thicket
There were times when he felt he could communicate, though his tongue was thick and intruded by the plugs and wires that kept him breathing. But just occasionally, when his wife and infant son were nearby, his brain screamed with a fervor that he felt sure was audible, even if only just.
She was right there. She could see his chest rise and fall with breath. Why couldn't she hear him? Understand?
The matron was coming down in mere minutes, and the floor was still covered with the dust and silt and flour of an average day's cooking in the kitchen.
"No time but to sweep," the cook announced.
And with that, she grabbed the splintering old broom, and opened the door into the bright courtyard. Mice and birds scattered about as the filth flew out of the doorway.