Cut and Run 7 - Touch and Geaux

the bedside, hands in his pockets. “Did they give you something for the pain?”
    “Oh yeah,” Ty practically crooned. He shifted on the narrow hospital bed, pulling the blankets around him to ward off the chill caused by the saline being pumped into him. There was still discomfort all through his lower half, but it was dull enough that he didn’t care. He had even welcomed the catheter they put in because it had been less painful than what he’d been going through. “They took a CT and said it should pass soon.” He held out his hand. “Can I have the bag?”
    “What bag?” Digger asked. He and Nick still hung back by the door.
    Zane looked reluctant to hand it over as he pulled it out of his pocket, pinched between two fingers.
    “Oh, son of a bitch,” Digger said, and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he dug around in a pocket.
    Nick held out one hand, and Digger slapped a twenty dollar bill onto his palm. “Never bet against the crazy hoodoo ex,” Nick said as he folded the money into his own pocket.
    “You’re both assholes,” Ty told them.
    Zane turned to look at them, and he was still glaring when he met Ty’s eyes again. He held the bag up. “Don’t scare the doctors with this voodoo stuff, huh?” he said after too long of a pause. “I don’t want you hurting.”
    “What are you talking about?” Ty asked as he took the bag with clumsy fingers.
    Zane motioned to the bag. “This superstition stuff. The doctors might take you seriously and kick you out of here. That nurse has voodoo dolls at her station out there.” He sounded a little unnerved, which was unusual.
    “Voodoo dolls are usually used for good things, you know,” Ty said. He frowned as his fingers began working on the string of the bag. “It’s a religion, Zane. Nothing sinister.”
    “Sure.”
    Digger grunted. “You sound like a skeptic.”
    “I am a skeptic,” Zane confirmed.
    “Well,” Ty murmured as he tried to find a more comfortable position. He settled on instructing Zane to lift the head of his bed so he could recline and still inspect the gris-gris bag without too much discomfort. “You might think it’s just fairy-tale stuff, but this is serious. Serious business.”
    Zane frowned. “So what is that thing?”
    “It’s gris-gris,” Ty answered slowly. He was probably slurring, but as far as he knew he was still making sense.
    “Yes, dear, we got that part,” Nick said. He and Digger came closer, and Digger sat on the end of Ty’s bed, jarring it. Ty didn’t care.
    Zane nodded, glancing at the others again. “You asked specifically about the color,” Zane prompted.
    Ty gazed up at him, wishing he had the ability to convince Zane to take him seriously. He knew Nick, and probably Zane, thought all of it was stupid. A least Digger believed.
    “He’s so fucking stoned,” Digger said, laughing as he patted Ty’s leg.
    “His mind is processing at turtle speed,” Nick added, snickering behind his hand.
    Zane placed a hand on Ty’s forehead, and Ty’s eyes fell shut. The warmth of Zane’s palm was like heaven.
    “You know about this voodoo stuff, right?” Zane asked.
    “Yeah,” Digger answered. Ty felt him shift on the bed. “The color and material of the bag are just as important to its purpose as the contents. I’m not an expert, but I’m betting if we get it open, Grady and I can tell you what it was meant to do.”
    Ty opened his eyes at the sound of his name.
    “You want me to open it?” Ty asked. Zane and Nick both nodded. “Are y’all going to freak out if I open it?” He held up the bag gingerly. He wasn’t an expert by any means, but he knew enough about the purposes and the ingredients to get a good idea of what the bag had been intended to do. And what he didn’t know, Digger probably did.
    “Why would we freak out?” Zane pulled the little rolling table over to the bedside and turned it so Ty had a flat surface in front of him.
    “You freak out over things like that,” Ty mumbled. He pulled at the opening to the bag but couldn’t get the string loose. His fingers weren’t working. Digger finally took it from him and carefully poured the contents onto the shiny surface of the table.
    Ty looked up and around the room, his mind chugging to work. Finally he pointed at the boxes of sterile gloves that were attached to the wall. “Hand me some of those, please.”
    Zane amiably nabbed a couple of pairs and brought them back. “Things like that,”