Stephanie spent hours going through a cycle of hope and disappointment and hope again. She called out to his nurses, "I think he blinked!" But it wasn’t a blink so much as a muscle spasm of the eyeball or maybe even a burst of REM dreaming. Then she thought she saw him move his finger. A twitch. The nurse wouldn’t say yes or no, just, "It could be." Then she went on with her work. Stephanie wasn't sure whether she was hearing grunts or exhales or perhaps just a tummy rumble.
"Do you think he's hungry? How can he be getting enough nutrients through that little tube for this many days?"
She was driving herself a little bit crazy.
Her mother demanded that she step outside to watch the sunset. "Come get some air with me, sweetheart. If it was a blink, then he’ll still be doing it when you get back."