Back at the Belcher's apartment, Teddy was struggling to get everybody going. After a miserable attempt at making breakfast, he ended up running to a near by diner. He ordered several different breakfast dishes and then raced back to the Belchers. Gene was awake by the time he returned, and it broke him having to tell him that Louise was in the hospital. The typically jovial boy with a hearty appetite, was silent and barely picking at his breakfast. Still, he was doing better than Tina. Tina completely shoved her plate away and buried her head in her arms. Logically he knew the kids were just upset about her sister, but deep down he had a horrible terror. What if Tina and Gene were sick too? What if their illness was caused by something he did to the house or restaurant? He was always so careful and tended to add extra days or hours to the length of time a place had to be vacated after using certain substances. Was it something from when he was low on cash and used cheaper materials? Would the entire family die because of him? He couldn't bare the thought of that.
"Are you OK, Teddy?" Tina asked.
"Yeah, just worried about Louise." Teddy replied.
"Me too, in fact I couldn't sleep last night after mom told me. Can I stay home today?" Tina requested.
"That probably wouldn't be the worst idea, but I can't make that decision. I will call your parents and see if they will call you out while they are calling Louise out." Teddy explained.
Back at the hospital Bob and Linda were still trying to process the news. Linda was absolutely hysterical, but Bob just felt numb. That was the easiest way to describe his feelings. He wanted to scream. He wanted to rip the presumed tumor out of Louise's chest and just murder it. That's what they wee calling it. A presumed tumor. The X-Ray only showed a mass. They would need an MRI and a biopsy to confirm. All he knew was that there was a giant spot on Louise's X-Ray. That more likely than not would tear his whole world apart. Beside him Linda was sobbing uncontrollably. Louise was somehow managing to sleep through everything. Bob was dreading her waking up. How was he supposed to tell his nine-year-old that she probably had cancer?
Zeke noticed Tina's absence almost immediately. He shrugged it off at first. Despite living just a few blocks away. The Belcher children were notorious for being tardy. Then he recalled encountering Gene in the boy's room before the warning bell. Maybe she was just hanging out with Susmita or in the library. Susmita entered the classroom and despite a full ten seconds before the bell apologized for being late. The bell rang and Tina did not arrive. They went through the pledge and the announcements. Still no Tina. Now Zeke was a little worried. He knew that Louise was sick on Friday. Maybe Tina had caught whatever Louise had. Ms. Jacobson waited a few seconds after the announcements to take roll.
"Rosa Batista" Ms. Jacobson called.
"Here" Rosa replied.
"Tina Belcher is absent today." Ms. Jacobson commented checking her sheet.
"What's going on with T-Bird?" Zeke wondered not realizing he was talking out loud.
"I can't really say anything Zeke, you can call her after class." Ms. Jacobson replied.
Rudy was extremely concerned when Louise did not come to class on Monday. He thought about her collapsing against the lockers on Friday and how he had to lend her his inhaler. He saw her in the hallway after class, but she did not see him. She was blue and winded just from walking to the front door. Then Ollie Pesto said that Tina had to call Linda to get her because she did not have the strength to walk home. He had called to see if she could come over or if he could come to her place on Saturday, but Linda said she was sick in bed. Louise almost never got sick. Come to think of it she had seemed off for a while now. She suddenly didn't have the energy she used to. What if there was something really wrong with her?
Ms. Labonz was passing out tests on "The Bridge to Terabithia." Another in a seemingly endless list of soul crushingly sad books they were forced to read in the fourth grade. Rudy looked over at Louise's desk and remembered how she excused herself to the bathroom right after she read the part where Leslie died. She tried to act tough, but he saw tears forming in her eyes. She had to stop and catch her breath before leaving the classroom and he heard her coughing in the hallway.
"I know why Louise isn't here. She did not even finish the book and she think faking sick will get her out of the test." Chloe commented.
"I don't know, Chloe she seemed sick on Friday and her mom told me she was too sick to play on Saturday." Rudy replied.
"It's called a long con. Louise is stupid and needs any excuse." Chloe laughed.
"That's enough, Chloe." Ms. Labonz warned.
Louise blinked her eyes open. She definitely was not in her room, but where was she? Why was Linda crying? Why was Bob shaking and saying, "Oh my God." Over and over again? The smell of antiseptic hit her like a train. OK so she was in a hospital. That definitely was not good. Forget having money for a TV. After a hospital stay, they would be lucky if they could still afford the apartment. How had she ended up here? Why did her nose feel so weird? She reached up and felt plastic tubes coming out of her nose. She looked around and realized the tubes were connected to a canister beside the bed. Holy crap she was on oxygen! Just how sick was she?
"My baby! Oh, my baby!" Linda cried.
"Mom? Dad? What happened?" Louise asked weakly.
"You started coughing up blood late last night." Bob explained.
"I was coughing up blood?!" Louise gasped.
"Yeah, your mom and I found you on the floor. It was terrifying." Bob recalled.
"Why was I coughing up blood? Isn't that something that happens to old smokers and people with consumption in historical movies?" Louise questioned.
"They are going to take you for an MRI soon and a biopsy later on, but they think. Louise, they think you have cancer." Bob explained choking on the words.
"Cancer? But that's bad. That's really bad." Louise rambled.
"They aren't sure of anything yet and even if you do have cancer. We will get you treatments. Whatever you need. I'll sell the restaurant if I have to. Getting you well is my number one concern." Bob assured.
The dismissal bell rang at Wagstaff. Zeke grabbed his backpack and headed to his locker. He still could not get Tina off his mind. He hadn't seen Louise at lunch either. Gene had been there, but Zeke didn't get a chance to speak with the middle Belcher child. It was one of Zeke's lunch periods with the Thinkgineers and Gene was hanging out with Alex and Courtney. Zeke had the last five minutes of lunch to himself, but Gene had gone to the bathroom and did not come back until just before the bell rang. Zeke could tell he was crying but the bell rang, and Gene ran off to his own class. Before Zeke got a chance to ask. Zeke had to pass Louise's classroom to get to his locker. He peaked in the classroom and noticed Rudy was talking to the fourth-grade teacher.
"Do you need me to take Louise her homework?" Rudy offered.
"Look Rudy I am really not supposed to say anything, but Louise is in the hospital. Her parents will collect her homework when she is feeling better." Ms. Labonz explained.
"Louise is in the hospital?" Rudy gasped.
"Yes, but I do not know why. I am sure she will be out soon though." Ms. Labonz replied.
"Louise is in the hospital? Is Tina there too? Was there an accident?" Zeke asked.
"Linda's message only mentioned Louise. She is sick. That is all I know." Ms. Labonz sighed.
"This is all my fault!" Rudy cried running out of the classroom.
Rudy was winded before he made it out of the school. He climbed down the steps gasping for air. Damn asthma. Asthma. Louise was probably in the hospital for asthma. Why did she care more about a silly TV than her health? He should have made her go to the nurse after her attack the other day. He should have told Linda when he talked to her on the phone. Now she was really sick and, in the hospital, and it was all because of him. He sat on the bottom step, used his inhaler, and composed himself. Before jumping on to his bike and racing towards home.
Tina tossed and turned. She had been trying all day to no avail to get some sleep. She could not get Louise off her mind. She was so scared for her baby sister. Teddy was supposed to take them to the hospital when he got home from work. In the meantime, all Tina could do was worried and wait. Bob and Linda had called around ten and said Louise was going back for more tests. She had one then and would go through at least one more in the afternoon. They would tell them more when they had the results. They wouldn't even tell Tina what tests Louise was having. She had gone online and Googled Louise's symptoms. They all pointed to one thing. Cancer. Tina was going to be sick.
Gene called goodbye to his friends and walked away from the school. Alex had wanted to come over and play Robowizard Quest, but Gene did not feel up to it. He knew that he needed to keep himself busy instead of just sitting around worrying but it was all too much. Why was Louise in the hospital? She just had a cough. A lot of kids had had a cough lately. None of them were in the hospital. Not even Courtney or Rudy who both had underlying medical conditions. Louise was perfectly healthy. Why did they put her in the hospital for a cough. Maybe it was just the emergency room. Maybe she would be home when he got home. He arrived to the apartment and stepped through the front door. He walked up the steps, tossed his backpack in his room and headed down the hall to Louise's room.
"Louise! I'm so glad you are feeling better!" Gene cried before he realized the light was turned off and the room was empty.
Feeling defeated Gene closed the door to Louise's room and headed down the hall to Tina's. He knocked gently on the door until his older sister ushered him inside. Her hair was a mess, and her clothes were wrinkled, bags were forming under her eyes, and he knew that she had been crying as well.
"Is Louise still in the hospital?" Gene asked.
"Yeah, they are doing tests right now I think." Tina replied.
"What kind of tests?" Gene questioned.
"I don't know, mom and dad wouldn't say. They said they didn't want to tell us anything until they knew for sure." Tina explained.
"Is Teddy still going to take us to see her?" Gene asked.
"Yeah, when he gets off work. He said around four." Tina explained.
Louise was wheeled away for her biopsy. She had another coughing fit, she coughed up more blood. Bob was having his turn to cry. Linda had balled all morning. While Bobby sat stoically beside her patting her wrist and assuring her. Louise had whispered "I love you, daddy." Before being taken away and that was enough to break the Belcher patriarch.
Bob bit his lip and gripped the arms of the chair. He was trying so hard to keep the memories at bay, but this was all too familiar. He only saw his mom one time in the hospital before she had her biopsy. He didn't even know what that word meant at thirteen. He barely knew what cancer was and all he knew about ovaries was that eggs came out of them. He was still a child. Until everything changed.
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Twelve-year-old Bob Belcher called goodbye to his friends as he walked down the school steps. He turned back to make sure nobody was following or watching him. Instead of his usual trek either to the diner or his house. He made a journey that soon would become painfully familiar. He walked alone to the hospital. His mom had been in there for two days now. Big Bob hadn't come home. He hadn't even gone to the diner. That's how Bob knew whatever was wrong with his mom was bad. He stepped through the sliding doors and approached the desk.
"Can I help you?" The receptionist asked.
"Yes, I am looking for Lily Belcher's room." Bob replied.
"214!" The receptionist barked.
Bob stepped into the elevator and then walked down a winding hallway. He knocked on the door and heard his dad call for him to come in. He opened the door and saw his mom lying on the bed. She looked so pale and so old. Completely different than she had just two days ago. Actually, she had been looking pale and weak for a while, but something about the hospital made things even worse.
"Bobby! I told you not to come here!" Big Bob cried.
"I want to see her! Why is she so sick?" Bob demanded.
"Bobby, I had a biopsy this morning." Lily replied.
"Biopsy? What's that?" Bob asked.
"It's special test to see if I have cancer. They think I have ovarian cancer." Lily explained weakly.
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