Chapter 48

“How’s Andy?”

“We were able to relieve the cranial pressure. He’s strong and healthy and responded well to the procedure. We can’t assess the extent of any damage he may have sustained until after he regains consciousness. That may be a while.

A while? An hour, a day?

“How long?”

“It could be as much as a week or two. Or it may be in an hour. It’s hard to tell. His brain has had a serious insult.”

“But, I mean.” I was fumbling, afraid to ask the one question I knew the answer to, which would spell disaster for me. “He will wake up, right?”

Dr. Graham took a deep breath. “We have every reason to believe he will. But he has sustained a damaging injury. We’ll be able to tell more in about 24 hours.”

Dr. Graham left. Dr. Winston, the orthopedic surgeon, came in forty-five minutes later and gave us the report on Brad. He would heal. He would be fine, but he would never play football again.