"There's this guy who was in the same room as me and he had Hepatitis B!"
Twitch cried as he yanked on a loose thread on his hospital robe. It was
obvious that with the loss of Fidget he was now picking up her habits.
"What's that?" Zippy asked, furrowing her brow.
"You never got your Hepatitis shots before?" Static asked, her eyes wide in disbelief.
"No," Zippy snapped. "I got them! I just don't know what the heck it is!"
"It's a really bad disease that makes you puke a lot!" Twitch replied. "Believe me: I know! Stacey was puking all the time!"
"Who's Stacey?" Armpit asked.
"The guy who had the disease!" Twitch said, getting frustrated. "Anyway, he said he got it from having sex with too many people."
"Hmm... I wonder if Magnetic will ever get this Hepatitis B," Lei said.
"And then pass it on to Magnet," Armpit added. "Tragic."
"Yeah, a real Romeo and Juliet story," Squid said, shaking his head. "They finally fall in love, have sex, and then die because of it. Sounds like fun."
"You guys shut up!" Chase cried under her breath. "Tober's only five!"
"Who?" Zero asked.
Chase pointed at the curtains and they all got the message.
Zippy began to giggle. "Oopsie!" she laughed. "So-um-Twitch, tell us more about this Stacey guy in a G manor please."
Twitch smiled then continued with his jumping recollection. "Well he told me about how I should never 'do it' with more than one person in six months, otherwise I would be at a greater risk of getting the disease and it did not sound pretty. He was never hungry, he was always puking, and today when I left the room I got to catch a glimpse of him and guess what!?"
"What?" Zippy asked.
"His skin was yellow!" Twitch concluded.
"Jeez, looks like I'll have to stop doin' it with so many people now, eh?" Squid said smiling, only to be punched in the arm by Chase.
"That's gross though," Lei said. "Yellow skin?"
"Yep!" Twitch said grinning. "And yellow eyes as well!"
Lei wrinkled her nose in contort.
"There was this woman in my ward who had something wrong with her face," Zippy said. "She never EVER talked to me, but there was this one time when the doctors had to wheel her into a different room and I got to see her then. Her face looked like boiling water or something cause there were all these bubbles under her skin and her neck was all burned." Zippy paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "Then there was also this sixteen year-old boy in my room who kept asking me if I was hot." Zero sat up straighter when Zippy mentioned this. "He said his name was Joe but he would never tell me what had happened to him so I lied and said that I was in the hospital because some fat guy had tripped on his blubber and sat on my foot. I told Joe that the guy's butt had squashed my foot and so I needed surgery. He said I was sick and twisted and then he asked me if I was hot for the twelfth time." Zippy smiled mischievously. "I counted," she said proudly.
"Good for you Zip," Chase said, patting Zippy on her head. "Now your life has finally amounted to something and you can sit back and watch Zero bring home the bacon."
Zippy smiled like a pleased dog. "And the sausage and cheese balls!"
Chase pulled her hand away from Zippy as quickly as she could.
"Yum... That sounds good," Armpit said.
Squid burst out laughing, unable to refrain himself any longer.
"What?" Armpit asked, completely bewildered.
"Well anyway!" Static said, shaking her head. "My roommate was Twitch and I could hardly get ANY sleep or peace with him being right next-door! At least until they gave him the Meth, that is."
"Oh," Chase said. "They put you on the Methylifenidote stuff too?"
"Yeah," Twitch said, his voice getting softer. "They've got Fidget on it too."
Everyone was silent for a moment as they all secretly lamented Fidget and her state of being.
"We really ought to go visit her," Lei said. "See how she's improving."
The others all agreed, everyone except Twitch, who was still silent as her stared down at the glossy tiles beneath his feet.
* * *
The stony walk was cold beneath her bare feet as she tiptoed through the rushes and ferns, completely silent in this peaceful serenity. On either side of her carved path there rose up beautiful white trilliums, all so poised in their solitude, and nettles, their leaves lush and attempting. Above her head rose a twisted canopy of battered trees: a medley of cedars, firs, and maples, all warped and interlaced with Russian Willows and Cyprus trees. She loved running her fingers over the scared bark of each tree she passed, twining her fingers into the lichen and Methuselah's beard, feeling every miniscule rope, every natural strand beneath her fingertips.
"Come on Allie! Let's get this over with!"
Allie looked up from her toes sinking into the soft earth at her older sister's abrupt voice. It had been so peaceful, so unreal and perfect, and yet Catrina always had to ruin everything. So Allie left her spot within the grove of ferns and tiptoed silently down to the lily pond.
The sight was glorious: a huge pond fenced in by thousands of trees and drowned in lily pad upon lily pad, sprouting pearly white petals that glimmered across the water's surface. The pond was merely a trench where flood waters gathered when the river over flowed to the naked eye, but if you stood on it's bank in the midst of it's clearing and look-out point, and watched very carefully you could see that the pond was erupt with life. Frogs and salamanders were always diving down beneath the murk in their little taunts of hide-and-seek and fish and tadpoles were always almost completely hidden within the shadows of the forest's debris, deposited into the pond by the ever abundant woods. If you were lucky you'd be able to spot a turtle or great blue heron nesting off to the length of the pond and sometimes a muskrat or two could be caught, skirting the dark pool in search of their daily rations. Swallows and other songbirds were ever present, either zooming above the pleasant scene during their hunt for mosquitoes and dragonflies or perched high in a tree branch, calling out and making the scene all the more relaxing.
Allie loved it here. She loved the way the breeze pirouetted through her thick hair and she loved the way the canopy above dappled her skin in shadows, delivering her from the sweet smelling sunlight and sending shivers up her spine. It was the first time she'd ever been to the sight but already she knew where she wanted to go for her next family vacation.
"Allie! Will you get your butt over here so day can take the picture and I can go back to the car?" It was Catrina again, standing beside the water's edge with her arms folded and her teeth clenched. She too had thick, sandy blonde hair that cascaded down to her waste, but she always preferred to keep it down rather then fold it into plaits like Allie.
"Alright! Alright!" Allie grumbled, leaving the delicate pose on the balls of her feet and crashing down to the bank where her sister and mother stood waiting.
"Finally!" Catrina heaved, rolling her eyes and turning to face her father and his camera.
Allie stepped onto the thickened slush beside her sister and stared up at the girls freckled face, her green eyes squinting in the sunlight and her brow furrowed due to the effects of being an ornery teenager. Boy what Allie wished she could do to get rid of the girl and her sarcasm? But at a moment like this, in the middle of so much amazing beauty and prosperous growth, Allie couldn't help but think about how much she loved the sixteen- year-old, even if she was an annoying bum.
"Ready?" Allie's father asked as he adjusted the camera.
Allie's hands flew up to her braids and she began fidgeting with them like mad as she smiled for the photograph.
"Would you stop doing that you freak?" Catrina said behind her phony grin.
Allie tried to put her hands at her sides and keep them still, but soon she was playing uncontrollably with her belt loops. Not even a place as quiet and simple could still her obsessive need to move, no matter how determined Allie was to keep her sister on good terms with her.
"Smile," her father said before the camera flashed, disrupting all the simplicity and making Allie go temporarily blind.
The heart monitor's signal began to erupt in alarm, sounding that Fidget was going into shock and her heart was stopping. As soon as this happened, the Intensive Care doctors raced into the room and the nurses ushered D- tent out before closing the thick, curtained door behind them.
As the members of D-tent stood there in the middle of the white hall, bewildered and shocked, a single tear ran down Twitch's face.
Soon it would be over.
"What's that?" Zippy asked, furrowing her brow.
"You never got your Hepatitis shots before?" Static asked, her eyes wide in disbelief.
"No," Zippy snapped. "I got them! I just don't know what the heck it is!"
"It's a really bad disease that makes you puke a lot!" Twitch replied. "Believe me: I know! Stacey was puking all the time!"
"Who's Stacey?" Armpit asked.
"The guy who had the disease!" Twitch said, getting frustrated. "Anyway, he said he got it from having sex with too many people."
"Hmm... I wonder if Magnetic will ever get this Hepatitis B," Lei said.
"And then pass it on to Magnet," Armpit added. "Tragic."
"Yeah, a real Romeo and Juliet story," Squid said, shaking his head. "They finally fall in love, have sex, and then die because of it. Sounds like fun."
"You guys shut up!" Chase cried under her breath. "Tober's only five!"
"Who?" Zero asked.
Chase pointed at the curtains and they all got the message.
Zippy began to giggle. "Oopsie!" she laughed. "So-um-Twitch, tell us more about this Stacey guy in a G manor please."
Twitch smiled then continued with his jumping recollection. "Well he told me about how I should never 'do it' with more than one person in six months, otherwise I would be at a greater risk of getting the disease and it did not sound pretty. He was never hungry, he was always puking, and today when I left the room I got to catch a glimpse of him and guess what!?"
"What?" Zippy asked.
"His skin was yellow!" Twitch concluded.
"Jeez, looks like I'll have to stop doin' it with so many people now, eh?" Squid said smiling, only to be punched in the arm by Chase.
"That's gross though," Lei said. "Yellow skin?"
"Yep!" Twitch said grinning. "And yellow eyes as well!"
Lei wrinkled her nose in contort.
"There was this woman in my ward who had something wrong with her face," Zippy said. "She never EVER talked to me, but there was this one time when the doctors had to wheel her into a different room and I got to see her then. Her face looked like boiling water or something cause there were all these bubbles under her skin and her neck was all burned." Zippy paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "Then there was also this sixteen year-old boy in my room who kept asking me if I was hot." Zero sat up straighter when Zippy mentioned this. "He said his name was Joe but he would never tell me what had happened to him so I lied and said that I was in the hospital because some fat guy had tripped on his blubber and sat on my foot. I told Joe that the guy's butt had squashed my foot and so I needed surgery. He said I was sick and twisted and then he asked me if I was hot for the twelfth time." Zippy smiled mischievously. "I counted," she said proudly.
"Good for you Zip," Chase said, patting Zippy on her head. "Now your life has finally amounted to something and you can sit back and watch Zero bring home the bacon."
Zippy smiled like a pleased dog. "And the sausage and cheese balls!"
Chase pulled her hand away from Zippy as quickly as she could.
"Yum... That sounds good," Armpit said.
Squid burst out laughing, unable to refrain himself any longer.
"What?" Armpit asked, completely bewildered.
"Well anyway!" Static said, shaking her head. "My roommate was Twitch and I could hardly get ANY sleep or peace with him being right next-door! At least until they gave him the Meth, that is."
"Oh," Chase said. "They put you on the Methylifenidote stuff too?"
"Yeah," Twitch said, his voice getting softer. "They've got Fidget on it too."
Everyone was silent for a moment as they all secretly lamented Fidget and her state of being.
"We really ought to go visit her," Lei said. "See how she's improving."
The others all agreed, everyone except Twitch, who was still silent as her stared down at the glossy tiles beneath his feet.
* * *
The stony walk was cold beneath her bare feet as she tiptoed through the rushes and ferns, completely silent in this peaceful serenity. On either side of her carved path there rose up beautiful white trilliums, all so poised in their solitude, and nettles, their leaves lush and attempting. Above her head rose a twisted canopy of battered trees: a medley of cedars, firs, and maples, all warped and interlaced with Russian Willows and Cyprus trees. She loved running her fingers over the scared bark of each tree she passed, twining her fingers into the lichen and Methuselah's beard, feeling every miniscule rope, every natural strand beneath her fingertips.
"Come on Allie! Let's get this over with!"
Allie looked up from her toes sinking into the soft earth at her older sister's abrupt voice. It had been so peaceful, so unreal and perfect, and yet Catrina always had to ruin everything. So Allie left her spot within the grove of ferns and tiptoed silently down to the lily pond.
The sight was glorious: a huge pond fenced in by thousands of trees and drowned in lily pad upon lily pad, sprouting pearly white petals that glimmered across the water's surface. The pond was merely a trench where flood waters gathered when the river over flowed to the naked eye, but if you stood on it's bank in the midst of it's clearing and look-out point, and watched very carefully you could see that the pond was erupt with life. Frogs and salamanders were always diving down beneath the murk in their little taunts of hide-and-seek and fish and tadpoles were always almost completely hidden within the shadows of the forest's debris, deposited into the pond by the ever abundant woods. If you were lucky you'd be able to spot a turtle or great blue heron nesting off to the length of the pond and sometimes a muskrat or two could be caught, skirting the dark pool in search of their daily rations. Swallows and other songbirds were ever present, either zooming above the pleasant scene during their hunt for mosquitoes and dragonflies or perched high in a tree branch, calling out and making the scene all the more relaxing.
Allie loved it here. She loved the way the breeze pirouetted through her thick hair and she loved the way the canopy above dappled her skin in shadows, delivering her from the sweet smelling sunlight and sending shivers up her spine. It was the first time she'd ever been to the sight but already she knew where she wanted to go for her next family vacation.
"Allie! Will you get your butt over here so day can take the picture and I can go back to the car?" It was Catrina again, standing beside the water's edge with her arms folded and her teeth clenched. She too had thick, sandy blonde hair that cascaded down to her waste, but she always preferred to keep it down rather then fold it into plaits like Allie.
"Alright! Alright!" Allie grumbled, leaving the delicate pose on the balls of her feet and crashing down to the bank where her sister and mother stood waiting.
"Finally!" Catrina heaved, rolling her eyes and turning to face her father and his camera.
Allie stepped onto the thickened slush beside her sister and stared up at the girls freckled face, her green eyes squinting in the sunlight and her brow furrowed due to the effects of being an ornery teenager. Boy what Allie wished she could do to get rid of the girl and her sarcasm? But at a moment like this, in the middle of so much amazing beauty and prosperous growth, Allie couldn't help but think about how much she loved the sixteen- year-old, even if she was an annoying bum.
"Ready?" Allie's father asked as he adjusted the camera.
Allie's hands flew up to her braids and she began fidgeting with them like mad as she smiled for the photograph.
"Would you stop doing that you freak?" Catrina said behind her phony grin.
Allie tried to put her hands at her sides and keep them still, but soon she was playing uncontrollably with her belt loops. Not even a place as quiet and simple could still her obsessive need to move, no matter how determined Allie was to keep her sister on good terms with her.
"Smile," her father said before the camera flashed, disrupting all the simplicity and making Allie go temporarily blind.
The heart monitor's signal began to erupt in alarm, sounding that Fidget was going into shock and her heart was stopping. As soon as this happened, the Intensive Care doctors raced into the room and the nurses ushered D- tent out before closing the thick, curtained door behind them.
As the members of D-tent stood there in the middle of the white hall, bewildered and shocked, a single tear ran down Twitch's face.
Soon it would be over.