Cosmo and Mac
Stepping off the elevator, we saw the Morton gang holding a prayer vigil in the ICU waiting area. Heads lowered, their auras were dense and dark. The colors of lost hope.
Were we too late? A rush of panic swept through me. My chest tightened, and my knees went weak.
“Tabitha, where have you been?” Big Mouth Aunt said, looking up. “I’m sorry, honey, but it’s happening. Mac is leaving us.”
Tabitha glared at her aunt.
“Get away from me with that loser talk,” Tabitha barked. “Not another word. Mac is not going anywhere!”
Big Mouth Aunt’s mouth slammed shut like a trap door. You could almost hear a metallic clank. Normally, this would’ve been fun to see, but nothing was normal. So we ignored Big Mouth Aunt and marched to Mac’s room. Two girls and two dogs on a life and death mission. Behind us a nurse shouted, “Excuse me, what are you girls thinking, bringing two smelly dogs in here?” We ignored her too, and kept going.
Tabitha pushed open a door, and carried Cosmo inside the room. I followed, holding Leon.
Not one person noticed us.
Howard held Mac’s small hand in his big hands. My mom stood beside them, weepy and sad. Dr. Myles had his nose in a medical chart, seemingly looking for something he might’ve missed. Still wearing the glasses, I glanced around for Sandra Morton’s ghost, but didn’t see her.
As I stepped closer, the sight of Mac stole my breath.
He was at death’s door. His skin was so pale, he didn’t look real. A faint glow seeped from his body. It looked like a sputtering light bulb fading out. I’d seen this exact fading light coming off Sandra Morton in Room 555 just before she died.
Now, Mac was dying in Room 548. Closing my eyes, I said a silent prayer, offering the universe every last watt of my own light to save Mac’s life.
“Tabitha?” Howard’s voice pulled me back to the room, and the cold reality of Mac’s nearing death. “Is that … It can’t be … Cosmo?”
“It is, Dad. It’s Cosmo,” Tabitha said.
“How … Where?” Howard said in disbelief. “Where’d you find him?”
“Mom told Bertie where to look for Cosmo. She wanted us to bring him here.”
Tabitha placed Cosmo at the foot of Mac’s bed. The dog sniff-sniffed, and his aura brightened like a golden gem. Being near the boy he loved most in the world turned Cosmo the color of joy. Tail wagging, he padded up the bed toward Mac’s ashen face.
It was too late to make a difference. A thick blackness had crept into Mac’s aura like an oil spill, gobbling up what was left of his light. His heart rate was thirty-eight beats per minute, according to a monitor, and his blood pressure was dropping fast.
“Don’t give up, Mac!” Howard said, tears streaming.
“Fight it, Mac,” Tabitha said. “You never stopped believing you’d find Cosmo, even after everyone else had given up. He’s here with you now, Mac. Cosmo’s here!”
Cosmo went to work, licking Mac’s face and nuzzling him with his nose like he was trying to nudge him awake. When Mac didn’t respond, Cosmo started howling like a wolf.
AWOOOOOOOOOO!
To my surprise, Leon joined in.
AWOOOOOOOOOO!
The howling was haunting and powerful, but it wasn’t enough. Mac’s vital signs dropped further. His glow fizzled out like the final ember of a once-great fire.
The monitors showed zeroes, and went silent.
People’s hands went to their mouths.
Tears fell.
AWOOOOOOOOOO!
Eight-year-old Mac Morton was dead. And I was the one who killed him, not the truck driver. No, that ten-ton weight was on my shoulders alone, pressing down on me and stealing my air.
Dr. Myles dropped the chart and ran out of the room.
“We need a crash cart in here,” he shouted. “Code Blue!”
Even though Mac was showing no signs of life, Cosmo didn’t give up. The stinky dog kept showering Mac with kisses.
And then it happened: Mac’s aura lightened. Gray swirls pushed aside deathly blacks. Tiny gold flecks appeared, and I saw a rolling band of silver. Mac’s glow came alive before my eyes. And so did the rest of him. The monitor readouts flashed rising numbers.
Dr. Myles returned with two nurses, and a cart full of machinery and medical supplies. He glanced at Mac, then he gaped at the beeping monitors. “What’s happening? Look at the monitors!”
Forty-two beats per minute…
Forty-six beats…
Forty-eight beats…
Fifty-one…
“Keep it going, Mac!” My mom cheered, dripping tears.
“Yes, son, be strong!” Howard said.
“C’mon on, Mac. Come back to us!” Tabitha clapped like we were at a school pep rally.
“Come back, Mac, and your next hundred ice cream cones are on me!” I cheered, too. “And a million Girl Scout cookies, courtesy of your dad.”
Brilliant light poured from Mac’s body and fingertips like someone had flipped on a switch. The colors were nearly blinding, but it was impossible to turn away from the light. The rush of Mac’s radiant colors changed the auras of everyone in the room. Earlier, I had seen this happen with Dr. Myles when his fear had spread to other people like a plague.
Now, I saw the exact opposite. Fear was replaced by dazzling rainbow colors of love and peace and gratitude. Dr. Myles stared at the monitors, awestruck. “His vitals are normalizing!”
And that’s when Mac woke up!
Eyelids blinking open, Mac looked right at me. “Bertie, you owe me…” His voice was a scratchy whisper. “… a hundred ice cream cones.”
Euphoria.
Rapture.
Ecstasy.
Howard held his son’s hand and wept. Dr. Myles examined Mac’s eyes with a penlight. Everyone else in the room gathered around the bed and cheered, hugged, kissed, and cried.
Hearing the celebration, Big Mouth Aunt and the other Mortons herded into the room, shouting:
“Woo-hoo!”
“Welcome back, Mac!”
“Hallelujah!”
Over the cheering, I overheard Dr. Myles talking to a nurse. “This is … it’s a miracle. I’ve heard of things like this, but I’ve never actually witnessed it. I was prepared to call Mac’s time of death. It was basically over until the girls brought those dirty dogs in here.”
“Cosmo, I knew you’d come back to me. I just knew it,” Mac said. Though tired and weak, the miracle boy hugged his lost dog. “Whoa, Cosmo, you need a bath.”
Turning to his dad and sister, Mac said, “Hi, Daddy. Hi, Tabitha.”
“Oh, Mac!” Tabitha said, while Howard melted like ice cubes under a heat lamp. “We missed you so much!”
“I know you guys missed me ‘cause I saw you here,” Mac said. “I saw lots of things. I even saw Mommy.”
The room went quiet as Sunday morning.
“You saw Mommy?” Tabitha said, speaking in a hush. “Where, Mac?”
“I was in a dark place, and I couldn’t get out.” Mac was sleepy, and his voice trailed off. “She told me that you and Bertie were going to rescue Cosmo for me. Mommy told me it wasn’t my time … and that I needed to return to the living world. I had so many people who loved me and so many things … I needed to do.”
“Mom was right, buddy.” Howard smiled, and sniffled. “You have lots and lots yet to do. And years and years left to live.”
“Dad, I’m not sure what this means… but Mommy said she likes the new love song you and Bertie’s mom sing to each other,” Mac said, looking at his father and my mom. “So keep singing it.”
Howard slung his arm around my mom. What happened next? We are talking a hospital flooding tear-fest, folks. Mom and Howard cried as they pulled Tabitha and me into their embrace. Together, we held Mac, Cosmo, and Leon.
All of us cried and cried and cried. The nurse and Dr. Myles, too. And Howard’s relatives.
“Bertie.”
I heard a familiar voice. My father had arrived. It was time for me to go home to North Carolina.
I dabbed at my eyes with my shirt. When I whipped around so I could throw a smile at my dad, the sunglasses flew off. The lenses shattered.
