play tom petty
Sighing heavily and picking up her can of soda again, Gertie looked at the scrolling words on the computer screen. She'd been entering in data earlier on her charge, not that there was anything new to put down about the comatose lunk in the other room. She'd found the website a few weeks ago, while she'd been bored and had played a little too much solitaire. So she'd been randomly surfing the net, looking for information that might be fun or helpful for someone in her position. Like she'd taken to sometimes playing Tom Petty for the guy since she'd read someplace that apparently more people have woken up listening to 'free fallin' than any other song. Or maybe she'd just watched too many VH1's pop up videos, who knew.
Considering the guy had just randomly dropped into a coma with no warning and there was nothing medically wrong with him...she was willing to give anything a shot. Even likely bullshit pop culture lamery. Besides, she liked Tom Petty so there wasn't actually any harm at all, was there? So she played music, she put plants in the room, and she trolled the internet. It was all charity work she was doing, funded by the local church, and there wasn't anything else to do when your sole purpose was just 'keep the coma guy healthy'. As far as she knew, no one was even positive about his name. They just knew he had no family, and the hospital had stopped wanting to do anything with him. So...hooray non-profit organizations. Like she was part of.
Propping her chin on her hand, she kept gazing at the live chat she was in, of other people in her position. Apparently there were a lot of people, really scattered around the globe, that had whatever this guy was. They were sort of trying to work together to come up with an answer, or at least some workable theories on what was causing it. So far, the world at large just didn't have time for it. It was such a small section of the population that progeria was actually considered more common. (though personally, she found that a bullshit statistic, because she thought there were more of these guys than the progeria ones, but still. no one had asked her)
Unfortunately, it was yet another day of people just kind of talking back and forth, reporting no changes, and generally just being supportive of each other and entertaining one another. She smiled a little sadly at one of the chatters online, and typed up a message for her.
It's okay, sweetie. We're all here for you. We know it's not easy to change the colostomy bags, but you'll get the hang of it. After a while you won't even be bothered by it anymore. Promise. How about you turn on some music for you and your brother? Remember...none of us know how much is getting through. Let's keep up some hope!
She watched other people hopping on the bandwagon to rally for the poor thing. She did have to admit that she was glad it wasn't a family member she was watching after. Just...someone she'd never met that needed her help. Needed someone's help. Looking outside, away from the monitor, she saw the lines and lines of people outside hadn't moved at all. Jobs were a nightmare at the moment. And while before she'd actually considered trying to get a new one, something that paid a little better, she'd abandoned that idea. Most people lately were clinging to their jobs for dear life with so many businesses going under. Fast food, cattle ranches, really anything to do with the meat industry, if it wasn't already failed entirely, they were about to go belly up. Hearing the blaring of a horn, her gaze ticked up the street farther, as she watched a herd of emu's wandering in the middle of the street. Someone had been breeding them, but they'd been let go, just to roam free. Emus. Silly things. Silly things that were kinda a little in the way down there. It certainly wasn't where they belonged, but releasing them hadn't been thought through quite so fully.
A ding that signified a whisper on the chat had her looking back to the screen, and she smiled.
What songs do you recommend?
Try Free Fallin by Tom Petty. It's a good one.