Granny Dan

She nodded then and closed her eyes again for a moment, and then opened them again to say something to him in a whisper. “I saw you with Alexei last summer … in Livadia….” She remembered. She had returned. She still had a long way to go, but incredible as it seemed, perhaps finally the spell had been broken. He wanted to shout with excitement, but he didn't want to celebrate too soon. It could still be the burst of energy before the end. He did not yet trust what he was seeing.

“I will teach you how to swim this summer if you stay here,” he teased gently, remembering the fun they'd all had when Alexei tried to teach her. She almost smiled, but she still felt far too ill to be able to do more than look at him weakly.

“I have to dance,” she said, sounding worried. “I don't have time to swim. …”

“Yes, you do. You are going to have to rest for a while now.” She opened her eyes wide as he said it, and he felt encouraged again. She was entirely cognizant of what he was saying.

“I have to go to class tomorrow.”

“I think you should go this afternoon,” he teased her, and this time she smiled, though it was barely more than a rictus. “You're being very lazy.” He was smiling at her now, feeling as though he had won the battle of a lifetime. He had had no hope at all for this one. An hour before, she had been all but gone, and now she was awake and talking to him.

“I think you're being very silly,” she whispered. “I can't go to class today.”

“Why not?”

“No legs,” she said, looking worried. “Fell off, I think, can't feel them.” He looked worried then, and reached under the covers to touch her legs, and he asked her what she felt when he touched her. She felt everything, she was just too weak to move them.

“You're just weak, Danina,” he reassured her. “You are going to be fine now.” But he also knew that if in fact she did survive, and it looked at least remotely possible, though she was not yet out of the woods completely, her recovery would take months, and she would have to be carefully and expertly nursed, if she was to recover completely. “You're going to have to be very good, and sleep a great deal, and eat and drink,” and as though to prove it to her, he offered her a sip of water, and this time she took it. She only took one sip, but it was a vast improvement. And as he set the glass down on the table next to her, Madame Markova woke with a start, afraid that something terrible had happened while she was sleeping. But instead, she saw Danina looking weak but alive again, smiling wanly up at the doctor.

“My God, it's a miracle,” she said, fighting back tears of relief and exhaustion. She looked almost as bad as Danina, but she had no fever and was not ill. She was simply devastated by the terror of nearly losing Danina. “Child, are you feeling better?”

“A little.” Danina nodded, and then glanced up again at the doctor. “I think you saved me.”

“No, I didn't. I wish I could take credit for it, but I'm afraid I've been quite useless. All I did was sit here. Madame Markova did a great deal more for you than I did.”

“God did it,” Madame Markova said firmly, “and your own strength.” She wanted desperately to ask the doctor if she'd be all right now, but she knew she couldn't ask him in front of the patient. But Danina certainly seemed much better. She seemed alert, and stronger, and as though she had turned the corner. They had come so close to losing her that Madame Markova was still shaking.

“How soon can I dance again?” she asked him, and both the doctor and Madame Markova laughed. She was indeed feeling better.

“Not next week, I can promise you that, my friend.” He smiled as he said it. Not for months, but he knew it was too soon to say it to her. He could sense easily that if he told her the truth, she would grow frantic with guilt and worry. “Soon. If you're a good girl, and do everything I tell you to, you'll be up on your feet again in no time.”

“I have an important rehearsal tomorrow,” she insisted.

“I think there's a good chance you might miss it. No legs, remember?”

“What was that?” Madame Markova looked worried by his comment, but he was quick to explain it.

“She couldn't feel her legs a minute ago, but they're fine. She'sjust very weak from the fever.” And a moment later when they tried to sit her up for another drink, they found she couldn't even do that much. She could barely get her head up off the pillow.

“I feel like a piece of string,” she said eloquently, and he laughed softly at her.

“You look a bit better than that. Much better, in fact, I think I might go back to my other patients before they forget what I look like.” It was after six o'clock, and he had been with her for thirteen hours, but he promised to return again the next morning. And as they walked to the front door, Madame Markova thanked him profusely and asked what to expect now.