Chapter 15
Barbara picked them up after school, "How did your first day go?" she asked them as they climbed into the car.
"We did drawing, and I got to do extra cus I can't play sport yet and hold Flopsy, and I got a hot lunch" Zona said excitedly, "Mrs Thomas says I'm a good helper"
"Wow, sounds like a fun day Zona, what about you Timmy?" Barbara asked,
"Why did we have to do the animal noises? Is that a rule, or is it so we learn?" Timmy asked,
"Is so you learn, you don't have to" Barbara explained, "I mean if you don't like doing it," she blabbered. "And if you don't want to, I won't be upset, or ask again"
"No, it's okay" Timmy reassured, he was feeling better after talking to Edna. "I mean you can ask us, if you want, to help us learn."
"Thank you, Timmy, I appreciate that. Thank you for asking me, it was very brave." Barbara paused, "Have you got anymore questions?" She asked curious, there was silence, both children sharing nervous looks Zona whispering in Timmy's ear.
"Are you going to hit us?" he asked, holding Zona's hand,
"Never" Barbara promised,
"Even if we are naughty?" Timmy checked,
"Still never"
"Even if…" Timmy began
"Never" Barbara interrupted. "I am never going to hit you, even if you're the naughtiest children ever and neither is Daniel" she promised. "Do you have any other questions?" she asked. There was another pause,
"Can we have a pet horse?" Zona asked seriously.
"No sweetie, we don't have room for a horse, and we move a lot with Daniel's job." Barbara explained, both children looked confused. Nobody said anything about moving, they were waiting until they felt safe with them first and the adoption was confirmed. Barbara saw their faces and sighed, they'd spoken about how to tell the children, this wasn't one of the options blurting it out randomly. "Don't worry, that won't be for a while, Daniel's current deployment is 12 months. Then what we are hoping is that you agree you like it with us, and we can become a family and you come with us" She explained.
"We can come with you?" Zona asked, she didn't care where she lived as long as she was with Timmy and was warm and not hungry.
"Yes, at the moment we are foster parents, but we are looking to adopt, which means you get to stay with us forever or as long as you want" Barbara explained.
"You want us forever?" Zona asked, Barbara nodded.
"Yes, we do, if you want us too and then we have to wait for you daddy to go to prison and petition the courts."
Zona and Timmy exchanged a glance, both really wanting to stay with the couple but checking their sibling felt the same.
"No hitting?" Timmy triple checked,
"Never"
"We can sleep inside?" Timmy had elected himself as spoke's person.
"Always" Barbara promised,
"And we stay together" Timmy checked
"I promise"
"No sandwiches?" Zona chipped it.
"Never" Barbara promised, they were easy promises to keep. She just hoped the children would truly become her own. They already felt like hers, from the moment she had seen Timmy she had felt bonded with them, and she knew Daniel felt the same.
They arrived home,
"Who wants a snack before homework?" Barbara asked,
"We get to eat now?" Zona asked confused, they never got food after school before, normally they only ate in the mornings, then in the evening right before bed, "Can we have doughnuts?"
"Actually, we have fruit and yogurt today" Barbara said, they'd been spoiling the kids with sugary treats but now school had started it was important to get them eating healthier and into a routine.
"Yay" Zona cheered, she didn't care what the snack was as long as she was able to eat. Timmy followed just as excitedly. Food after school without having to earn it.
After the snack Barbara settled them down to start their homework before sending them off to play. Timmy and Zona headed upstairs; they liked this new routine. Food, safety and playtime, they got help with homework, they got hugs and stories, warm food, they had someone who was on their side, who was happy for them.
It was Wednesday when Timmy went to his first karate lesson. Zona wanted to go but Barbara put her foot down. There was no way she was going to let the 5-year-old who still had 12 stitches in her stomach go to karate. They compromised by letting her go and watch, after she'd cried and cried, guessing it wasn't about the karate but being at home without her brother that was causing the upset.
As they arrived, they saw a girl flip and adult man and pin him to the floor. Their mouths dropped open in amazement. That was the coolest thing they had ever seen. The sensi came over,
"So, you want to learn Karate?" he asked, Daniel had called him a few days previously and given him the heads up. Seeing the bruising to Zona's face and neck, her casted arm, the cuts on her hand, the hand marks on Timmy's arm, made him furious, luckily, he was good a hiding his emotions.
"Yes Sir" Timmy responded as Zona nodded.
"Call me Sensi." He ordered,
"Yes Sensi" they both repeated,
"Good, today we are going to work on some basic blocks. Take your shoes off" both Timmy and Zona ran to obey.
"Zona, not today" Barbara instructed, Zona pouted, "not until your arm is out of its cast"
Zona reluctantly came and sat next to Barbara as Sensi took Timmy through the basics, Barbara watched as even sitting down Zona mimicked the actions total focus on her face.
They arrived home after 2 firm converts, both desperate to go back and learn to flip people bigger than themselves and not to be the victims again.
A week after Timmy's first karate lesson, Zona and Barbara returned to the hospital to have her stitches out.
"Dr Mabel" Zona cried joyfully running up to the Ped's doctor who easily caught her mid jump.
"Hello Zona, did you bring anyone with you this time?" Mabel joked, as Barbara huffed around the corner.
"Nurse B but she was being slow" Zona moaned.
"Zona you can't just run off" Barbara warned, "It worries me when I can't see you"
"Why?" Zona asked, it was strange how much Nurse B worried. Daddy never wanted her in his eye line, but Nurse B always wanted her close and it was weird, and taking a lot to get use to.
"Because it's dangerous, there's traffic and trolleys and bad people, and it's my job to protect you" Barbara reasoned.
"From daddy?" Zona asked her blue eyes darting around the room as if he was suddenly going to appear,
"Your daddy can't hurt you now, I have to protect you from anything bad" Barbara promised,
"Like spiders?" Zona asked innocently, Barbara nodded. She hadn't meant spiders but didn't want to tell Zona there were more bad people in the world than just daddy.
"Exactly like spiders"
"So, Zona are you ready to get these stitches out?" Mabel questioned, putting her back down on the exam bed.
"Uh huh they're itchy" Zona scratched at her stomach.
"That happens when your skin is healing" Mabel told her,
"Why?" Zona asked, Mabel gave a patient smile,
"You have these messenger cells in your body that take signals from your skin to where you think which is in your brain. Every time you feel something it's the nerves sending messages to your brain, when your skin heals the nerves tell the brain its healing, but your brain thinks its itching." Mabel explained trying to think of the simplest way to explain it to a 5-year-old.
"Cool" Zona replied, she gently patted her arm, "Hello brain did you feel that? It did" she cried joyfully. Mabel smiled getting out her patella hammer,
"Watch this," she ordered gently finding the reflex on her knee, "You knee moves before your brain even thinks to move."
"Woah, Nurse B did you see that?" Zona asked excitedly,
"I did" Barbara replied indulgently.
"Okay Zona, let's make your tummy less itchy" Mabel ordered, "Can you lift your top"
Zona did revealing her bruised stomach, the bruises were a lot fainted and the cuts had mostly healed leaving raised scars. Even though she had seen it before Mabel tensed slightly, it was horrific seeing this much abuse on someone so small.
"Okay this won't hurt but it will feel weird." Mabel promised,
"What are you doing?" Zona asked wriggling to see.
"Well, I use this to cut the stitch and then I pull it out, watch" Mabel did the first one,
"Cool" Zona exclaimed again, "I wanna be a doctor when I'm big" she vowed watching Mabel take out the rest before putting a dressing over the top. Next was her steri-strips and the bandage on her hand.
"That will be okay without a dressing now, the cuts have healed well. Okay we need a weight and an X-ray of her arm, make sure its healing well, and I think we will change the cast" Mabel decided. "Come on Doctor Zona, we have rounds" She ordered. Zona nodded taking the offered clipboard, Mabel then placed her stethoscope over her shoulders and gave her a mini lab coat, they kept in the children's dress up box. If Zona wanted to pretend to be a Doctor, then Mabel was going to let her.
"Okay let's go and get weighed," Mabel ordered. Zona stepped onto the scales handing over the clipboard and stethoscope.
"13.4kg, what do we think Dr Zona?" Mabel asked, Barbara gave her the thumbs up,
"That's good" Zona guessed.
"Good answer Dr Zona," Mabel praised, "Now we need x-rays" she took them to the x-ray room positioning the casted arm, passing the button to Zona to press. "Can you press this when I give you the thumbs up Dr Zona?"
Zona nodded excitedly, pressing the button seemed really important, Mabel gave her the thumbs up she pressed the button causing the machine to make a noise. Then Mabel and Nurse B were back,
"Do you want to look at the pictures of your bones, Dr Zona?" Mabel asked. Zona nodded, Mabel placed the pictures on the light, Barbara lifting Zona onto her hip so she could see.
"This is before, and this is now" Mabel said pointing at each X-ray in turn the second one had lots of pins and a long plate holding the pieces of bone in place, "Which do you think looks better?" She asked, Zona frowned concentrating deeply not wanting to be wrong.
"That one" she guessed pointing to the more recent one, it was prettier and had lots of shiny things on it.
"Great work Dr Zona, you're a natural" Mabel praised. Zona puffed up at the praise, she was now determined to be a doctor, just like Doctor Mabel. "Right now, we just have to change your cast, we have to cut the old one off, and it gets noisy, but I promise it won't hurt" she said,
"You can hold my hand if you need to Zona" Barbara said, Zona took it, the saw looked scary and sounded worse. She held onto Barbara for dear life until the saw stopped.
"Wow look at all that glitter," Mabel commented, "And peas, sweetcorn, beans, hundreds and thousands and a crayon" Zona giggled, while Barbara shrugged, she was 5, it was expected there was going to be lots of things in her cast.
"Now Dr Zona, there is a very important question here," she left a dramatic pause, "what colour do you want your new cast to be?" She opened the casting cupboard to show Zona the choice of colours.
"Pink" Zona replied excitedly.
"Pink it is" Mabel replied, normally she'd let the plaster tech, or an intern do most these test but Barbara was one of their own and Zona had wiggled into her heart. After the cast was finished, it came the most important decision of the day, what sticker and what flavour of lollipop to have.
She chose a sticker with a horse on and the grape lollipop. Mabel stepped out of the room grabbing a nearby intern.
"Zona, can you wait with my friend Tom?" Mabel asked, wanting to discuss her care with Barbara without her listening, Zona nodded walking out the room with the intern. He led her to the nurse's station where 2 other interns stood chatting,
"Babysitting now Tom?" one of them joked, Tom scowled. "We are going to scrub in on a surgery, you know like real doctors, it's a shame you're babysitting, or you could watch." He teased. Tom hesitated he was here to learn surgery not babysit kids and he really wanted to join his friends.
"Hey kid, can you stay here and not move?" he asked, Zona nodded. "Great," he ran off after his friends.
Zona stood by the nurse's station, bored. Everyone was busy and Nurse B and Doctor Mabel were taking their time. Sighing again jumping the squares on the floor she remembered the fish tank. She was sure she could remember where it was. Zona walked off, intending to only be a minute. Nurse B would never even notice and even if she did, would she care? Daddy never did.
Barbara finished with Mabel stepping out of her office to find Zona gone.
"Don't worry I'm sure Dr Smith has just taken her to the fish tank or the playroom" Mabel soothed hoping she was right, "I'll page him" she dialled the number, Tom appeared within a few minutes Zona noticeably absent.
"Where is Zona?" Mabel asked, Tom paled searching around the nurse's station.
"I left her there, she said she wouldn't move" he defended himself.
Mabel glared at him hard enough to make him shiver as she leant forwards for the phone. "She is a 5-year-old child, who has been beaten nearly every day of her life and you left her alone" she said harshly. He Paled.
"Security we have a code pink, a 5-year-old girl has gone missing"
I had to add a little drama, hope you liked it