Title: Monkey Business
Author:Nubiangeek
The day began just like any
other. Supplies were loaded, and
the crew members
wandered in
and out of the ship in preparation of the imminent sail.
The
embarkation will take place an hour from the present time,
but
there's a lot
to do to get ready.
Isaac was busy restocking the
shelves, while Gopher and Julie
went over the
guest list,
checking on special diets and accommodation.
Captain Stubing was
going over weather reports and the route
that the ship
would
take while Doc was checking his supply of medication. He
chuckled
as he
thought about the fact that they rarely had any cases other
than
sunburn or
seasickness.
One hour later, exactly on
schedule, passengers began to embark.
Everything
was routine,
working like clock work.
Gopher was in the lobby, as usual, and
was the first to see him.
Richard Hensen
came through the
doors, and the first thing that Gopher noticed was
that he
was
sweating profusely. Gopher didn't think anything of it. After
all, it
was warm
outside.
"Oh, Mr. Hensen. We have you
down for Fiesta Deck 3109."
Mr. Hensen barely mumbled his
reply, as he stumbled in the
direction of the
elevator.
Gopher
was already on to the next passenger. He didn't see
Hensen slumped
in
the elevator, and he couldn't hear his labored breathing.
Gopher's
mind was on the
here and now.
Hensen emerged from
the elevator, shuffling down the hallway,
and leaning
heavily
on the wall. A couple, passing by, began to whisper about
him.
"Isn't
it a shame? That man has been drinking and we haven't
even left
port."
Once inside his room, Hensen began unpacking. He tried
to tell
himself that he
was okay, maybe just a little tired, or
maybe just a cold.
He opened the specially made carpet bag.
Everything was all
right.
"Maybe I'll just take a nap
before dinner." He thought. He laid
down on the
bed and
didn't notice when his cabin door opened and then closed.
Gopher,
Julie, and Doc met in the dining room as usual.Everything seemed
to
be going fine. They chatted for a moment, and then went to sit
down
for dinner.
Doc was dining with the captain tonight, and
Julie and Gopher were
going to dine
with a passenger.
Gopher
noticed Mr. Hensen coming into the dining room. He was
a
little
unsteady on his feet, but he did look refreshed after
his nap.
"Mr. Hensen, isn't it?" Julie asked
cheerily.
"You're at our table this evening." She
indicated the table that
she and Gopher
were occupying.
"Oh,
Ms. McCoy, I need to speak with you." The Captain
called.
In
the meantime, Richard Hensen sat down at the table, and
picked up
the menu.
He and Gopher chatted about this and that. Hensen wasn't
very
talkative, but
Gopher didn't seem to notice.
Hensen ate
very little of his dinner, and seemed to begin
feeling worse
and
worse.
"Are you all right, Mr. Hensen?" Gopher
asked.
"Yes, it's just a cold. I've been fighting it for a
couple of
days."
"Maybe you should see Dr. Bricker."
Gopher replied.
"Well, maybe if it gets worse. I just need to
get some rest." He
rose from his
seat and returned to his
cabin. Gopher suddenly found himself dining
alone.
Thinking
that something in the meal didn't agree with him, he retired
early
as well.
The next morning, Hensen rose and was not feeling any
better. He
was
determined to enjoy himself despite his illness.
He decided that
sitting out on deck
in the bright sunshine was
just what he needed to make him feel
better.
Out on deck,
Gopher made his way over to Isaac.
"Hey Goph, whadya
need?"
Gopher's stomach was still a little upset.
"Oh,
I just need a little seltzer."
Gopher quickly changed the
subject, and their attention was
drawn to Richard
Hensen who
was stumbling across the deck. They watched as he passed
out
and
fell to the deck.
Immediately people started rushing over
to him, including Gopher
and Isaac.
They took him straight to
Doc's office. When they got him there, the
man
was
unconscious.
"Is he going to be all right?" Isaac
asked.
He saw the serious look on Doc's face, and so, he didn't
think
the man would
be okay.
Isaac and Gopher left Doc to
his work. This was definitely notturning out to
be a typical
cruise.
At
lunch, gopher and Isaac filled Julie in on what had happened
that
morning.
When they saw Doc later, they asked about Hensen and his
condition.
"Well, I had to send a blood sample out to a
friend of mine.
I'm waiting to hear
back."
Just then
Julie came and said, "Doc, you have two more patients
down in
your
office." Doc could tell that it was going to be a long
day.
"Oh no, that's what I was afraid of." He said as he
returned to
his office.
Gopher, Isaac, and Julie looked at one
another with worried
expressions on
their faces. They knew that
this could be a potentially dangerous
situation, not to
mention
the fact that Gopher was beginning to feel
sick.
"Doctor,
I need you to find Coco, she's missing." Doc came over
and
wiped
Hensen's brow with a cool cloth.
"Just rest Mr.
Hensen." Doc knew that sometimes patients
hallucinate with
very
high fevers.
"You don't understand. Coco is my monkey
and she missing."
Doc just smiled. That's a new one, he
thought, a monkey, of all
things.
At dinner that night, Julie
could tell that there were several
passengers missing.
Some
were in the make shift infirmary, while others were
simply
quarantined in their
rooms.
Gopher was standing at
the entrance to the dining room assisting
passengers
with their
table assignments. Julie started to walk over to him when
suddenly
he
collapsed.
Gopher
woke up to find himself lying in his own bed.
"Where. .
."
Isaac was sitting on the edge of the bed, and he was
wearing a
mask. Isaac
thought that this was rather ridiculous
because he would have already
been exposed
to whatever this
was.
"It's okay, man. Boy, you'll do anything to get out of
work,
won't you?" he
joked, but Gopher could tell that he
was worried.
"Hey, can you get that monkey out of here?"
Isaac knew that
Gopher was
delirious because of the
fever.
"Sure man, anything you want." Isaac was just
humoring
him.
When
they met for lunch that day, each of them noticed how much
it
looked like
a ghost ship.
Doc looked haggard and tired. Caring
for all of the sick
passengers had really
taken its toll.
"I
talked to my friend. He was puzzled. It's some type of
viral
infection."
He knew what they would ask him next.
"My
friend is trying to come up with an antibiotic, but he's got
nothing
yet."
Everyone was afraid to ask how he thought Gopher was
doing. Doc
answered
anyway.
"Gopher's holding his own,
he's strong."
In an attempt to lighten the mood, Isaac told
them about what
Gopher had
asked earlier.
"He wanted me
to get rid of some monkey that he thought was in
his room."
He
chuckled, but the look on Doc's face was shock.
"Did
you say a monkey? Richard Hensen mentioned something about
losing
a
monkey."
They all looked at one another.
"If the
monkey is the source of the infection, maybe we can make
an
antibiotic
from his blood." Doc said.
They immediately got
up and went in search of that
monkey.
Captain
Stubing was feeling a lot of pressure. There was an
epidemic
happening
on his ship. He had been making the rounds that day to
all of the
passengers
turned patients, and he was exhausted.
He
retired to his cabin where he planned to rest for a while. He
sat
in his chair
and leaned back and closed his eyes.
He didn't
notice when his cabin door opened, and Coco walked
inside.
She
began rummaging through the captain's things. She finally
ended up
knocking the
captain's small bookcase over, which
brought Captain Stubing to his
feet.
Startled by the noise made
by the captain, Coco quickly went to
the door and
was out
before Captain Stubing could get around his desk.
"What is
going on here?"
The door opened, and Julie walked in. She
normally didn't just
walk into the
captain's office, but the
door was ajar and she had heard him yelling.
"Captain, are
you all right?"
"Did you see it? Did you see that
monkey?" he asked."Did you see a monkey, sir?" she
asked excitedly.
"Why should I be seeing monkeys, Miss
McCoy?" He asked angrily.
Julie explained why they were
looking for the monkey.
"Well, what are you waiting for,
let's get after that monkey."
By this time, every person that
was left standing on his or her
feet were looking
for that
monkey.
In the end, it was Julie who found Coco. She had gone back
to
her cabin to
take a shower before changing for dinner.
She
went into the bathroom to turn on the shower, then she went
back
out to
undress. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something
staring at
her. She let out
a horrific scream. It was Coco, and
she screamed as well.
Julie went over to make sure that the door
was locked before she
called for a
steward to escort Coco to
Doc's office.
Doc, again, called his friend to let him know that
they had
found the monkey.
He, then, drew blood and began
making the serum that they
needed.
By
this time, Richard Hensen and Gopher had slipped back
into
unconsciousness, and had not awakened for several hours.
Doc
came into Gopher's room.
"Is that it?" Isaac asked
hopefully, indicating the vial that
Doc had in his hand.
"Yes,
I've already given it to Hensen."
Doc quietly went over and
prepared the syringe. The unconscious
Gopher
winced slightly as
it was administered.
"Now we have to wait." Doc
announced. It was going to be a long
night.
Julie offered to
stay so that someone would be there when he
woke up. She
watched
him closely, and wiped the sweat from his brow.
His fever was
breaking, which was a good sign.
She settled down in a chair with
a book, but soon was fast
asleep.
Along toward the middle of
the night, Gopher woke up. Seeing
Julie sleeping
there, he
cleared his throat. Julie stirred.
"Julie, can I have some
water, please?" he asked hoarsely.
Julie was so happy. She
forgot all about the water and simply
hugged him.
"Hey,
take it easy. I'm a sick man." He replied.
Julie just smiled
and swatted at him
playfully.
Richard
Hensen, Gopher, and the other sick passengers gradually
got
better,
and were fine when the cruise ended.
As it turned out,
Mr. Hensen had brought Coco aboard illegally,
and she had
been
sick. The authorities were waiting to speak to him when
hedisembarked.
As they prepared for disembarkment, Gopher, Doc,
Julie and Isaac
gathered in
the lobby.
"Well, this
turned out to be a wild cruise." Isaac said.
"Yeah, it
certainly was far from ordinary." Julie added.
"Are you
kidding? I know I'll never forget it." Gopher said.
They all
agreed wholeheartedly.
