A/N: Mild warning about George's mouth in this chapter. He is military! (Much less graphic than you can hear on network TV.)
Daniel got through the rest of the week without a major problem. He discovered that he had a talent for animals. The camp kept a few cows, goats, chickens and pigs for the city children to get acquainted with. The only animals Daniel had experience with were the guard dogs on digs and camels, which were not known for their good temperaments. One of the camp dogs had six week old puppies and the girls begged their mom and dad for one, but they said no. George had been stationed at McGuire for close to two years and they knew he'd be getting orders within a few months. They had no idea where they'd be going, so a dog was just not possible.
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Several weeks before school was scheduled to start again, Daniel woke up one morning with a sore throat and a headache. Ruby settled him on the couch and gave him a popsicle, her favored remedy/treat for sick children. She firmly believed that sometimes a child needs to be pampered. Also, sometimes that was enough to make a "sick" child feel well again.
Daniel welcomed the soothing drip of the melted flavored ice down his burning throat, but he couldn't eat anything else. Ruby watched him and kept the girls either in their room or outside playing. If he had something contagious, she didn't want a house full of sick kids to finish up the summer vacation
Ruby took his temperature and was surprised to see it was 102˚F. She hadn't really thought it was that high.
"Daniel, honey, how is your throat feeling?"
Daniel, whose throat hurt too much to talk, just shook his head. Big mistake! Now his throat and head vied for equal attention.
Ruby went into the kitchen, shifted through the junk drawer and dug out a small flashlight. Sitting down next to Daniel on the couch she leaned over him. "Honey, open your mouth as wide as you can so I can look in
Daniel rolled over from his side to his back and opened wide. Ruby peered down his throat and moaned to herself when she saw the white spots on his tonsils.
"Daniel, I think you need to make a visit to the doctor. You might have tonsillitis again." He'd already had it twice since he'd come to live with them. The doctor had mentioned that if he got it again, he'd want to consider having his tonsils removed.
That night when George got home, Ruby greeted him with a kiss and a caution. "I had to take Daniel to the doctor today. He's got tonsillitis again and the doctor wants to schedule an operation as soon as he's well."
"How's he taking it?"
"He seems okay, but I'm a bit concerned that once he gets there the memories of the accident and all the time he spent in the hospital afterwards will come back."
"He'll just have to deal with it. We'll be there to help." George cleared his throat. "Where are the kids?"
"The girls are next door playing with Lisa and Jenny. They should be home in about fifteen minutes for dinner. Daniel's asleep upstairs." Ruby looked up into her husband's pale blue eyes. "What's wrong?"
"I got my orders today."
"When and where?" Ruby knew this was coming. Two years was about as long as the Air Force allowed at any one posting.
"Beginning of December, Turkey. Two years in Turkey and then I get a choice of two years in Italy, Germany, or England. But we'll be gone for about four years."
"Europe! Just before Christmas? Oh, George, I'd really hoped we could be with my family for just one more Christmas." Ruby leaned into his arms. "What about Daniel? Do you think the state of New York will let us take him overseas?"
"I don't know, Ruby. We'll just have to make them." George leaned his cheek against her hair and breathed deeply. He loved the way she smelled. "He's our child every bit as much as the girls."
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Daniel woke up just as the light was beginning to shine through his bedroom window. He opened his eyes and wondered why he was awake so early. His stomach twisted as he remembered. Tonight he'd be going to the hospital to get his tonsils out tomorrow. He knew everyone was nervous before an operation and he wasn't too worried about that. What scared him out of his mind was just being in that place again. Antiseptic smells. Sharp sounds on bare tile floors. Cold metal on the sides of the bed. Whispered remarks, meant to keep him from worry.
The place where he first knew his parents had left him.
Daniel sat up in his bed and flung the sheet off. He padded barefoot over to the dresser and took out his clothes for the day. He slipped into the bathroom quietly, so as not to awaken the girls in the next room. After he'd dressed he automatically went back and made his bed and shoved his pj's under his pillow. As he headed for the stairs, he could hear George puttering in the kitchen getting ready to start his day.
Daniel stopped at the bottom of the stairs, blocked out all senses except smell, and breathed in the cherished aroma of coffee percolating on the stove. The only American luxury his father had insisted upon on digs was a good cup of freshly brewed coffee. He had loved watching the coffee turn the clear water into dark liquid through the clear glass of the percolator. Daniel would sit beside his father in the morning, listening to his parents discuss their plans for the day, happy to be included in their work.
He shuttered and let the quiet sounds of the mostly sleeping household enter again. Sighing, he pattered down the hall into the kitchen.
"'Morning, son. How are you feeling?" George grabbed the percolator from the stove and poured a mug of the fragrant liquid.
Daniel leaned against the door frame, shrugged and wrapped his arms around his chest. "Okay. A little nervous about going back to the hospital tonight, but I'll be fine."
George frowned slightly, really wishing that Daniel open up more. He moved across the room and ruffled Daniel's bed-rumpled hair. "You know the girls are going to Aunt Barbara's tonight and that Ruby and I will spend the night with you in your room. One of us will always be with you until they take you into the operating room and we'll be there as soon as you come out."
George cracked a couple of eggs into a hot pan and pushed down the toast. He opened the refrigerator and pulled out a pitcher of orange juice. "Juice?"
"Sure." Daniel took several steps to the kitchen bar where a couple of stools waited for them. He climbed up and took a seat while George poured him a glass of juice. George set it down exactly the distance and direction the family had been taught so he could find it without groping around.
"Hungry?" George pulled a plate for himself out of the cupboard.
"No. I'll wait until everyone else is up." Daniel hung his head down over the glass of juice he held and sucked in the pungent aroma. He missed the pomegranate juice he'd had in Egypt.
George shoveled his eggs onto his plate and plucked the toast from the toaster. Ruby was a much better cook, but he knew she'd be up very late tonight worrying about Daniel and the girls at Barbara's and he wanted her have a chance to sleep in this morning.
He settled on the stool next to Daniel and let his eyes drift to the blond mop of hair. He and Ruby had started the paperwork to take Daniel with them to California when his transfer went through in December. So far, things weren't looking good. It seems the state felt they knew what was good for Daniel better than he and his wife did. George couldn't imagine their life without this child. His appetite completely gone, he pushed his half eaten breakfast away.
"Daniel, don't worry too much. You'll only be in the hospital two nights and I'll be there the whole time with you." George stood up behind Daniel, turned the cushioned swivel seat around so they were face to face. "You know I'd never let anyone hurt you?"
That's what his parents used to say, but they left him alone. "Yes."
George wrapped his arms around the sad child and hugged him. "Come on. You want to watch cartoons until everyone else is up?"
"Not really, but maybe there's something interesting on on PBS."
George snickered. Daniel was the only kid he knew who preferred lectures to cartoons.
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George came home early that night to help pack everyone up for Daniel's stay in the hospital. Ruby went with the girls to get them ready for two nights at their Aunt Barbara's. They were really excited at the prospect of getting to play with their cousin, Ethan. He was just about to turn one year old and he was so much fun to play with. Their aunt appreciated them keeping the baby busy as she was preparing her lectures for the upcoming year at Columbia.
Ruby settled the kids in the back seat while George packed the car for the quick trip to Barbara's, muttering to himself about packing the whole damned house for two nights away.
Rachel, hearing her father's quiet protests, blurted, "Daddy, Julie and I need all that stuff. We're trying to teach Ethan how to play with dolls."
George, unaware that they'd been able to hear his mild cursing, brought his head up too quickly and smacked it on the lifted back window of the station wagon. He dropped a suitcase, grabbed his head and spewed out a couple of not-so-mild words.
Julie looked up into the front seat where Ruby was waiting. "Oooh, Mommy! Daddy has to put a lot of quarters into the Penalty Jar. We may get to go to Coney Island before school starts after all."
George turned even redder; Ruby bit her lip to keep from laughing aloud and Daniel turned his head to the window to keep the girls from seeing his huge grin.
George tossed the last suit case into the back, slammed the window shut and dropped heavily into the driver's seat, still mumbling, "Why the hell did they have to design the car like that? There must be some way to get into the damned back of the car without smashing the shit out of your head!"
Ruby scowled at him. "George, this isn't the base! Keep that language away from our children!"
George gripped the steering wheel with both hands and sighed, "You're right, honey. Next time I almost knock myself out, I'll keep to words like 'dog-gone it' and 'rats'. Okay?"
Ruby leaned over and dropped a kiss his goose-egg. "I'm sorry you're hurt, but we're on our way to the hospital if you want someone to look at it."
George glared.