The receptionist called for a gurney, and Sammy was wheeled back into intensive care. Patty wasn't allowed to go with him, so she stayed in the waiting room, pacing back and forth.

After what seemed like forever, Anton came out to talk to her.

"He has encephalitis." Anton's voice was grave. "His brain is swollen. We are giving him antibiotics through an IV. There is nothing more we can do. We will just have to wait and see how he responds."

"Can I see him?" asked Patty.

"Of course." Anton led his wife to a cubicle in which there was a crib. Sammy lay asleep in the crib with a needle in his arm. The needle was attached to a tube which was connected to a bag on a pole beside the crib.

Patty sat down in a chair beside the crib, watching her little brother sleep. After awhile, Ike entered the room and sat beside her.

"Where's Mama?" asked Patty.

"She didn't want to come," Ike told her. "She said she had a headache and was gonna lie down. Sharon wanted to come, but they wouldn't let her back."

"But Sammy's really sick! I mean, he might - " Patty couldn't bring herself to say the word. "Doesn't Mama care at all? Sammy's her son!"

Ike sighed and looked weary. "To be honest, I think she'd be relieved if - if something were to happen to Sammy. I don't think he's ever been anything to her but a burden."

"That's so sad!" said Patty. Ike nodded in agreement.

Patty and Ike both stayed until visiting hours were over. The next day, they returned and stayed all day at Sammy's bedside.

Anton and Patty were asleep when the telephone rang in the middle of the night that night. Anton picked up the receiver, and Patty listened eagerly to his side of the conversation.

"Yes?...oh...did he suffer at all?...I am thankful for that...we will be there right away." Anton hung up and looked at Patty. "Sammy died about thirty minutes ago. They asked if we would like to view the body before they call the funeral home in the morning."

"Yes!" said Patty. They both dressed and rushed to the hospital as fast as they could. A nurse led them into the room where Sammy still lay in his crib, looking pale and tranquil. Patty reached in through the bars and touched his arm, which was still warm.

"I've never seen a dead body before," she said.

"I have." Anton recalled his days as a foot soldier in France.

"He looks like he's just asleep, doesn't he?"

Anton nodded.

The funeral was three days later. Roger and Aimee drove in from out of town, and all the Waltons were there. Ike and Pearl were there with Sharon. Patty could tell Ike had been crying. Pearl's face was perfectly blank.

Patty sat with Anton in the front row, staring at the small white casket, which was closed.

"Jesus said, Let the little children come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God," said the minister. "Although there is sorrow at the passing of this little one, we can rest assured that Samuel Isaac Godsey is now romping and playing in the sunshine in heaven, completely healed of the physical and mental deformities he suffered while on earth."

Patty had to swallow a lump in her throat as her eyes filled with tears. She glanced at Anton and felt his hand slip into her own and give it a gentle squeeze.

The minister spoke for a while longer, and then the pallbearers bore the casket to the cemetery behind the church. The congregation followed. After the graveside service, Elizabeth came over to Patty and gave her a hug.

"I'm so sorry about your little brother!" she said.

"It's all right," said Patty. "At least he isn't suffering anymore."

They both looked over to where Ike stood beside the grave, sobbing.

"He's been through so much," said Elizabeth. "I remember how hard he took it when Corabeth died. We all thought he'd never get over it."

Aimee and Roger joined them.

"I feel bad that I never got to know him better," said Aimee. "I was already married when he was born, and it seemed he was hardly ever around when we came back to visit. You've been mostly taking care of him for the past year or so, haven't you?" she asked Patty.

Patty nodded. "Ike brought him over one morning when Mama was sick, and she never asked for him back. Every time the subject came up, she just kept making excuses, until finally Ike signed legal guardianship of him over to us. He said he hated to do it, but Mama didn't want the responsibility anymore, and he couldn't run a store and take care of a baby full time."

Aimee's eyes met Anton's. They were both thinking the same thing, but neither of them wanted to say anything negative about Patty's mother in front of her, especially at a funeral.

Anton and Patty stayed until after everyone else had left, and a stony-faced Pearl, along with Sharon, had helped her grief-stricken husband to their car. Then Anton touched Patty's hand.

"We may as well go home," he said. She nodded and took his hand, and they walked to his car together.

That night, Anton entered the bedroom to find his wife sitting on the side of the bed, sobbing. Without a word, he sat beside her and pulled her close.

"It just hit me that I'll never see Sammy's little face again!" she sobbed. "That gorgeous smile of his, that lit up the whole room - "

"Sh, sh," Anton soothed as he patted her back. "He is in heaven with God now, and we will have children of our own to love someday."