Catherine's Diagnosis! Risa Comatose
An hour later, Catherine came over to the Wandering Star Circus grounds.
"I'm here," Catherine said. "now, where is my apprentice?"
Rafael showed Catherine to the sofa where Risa lay.
"Here's Risa," Rafael said to Catherine. "tell me... what's wrong with my oldest daughter?"
"Lisa, Rafael, I won't lie to you," Catherine said seriously. "Risa is in a coma due to the poison, Bendozine."
"No!" Lisa exclaimed, she was shocked.
"Not Bendozine!" Rafael exclaimed, he was also shocked.
Lisa and Rafael looked at Risa, she looked very helpless where she lay.
"How could she have been exposed to that stuff?" Lisa asked.
"Well, Bendozine can be absorbed through the skin, so, if it was on anything she touched or wore today... that would do it." Catherine replied to Lisa.
"Can you help her?" Rafael asked Catherine.
Catherine examined Risa closely, "I don't know, a normal dose is not poisonous at all, you'd just have to wait until it wears off on its own, but..." she began.
"But what?" Lisa asked.
"As fast as Evie said that it took effect, this must have been a larger than normal dose." Catherine theorized.
"So, you're saying this may not wear off on its own?" Rafael asked Catherine.
"I'm afraid so." Catherine said to Rafael and Lisa, turning her gaze away from them.
Catherine started to say something but hesitated at the last minute.
"Catherine? Do you know something else? if you do, then this is no time to hide it!" Rafael exclaimed.
Catherine took a deep breath and released it, "Okay here it is, I've known other cases of this kind of poisoning where the chemical caused the person to relax so much that they were in danger of their heart stopping, so I'd like your permission to prepare and give Risa something to keep her pulse stable, just in case." she said.
"You have our permission." Rafael said to Catherine.
Lisa saw Evie heading for the trailer's front door.
"And where on earth do you think you are going, Young Lady?" Lisa asked Evie in a firm voice that reminded Evie a lot of her grandmother, Eleanor's.
"I'm going to meet with Matt back at Pine Hollow, Mom," Evie answered Lisa. "I'll tell him everything that went on during our ride, and then, he and I are going to do a little bit of gumshoe work."