Sharon awakened with a start. She remembered it was a school day. Why hadn't Pearl called her to breakfast?

Curious, she got out of bed and padded toward the kitchen. As she passed Ike and Pearl's bedroom, she heard them talking quietly and cracked open the door to look. She saw her mother lying in bed with Ike sitting beside her.

"I told you, Dr. Banion had to go out of town for a family emergency," he told his wife. "The only doctor available to see you is Dr. Reiker - Anton."

"Oh, I'm not that sick." Pearl turned her face to the wall. "I'll be fine. I just need to rest for a day or so."

Ike's eyebrows were creased with worry as he turned to leave the room.

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to get your own breakfast this morning," he told Sharon. "Your mother isn't feeling well."

"Do you think it might be - " Sharon couldn't bring herself to say the word. Several of her classmates had been stricken with polio, and she lived in dread of the disease, as did everyone.

"I don't know," said Ike. "I sure hope not."

Sharon fixed herself some cereal with milk and orange juice, dressed, and left for school. She met up with Rhoda on the way.

"I'm so worried about my Mama!" she told her friend. "She didn't get up this morning. I'm scared she might have polio."

"You mean adults can get it too?" asked Rhoda.

"Oh, yes. Elizabeth said her mother had it once."

"Did your Daddy call the doctor?"

Sharon grimaced. "Dr. Banion's out of town, and Mama won't let my brother-in-law Anton check her because she hates him."

"But why does she hate him?"

Sharon sighed. "It's a long story, but the main reason is because he was in the German army during the war."

"But the war ended years ago!"

"I know, but Mama still lives in the past."

"So she'd rather die than be treated by a former German soldier? I can't believe it!"

That evening, Sharon got home to find her mother still lying in bed.

"Don't you want me to fetch Anton for you?" she asked.

"No." Pearl's voice was emphatic. "I'll be fine in a little while. I just need to rest a little while longer."

She was no better the next day and, worried to death, Sharon jumped on her bicycle and rode to Patty's house.

Anna, who'd just learned to sit up by herself, sat in her high chair as her mother fed her.

"This is sweet potatoes, Anna," said Patty as she spooned up a bit of bright orange mush. "You're gonna love them. I always have."

She heard someone knocking and carried Anna into the living room to answer the door. There stood Sharon, wide-eyed and out of breath.

"Mama's real sick," the teenager gasped. "Can Anton come see her?"

"He should be home in a couple of hours," said Patty. "Come on in and have a seat and tell me about it."

Sharon came inside and sat on the sofa, and Patty went back to feeding Anna.

"She woke up sick yesterday morning," Sharon began. "I heard Ike telling her Dr. Banion was out of town and the only doctor available to see her was Anton. She said she just needed to rest and she'd be fine, but - I'm scared, Patty! What if it's polio?"

Patty was silent for a moment. "I'll call him when I'm done feeding Anna," she said at last. "He's exhausted from all the extra work, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind taking a look at her."

"I know how Mama feels about Anton, and I wouldn't ask if there were any other choice," said Sharon.

Patty didn't respond. She finished feeding Anna, then called the hospital and asked for Anton.

"Sharon says Mama's sick," she told her husband. "She's scared it's polio. Would you - do you have time to see her today?"

Anton's voice sounded tired. "I have several more children to examine, but when I am finished, I will visit her home."

"Thank you so much!" said Patty.

"There is no need to thank me. It is my responsibility."

When Anton reached the Godseys, Ike opened the door and silently led him into the bedroom, where Pearl lay in bed, gasping for breath. Her face had turned a ghastly purple. She turned frightened brown eyes toward her son-in-law.

"I am admitting you to the hospital right away," he told her. "You need to be in an iron lung."

At the hospital, Pearl saw several rows of large metal canister-like instruments, each with a human head sticking out one end. Anton and an assistant moved her onto a stretcher and then slid the stretcher into the capsule so that only her head extruded from it.

Right away, her lungs filled with air, and her face resumed its normal hue. She saw the little girl in the iron lung next to hers staring at her, blinking in confusion. Then she turned her head to look at the man she'd hated for so long, knowing if it weren't for him, she would have died in her bed at home.