Free The TV Kid by Betsy Byars

night—five minutes and then five minutes more. It seemed to Lennie that the night, separated into those five-minute periods, was longer than the whole rest of his life. He would never have believed that five minutes could be longer than a year, but now he knew it was true.
    In the morning when the doctor came in to look at Lennie’s leg and to change the dressing, Lennie was past caring. He didn’t even want to get well any more.
    “How are you feeling?” the doctor asked.
    Lennie just shook his head.
    “Well, let’s see that leg.”
    Lennie closed his eyes and moaned. His leg hurt so bad he could even feel the doctor’s breath on his knee. It was like a blowtorch.
    “Don’t get near my leg,” Lennie murmured as he fainted.
    He didn’t remember anything else about the rest of the morning except that it was one terrible pain after another.
    In the afternoon the big cop came in. He leaned on the foot of the bed. “Remember me telling you about my friend that got snake bit?” he said. “Well, here he is!” The cop sounded as cheerful as if he’d done a feat of magic.
    Lennie tried. He opened his eyes. He blinked to clear his vision. He made an effort to see the man beside his bed.
    “There’s my finger that got bit,” the man said, leaning over Lennie’s bed. “See? You can still see the scars; and here are the slits they had to make in my hand to relieve the swelling. Here, here, here, here, and here. And my fingernail’s gone.” He wagged his little finger. “See? No fingernail!”
    Lennie tried to focus his eyes on the finger and the slits, but he didn’t care any more. Nothing mattered. He closed his eyes.
    “He would be real glad to see you if he wasn’t feeling so bad,” his mother said.
    “Well, we’ll come back, son, don’t worry about it. Tomorrow or the next day I’ll bring him back,” the cop said.
    “He’ll feel more like looking at the finger then,” his mom said. She turned to Lennie. “And, Lennie, did you see what Officer Olson brought you? It’s a clock! Now you won’t have to ask for the time so much. It’s an electric clock, and you can read it as easy as a sign.”
    There was a silence while everyone waited for Lennie’s reaction.
    Then his mother said, “I’m sure he’d thank you if he was feeling better.”
    “Why, that’s all right. He don’t have to thank me,” the cop said.
    “Well, I’m sure he would if he could.”
    Lennie glanced at the clock. It was nice. Any other time it would have pleased him. The numbers rolled into view on a special dial. The numbers said 3:45. Then, slowly, 3:46 rolled into view.
    “Thank you for coming,” his mom said.
    “Ma’am, I wouldn’t have missed it,” the man said. He was still holding out his little finger like he was drinking tea. “I know what it’s like to be snake-bit, believe you me.”
    Lennie didn’t remember anything else about that afternoon except that after supper the doctor came in and changed the dressing and had to make some more slits in Lennie’s leg.
    “I’m going to give you something for the pain, Lennie, but it’s going to hurt. You’re going to have to be a brave boy,” the doctor said.
    “He will be,” his mother said.
    Lennie was already crying. Just the mention of any more pain than he was suffering now was more than he could bear.
    “Now, Lennie, get hold of yourself, please, honey,” his mother said. Then she turned to the doctor. “He’s usually real brave about everything. The time he had his arm set he never even moaned.”
    But bravery didn’t seem important to Lennie now. Nothing was. He yelled and cried and hollered. He hit at the doctor until the nurse had to hold his hands. He cursed. He screamed. He sobbed as if he would never stop.
    “Now, it’s all over,” the doctor said. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
    His mother was coming back into the room. “See, hon, it’s all over. Things will be better now. I’m just real sure things’ll be