The Throw-Aways

Monday morning. Monday morning.

Those two words seemed to taunt my mind as I woke up. The weekend had been a blur. The neighbors agreed to watch my dog, we loaded up on the bus, and suddenly were on our way to the hospital.

The hospital!

I opened up my curtain from the bunk as the bus rolled to a stop. Austin hopped from his perch and helped me out of my bunk. I rubbed my sleepy eyes.

“Ready for the new arm?” His warm eyes sparkled. I nodded, taking in a gulp of air. The rest of the boys emerged from their bunks, groaning that it was too early in the morning to visit the hospital.

As soon as the four others had stumbled after us, we walked into the large open lobby of the hospital. I approached the attendant’s table.

“Do you have an appointment?” She asked me kindly. I nodded.

“A ten thirty for Doctor Lyons?” I asked her. She nodded, pointing towards the elevator and giving me the room number.

“I’ll be back in a little.” I waved to my friends. They hesitantly paused at the threshold of the elevator and lobby.

“Good luck!” Alan smiled and waved. Stepping into the metal contraption, I was escorted to the level.

As a soft tone announced the halt of the elevator, I stepped out of the open doors. Immediately, I was greeted by an aquarium filled with colorful fish and filling decorations.

I followed the hallway to the room labeled 335A. The entire hallway smelled sterile and felt empty, but as I knocked on this door, I could sense that this wasn’t as empty as first thought. The door opened and I saw a smiling, familiar face.

“Hello, Raven! How’s the arm been?” He chuckled quietly. I put on my best grin, although I was nervous on the inside. As I stepped into the room, I saw that it was clean and cluttered with posters that hung proudly on the wall. Pictures of Winnie the Pooh characters hung over the doorway, as if it could lighten the mood of anticipation

“Hi Doctor Lyons. It’s been pretty good and a lot less achy.” I shrugged. The man gestured to a table for me to sit on. Counters sat on either side of me. Parker Lyons pulled up a rolling stool and came to my left side. I purposely wore a tank top just for today. He prodded around on the soft skin and I just endured the many pricks.

“Okay, so it appears that that your wounds had healed up nicely and the muscles haven’t been damaged at all. So we’ll have some specialists come into the room in a moment and start the nerve connections. A base is going to be put on the area that was amputated. This is going to allow for the nerve connections to be established. The Project Motion arm will have a strap that you wear and it will help secure the base to the shoulder for more support. You can take the base off at any time, but you must recalibrate the nerves.” Doctor Lyons explained as a sharp knock at the door announced the arrival of three more doctors that came into the room. One of them carried a box, and another carried a small bowl like thing.

“So the prototype is an all-black base. It weighs about as much as a regular arm would. Once we put the base on and calibrate to set up the nerves in the arm to connect with the nerves in your nub, we’ll attach the arm. You can remove the arm at will with no need to recalibrate the nerves in the base when you detach the arm.” Doctor Lyons said. All I was looking at was the woman who removed the arm from the box. My breath hitched for a moment. Although I knew this would help me return to a “normal” lifestyle, I was scared and nervous with this new arm.

A man came up beside Lyons and place a cup over my arm. I molded exactly to the skin and fit like a glove. The black surface was smooth and reflected the Project Motion logo on the scrubs the doctor wore.

“Set for initial calibration. Ready?” He asked a woman, who sharply bobbed her head and held the arm in her grasp. A few buttons were pressed on a laptop and I felt pin pricks stab my skin. It didn’t hurt so much as feel tingly and numbing. After a few seconds, the feeling subsided. Feeling returned to my arm.

“So that’s what it will feel like when you recalibrate your arm. You can do that at any time by also flipping the latch on the base right here.” He tapped a spot with a tiny grey lever. I nodded, simply absorbing the information like a sponge!

“So to attach the arm, you’ll slide the three latches in. It will make a clicking sound when you rotate this plate,” Doctor Lyons, tapped a spinning disc with the tip of his black pen. The female Project Motion doctor started to attach it and I hear the little click as the arm slid in place. I leaned a little to the sudden weight attached to my side.

“Woah, that was unexpected.” I laughed lightly. True to what the doctor said, it was all black with a small white logo by the base. The wires and joints were mostly surrounded by a smooth dark cylinder over it, making it look like a smooth arm. It looked slim and futuristic. A dark glove covered the mechanical parts of my fingers.

The arm raised to meet my eyes as I stared in awe.

I jolted back at the suddenness of the movement. I didn’t even think about it! The action was just…natural. Doctor Lyons smiled.

“So you like the arm?” He asked me. I nodded, not able to speak. I barely had to think about what I wanted it to do, and it responded. It wasn’t like I though, lift arm, and had to wait five seconds for it to respond, but I just glimpsed at the idea and the arm responded.

“It’s amazing!” I gasped, flexing the fingers. It barely made a sound and only creaked occasionally when I twitched the fingers.

“We’ll send you with an instructions packet on getting used to your arm, maintenance, and trouble shooting. It’ll take a little bit of practice, but soon enough, you can open doors, carry objects, pushing open doors, and even playing piano.” He winked at me. I nodded and stood up. The four doctors all beamed at me. The female Project Motion technician handed me a packet and the case for holding the arm.

“Thank you so much!” I exclaimed, nearly being drawn to tears.

It was almost like I had my old arm back with me.

“It was my pleasure.” He beamed and extended his arm. I hesitated a moment and switched carrying all my new stuff to my right hand.

With a clear thought, I slowly raised my new left arm, extending the left hand a little too far, but Lyons adjusted to meet it. We shook gently as I walked back out to the lobby.

I couldn’t stop smiling.

Notes

ROBOT ARM!!!! Raven's finally got her arm and all is well...or is it? Well, for the moment, it is!