CHAPTER 83

Desperate knocks on Elizabeth's door echoed throughout the house. She and Jack dressed quickly, already imagining something serious due to the early hour. Jack opened the door, and there he saw his friend Rose, with her baby Lucas in her arms, all limp and crying a lot.

She came in all agitated, crying and calling for Elizabeth. Jack had a smile on his face as he thought "I'm the mountie trained to look after everyone and she's screaming Elizabeth."

- Elizabeth, please, you have to help me! My son has a high fever and I don't know what to do.

- Come in, Rose. Come in and sit down. Let's have a look at him, shall we Jack?

He shook his head, Lucas really didn't look very well.

Elizabeth picked up her godson and went to the sofa in the corner of the living room and examined the baby with concern.

- Rose, let's start by cooling him down. Jack, get a damp cloth, please, while Rose undresses him.

While Jack prepared the damp cloth, Rose gently removed the clothes from Lucas, who no longer had the strength to cry. His fever was very high and he had several spots on his body.

- Elizabeth, look at all these red spots on his body. I'm so scared. And Lee is on a business trip from the logging company.

- Calm down, Rose. We'll take care of it. While we cool him down, Jack will go get Carson. As a doctor, he'll know what to do. We're here with you, we know Lee is traveling and we'll help you take care of him.

Jack said his goodbyes and left quickly for the city, in search of Carson. While Elizabeth wet the cloth and began to lovingly cool baby Lucas.

Some time later, they heard the door open and Jack walked in with Carson.

- Well done, Elizabeth, for taking the initial steps. Now let's check on the little one here.

The doctor examined little Lucas, measured his fever and looked at the red spots.

- Rose, this fever, and the red spots, I have the impression it's chicken pox. There's an outbreak in the city.

- What can we do, Carson? Jack asked.

- I'll prescribe a treatment and give you some guidelines. The good news is that chickenpox is generally a mild illness in babies, but we need to monitor it closely.

- Rose, I want you to listen to me carefully," said Carson. I want him to be isolated at home, with no contact with children or adults who haven't had the disease. I need strict personal hygiene to prevent infection, including daily bed linen changes. You must keep him well hydrated and offer light, nutritious food. Nails must be cut to avoid scratching these lesions, as they will itch a lot. No sunbathing until further notice. No ointments, and I'll be at your house every day to assess this boy.

- As for you, Jack, I'd like you to go to the Mille farm and get some elderberry leaves. There's a huge tree there and they're supplying everyone in town.

- Elizabeth, you will make a tea with these leaves, and Lucas should drink some, and the rest will be used in the baths and it will help to dry and heal these wounds and reduce the itching.

Jack grabbed his hat and headed for the door, when he heard Carson talking to Elizabeth...

- Elizabeth, I think classes should be suspended. Robert and his siblings, Emily and Opall, are already sick, and it's spreading too fast. It could get out of control. We need to pull together or we could lose lives, this outbreak has to be controlled.

Elizabeth thought and called Jack, and asked him to warn each family of the problem they were facing, everyone should stay at home until further notice.

Jack went into town, called Bill, Wynn and Frankison, and they started making the rounds, warning all the distant farmers and especially those who had children at school.

Meanwhile, Carson arrived in town, and Faith told him that there were a lot of sick people on the riverbank, and that they were waiting for Hickman, Henry and Jessy, who had come down with wagons to pick them up. There were over twenty sick people of various ages there alone.

Charlote and Aunt Elizabeth, along with Tom, arrived to help. Everyone knew how difficult it was to have an outbreak in the community. Seeing people sick was hard, but seeing their friends and relatives was even worse;

The school would be transformed into an infirmary for the children, and the old Pinketons headquarters, which had been disused, would be the adult infirmary, as there were two floors there.

Florence, Molly, Abigail and the other women joined Charlote, there was a lot of cleaning to do and not much time before the wagons arrived that afternoon.

Elizabeth spent the whole day helping Rose, as they had already contracted this disease as children, now they could look after little Lucas without fear.

Jack returned home at dawn, shortly after which Lee parked his car in front of the house. As soon as he received the telegram, he got into the car and drove off quickly to Hope Valle.

It was a tumultuous night for everyone.

Rose, Lee, Jack and Elizabeth all spent the night in bed, struggling with Lucas' fever.

Meanwhile, in the city, wagons and wagons were arriving with sick people from all over the city, and even from the outskirts, as Carson was the only doctor in the entire border region.

The next morning, as soon as they arrived in town, Jack and Elizabeth learned that both the school and the Pinketons' headquarters were full of seriously ill patients, and that the hotel lounge had to close and there were many sick people on the floor being treated. The adults were falling seriously ill and the school, Charlote and Aunt Elizabeth, were in dire straits. There were more than thirty-five children in there, all sick, calling for their parents. And so Elizabeth, looking at Jack, made up her mind and spoke:

- Jack... I'm going to stay with my sick students at the school.

- Elizabeth, I'm afraid. It could be dangerous...

- I know, Jack. But I can't abandon them.

Jack knew his wife. He knew that when she made a decision, nothing and no one could change her mind. He hugged her, praying in his heart that God would protect her. Now his mother and his wife would be confined.

- I'll be taking care of everything out here. Please, Elizabeth, take care of yourself... I'll die if anything happens to you.

- I love you Jack...

He accompanied her to the school and after a long kiss, saw his wife knock on the door and his mother with a mask hugging her and the two of them together waving to him, before the doors closed.

The city looked like a desert, apart from those who were rushing around to care for the sick, there wasn't a living soul on the streets, because Judge Bill Avery, in his right to preserve lives, had decreed a lockdown? Lockdown is an emergency protocol that prevents people from leaving their homes for activities considered non-essential. Its aim is to reduce the number of people circulating and consequently control the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, Julia Thatcher was getting off the train. She already knew about the chickenpox outbreak, but she had contracted it as a child. She caught it and passed it on to Viola and Elizabeth. It was very funny to see the beautiful Elizabeth all full of sores and itches. At the time, Grace was angry and decided to punish Elizabeth for contaminating her sisters, as well as locking her in her room with the itch-relieving ointments. Jane went in and looked after her, Julia laughed.

"Elizabeth was very lucky, several times she was supposed to die, but her time would come..." thought Julia.

In Calgary, the newspaper about Charles Kensigton III was running wild, and in Hamilton the value of Charles' companies was beginning to fall. After the report in New York, the Kensigton name was being devalued, causing discomfort and financial losses for his entire family.

A beautiful young woman, her eyes filled with deep pain, was reading the paper on a park bench in Calgary after a long, tiring day as a cleaner. Her growing belly was making the whole job more difficult and time-consuming.

"She recognized that man from the photo..."

"It was him..."

"It was that monster..."