Charity kept her word. She told her mother the next afternoon that she was going to hang out with Katie, and went to the doctor instead.

Jonas was reading in the living room when she walked in the door.

"Did you have fun?" Barbara asked.

"Oh, yeah," Charity said blithely, and went up to her room. A minute later, Jonas followed her and leaned on her door. She was cheerfully tidying up her room.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What did the doctor say?" Jonas asked quietly.

"He took some blood and said he needed to run some tests. He didn't seem very concerned." She shrugged.

"Neither do you."

"Jonas, I told you before, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about."

But Jonas thought Charity sounded a little too careless. He felt sure she wasn't being honest.

"How are you gonna keep this from everybody when the doctor calls?"

"I told them to call my cell phone. They said they'd get back to me in a week."


Charity and Jonas decided to take Gabriel on a picnic the next day. Basket in hand, Jonas climbed the hill, following his little brother.

"No, this way, Gabe," Charity called, gesturing in a direction he hadn't been in before. "I found a great place for a picnic!"

She had indeed. There was a little hollow with steep hills on three sides and the woods on the fourth, with a little stream running through the bottom. The sky was impossibly blue that day, and turning in a 360-degree circle, one saw no signs of houses or neighbors, just endless sky and green fields that reached into the heavens. The birds sang from the woods.

"Whew," Jonas said when he reached bottom of the hill, lugging the basket. "There at last!"

"Thank you for carrying the basket. I know it's a little hot out," Charity said, unfolding the picnic blanket.

"You can say that again," Jonas said feelingly. "But the walk was worth it." He looked around. "Too bad there isn't any shade to sit under."

"Oh, the sun isn't that warm," Charity said absently, handing Gabriel the plates. "What did Mom pack for us?"

The three of them did full justice to Barbara's excellent cooking. After they were done eating, Gabe asked if he could go explore.

"Alright, but don't go too far," Jonas warned. "I want to be able to find you when it's time to go back."

Gabriel agreed and ran excitedly off into the woods, his curling golden hair glinting in the sun. Jonas helped Charity pack the empty plates back into the basket, then lay down on the grass with a happy sigh and folded his hands behind his head. Charity sprawled out on her stomach next to him. She sighed contentedly.

"What are you thinking about, Zach?" she asked, using her pet name for him. "Looks like something profound."

"Actually I was thinking that cloud up there looks like a bunny," Jonas said lazily.

Charity chuckled. "So much for profound." She put her head down on her arms and closed her eyes. They lay in lazy silence for a few minutes.

"It is a little hot out here in the sun, isn't it?" Charity said, putt her hand over her eyes.

"Do you want to go over into the woods where there's shade?" Jonas asked.

"And get attacked by hordes of ferocious ticks? No thanks."

"As you wish, Milady," Jonas grinned.

"Alright, Minion," Charity said in her most imperious voice. "Read us some poetry."

"Yes, Master." Jonas sat up and did his best impression of a hunchback as he limped over to the picnic basket. "Igor will go fetch brain..."

He brought back the slim volume of Frost's poetry they had found on a shelf in the basement a few days before. "Which one do you want to hear?"

"Oh, I don't know, pick one," Charity said, sitting up.

Jonas randomly flipped the book open and saw, "Never Again Would Birds' Songs Be the Same". He began to read:

"He would declare and could himself believe

That the birds there in the garden round

From having heard the daylong voice of Eve

Had added to their own an oversound,

The tone of meaning but without the words.

Admittedly an eloquence so soft

Could only have an influence on birds

When call or laughter carried it aloft.

Be that as it may be, she was in their song.

Moreover her voice upon their voices crossed

Had now persisted in the woods so long

That probably it never would be lost.

Never again would birds' song be the same.

And to do that to birds was why she came."

He paused at the end of it, and could hear the birds singing around them. "Do you like that one?" He glanced up at her. "Charity?"

She was leaning over, in obvious discomfort, with both her hands over her face. "I don't feel so good," she said weakly.

Jonas jumped to his feet and grabbed an extra napkin from the basket. "Go get under the shade," he said, and Charity didn't argue. He knelt to wet the napkin in the stream as Charity stood shakily and started making her way toward the trees. Jonas stood and started after her, just in time to watch her crumple silently to the ground.

Jonas wasn't one for shouting. "Oh my God," he muttered, and ran over to her, his heart pounding. He scooped her up and carried her inexpertly into the cool shade. Laying her down on one of the few patches of grass not covered in poison ivy, he put the cool, wet napkin on her forehead and tried to remember what they'd learned in first aid at school. Unconsciousness was a life-threatening condition; one was to check, call care. Charity was obviously still breathing, albeit a little shallowly, and her skin had taken on an alarming pallor. Call—they didn't have Charity's cell phone with them to call 911. He could call for Gabe and send him to get help—but he didn't want to alarm the five-year-old. There was nothing for it; he would have to leave her and run for help himself.

Luckly, as he was trying to remember how to place a victim in the recovery position, Charity came to. Her eyes flew open very wide, which added to the fearful look already established by her greenish complexion. "Oh. Where am I?"

"You passed out and I carried you into the shade," Jonas said. "Rest a minute. I'll call Gabe; we're getting you back into the AC."

As it turned out, there was no need to call for Gabriel. At that moment, he poked his angelic face in between some branches and peered down at them. "I thought you guys weren't comin' in the woods," he said. "What's wrong with Charity?"

"She just got a bit overheated," Jonas said, loath to lie to his little brother. "We're going to go home. Could you pack up the basket?"

"'Kay!" Always helpful, Gabriel cheerfully faced out into the meadow.

"Glad to see he's in high spirits," Charity said wryly with her eyes shut.

Jonas gave a half-smile, glad she was feel well enough to joke around. "Do you think you can walk?"

"If you'll help me," Charity said, taking his hand as he helped her to her feet.

He put his arm around her waist to support her. "Tell me if you feel faint again."

Charity's parents weren't home when they got back to the house, so Jonas helped Charity over to lay down on the couch. "Why don't you go play in the yard, Gabe?" he suggested.

"Okay," Gabe agreed, then threw his arms around Charity's neck and gave her a sticky kiss on the cheek. "Hope you feel better, Chare-Chare."

Charity gave him a quick, tight hug and kissed him back. "Thanks, Buddy." She listened for the sound of the door closing behind him. "Jonas, you're not going to tell Mom and Dad about this, are you?"

Jonas sat down in an armchair and stared glumly at the floor. "I don't know, Chare. Don't you think we should?"

"No!" she said, a little too forcefully. He glanced up at her, and she softened her tone. "Nah, I'm sure it's nothing. Besides, I already went to the doctor. If his tests turn up something really innocuous, I don't want to have scared them for no reason." Jonas was still looking at her, not convinced. "Please, Jonas," she said quietly. "Not yet."

Jonas couldn't deny her what she asked when she looked at him like that. Besides, maybe she was right, maybe it was nothing. Jonas pushed the nagging little voice of caution out of his mind. "Alright," he said finally. "But no more picnics in the sun till we hear from the doctor. No driving, no locking yourself in any rooms, and keep your cell phone, or preferably, you cell phone and another adult, with you at all times. I don't want anything to happen to you if this occurs again. Agreed?"

"Yessir!" Charity said saluting, then caught the serious look in his eye. "I promise," she said solemnly.


Thursday afternoon was blisteringly hot, and Charity and Jonas went out for Italian ice. While they were in the shade eating their gelatis, Charity's cell phone rang. She handed Jonas her cup and dug it out of her purse.

"Hello? Yes. Fine. Um, noo..." She looked at Jonas with a what-is-this-person-talking-about? look on her face as she took back her gelati. Another pause. "Okay..." She walked over to the picnic table and sat down. "Yes." She listened intently for a moment, and then went very still. She seemed unable to speak. "Yes, I'm still here," she finally said. She seemed to only have half her mind on the rest of the conversation. "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Okay. Yes. Alright. Bye." She hit the end button.

Jonas sat beside her, a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Was that the doctor's office?"

"Yes." Charity stared unseeing at her gelati. "They got the results back."

"And?"

"I have something called Vanhelden's Disease," Charity said in a rush. "It's terminal, and there's no cure."

The sun beat down warmer than ever, but Jonas suddenly felt ice-cold. "Oh my God," he whispered. This death that was coming—he couldn't understand it. The grief hadn't touched him yet, but he knew it would.

"I'm sorry, Jonas," Charity said, breaking into his thoughts. "I've known something was wrong for a long time, but I didn't want to believe it."

"No apologies," Jonas said, taking her hand. There isn't time. That did it. Charity sobbed, and Jonas tossed their cups onto the table and put his arms around her.