Baloo hoped that the fact that they hadn't received any calls during the night was a good thing... not that anybody had gotten any sleep. Wildcat had spent the entire night fixing the Sea Duck.... and Baloo could see that he was just doing it to try to relax. Kit went to bed, like Baloo, but he figured Kit had slept about as much as he had... which was to say not much at all. Later, as he was getting ready to take out the Sea Duck for the one delivery of the day that they couldn't cancel, the phone rang. Louie grabbed, it and then listened for a few moments. Baloo watched his friend turn pale, and then turn to Baloo, looking older then he had in a long time.
"Baloo?"
"Yeah, Louie."
"That was the hospital... Cuz, they say that we should get out there now... Molly can't move her legs, and they say that it's moving up...." Baloo closed his eyes, then opened them. Nothing changed.
"Yeah Louie... you go outside and Tell Kit and Wildcat, and I'll get the car... this time you'an me will go. Did it say anything about Beckers?"
"Nope, Cuz... but.... I hope they don't let us see Molly."
"Louie!" Baloo exclaimed, shocked.
"Baloo.... if they let us see her, it might be because they think that things can't get any worse.... 'and you know what that means."
"I see your point, Louie."
C'mon God... she's just a kid... cut her a break. Baloo thought, as he followed his friend out the door.
"Papa Bear, why can't I go?" Kit asked, desperation in his voice. Baloo opened his mouth to shout, then closed it. Little Britches was like a big brother to Molly, and she was like a little sister to him... no cause to go biting his head off because he was worried. The cub had his navigator's cap in his hands, twisting it unconsciously. Time for the truth.
"Kit...." Baloo paused. "Molly's real sick, 'an if any of us get near her, and give her any kind'a cold or sniffle, she could die." Kit paled, Baloo continued. "This stuff goes after kids your age, Britches.... if you go, you could get it, and that wouldn't help anyone." Kit still looked just a little rebellious. Baloo finally used his trump card. "Besides, Rebecca told me to keep you away until it's safe.... and the minute it is I'll be here and you'll be there faster then I can eat a hamburger." The joke didn't even get a smile. Kit closed his eyes.
"O-okay, Papa Bear." The cub said, with a catch in his voice.
"Good... don't worry none, Little Britches, those doctors are the best." Baloo said, as he got into the car, with Louie driving.
By the time they got to the hospital, Baloo was chewing the walls. The nurse met them at the door,and took them to Dr. Salk's office, where Rebecca and Gozzlin already were. Baloo looked around, as he and Louie entered the office. Books and folders covered the wall, cabinets full of case histories and studies occupied the floor, and the lone spot of neatness in the room, Dr. Salks desk, had a single folder on it, labled, CUNNINGHAM, MOLLY ELIZABETH.
Rebecca was sitting very still, very calm, her hands in her lap... turned white from where they gripped each other.
"Ah, gentlemen.... Thank you for coming." Dr. Salk said, then motioned to the chairs. After everyone had sat down, he started to speak.
"I'm afraid that our first hope has been proven false. Molly has not shaken off the illness as fast as we had hoped.... and is now suffering a momentary... and Ms. Cunningham, I emphasize the word *momentary* paralysis of her lower limbs." Rebecca said nothing, as Baloo put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Salk paused and then looked at Gozzlin. Here was the difficult part... to avoid causing despair while also avoiding giving untrue or unrealistic prognosis's.
"This happens in many cases, Rebecca." Gozzlin added. "Sometimes it's a hysterical reaction to the tension, other times its a symptom of the bodies fight... fever and chemicals released into the bloodstream... and it will cease when the condition ceases."
"What if it isn't?" Rebecca asked.
"Then, we continue to treat the symptoms." Salk paused, and looked at a book. "Even among those who do not shake off the disease, the great majority only suffer a minor loss of limb control... they have to take a little more care going up stairs, or use a cane to get around.... but there is no impact on their ability to lead a perfectly normal day to day life."
"Can I see my little girl." Rebecca asked a trembling voice.
"See yes.... but you can't touch her." Gozzlin said. "Rebecca, at this point, we're keeping any contact to a minimum... I know it's hard on Molly, but I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to avoid any kind of exposure to other diseases." He looked serious, "It could quite literally be the difference between life and death." Rebecca nodded, numbly.
"I'd like to give Molly something to have." Salk nodded,
"Remember, Rebecca, that anything you give her will be burned..." Rebecca nodded back, before getting up and leaving. Louie went with her, as Baloo motioned the doctors to stay behind.
"That was a real nice speech, doc... now how about you tell me the truth."
"I did tell the truth, Baloo." Dr. Salk said.
"Doc...." Salk sighed.
"Yes... I gave Ms. Cunningham the most optimistic take on things." He paused. "Baloo... she's going to need all of her strength, not just for Molly, but for herself. Dr. Gozzlin told me about her husband, and that is going to make things harder on her, because however many friends or family she has, there isn't the same connection there... and given that her husband also was taken from her...." He sighed. "Someday somebody is going to have to figure out a better way to help the families of victims, but for now I'm all there is."
"Right now, Baloo, we don't know." Gozzlin added, "I've seen people stricken down and die of this... and I've seen other people walk out of this place when I, and every other doctor in the city, thought they were going to die.... the word miracle wouldn't be out of place."
"But we can't tell Ms. Cunningham to expect one." Salk said, "That would be untrue and unkind... we, and by that I also mean you, have to keep praying for the best, but understanding that the worst might occur." Baloo said nothing for a moment, then took out a handkerchief from his shirt pocket and blew on it.
"Doc, you gotta do something about the dust floating around here... can't be good for all the patients." Salk accepted the lie. "Now, I've got something for you I didn't want Beckers to know about." Baloo pulled out an envelope. "I've been saving for a while... ta buy back my plane, ya'know.... anyway, I was wondering if you could use this to buy any special medicine that Short Stuff might need..." Baloo carefully counted out the envelope, leaving just under 50,000 dollars on Salk's desk. Salk looked at it for a moment, then over at Gozzlin, who had a sad expression on his face.
"I'm sorry," Salk said, as he put the money back into the envelope and handed it to Baloo. "We're giving her everything we can... everything we know how to do. You can't just throw money at a disease and command it Be Cured!." He paused, "For now, all we need are your prayers."
"Oh, you got those, doc, you got those in spades."
Back at H4H, Kit sat in the room, unable to do anything. He finally decided to try to clean up the office. Yeah, that would be a nice surprise for Rebecca when she and Molly got back. Kit set out to work, but after a few moments something happened that brought the work to a screeching halt. Kit was bent under a chair looking at something when he bumped a cabinet, and something, with a crash, hit the ground.
It was Molly's ridiculous Colander... Rebecca must have put it on top of the cabinent after she had finished playing Dangerwoman. Kit looked at it for a few minutes, holding it in his hands and remembering all the times that Molly had driven everyone crazy by fighting evil.... through every room of the building.
Kit sat looking at it for a moment, then without realizing how he got there, he was outside the building, just running, running as fast as he could.
At the hospital, Baloo, Rebecca and Louie were following Dr. Salk and Gozzlin.
"We've moved her up to this ward, because there is continuous supervision and checkups... that's why there are no doors on any of the rooms, so the nurse can continually check for changes in their condition." He paused. "Here we are." Rebecca was holding on to Molly's doll, Lucy.
"Molly sweetie?" Rebecca called from the door, Salk's hand on her arm. The doctor knew that sometimes a parent simply could not restrain themselves from going to their child, no matter the warning. Rebecca didn't, however, she stood at the door with an exp—Salk turned and looked into the room. There were something's that just had to remain between a person and God, and that expression was one of them.
Inside, almost lost in the bed, with a nurse tucking her in, Molly turned her head weakly and looked over to her mother.
"Mommy?" She asked, "Mommy, can I go home now?"
"Soon Sweetie... You'll be better soon, and then you can go home." Rebecca paused and showed her Lucy. "I brought Lucy to stay with you." Molly looked for a long moment, and Baloo wondered if the sick child had even understood Rebecca's words.
"NO Mommy!" Molly said, beginning to get agitated. "The man said that they burn everything up when they take it here... don't let them burn up Lucy, Mommy! I want to go home!" She was crying now. Baloo was furiously rubbing the bridge of his nose, while the Nurse was trying to sooth the child. Louie spoke up unexpectedly.
"Don't worry, Molly... ain't nobody gonna burn up Lucy. Fact, I was just here to ask you if I could take her to my place... all the frosty pep that you ain't eating is stacking up, and I need somebody to eat it." Molly started to subside, then looked at Louie.
"But dolls don't eat that much Frosty Pep."
"Good news for you... that means there's more for your coming home party!" Molly looked like she was going to say something to Louie. Then-
"Mommy...."
"Yes, baby?"
"I'm tired, can' I go to sleep?"
"Yes, Molly, you go to sleep right now... Mommy will be here when you wake up." They waited until the bear cub had subsided into sleep. Gozzlin softly said,
"That kind of semi-coherence is pretty common when a child has a fever..." Rebecca didn't respond, just walked back out into the corridor, running a hand along one wall, like a blind woman. Baloo looked over at Louie.
"You go with her Cuz... the rest of us will wait here." Louie said. Baloo nodded and hurried after her. Rebecca managed to make it to the stairs (the elevators were reserved for doctors and patients), then down several flights. Baloo hurrying after her saw her crumple in the corner of one landing and start sobbing like she would break right open.
"C'mon, Beckers," Baloo bent down to the sobbing woman.
"I can't, I can't..... I've prayed, she- she's going to die, Baloo." Rebacca said, unable to rise from the side of the wall where she had crumpled. "What if she's paralyzed.... She's my baby.... she could end up in one of those machines... for years....."
Baloo reached down and picked her up off the concrete. He gently took her into his arms.
"Shhh... " he could feel her shuddering. Baloo looked down and started as he saw how small she was. Normally, Rebecca like her daughter was a dynamo of energy, disguising her petite frame. Not today.
""I can't even give her- her doll... I can't even hold my baby..." She said brokenly. "Why won't He answer? He didn't answer when David died and He isn't answering now. Why?" In other times the why might have been a complaint, now it was a wail.
Baloo paused. He wasn't really suited for this... But he was the one here.
"Beckers.... maybe you've been praying too much?" He said.
"What? I've been praying nonstop... what if she's crippled, what if she dies, or can't walk-" Baloo put his hand over her mouth, stilling the incipient hysteria.
"See... Beckers' all those things Caint' happen at the same time." Baloo looked at her. "And the big guy can't do anything about something that's not gonna happen." Baloo pulled her closer, feeling the trembling in her frame. "Pigtails may stay sick, or she might get all the way better, or she might need help when she gets better… but she can't do all of those things. " The gray bear paused, "I know you think I never look ahead... and you're right, most of the time." He looked at Rebecca, "But right now.... ya can't plan ahead, 'cause none of us know what is going to happen." He paused. "The big guy can't help you about what might happen, but I guess he won't be too upset if you ask him for help on what you know is gonna happen."
"Like what?"
"Well, Pigtails is gonna need help tonight... and we're gonna need help to get though tonight... and when that happens, we'll need help to get through tomorrow... and just keep going like that." Rebecca closed her eyes.
"What if I can't make it thought one night?"
"Well, then maybe just cut it down to one hour... an then ask for the next hour... take it one step at a time, cause if you take enough steps, you'll get there, no matter how far it is to go." Baloo let his arm loose just a little bit, but Rebecca didn't fall again. She was leaning on Baloo, but she wasn't falling.
"Let's...let's go... Baloo... I can't walk-i can't do it alone... could you and Louie help me, and Kit and Wildcat..."
"Sure Rebecca.... that's what we're here for." Baloo said.
It was difficult, every step seemed like a hundred miles... but between them, the two made it to the waiting room, to wait for what came next.
The church had seen better days, Father McAuliffe knew. It had been in a residential section, but the change in the waterfront had lead to many houses being relocated, and so it's congregation was far smaller then the imposing building was sized for. Still, for all the cracks, and peeling paint, the Father wouldn't have any other place. He'd been baptized her, 90 years ago, and he would be buried here, one day.. probably not to far away, he thought, with a humorous smile. The Lion, nearly completely gray, with one hand holding a gnarled cane, finished filling the baptismal font, and checked the alter, where Christ, eternally crucified and risen, looked down on the seats from his place on the cross. As he finished, one of his ears twitched. The sound of.. crying? Yes, from the back row. He turned, and carefully began to walk back...it seemed that God had a few other jobs for him to do before retirement, and as always, his thanks came with a prayer to help him do it right.
Back in the last row, there was a bear cub, about twelve or thirteen by his look, wearing a ratty sweater with a cap sitting in the pew where the cub had taken it off. He could read the sound, easily. Someone embarrassed by the fact that he couldn't stop crying, but who could no more control it then he could breathing... the sound of mourning.
McAuliffe sat down next to the child, and waited. Abruptly, the child looked up and saw him, and started slightly.
"I'm sorry... this was just the first place that was open... I'll go."
"Why? If you came here, you were meant to be here."
"Hunnh?" McAuliffe looked at the child.
"Do you know where we are?"
"A church...but I don't know which one."
"And do you know how to get here?"
"No..."
"So you were led here, and are meant to be here... simple deduction." He paused. "What is hurting you?"
"Nothing... I mean," Kit rubbed his sleeve across his face, trying to clear his eyes and sniffled. "It's not me.. so I really shouldn't be crying like a baby..."
"If you're crying for someone else, then you are far from being 'like a baby'... Christ wept for others. Who is it?"
"Molly Cunningham... she's my little sister, kinda... and she has Polio...." Kit talked for minutes, the story slipping out, as well as he had come to live with them. When he was finished, McAuliffe waited for several moments. Kit spoke up again. "Could you like, say a prayer.. I know I don't come to church.... I haven't really thought about it."
"I can..." He said, "But you can't be certain how they'll be answered, only that they will be answered, even if we don't see the answer." Kit looked uncertain.
"I hope she gets better." He paused, "I can't even see her... they say I might get it." He paused, then rebelliously, "I don't care! I should be able to see her... she's probably afraid, being alone and all that." McAuliffe looked at Kit.
"They fear for you... understand that, Kit."
"I do... but it still doesn't make it any easier for Molly." McAuliffe nodded.
"I know... and believe me, hurting because you can't help someone else is a more powerful prayer then many... more powerful then any I can say." He paused. "But if you still want it, I will pray." Kit nodded.
"Oh Lord and Most High... we beseech Thee to extend your arm, and shield Your daughter, Molly Cunningham, from this dread disease, to bring her out of sickness into health as You brought the people of Israel into freedom from slavery.... and I beseech You—help her family, and her friends, to endure this trial, help them to give strength to each other when they have none left for themselves, to find hope when all seems dark, and to rise up from despair. Amen."
"I wish I could say I feel better..." Kit said, when a new voice came into the church.
"Kit... oh here you are. I've been looking all over, under cars, trees, do you know that those little plastic plants don't have roots?" Wildcat said as he walked in. "Rebecca's pretty upset... ya'know they burn everything so Molly can't have her doll."
"Oh no...."
"Oh, I have an idea.... the doll burns because it's cloth, right?" Kit nodded uncertainly, "So Let's go make a metal doll... then they can heat it up, and it won't burn! Right?" Kit blinked.
"Wildcat that's great!" He lept up, "... oh, father."
"Go...that's a very good idea.... very good indeed." Kit and Wildcat took off for Higher For Hire, while McAuliffe watched them go out the door. Then he turned to the vast room, and looked up at the thorn crowned head. He gave a soft laugh... "That other fellow had to have found the church before I even started praying... Well, I won't complain about you answering my prayers before they're even full spoken.... now, don't think I'm being greedy, but please answer the rest of it...."
Much later that night, Molly awoke again.. She felt real bad, her head hurt and her legs felt like they did when they went to sleep, only this time she couldn't wake them up no matter how much she tried. Her throat hurt and she had a real bad headache. She tried to look around, but it was hard to move her head. As the night continued, she started hearing other sounds....
Deep in the hospital, the iron lungs kept up their rythymn, compressing and releasing paralyzed rib cages. Ahhhhh.... then as it came back down, Looooohhhhhhnnnnn, AhhLoohhnnn, Aaaloone, Alone. Alone, Alone, Alone. Then, the wind came up, causing the high tree's to cast a writhing shadow again the wall where the moonlight fell, looking like clenching claws, grasping and scrabbling against the hospital, trying to be let in.
Molly felt worse and worse, as the words kept up from the vents... the hands kept grabbing to get in and to put her in that big box, where she would stay forever and never see mommy or Kit or Baloo again... the room seemed to get more and more strange, as little shadows resolved themselves into scrabbling moving shapes, coming closer to the bed, where she couldn't move. Then a bigger shadow came into the room, looking like a giant red eyes monster. It bent down over her and she tried to scream only she couldn't. Then the monster touched her, and looked out.
"Oh my Go- go buzz Dr. Salk, hurry- She's burning up!"
In her body, the defenses that had stood against the disease, turned traitor. Now, the fever that had tried to burn out the virus was hotter then ever. But the virus had been clever, hiding among the folds of graymatter that made up the child's brain... and now the temperature was up so high that the most vulnerable cells, neurons and support tissues, were beginning to die... But as long as the infection was in place, the internal furnaces would be kept up.
Now, however, the first flood of antibodies were joining the fray, seeking out the unique chemical lock of the polio virus, and locking it up... causing it to die and become easy prey for the white bloodcells thronging the bloodstream... still, it was a race. And now, with the addition of the fever, one the body was losing.
"What's her temperature?" Dr. Salk said, still wearing his bedclothes under his robe.
"104, Doctor."
"Too high... too high by far." Salk paused. The fever would kill her even if the polio didn't... but bring it down and if it is the only thing holding the disease at bay... He closed his eyes for a moment.
"Time to earn your fancy diploma..." He murmured.
"Doctor?"
"Nothing. OK... we've got to bring it down. Get cold packs and pack her.... also get a icewater bath ready if that doesn't do it. Lets go people!" The orderlies and nurses took off, already opening cabinets and grapping material, before heading back to the room where Dr. Gozzlin stood gently stroking Molly's forehead.
"I just took her temp again... 104.5.."
"Damn."
Even so, they couldn't just throw her into an ice water bath... at her temperature, that difference could kill her in minutes through hypothermia. The doctors and nurses took the soaked, cool pads from the table and gently wrapped the delirious, crying child's limbs in them... that way, the part of the body that had the most surface area could cool off, hopefully cooling the blood down that was flowing into the brain. Meanwhile, her head was packed in the same cool clothes.
The big monsters were glaring down at Molly, talking about what they were going to do to her, while they put icy cold things on her. Molly tried to scream for mommy but nothing came out except for coughing. She was shivering and whimpering when another person came walking up, but none of the monsters seemed to see him, which was weird because he seemed more solid then anything else.
"Fear not." He softly said, "I'm here Golden bear..." Molly looked up and saw... Daddy!? She wanted to say hi... but.
"Don't worry... I know. Don't be afraid....You're going to go back to Rebecca, and be with her for a long, long, time before you come to the Country I live in." He said, face blazing with a light that turned all other things to shadow... except for the doctors and nurses, laboring over her, who no longer looked like monsters, but nice people. He bent down, and kissed her. "Have strength...." He pressed his hand to her forehead, and then she didn't hurt as bad.
"OK... give me her temperature!" Salk said,
"102..." Gozzlin said back.
"Still going down... ok, it looks like it's broken."
"And the Polio, Doctor?"
"We have to wait for that news."
Deep in her body, the polio resurged briefly, freed from the heat of the fever, but now the immune cells, T cells, B cells and the T "helper" cells were pouring anti-bodies into the bloodstream by the millions.. and billions. Every were the virus turned it was confronted by legions of the chemical guided missiles. The virus sought to hide in the folds of the brain, but the anti-bodies were there to, homing in and destroying the intruders with idiot determination. The war was being won... but how much damage it had done to the body still remained to be seen.