The next day, Joanie and Jack went to visit Abigail in the hospital. She lay in bed unconscious with an IV in her arm. Beryl Foster sat beside her daughter's bed, her face wearing an expression of profound grief. Her daughter Ellen sat beside her looking sullen, and David sat on Ellen's other side with a bewildered expression in his eyes. Joanie noticed that David and Ellen were sitting very close together.
"My name is Joanie Arcola, and this is Jack Parrish," Joanie said by way of introduction. "Both of us are Abigail's teachers."
"The doctors told me she has some type of rare encephalitis," Beryl said mournfully. "They don't know whether or not she'll pull through, or the amount of brain damage she might sustain if she does make it. They say that she may just be like this indefinitely. They told us it's too early yet to know what the final outcome will be."
"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Foster," Joanie said. "If there's anything at all that I can do to help, please let me know."
"I just can't believe it," David said. "At the game Friday night, she was just so...alive. When I scored that last touchdown, she was happier than I've ever seen her. Yesterday morning she was her normal lively, talkative self. And now..." David's voice trailed off as he stared glumly at Abigail's still form lying there. Ellen laid one of her hands over one of his in a gesture of comfort.
"I wanted to return this to you," Joanie told Beryl. "It's a report Abigail wrote about Beatlemania and the impact it's had on popular culture. I'm proud to say that she received one hundred percent, an A plus, on her report."
Beryl glanced at the paper Joanie had just handed her. "Those English boys with their long hair," she muttered disdainfully. "I don't know why both my girls are so crazy about them."
"The last time I talked with Abigail," Jack told Joanie as they headed for the car after their visit, "She asked me to help her with a cheer that she said she just couldn't get right. I told her that I was busy and to ask one of the other cheerleaders for help. If only I had known..." He looked absolutely despondent. Joanie felt so sorry for him.
Abigail's condition remained unchanged for a number of days. The hospital did all that they could for her, but in the end she was sent home to be cared for primarily by her mother.