can anyone help me?
“The cost, you mean?” The nurse was the same from earlier, a pretty redhead with brown eyes and
a spray of freckles across her nose. “Your father asked for it as a charitable gesture. It’s a slow week.
The hospital administrator agreed.”
What does "It’s a slow week" mean?
“He woke, once, but isn’t speaking. Everyone here is pretty much heartbroken for him. He’s such a
tiny thing, and torn up over his mother. Everyone knows what he was planning to do with that gun, but
it doesn’t matter. Half the nurses want to take him home.”
What does "torn up over his mother" mean?
Elizabeth thanked her and tapped on Gideon’s door. There was no answer, so she went in quietly
and found him asleep with tubes in his arm and under his nose.
What does "tubes in his arm and under his nose" mean?
In his whole life, the poor boy had never caught a break. Poverty. Borderline neglect. Now he was branded
with this other sin.
What does "Borderline neglect" mean?

Question

can anyone help me?
“The cost, you mean?” The nurse was the same from earlier, a pretty redhead with brown eyes and
a spray of freckles across her nose. “Your father asked for it as a charitable gesture. It’s a slow week.
The hospital administrator agreed.”
What does "It’s a slow week" mean? 
“He woke, once, but isn’t speaking. Everyone here is pretty much heartbroken for him. He’s such a
tiny thing, and torn up over his mother. Everyone knows what he was planning to do with that gun, but
it doesn’t matter. Half the nurses want to take him home.”
What does "torn up over his mother" mean? 
Elizabeth thanked her and tapped on Gideon’s door. There was no answer, so she went in quietly
and found him asleep with tubes in his arm and under his nose.
What does "tubes in his arm and under his nose" mean?  
In his whole life, the poor boy had never caught a break. Poverty. Borderline neglect. Now he was branded
with this other sin.
What does "Borderline neglect" mean?

Answer

1. A slow week is a week that is not busy. At a hospital, it would be a week with fewer patients.
2. Torn up over probably refers to him being conflicted. I don't have context, but perhaps his mother did bad things like not taking care of him, but he loves her because she is his mother. These two things are contradicting, so he does not know how to feel. The more common expression is just "to be torn" which means you are unsure what to do or how to react.
3. Again, I can't be 100% sure but the tubes in his arm are probably IVs. IV stands for intravenous (into the vein). The procedure itself is called intravenous therapy, which is where drugs or nutrients are released directly into the blood stream. The nose tubes are called nasogastric intubation, which is when a tube is put down your stomach for feeding or to remove excess fluids or air.
4. Neglect would be outright not caring for somebody. Borderline means very close or nearly. So it means his care/supervision was almost nonexistent.

Answer

Hey darling :* thank you

Answer

Hey Sarah,

"A slow week" means there is nothing happening at the moment, or that there isn't much money being made.

"Torn up over" means very upset / in pieces about / broken.

"Tubes in his arm and under his nose" is a literal description of the sick man with tubes attached to needles that a nurse has put in his arm to give his body fluid and tubes in his nose to give him oxygen to help him breath.

"Borderline" means very, very close to something / nearly the same as.
"Borderline neglect" means he was treated very badly, almost like he was neglected.

Answer

1. slow week - less busy than usual
2.  torn up over his mother - little context for me, I guess it means was about to cry being sorry for mum
3. tubes in his arm and under his nose - dealing with medical treatment, dropping tubes in his arm and tubes of breath stimulating equipment under his nose
4. borderline neglect - total neglect, could not be worse