Beth's Story; Winning A Good Fight

It all started with a fever. I felt fine other than the fever. Nothing hurt. I thought it was just a Spring cold. Soon after though the dizziness set in.

"Beth," Marmee asked, "Are you alright dear?"

I stood to reassure Marmee but nearly fell. I had to grip the chair to keep myself steady.

"BETH!"

Marmee ran over to steady me. She put one hand on my back.

"Darling you're burning up," she said.

"I'm cold," I said; my teeth chattering.

Marmee carried me upstairs and tucked me into bed.

Marmee sent Meg to fetch the doctor. She sat with me.

"Marmee you shouldn't stay so near," I said, "What if you catch whatever I have!"

"I'm a mother," Marmee replied firmly.

The pain set in not long after that. It wracked my entire body, but I tried hard not to cry.

"It's going to be alright Beth," Marmee promised me.

What if it wasn't alright, I thought to myself, Would Marmee and Meg and Jo be alright if I… died?

I started to talk but my throat hurt too much. The pain wouldn't subside, and I closed my eyes trying to concentrate on breathing right. I could feel Marmee's cool hand on my hot body and I could hear her crooning to me. It was hours before the doctor came. He was frowning the whole time which I knew was not a good sign. Usually, Dr. White always had a smile on his face.

He took Marmee aside. I could hear mummering. I could hear snippets of conversation between the two of them. Dr. White came in and gave me a shot.

"This should ease the pain," he said gently.

"Thank you," I whisper.

It hurt too much to talk normally.

He smiled almost robotically and nodded as he left the room. Marmee came in.

"Marmee," I asked in a soft tone, "What's wrong with me?"

Marmee kissed my hot forehead and was silent for a moment before admitting what Dr. White had told her.

"You caught Scarlet Fever," she told me gently.

The next wave of shock hits like cold water.

"So," I asked, "Am I going to die?"

Marmee gives me a soft look.

"Absolutely not," she said firmly, "There is plenty of treatment that will-"

"Marmee, how can we afford the treatments," I whisper, "We aren't well off."

"We will afford it by all means necessary," Marmee replied.

Later that night Marmee called Jo, Meg and Amy together.

"We'll figure this out Marmee," Meg said.

"How much do we need," Jo asked.

"The first treatment will cost $10.00," Marmee replied.

I tried to do the math in my head. Marmee gets paid forty cents a day so to put together $10.00 would be extremely hard.

Jo left. She came back a few minutes later with the money in her hand.

"Jo," Marmee asked as Jo handed it to her, "Where did you get that money?"

"I went to James Laurence," Jo said, "I offered to work for him for one year if he would give us the money that we needed to keep Beth alive."

"That awful Mr. Laurence gave you the money," Amy asked.

"Amy! Don't call anyone awful," Marmee said.

"He was actually really nice," Jo said, "He told me not to worry about paying him back."

"Maybe he isn't so awful," Amy concluded.

The days passed slowly. I slept through most of the treatments. It took months. My fever finally broke and the pain went away. The illness however took away my strength. I had to start using a wheelchair. I decided once I was better that I wanted to be able to walk again. I practiced walking starting with crawling. Once I had crawling down I started walking holding onto hard surfaces ((like a table)) and then holding onto my wheelchair. On the day of Marmee's 35th birthday I was able to walk downstairs and to my family with no problem.

"Happy birthday Marmee," I said.