"So, you're telling me that Princess Merida and Chief Hiccup, or rather, your third-grade teacher Sarah May Bernards and some unknown coma patient are my parents?"
Jamie nodded with finality, "Yup, you wanna see him? Miss Bernards should be at the hospital now, she usually volunteers there."
"Might as well, you can return the book to her there."
Jamie sighed, "OK, I'll return the book. Hmm . . ."
"What are you thinking about?" asked MK when she noticed the sparkle in Jamie's eyes.
"Oh, I was just thinking, maybe Miss Bernards should read him their stories, maybe he'll start to remember and wake up!" he grinned at her.
"That sounds like a good idea," muttered MK. At least the book would finally be going back to its original owner and maybe she could leave. But she glanced down at Jamie, and realized just how much she missed by giving him up. She wanted to have some of that before she left him again. She quietly let out a breath, looks like she was going to stay around for longer than a week.
Jamie led her to the hospital where, sure enough, Miss Bernards was volunteering with cheering up some of the patients.
"Oh, hello again, Miss Bomba! How are you enjoying your stay in Cedar Grove?"
"Oh, you can call me MK, and I'm enjoying it fairly well considering the only thing I've done today was try to get the bottom of Jamie's troubles."
Jamie grinned at her, "See? She really is my real mom."
MK rolled her eyes, "OK, kid, why don't you keep your side of the bargain?"
Jamie nodded, "Right, here Miss Bernards." He handed Sarah May the book.
"Oh, thank you. You could have given it to me tomorrow at school."
"That's alright, I did make a deal with mom to give it to you once she had read Brown Bear of Norway and Myrsina."
"You can call me MK too," MK told Jamie.
Jamie shrugged, "Alright, but I like calling you mom."
"So, um, what did you think of the fairy tales?" Sarah May asked, noting that MK wanted to change the subject.
"Well, it was a lot longer than I remember . . ."
"And there are connections between the stories," Sarah May added.
"And they're real!"
Sarah May gasped, "Jamie! He's already told you about his theories?"
"That you're Princess Merida, that guy in the coma is Chief Hiccup, and that somehow you're my parents?"
Sarah May's eyes widened, "W-what? How . . ."
"Well, yeah, Princess Merida and Chief Hiccup named their baby Mary Katherine, it says so at the end. Wanna see?"
MK shook her head, "Not now, I've got to get you home. Hurry up and explain to Miss Bernards your idea."
"Oh, you can call me Sarah May, and what idea?"
Jamie sighed, "That maybe you can read A Faraway Land, particularly Brown Bear of Norway and Myrsina, to the patient in the coma, he might respond to that."
Sarah May cocked her head, "Well that is an idea worth checking out. I'll read to him before I leave the hospital."
"Great, thanks! Oh, um, MK, you wanna take a look at the coma patient?"
"Why?"
Jamie took back the book, opened it, and pointed to a picture of Chief Hiccup, "To compare the two."
MK sighed, "Alright, real quick." They went into the patient's room, and Jamie pointed out several similarities between the patient and the picture.
"See? He has the same brown hair, the same face shape, and that a little scar on his chin. No one else in Cedar Grove has a scar like that."
"Were you looking at people to compare them with people in the book?"
Jamie grinned nervously, "Uh, yeah, once I noticed Miss Bernards' similarities to Princess Merida."
MK sighed, "OK, come on, kid, we should get going. Maybe I can actually get some vacation time."
"Hey, MK, would you like it if I showed you around Cedar Grove tomorrow?"
MK looked back at her and shrugged, "Sure, I guess."
"Great, meet me at the Goodie Tree at nine o'clock, if that's not too early for you."
"Oh, not at all, nine o'clock it is. Thanks, I'll see you tomorrow! Come on Jamie, I"ve got to get you home." The two walked away after waving to Sarah May. She waved back and put the book down in the coma patient's room.
"I'll be back to read to you. Jamie was real sweet to think of you," she whispered. She went back to the rest of her regular routine, ending back up in the coma patient's room. She took a deep breath as she opened up the book, and began to read Brown Bear of Norway to the patient.
Meanwhile, MK drove Jamie back to his house, where his mom was in less of a hysterics than when MK returned Jamie the first time.
"So, you two were together again, I see?"
"Yeah, I wanted to spend some time with my real mom, what's wrong with that?"
"Nothing, I just would have liked to have known where you were so I don't have to worry about you. And where's the book?"
"We went to the hospital first to return that to Miss Bernards," reported MK.
A smile finally appeared on Mavis' face, a relieved one, "That's wonderful, there's some good news for the day. Alright Jamie, you need to get to your room, take care of your homework, and get to bed. I will talk to your mother about any further time together, though I do request that he has to at least finish his homework before spending any time with you."
MK nodded, "Fair enough."
Jamie smiled, "Thanks mom!" before taking off to the house.
Mavis turned back to MK, "So, how long do you plan on staying here?"
MK shrugged, "At least a week, no more than two. Sarah May offered to show me around on Saturday."
Mavis gave a strange look at the name of Sarah May, but quickly covered it back up, "That's good, maybe Jamie can go with you on that day too. If you don't mind, I did make plans for us on Sunday that I'm afraid we can't back out of. Oh, won't you come in?"
"Sure," said MK as she walked into the mayor's house for the first time. It was grand, but not too overbearing, rather simple in taste, which MK quite approved of. She gave a little sigh as she walked into the kitchen after Mavis.
"Something wrong, Miss Bomba?"
"Oh no, I'm just so happy that you were able to give Jamie the life I couldn't. Thank you."
Mavis gave her a real smile, "Well I'm glad to have been able to have given him that chance. Will you give him a chance to know you for a little while?"
MK nodded, sighing, "That's the plan, that's why I'm going to be here at least a week. Oh, thank you." Mavis had set a cup of steaming chocolate down in front of her.
"You're welcome," she said, before they were interrupted by two sounds, a phone ringing and Jamie's exclamation.
"Yay! I'll get to spend more time with you!"
Mavis walked out of the room so she could answer the phone, "Hello?"
"You wanted me to call when something happened? Well, Miss Bernards is pretty hysterical, and pretty sure that he just reached out and grabbed her arm."
Mavis pursed her lips, "Alright, thank you Dr. Lupei. Let me know if anything else happens. Wait . . . did she do something different tonight?"
"She said yes, she read to him a bit of the book A Faraway Land, at your son's request." Mavis sucked in her breath, that book was turning out to be more of a problem than she had anticipated. "Miss Mayor?"
"Just keep me posted if anything else happens, Dr. Lupei. Thank you for contacting me with this development."
"You're welcome, Miss Mayor. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Doctor." She turned off the phone, and looked back at the kitchen where she left MK and Jamie, everything was already falling apart at the seams. But should she fight it, or go with the flow?