Act Three, Part Two ~~~~

The small wagon rocked gently along as it came up on one of the bridges over the Potomac into the city of Washington. For James West, however, the rocking, at three times normal speed, was anything but gentle. In addition he was still experiencing the queasiness brought on by the bug bite. He dealt with the nausea, his head down, his eyes closed and jaw clenched. By his side, little Missie watched over him, her fingers firmly in her mouth.

Lee kept glancing back at the pair. The man's condition had her worried. "Well, if Captain Sluggish there isn't drunk, Chip," she murmured, apparently talking to the horse pulling the wagon, "then what is wrong with him?"

At this point a small hand tugged at her sleeve. She looked at the little girl sitting beside the man. "Yes, honey? What is it?"

The child popped her fingers out of her mouth to say, "Unca Jim got bited."

"Bited - bit, you mean? He was bitten?" A nod. "What bit him?"

"A bug. A bad bug!"

The girl glanced at Jim, then leaned in closer to the child. "What kind of bad bug?" she asked.

"A bad bug. A weally bad nasty awful bug!"

Lee looked at Jim again, noting how he was quietly holding himself together. "I think," she said slowly, "I think he needs a doctor." She glanced at the child and added, "Problem is, the best doctor I knew passed on a few months back, and I don't know the area around Washington very well to know anybody I can take him to." Realizing she was talking too much, and glad that neither the girl nor the man was in a position to ask her awkward questions about what she meant, she added, "See, I'm new around here."

The wagon continued onward over the bridge and into the city. Lee kept her eyes peeled for any sign of a doctor's office, and to her great relief, she was shortly rewarded when she spotted a sign on the lawn in front of a large building they were about to pass.

"Hospital!" she exclaimed. "Well, would you look at that!" She reined up directly in front of the building, then hopped down and said to her passengers. "All right, here we are!" She lifted the little girl down, then gave the man a tap on the arm. "Mister?"

He opened his eyes and took in their surroundings. "Wwwhhhyyy aaarrreee wwweee hhheeerrreee?"

She jerked a thumb at the sign behind her. "Hospital. You're sick."

He shook his head. "III nnneeeeeeddd tttooo ssseeeeee Cccooolllooonnneeelll Rrriiiccchhhmmmooonnnddd," he said.

The girl frowned, listening intently. "Colonel? Did you say 'colonel'? But Colonel who?"

"Why, Mr West!" came a voice from behind her.

Jim looked up to see the same doctor who had escorted him to visit the housekeeper the previous afternoon.

"If you've come to ask Mrs Beecham some more questions, you're only just in time," said the doctor. "I've just now released her with a clean bill of health - though I would have waited for morning's light, but she insisted otherwise. A message has been sent to her employer's home to let them know she's done here, and she's waiting now for someone to come pick her up. Oh, but this has been a most curious case! Some four or five hours of systemic sluggishness, followed by a spontaneous return to full vigor - and no aftereffects! Simply astonishing! Well, I've not been home for a day and night, so if you'll excuse me…" And he put on his hat and began to stride away.

"Dr Feldstrom," said Jim, finally finding a chance to get a word in edgewise.

Feldstrom stopped in midstep, having heard West speak his name as "Dddoooccctttooorrr Fffeeellldddssstttrrrooommm." He spun and gaped at the Federal agent, his eyes lighting up. Another case to study! Hurrying to Mr West's side, the doctor doffed his hat again, grasped his new patient's chin and tilted his face up, peering at his eyes. He then barked out orders for the man to be taken to a room immediately and accompanied the orderlies as they whisked West away.

Lee found herself standing outside the entrance, holding hands with the little girl. Oh well. Someone needed to watch over the child, at least. "Come on," she said and led the toddler inside.

"Why, Missie!" Suddenly a large middle-aged woman with a face like a bulldog loomed up, arms open.

"Miz Beecham!" Missie squealed and leapt to hug her.

Then again… thought Lee. Stepping forward, she asked the child, "Do you know this lady?"

Missie gave a huge nod. "Dis Miz Beecham! She was gonna gimme apple, but den dere was a buzzin' and den da music lady took me away!"

Lee and Mrs Beecham stared at the little girl, then at each other. What on earth was the child saying?

"An' dis my new fwend!" Missie gabbled, now leaning out of the big woman's embrace to point at the young woman. Moments later, after introductions were done, Lee found herself sitting with Missie and Mrs Beecham, waiting for the ride to come pick up the housekeeper.

Except… Why was she even here? Lee wondered. Slapping her hands on her thighs, she bounded to her feet and said to the big woman, "Look, I have a wagon out front. Why don't you come on and I'll drive you and the little girl home right now?"

Mrs Beecham looked at the girl narrowly. After the events of the day, the housekeeper was not inclined to be particularly trusting of strangers, even if Missie seemed to like the girl tremendously. In addition, the girl's choice of manly attire thoroughly scandalized the older woman. "Oh no," said Mrs Beecham frostily. "I have sent for someone from the household, and Missie and I shall wait for them to take us home, thank you very much!"

"You're welcome," said Lee, a touch of amusement in her voice. She said her good-byes to the pair, then headed back outside under the waning moon. Coming up to her wagon, she petted the horse's neck and murmured, "All right, Chip. What were you thinking of? Why are we here?"

But if the horse replied, who would hear it? Who would know? Thoughtfully, Lee drove the wagon around behind the hospital, then went back inside the building to wait and see what would happen next.

West was becoming annoyed with Dr Feldstrom and his attendant. "III nnneeeeeeddd tttooo tttaaalllkkk tttooo Cccooolllooonnneeelll Rrriiiccchhhmmmooonnnddd!" he insisted.

"Yes, quite," Feldstrom responded, putting on his stethoscope. "Now kindly keep silent that I may listen to your respiration."

West put up with that, but as soon as the doctor took the stethoscope off again after calling out some numbers for the nurse to note down, Jim said again, "III nnneeeeeeddd tttooo ssspppeeeaaakkk tttooo Cccooolllooonnneeelll Rrriiiccchhhmmmooonnnddd!"

"Yes, yes," the doctor murmured, holding his patient's wrist. He reported more numbers to the nurse who wrote them on her pad.

"III nnneeeeeeddd tttooo ssspppeee…!" Jim was saying when abruptly the doctor popped a thermometer into his mouth.

That was enough for Jim. In slow motion he snatched the sealed glass tube out of his mouth, throwing it to the floor where it shattered. And as the doctor and nurse protested in their chipmunk voices, Jim took advantage of their distraction to relieve the nurse of her notepad and pencil. Turning to a fresh page, he wrote out a message for the colonel, tore it out, folded it, and wrote the colonel's name on the outside. He then shoved the piece of paper at the doctor.

"Really, Mr West!" Dr Feldstrom sputtered at him. "There's no call to…!" At this point he spotted the name written on the paper. "Oh, Colonel Richmond," he said. "Are you wanting this note to be delivered to Colonel Richmond?"

"Yyyeeesss!" said West. It was about time!

"Oh, but surely the colonel can wait, Mr West. We only have a limited time to study these symptoms, you know."

Jim shook his head firmly, and remembering a term he had picked up some time back, he deposited the note into the doctor's hand and said, "Ssstttaaattt!"