The Unlucky Turn by Mark Twain 288
“A victim?” Gloria scoffed, her eyes filled with disgust for Leilani. “She’s been to prison. Who knows how many enemies she’s made? Yvonne is naive and got duped by her. Are you blind too?”
Gloria’s voice grew louder and sharper, sounding especially grating in the quiet hospital room. “I’m telling you, Leilani is a jinx! Anyone who gets close to her has bad luck! The Sherwoods will not allow anyone to have any further contact with her!”
Milford frowned, his instinct to argue kicking in. “Mom, Leilani isn’t as bad as you think. Yvonne and her-”
“Enough!” Gloria snapped, refusing to hear another word in Leilani’s defense.
She looked at Milford with a mix of disappointment and anger. “Milford! If you dare say one more word for her, don’t call me your mother, get out of the Sherwood family, and go join that murderer!”
Milford’s throat bobbed, but he eventually fell silent under his mother’s furious gaze. Gloria was too emotional right now; anything he said would be wrong.
He turned to look at Yvonne on the bed. The girl’s pale face stung his eyes.
Maybe his mother was right? If Yvonne hadn’t gotten so close to Leilani, would this have happened?
Milford clenched his fists. His mother’s rage and his sister’s unconscious state felt like a heavy weight on his chest, making it hard to breathe.
Seeing that he had stopped arguing, Gloria huffed and turned to go find the doctor. She and Milford went to the doctor’s office together to ask for details about Yvonne’s condition.
The doctor looked surprised to see the two of them without Leilani. Facing Gloria’s anxiety, he pushed up his glasses and spoke honestly. “Ms. Sherwood’s condition isn’t serious. It’s a mild concussion and forehead abrasions. She’ll wake up in two or three days with no lasting effects.”
Gloria let out a long breath, her tense shoulders finally relaxing. “That’s good, that’s good…”
The doctor looked at them, puzzled. “By the way, you are the patient’s family, right? What is your relationship to the lady who came in with her, Ms. Sloan? Where did she go? Her external injuries were much more severe than Ms. Sherwood’s. She had large abrasions on her arms and knees. I. wanted to tell her to get those wounds treated, but she disappeared in the blink of an eye.”
Gloria frowned. The expression that had just relaxed tightened into cold indifference.
“I don’t know her,” she said icily. “She’s just a stranger. Besides, she said she had things to do and left on her own. It has nothing to do with us.”
The doctor paused, seemingly taken aback by Gloria’s attitude. Even for a stranger, that was cold.
But since it was a personal matter, the doctor didn’t pry further and just nodded. “Well… if you need anything, call me.”
Gloria gave a perfunctory response and turned back to the ward, her mind solely on her daughter, completely indifferent to Leilani’s injuries.
Milford stood rooted to the spot, his fingers curling into his palms.
17:48
Leilani was hurt? He recalled seeing Leilani in the corridor earlier. She had looked pale, but he had been so focused on asking about his sister that he hadn’t noticed her injuries at all. Now, the doctor’s words hit him like a physical blow.
He turned to look toward the ward. His mother was sitting by his sister’s bed, gently arranging the sheets, her eyes full of heartache and care.
17:48
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