in school or do you learn it on the job? Or maybe it's
just a natural talent you have."  "What? I mean, I beg your
pardon?"  "Learning how to wait until a patient is sleeping
comfortably before barging in to wake him up for some inane
medical procedure."  "Changing your dressing is hardly inane."
"Honey, at two o'clock in the morning it's all inane."  She was
good. I'd give her that. D