Chapter 8
"Mommy? It's time, isn't it? Are you gonna be ok?"
"Yes baby girl, but you might see mommy hurting a little bit, but it's OK, I hurt a little when you were born and I was ok after, this will be the same." And she kissed the red hair on top of the little freckled faced girl. Wendy smiled and held her mom's hand, but then another contraction hit and her mother withdrew the hand to hold her stomach. "Ow!"
"Mommy?" Wendy was becoming a little frightened. Still holding her mother's hand she turned her head around. She let loose with all her Corduroy voice. "DADDY!"
Her mother turned back to her again and managed a smile but with pained eyebrows pleading.
"Your brother is really kicking hard to get out honey!"
Manly Dan appeared in the doorway, the truck warming up outside as he yelled.
"Come on kids! Everyone in the truck!" The kids jumped at their dad's orders.
…
Wendy stopped crying. She wiped her face with the bedsheet and sniffed.
Then with a sudden look of determination she stood up and walked to the foot of the bed and grabbed the clipboard there. She began reading, flipping the pages.
"It's gotta be here…they must have…ah! Pay dirt!"
EEG: Pronounced Delta and Theta consistent with comatose condition, Alpha and Beta absent.
Presence of Delta/Theta denies declaration of brain death, patient must be maintained as there is small potential for recovery but with some functional handicap. No ETA for reaching consciousness.
Wendy looked up at her mother and smiled.
You're still in there, mom!
…
"OW!" Wendy had come charging out of the room and the door bashed into the side of Dipper's head, as he was trying to eavesdrop when he started hearing Wendy talking to herself.
"Oh! Sorry Dipper!" She tasseled his hair, now exposed since the door knocked his pine tree hat off onto the waxed tile floor.
"That's OK Wendy…" He noticed the clipboard in her hand. She held it out to him.
"Dipper, tell me that this says what I hope it says…"
His eyebrows went up and his mouth opened a little as he wondered what she meant and he took the clipboard from her. He lifted the pages one by one as he read and then looked up at her, but he wasn't smiling.
"Wendy, we can't get our hopes up…"
"She still has brainwaves man!"
"Yeah but she may still…"
"How can we wake her up?"
Dipper looked at his sister and she put her hand to her chin and looked down to the floor, her virtual thinking cap on and buzzing.
Dipper spoke first.
"Well your voice should have been familiar but it sounded like even with shouting she didn't respond, right?" and he looked apologetically at Wendy. "Sorry but it wasn't hard to hear you yelling there for a while."
"S'OK man. You're right, no response to my…shouting."
Mabel turned around and pointed at Dipper.
"Dipper! You told me one time that the nose bone is directly connected to the brain bone, or something like that!"
Dipper smiled. "Yeah, the olfactory sense is a one neuron connection to the brain. The other senses go through multiple connections. Your point?"
"Have her smell Wendy!"
Wendy and Dipper looked at each other, then back at Mabel. Then Wendy looked confused as she asked.
"Uh…Mabel, great idea but…how do we get her to smell me? And uh…" and the redhead blushed as she glanced at Dipper from the corner of her eye, her left hand rubbing her right arm. "…uh what part of me should she smell?"
Mabel wiggled her eyebrows. "Do you still have any of your old kiddie clothes or baby blanket?"
Then Dipper chimed in. "Or maybe your hat!"
Wendy took off her fur lined hat and examined it, turning it in her hands and grinned.
"Hmmm yeah. It's easy to try so why not? I'll try anything to get my mom back!"
And all three went back into the room.