“Oh,” Danny said flatly.
“And she’s a smart, pretty, sexy, and a fun lady. She’s noticeable. The men were going to show up sooner than later.” Casey pointed to the coffee room in the hallway and veered to the left. Danny followed.
“Most of our marriage I was aware of that,” Danny said.
Casey poured two cups of coffee and handed a black brew to Danny.
“Thanks,” he mumbled.
“I could ask you how you think she felt before when …” Casey let the sentence dangle, and then added, “but I won’t.”
“Okay, thanks for not going there.” Danny sipped. He looked at his watch. “Listen, you be careful as far as picking up any PAM patients. You and Mark should be wearing masks and gloves with every passenger you pick up, just in case.”
“That’s a good point. I’ll tell him. So far, however, most of those patients drive in themselves, or friends or relatives are driving them in.”
Both men stepped to the doorway where Casey peeled out the door again to his ambulance and Danny took the stairs up to the OR. He poked his head into the anesthesia office. “Who’s doing my first case?” he asked with a smile.
Dean shut a small middle-locker on the side wall. “I’m staffing two rooms this morning, one of them is yours. Shelly will be in there.” Danny nodded, knowing her long tenure as a nurse anesthetist. “We’re all mortified this morning about Lucy,” Dean added.
Danny leaned into the doorway. “No. I didn’t know. Not yet, anyway.” They gazed at each other in silence, Danny standing there longer than needed.
----------
The group had five lumbar laminectomies which needed to be done so Danny and Matthew Jacob flip-flopped them the whole morning, which meant they had two OR rooms. They ran simultaneously only short periods of time - as one case was closing, the next case was starting. It gave Danny and Matthew a breather – write post op notes, see their next patient, and run up to the floor if time permitted.
The five operations ran exceptionally smooth and swift due to teamwork non-preoccupied with usual concerns. Instead, they remained tentative about PAM, which caused them to only focus on the case at hand, to make it come and go without incident. The pre-op nurses double checked charts, orderlies jumped toward stretchers with patients for transport to the OR, operating room staff had few smiles and typical morning gossip, and patients glanced up and down at anyone who came near them, especially before sedation.
Matthew Jacob kept retying his scrubs tighter as if he’d dropped weight from running before work, and Danny’s brain worked overtime. He concentrated on the open, bloody back in front of him, without the need to have one ear on OR conversation since the room was devoid of talk or music. The only sounds heard were the harmony of machines and suction.
As Danny arched his back to change position, he glanced at each member of the case. The PAM outbreak unnerved them all, even the stoutest caretakers, and why not? What other field could cause a person to knowingly go to work and possibly subject themselves to carrying a deadly malady by the end of the day? Yes, deadly. They all harbored a silent fear.
Danny had scant medical historical knowledge but kept thinking about the Black Death or Bubonic Plague which wiped out a serious portion of Europe’s population in the fourteenth century. The time it took to figure out the source of the infection and treatment had cost lives; many lives. Under his mask, his mouth twisted with disgust thinking that valuable time was being lost. When he saw Peter Brown that morning between cases, apparently their new antibiotic course wasn’t faring well with the current PAM patients.
What recourse did they have now? Would the CDC have any tricks from their vast experience with epidemics? Joelle thought outside the box – could she defy this Naegleria fowleri and work magic against it? His own hands were tied. He wished he could surgically remove the buggers but they had worked their DNA or had done what Darwin would have considered survival of the fittest by altering their morphology with appendages to suck the contents right out of human beings’ brain cells.
He put the suction tip back on the drape and picked up the electrocautery like a pencil. Why hadn’t Michael gotten sick like the others? Like other illnesses, it must depend on the patient’s age and their health status, even DNA. And what about the symptom of salivation? He realized it must be a key, timely ingredient needed for its likely transmission. That’s why not everyone contracted it every time they neared a patient who had it at a certain time. He’d have to run his thoughts by Joelle. Yet he realized he must be the exception. He’d been around PAM patients at multiple stages of its development, even the beginning and drying up of their increased saliva.
Danny reflexively stiffened, realizing one more thing. After he had dropped Sara at home the night before, and before he had climbed into bed with Dakota on the floor beside him, he had done a quick computer medical search. Over almost the last seventy years, Naegleria fowleri had killed approximately 120 people in the United States. That was bad enough, but what they had now was a salivation-altered form, a Darwinian super monster capable of hopping from patient to patient like fleas on dogs.
If he had the option, he’d vote for the present epidemic and not the full blown pandemic on the way.
----------
Danny passed Matthew in the OR hallway going back with the next spine patient. “Joelle and Ralph Halbrow are waiting for you in the lounge,” Matthew said. “I hope they let you eat.”
“I’ll see to it,” Danny said, but doubted it.
In the lounge, Danny whisked over to the back table swathed in sunshine from the adjacent window where Joelle scooted back her chair and uncrossed her legs.
“Good morning,” she said. “Can you sit a minute so we can talk? Ralph and I decided to see the PAM patients firsthand today after Peter and Tim. We only have Michael Johnson left and we’d like to drag you.” She pushed a head band further back, being careful not to disturb her looped earrings.
“Sure,” Danny said, nodding. “You look nice today, not that you don’t usually look that way.”
Ralph arrived and Danny pulled out a chair for him. “You look less tired today, Ralph,” he said.
“And as opposed to Joelle, spare me a compliment,” Ralph said. “I’m living from a hotel room. When I get this long outa my suitcase, I start looking like a catfish from Mississippi mud.”
“No. You’re still wearing clean suspenders. When they start looking like napkins, I’ll let you know.”
Ralph grinned. “You must have heard about Lucy.”
Danny leaned in for privacy and shook his head. “I had such a soft spot for her. I feel so terrible, she didn’t deserve this.”
“We have more cases today,” Ralph said, “in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia, as well as New York and North Carolina.”
Danny shot a glance at Joelle. Her mouth formed a frown. “We just met with Tim and Peter. We’re sure the new treatment isn’t working.”
A small muscle in Danny’s eye gave a nervous tic. “Come on,” Joelle said, standing with her coffee cup. “Let’s go see Michael Johnson and talk on the way. I know you’re between cases, but our youngest patient has taken a dive and is on the ventilator.”
Michael was moved to the ICU over night after Peter had watched his breathing slow and had inserted a breathing tube. They entered his room and stood around the critically ill youth. No longer resembling a basketball player, he looked like a gaunt skeleton with sunken eyes.
“I thought he was beating PAM,” Danny said.
“He’s had the best resiliency,” Joelle said. She opened Michael’s chart and evaluated his medication list, ventilator settings, and nurse’s notes. She checked the bedside chart for vital signs and made a note of present infusions. Ralph decided what additional antibiotic to add to the regimen, and Danny performed a bedside neurologic exam on the nearly comatose teen. After ten minutes they congregated in a circle by the sink.
“I’m grabbing a flight to Atlanta later,” Ralph said. “It’s time to directly oversee treatment research while macro-managing docs and CDC reps by phone in the various locations. But that still means you’re a major contributor, Joelle.”
The steady rhythm of Michael’s heart rate beeped across the room with the drone of the ventilator. “I’m already committed, Ralph. I’ll make sure every medical resource in Nashville stands behind me while I plunge into the darkness to do this research.”
“But first, I’ll tap into your brain Danny, metaphorically speaking. Until you’re diagnosed with PAM, Ralph and I now believe you carry some kind of immunity. Can I ask you some personal questions?”
“No problem,” he said.
“Have you been on any medications or over-the-counters in the last two or three weeks?”
“No. I’m not on anything and didn’t take anything recently.”
“You’ve taken no antibiotics before or after PAM broke out?”
“No,” Danny assured them.
“Have you had any medical problems at all?” Ralph asked.
“Nothing, at least that I’m aware of.”
The three of them gave each other a blank stare. Danny shrugged his shoulders. “If there’s anything remotely contributory you can think of,” Joelle said, “let us know.”
Chapter 15
Rachel’s adrenaline zipped through her bloodstream like a fish in a stream after a heavy rain. She had schemed all week, and now that Friday morning had arrived and Leo had left for work, she’d execute her strategy. So far, so good, except for the incessant drizzle which had started at sunrise.
For three days she had scouted places to rent. She settled on an apartment in the same complex she’d lived in before shacking up with Leo, but in a different building overlooking the Tennessee River and not far from work. The most complicated part of leaving Leo would be acquiring a baby sitter for Saturdays, but right now she didn’t have to worry since this weekend Julia would be with Danny.
Of course, she’d have to start paying rent, but in essence that would be paid by Danny’s child support. Other than Danny, her plan involved a big payoff, a hefty retribution.
For one hour she folded clothes and stuffed toiletries into a suitcase which she hadn’t been able to do under Leo’s surveillance. Julia had been easier because her toys were kept in a container in the other bedroom. For the large items like the crib, high chair and playpen, she hired two college boys with a small moving business to come in at 10 a.m., a safe time after Leo left and with enough time to pack up the small truck and cart everything over to the new apartment.
By 9 a.m. she had the bulk of everything packed while Julia stayed preoccupied with a plastic rattle and her bottle. Now came the tricky part, the note she must write with the details which could make or break her idea.
She took an 8 ½ by 11 inch sheet out of the printer and sat at Leo’s desk. She edged his laptop back, careful not to trigger it awake, where she’d have the displeasure of perhaps seeing his porn sites pop up. She selected a pen and began.
Hi Leo,
I just wanted to write you a letter since I decided to move out sooner than I thought. I have enjoyed most of the time we’ve spent together and thank you very much for letting my daughter and me live with you. Things were going quite well for a time! However, after much deliberation, I have decided our relationship has gotten a bit too intense. I hope we can stay friends. I’m sure I’ll see you at the hospital any time I happen to come by during the week.”
She put the paper at arm’s length and read it several times. Satisfied with the tone, striving to not anger him, she liked what she’d written and continued.
“There’s only one thing I hope we can solve. Recently my baby Julia has developed outright signs of being hurt. It always shows up after the day I work, which is Saturday, and you have taken care of her. Evidence is on her arms and bottom and I don’t believe the hot coffee story. I think medical people, lawyers, or a court of law would coin it ‘child abuse.’
However, I won’t seek assistance with this issue at present or maybe never. I can come by Maxine’s on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. to meet you for a quick drink. I will expect a sack with ten grand (cash) which will insure my silence. You are such a smart man, I don’t need to write down the implications for you if I report the aforementioned.”
Rachel stopped again, still tormented about the blackmail amount. At first, she thought a few grand. But that didn’t make sense because that would be petty change for him. He’d committed a punishable crime which would dent his career forever, smear any fictitious nice-guy reputation he had, and perhaps put him on one of those neighborhood watch child abuse lists. Hell, ten grand to get out of this was cheap.
Finishing, she put pen to paper again.
“Looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday night. I’ll also bring you the house key I have for your place.
Sincerely,
Rachel
Once again she read it. Satisfied, she placed it in an envelope with Leo’s name and placed it next to his cigarettes on the counter.
Rachel looked at Julia sitting like a princess. One hand juggled her bottle to her lips and with the other, her fingers played with her toes. One thing was for sure, this child wasn’t even a year old yet and she was already bringing in a contribution towards Rachel’s cost of living, and more.
----------
A stack of little white phone call slips graced the top of Danny’s desk. Unusual, because when patients scheduled appointments they got handled by the office and he never had such a volume of personal messages. He picked up the group and weeded through them. They certainly weren’t from friends or family, they came from the Atlanta Journal and New York Times to the Vanderbilt University student paper. The callers would appreciate a few words with him, if possible. He slipped the notes into his shirt pocket.
Danny poked by Bruce’s office and then looked for him in the kitchen. Bruce waved him in while eating half a sandwich.
“Did you get a hold of Jeffrey Foord?” Danny asked.
Bruce shook his head. He finished swallowing and said, “I did. He’s accepted the offer. He can start as soon as the paperwork, malpractice insurance, and other matters are in place. It could take a week or a month, but he’s on board.” Bruce faintly smiled, pleased with himself.
“Phew, glad to hear it.” Danny selected a croissant ham and cheese sandwich from the platter on the table, slobbered it with mayonnaise, and took a bite. He had performed two surgeries at the hospital and had come straight over without lunch.
Cheryl walked in with a wide grin and stopped short upon seeing Danny. “You sneaked right by me.” She slapped a thin pile of file folders on the counter, wanting to join the docs. She used Danny’s knife and cut a sliver off a sandwich she put on a plate. “Did you get your messages?”
“I did. And why are you beaming today?”
“It’s Friday and I can’t wait to have the next two days off. And isn’t this your big baby weekend?” She sampled what she’d cut, appreciative of the lunch platter left by a visiting drug rep.
Danny chuckled. “It’s going to be interesting. I haven’t held a baby in years.”
Bruce wiped his hands on a napkin and rose. “You have to support their top heavy heads, that’s all there is to it.”
“She’s not that little any more. I understand she’s crawling around and sitting up.”
Bruce looked over his bifocals. “I bet on Monday you’ll feel like you worked all weekend.” He threw his sandwich wrapper away, slipped out the door, and didn’t envy his colleague at all.
----------
At five o’clock Danny left the office, darted to his car, and called Casey and Mary to let them know he’d arrive soon. He mumbled against the non-synchronized traffic lights on the way home. Why were they set up so that at every intersection you waited at a red light? He wanted to be on his way to pick up Julia.
“Hi anyone,” he shouted while opening the front door. Female voices emanated from the back of the house. “Who’s coming with me?” Danny found them huddled over the coriander counter in discussion over a bag of baby items.
“Hey Dad,” Annabel said.
“We’re staying here,” Nancy said. “And so is Mary.”
“Well thanks for getting these things,” he said, noticing a bag of disposable diapers, powder, packaged toys and a yellow outfit on a hanger.
“You’re welcome,” Mary said. Untying her headband, she let her dark red hair spill onto her shoulders.
“I just don’t know how cooperative Julia’s mother is going to be,” Danny said, “and what she’s going to send with her for the weekend.”
Joining the group from the adjacent room, Casey exchanged glances with Mary. “Probably not much,” he said. “I don’t know what you can trust her for, besides the fact that she’s crooked as a dog’s hind leg.”
“Ha. That’s pretty funny,” Annabel said. “That’s why I don’t want to go. I don’t want to see that awful lady.”
“Speaking of dogs …” Danny said while opening the patio door for Dakota to come in. The wavy-haired dog bumped and pranced into all of them, giving extra nudges to Danny. “We forgot you, didn’t we? I’ll make it up to you and you can come for a car ride.”
The word car made Dakota spin around and speed to the door.
“I’m coming with you,” Casey said. “Somebody’s got to do it.”
Danny eyed him. No gym clothes. “Did you go to the gym after work?”
“No. I’ve been waiting on you.”
“Two men, a rambunctious Chesapeake Bay Retriever, and a baby,” Mary said. “Who would have thought? Needless to say, we’ll be waiting on you all when you get back.”
----------
For the first twenty minutes, Dakota stayed restless. He stalked between the back windows monitoring the adjacent cars on I-40. Danny looked into his rearview window. “Dakota, spare me the window cleaning when I get home.”
Casey spun around. “Dakota, there are no other dogs right now spilling out of pick-up trucks. Consider it a boring ride and chill.”
Dakota whimpered and disappeared from view behind the back seat.
“So what’s the latest with the PAM outbreak?” Casey asked. “Or do I have to turn on national news to watch you?”
“Speaking of news, I have a whole stack of phone messages from reporters and news channels that want me to call them. Why don’t we trade places, and while you drive I’ll make phone calls?”
“Sounds fine,” Casey said. Danny put the blinker on and started moving over for the next exit.
“Yesterday Joelle and Ralph asked me about my recent health history. They wonder why I haven’t been a meningoencephalitis patient.”
“Being the astute ambulance driver that I am, you know I’ve thought the same thing.”
“You know, we joke about that,” Danny said as he drove down the exit ramp and made a right on red, “or I kid around at your expense. But you give top notch first responder treatment to folks whose lives sometimes depend on your quick judgment and care. That’s all I have to say about that, including thank you for your involvement with Melissa. I mean that.”
Danny didn’t glance at Casey. It felt good to get that off his chest. He’d wanted to do it for awhile. He pulled to the drive-in window while Dakota bounced up from the back.
Casey pulled out his wallet. “I know you respect EMT’s, especially me. And Melissa, well, I still think about what happened and feel so bad about it. I miss her, too.”
Danny felt a sadness sweep over him while his eyes got moist. Dakota let out a bark.
“We’re not forgetting you, you spoiled thing,” Danny said quietly. He pulled up to a fast-food window, asked for a small burger, two chicken sandwiches, fries, and drinks. He handed the hurried cashier Casey’s twenty-five dollars. After placing the heavy calories on the floor, Danny parked in a spot, pulled out the burger, and walked to the back end of the car. He opened the door and asked Dakota to wait patiently while he split it in half. “Take them politely,” he said. “Good dog.”
Danny and Casey changed seats. Danny wiped the burger and Dakota’s slob off his hand. “So getting back to the PAM,” he said, “we didn’t do anything extra to my hand injury when you put the Steri-Strips on, did we?”
Casey rubbed his mouth with his hand. “No. I didn’t even put any Neosporin on it, which we probably should have.”
----------
Casey dealt with the building traffic of a Friday night while Danny managed one telephone interview with The New York Times. Since the epidemic had reached the Empire State, he gave them his time. An enthusiastic female reporter tailored her questions into two areas. What was Danny’s personal background and to what extent do neurosurgeons deal with intracranial infections? She also wanted to delve into another spin on the story - the source of contamination; and prodded him about preventive measures. What do swimmers need to be aware of? Where would an organism like this likely be found?” Danny welcomed the questions and ended the call when Casey approached the half-way point between Nashville and Knoxville where Danny had arranged to meet Rachel.
“I’m escorting a celebrity,” Casey said as he parked in the rest area close to the information building. He popped out of the car as if he’d been tied down for a week, threw their trash in a can, and leashed Dakota. He walked the dog along the pet walk as a weary traveler walked by with two miniature poodles, who barked with spirit, but Dakota ignored.
Leaning on the front of the vehicle, Danny scoured the area for Rachel. The descending sun and accumulation of billowy clouds made it harder to see people from a distance. However, the majority of folks coming and going seemed to be elderly vacationers or male truck drivers. Rachel would shine like a diamond in a pile of rocks.
“Let’s go in,” Casey said, letting Dakota jump back into the car and making sure all the windows were adequately cracked. The two men entered the building where the picture of motherhood sat on a bench.
----------
Rachel’s stunning eyes locked on Danny and made him catch his breath. When she opened her mouth and her seductive voice filled his ears, he was doubly sure why he’d been enamored with her. On the end of her crossed legs, she wore summer sandals and Julia sat on her lap facing them. He would not have recognized his own child who’d grown out of the small infant stage. How could a baby be so pretty already? She looked like the mother, but Danny felt bad because she didn’t smile. Didn’t babies smile at almost anyone? It had been a long time since he knew what babies did and when.
“Danny, I said hello,” Rachel said. She nodded at Casey.
“Hello as well,” Danny said. “I’m sorry last weekend didn’t materialize, but I’m looking forward to having Julia the next two days.”
“If it doesn’t interfere with your stardom appearances. Just make sure my daughter doesn’t get anywhere near that disease.” She rubbed her hand on Julia’s forehead and hair.
“Rachel, she won’t be going to the hospital.”
“Okay, I have her things in my car. I couldn’t carry them. I also wrote down her feeding schedule and have some jars in a bag to get you started. She already ate dinner and probably only needs a bottle before going to bed.” She turned Julia around and stood.
“I’ll take her if you want,” Danny said.
“Okay,” she said, and put Julia into Danny’s arms. Julia’s right arm shot out for her mother and stayed that way during the walk to Rachel’s car. Rachel’s thin, airy blouse caught a breeze and fluttered against her chest while she grasped her keys from her pocket.
“Casey, her car seat is on this side,” she said, opening the door. “And those two bags go with her.”
Casey unstrapped the car seat and transported the three items to Danny’s car where Rachel made sure he buckled the infant seat in properly. Dakota made circles of excitement behind them.
“Well, well, Dakota, look at you,” Rachel said at the same time. She put her hand over the back seat and rubbed his head.
“Are you working yet?” Casey asked.
“I’m not doing that Monday through Friday thing right now,” Rachel said. “I have Julia to take care of.”
Danny placed Julia in the car seat and fastened the strap.
“So, same place on Sunday at 6 p.m.?” Rachel asked.
“I’ll be here,” Danny said.
“Bye, Dakota,” Rachel said into the car. “Bye, Julia.” She threw her baby a kiss as Julia’s arm again begged for her mother.
Chapter 16
Danny settled comfortably again in the driver’s seat for the easy trip west without fighting traffic heading out of Nashville. They drove in silence for the first few miles.
“She seems to be a good mother,” Danny finally said. “I’ll at least say that about her.”
Although Casey realized there were many years yet to come, he nodded. He turned around and noticed Julia’s eyes immediately dart to him. What was it about her? She seemed like a frightened animal watching his every move. She put part of her fist into her mouth. Her hand was wet and juicy when she took it away. Dakota edged his head over the seat trying to give her a lick.
Casey narrowed his eyes and turned towards Danny. “I just thought of something that happened after you sliced yourself with the saw. When Mary and I first saw you, Dakota was licking the dickens out of your hand.”
Danny raised his eyebrows. His pulse quickened in his wrist while he tightened his grip on the steering wheel. He shot a glance at Casey.
“And who knows how long you let that happen before Mary admonished you,” Casey added, having clearly gotten his friend’s attention.
“Jeez, do you really think?” Danny asked. He didn’t wait for Casey’s reply, but forged ahead. “I’ve heard the possibility of dog’s saliva having antimicrobial effects, but we never heard anything about that in medical school or residency. What about paramedic training?”
“No, me neither. Maybe it’s a myth that circulates around without substantive documentation.”
“However, we make drugs from all sorts of mammals and organisms. Come to think of it, a new anticoagulant just came on the market that’s made from leech saliva.”
“And we’re looking for possibilities. You are an exception to the patient population getting PAM.”
Danny spied the image of his dog and baby in the rearview mirror and then looked wide-eyed at Casey. “I may have something to tell Joelle after all.”
----------
At home, Danny cuddled Julia closely as he entered the kitchen with Dakota and Casey close behind. The girls were at his side in a moment looking wide-eyed at their half-sister.
“Who would like to hold her?” Danny asked.
Annabel and Nancy exchanged glances and both nodded.
“Wow, you both agree on something.”
“She’s really cute,” Nancy said.
“Which doesn’t make sense that she’s related to you,” Annabel said.
Nancy shot her arms beneath Danny’s and eased Julia into her arms. She stuck her tongue out at Annabel and walked gingerly into the big room where Mary got up from a chair to see them.
“I think she wants to get down,” Nancy said as Julia looked around at her new surroundings. After Nancy placed her on the rug, Dakota fetched his fringed pillow, dropped it and settled face-to-face in front of Julia, gently sniffing and nuzzling her. Julia’s serious facial expression melted away. Fascinated, she stared at Dakota while her hand patted up and down at his face.
“Dad,” Annabel said, “did Dakota know Julia from before?”
Danny moved a pile of Mary and Casey’s wedding invitations to the side of the coffee table and sat on the edge. “They met one day in Knoxville’s downtown Market district. This may be rejuvenated love on their second visit.”
“This may end up being a special time for her,” Casey added, sitting on the floor after Mary sat back down. “Maybe she’s never had so many people around that care about her.”
“Or a dog,” Annabel said, patting Dakota’s rump.
“I wish grandma and grandpa were still here,” Nancy said.
“They probably are, sweetheart,” Mary said. “They’re probably smiling at all of us and proud of such a close knit family. We should count our blessings. The only thing we have to worry about right now is your dad, who is precariously close to a major health scare.”
----------
An hour later, Danny eyed his watch and the half-sleeping group before him. Dakota lay on his side and didn’t move a muscle. Julia had fallen fast asleep, tucked in between his front and back legs.
“I’ll help with Julia,” Annabel said, as Danny rose and they all grabbed something to carry up the stairs. Danny placed Julia’s things in the set-up spare bedroom and left her with Annabel and Nancy. He went back downstairs to let Dakota out one more time.
Annabel placed Julia on the nursery table as the baby began to fuss. Nancy opened the bigger of the two navy carry bags and pulled out a bag of diapers. She pulled one out and handed it to Annabel. “I really don’t mind if you do this part,” she said. Next she put diaper wipes on the changing pad.
Julia squirmed like a wiggly worm. “Guess she’s overtired,” Annabel said. “It’s like past a baby’s bedtime.”
Nancy unpacked the sets of clothes Rachel had sent and put them away while Annabel unsnapped Julia’s playsuit and slid out her arms. Julia scrunched up her face and began a low cry.
“Like me, she doesn’t like you messing with her,” Nancy said.
“Shut up.” Annabel pulled Julia’s outfit off and then the diaper tabs. She slid the diaper off and Julia stopped crying, almost holding her breath. “Here’s a present for you,” Annabel said, dropping the wet diaper Nancy’s way as she had sat cross-legged on the floor.
“You idiot, just wait,” Nancy said.
Annabel grabbed a diaper wipe from the container then pulled up Julia’s legs. “Oh my God. What is that, a birthmark or something?”
Nancy jumped up alongside her sister. “Beats me, but it doesn’t look too good.” Julia flailed her arms up while they studied her. “There’s another one,” Nancy said, “on the back of her arm.”
Dakota bounded into the room, Danny close behind. Annabel and Nancy’s earlier light-hearted expressions had soured. Also gone was the usual teenage look of confidence that they had mastered the world and needed no adult advice. Annabel’s slack jaw and Nancy’s wide eyes alerted Danny that something was amiss.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure, Dad,” Annabel said.
Julia continued to look warily at them as Annabel pointed to Julia’s buttocks and arm. Danny took the center position as the girls moved over.
As if someone punched him in his gut, Danny felt winded. His heart sped and his mouth clenched as anger welled up inside. He wanted to punch the wall, hug his baby close, and never let her go.
“Will one of you go rap on Mary and Casey’s door and ask them to come here?” he asked.
Nancy disappeared out the door without a word. Danny carefully examined Julia’s arms, legs and torso as well as her head and then turned her over for another critical look. He again laid her supine as Mary, Casey and Nancy entered. Although Casey was shirtless, Mary and Casey wore sleepwear. Danny figured he must have disturbed them because his sister’s neat hair had changed to looking unkempt.
Danny stared into Casey’s eyes. “You two take a look at this,” Danny said. “Girls, we’ll talk tomorrow. Please go to bed now.”
“Dad …” Annabel pleaded.
“Really,” Danny said. “We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”
Mary patted Annabel and Nancy on the shoulders and they reluctantly left. They positioned themselves down the hallway as close to possible eavesdropping as they could.
Danny still tempered his anger. “See these?” He pointed out the round scab-like areas on Julia’s buttocks and arm. “From my days in medical school doing a pediatric rotation, I believe these are cigarette burns from a sick child abuser.”
Mary gasped. She had never seen physical marks on a baby like that, nor was she even familiar with the topic. Tears welled in her eyes and she rested her hand on Danny’s arm.
Casey looked from Julia to Danny and shook his head. “You’re probably right. And look here.” Casey pointed to Julia’s left upper arm. “This looks like faint bruising. It’s what happens when someone grabs a baby’s arm real tight or even shakes it.”
“This is unmerciful,” Mary cried.
Danny’s thoughts now went straight to a neurosurgeon’s perspective of child abuse – the shaken baby syndrome. He shuddered to wonder if someone had also intentionally shaken his baby girl. Physical signs may not be visible, but medical findings of a subdural hematoma, retinal hemorrhage, and cerebral edema could be present. He clenched his fist. That scenario could result in a child’s permanent disability: blindness, behavioral and cognitive problems, even cerebral palsy.
As sadness washed over the three of them and the spell of their good fortune splintered, Danny put a clean diaper and sleeper on Julia and laid her in her crib; but not before giving her a tender hug.
----------
Casey closed the master bedroom door as Mary padded across the room and settled Indian style against a pillow propped against the headboard.
“That bitch!” Casey blurted out. “That woman needs a dose of her own medicine.” He paced back and forth at the foot of the bed. “How could anyone do that to a baby, especially a mother? It’s implausible.” He tightened his hand into a fighting punch, but then sunk to the floor and did twenty pushups, trying to divert his anger.
Mary dropped her head into her hands and slowly began to weep. When Casey made his last push off the floor, he noticed her distress. He got on the bed facing her and brought her soft hands into his.
“How does my brother get into these situations?” she sobbed. “Now his own innocent baby has been mutilated like an unwanted stray dog.”
“Shhhh. It’ll be okay. We’ll figure out what to do about this. That woman needs to be put behind bars.”
“She’s too conniving for that Casey. She’s not like a common thief. She’s more sophisticated than that.”
Casey wrapped his thumbs over hers and gently stoked them. He leaned in and kissed her ear and her neck. He nuzzled back up to her ear and smelled the fragrance of her hair. Continuing, he licked her feminine earlobe graced with a small birthstone earring. “I love you,” he whispered. The back of his arm settled behind her while he pulled her flat along with the pillow. At once, he was on top of her, his strong arms extended alongside her like he’d had them on the floor.
Passion replaced sorrow and anger as their lips found each others’ and their sparse sleepwear landed in a clump on the floor.
Chapter 17
What Danny had expected to be a joyous, eventful Saturday with all three of his daughters had turned into a quagmire. He’d thrown on a pair of blue jeans and a short-sleeved tee-shirt, changed Julia, and gone downstairs. No one else stirred, except for Dakota. He put milk in Julia’s bottle instead of the toddler cup Rachel had packed and went barefoot outside holding his daughter while Dakota disappeared down the hill.
At some time during the night a light rain had fallen, leaving little beads of raindrops on the white dogwood petals and the hostas growing in the flower beds of the wall around the deck. Danny sat on the lounge chair with Julia, grateful that she seemed content. While she drank, she fixated in the direction that Dakota had run and when he galloped back, she dropped her bottle in Danny’s lap, swayed her hand and babbled at him.
Danny had two immediate concerns that needed to be dealt with. He wished he could snap his fingers to make them resolve, like from a genie’s blink of an eye.
People were dying from meningoencephalitis. Talking again to Joelle and Ralph, perhaps seeing one or both of them, was imperative. And with Julia, his brain practically froze just thinking about her. If she was being abused, it would be sinful to give her back to her mother. He only had her for two days and yet the legal turnings of a Family Court didn’t spin on a Saturday or Sunday. And in essence, he needed stat verification of the injuries she was wearing.
For the first time in months after meeting Rachel and Julia once in Knoxville, he was getting to see his baby girl, and now it would be one big scramble to sort out this new development. Rachel sure knew how to dump on him. He felt pressure inside his head like one of his own patients with high intracranial pressure.
----------
Danny remembered his Sheehan’s patient Wanda Robinson. She had her infant with her the last visit, commented about her well-baby check, and had good things to say about the pediatrician in Danny’s building. On rare occasions in recent years, Danny had dealings with pediatricians for his youngest patients, and he would occasionally see Dr. Thomas come and go from the building. The man had prematurely lost most of his hair and covered up with a ridiculously obvious toupee. He wondered if kids stared at his rug while he examined them.
Danny had to procure an emergency pediatrician appointment. Most pediatricians didn’t work on Saturday, but Danny called and found out Dr. Thomas would close at noon, and they would work Julia in. He then called Joelle and asked her to come to his office where he planned on waiting for Julia’s appointment. The pediatrician’s office staff promised to beep Danny after he filled out their paperwork and Julia’s appointment was imminent.
After Danny padded back into the house with Julia and Dakota and made his phone calls, the kitchen stirred with morning activity. Everyone was present except Casey.
“Who wants to come with me?” Danny asked. “I’m going to my office to wait for the infectious disease doc and bring Julia to the pediatrician in the building.”
Mary’s dark blue eyes honed in on him. “Casey’s working three to eleven so he’s still sleeping and I shouldn’t wake him. I’m coming, but I’m staying in these baggy gardening shorts and tee-shirt.”
Nancy stirred butter into two boiled eggs but shot a glance at her sister.
“I wish it was a work day at your office, Dad,” Annabel said, “so I could tail you all. But count me in.”
“It’s not like I don’t have anything to do getting ready for school,” Nancy mumbled.
“Don’t do us any favors,” Annabel said.
“No, I’m doing you a favor,” Nancy said. “I’m coming.”
----------
Danny’s restless legs wouldn’t let him sit down in his own office. Mary and Annabel sat on the leather couch on either side of Julia, who mimicked her father, her little legs and arms busy with movement. Danny stepped around Nancy, who sat on the floor, and went into the office kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. He came back with two half-filled Styrofoam cups sitting atop a donut box and put them down on his desk.
“Look what I found in the fridge,” he said. “A half box of donuts from yesterday.”
“Awesome,” Annabel said. She left the couch for thirty seconds, selected chocolate, and bit in as she sat down. It didn’t take long to put a little piece in Julia’s hand after pinching it off without the chocolate.
Danny’s pager vibrated, the message coming from the pediatrician’s office. “Annabel and Nancy, you stay here, especially if it takes us awhile. Plus, Dr. Lewis may show up. Enjoy the donuts. We’ll be back as soon as possible.”
He settled Julia in his arms, and Mary and Danny walked out. Nancy grabbed a custard donut when he left and the girls talked about school.
The long, narrow waiting room upstairs was dotted with parents, infants and children. Danny nodded to the receptionist that they arrived. The baby boy in its father’s lap across from them wore yellow-green nasal discharge. An energetic baby playing with toys was there for shots or a well-baby check. A small child walked past them with a productive cough and took a book from the rack. He wished Julia was there for a common cold instead of the horrors present under her clothes.
The white door next to the receptionist’s area opened. “Dr. Tilson, you can bring Julia back,” said a young woman wearing puppies on her scrubs. Danny followed her with Julia clinging to his tee-shirt and Mary filed behind him, her right foot toeing in as usual.
After the nurse added information on a form and left, Danny and Mary sat silently in stiff chairs. They heard someone outside take the chart from the plastic bin, the door opened, and the fifty year-old pediatrician strolled in. Shaking Danny’s hand, and with a husky, gruff voice, he greeted Danny and was introduced to Mary.
“Saul, thanks for fitting us in. This is my daughter, Julia, who lives in Knoxville with her mother. It’s a long story.”
“I believe I’ve heard the crux of your story, Danny,” he said. “You know how the rumor mill is. Even in the OR, I bet personal news travels like wild fire.”
“Hopefully, you’ve at least heard truthful renditions,” Danny said. “Anyway, this is the first time, this weekend, that I have been able to have my daughter. There are marks on her that are disturbing. I would appreciate your examining her and giving me your opinion.”
Saul leaned against the examining table listening intently, his arms crossed in front of him. .
“So you’d like me to give her a full examination?”
Danny nodded.
Saul proceeded to sit down across from them and take a history. In the end, he reiterated to Danny. “As far as you know, then, the mother had no troubles during the pregnancy? Julia was born full term and never was on a ventilator? There are no medical problems so far and she hasn’t had any surgeries or allergies to medicines? You also believe that the Mother has kept up with all her routine immunizations.”
Danny gestured affirmatively to all his questions. “I believe that sums up what I know. Also, Julia’s mother used to work in an OR as a scrub tech, so I don’t think she’d neglect her routine care.”
Saul’s eyes darted to Danny and he grimaced. “If we’re suspecting child abuse, then there’s no guaranteeing that she regularly took Julia to a pediatrician.” Saul motioned for Danny to put her on the examining table.
When Danny sat back down, he buried his face in his hands. Mary patted his shoulder. The same young nurse as before stepped in to assist in case her boss needed anything.
The pediatrician started with an otoscope and checked inside Julia’s ears. After he finished examining her head area, Mary signaled for Danny to keep sitting, stood up and took off Julia’s colorful bodysuit and diaper. Saul unwrapped his stethoscope from around his neck and listened to the infant’s heart and lungs and palpated her abdomen.
“She sounds fine,” Saul said, replacing his stethoscope.
Danny looked over as Saul started a peripheral evaluation of Julia’s skin and extremities. The doctor’s toupee was easy to spot. It helped divert Danny’s attention from his daughter’s petrified glare at the doctor. The five minute examination seemed to drag on for hours.
“I’d like to get some x-rays,” Saul said, spinning around. “Let’s wait until I get those, and then I’ll go through my findings with you.”
“Okay,” Danny said. He felt like a helpless parent.
Saul’s nurse slipped Julia’s diaper back on quickly and the three of them left together, the pediatrician to see another patient, and the nurse to help in their x-ray room.
“He’s being thorough, Danny,” Mary said. “Let’s keep our fingers crossed, okay?”
Gulping down the desire to get emotional, Danny wrung his hands. “I know why he’s x-raying her. It’s worse than I thought. He suspects broken bones.”
----------
Mary held Julia when the nurse brought her back. Walking back and forth by the window, Mary rubbed Julia’s back but watched her brother. She worried as much about Danny as Julia. “Fretting isn’t going to help right now,” she said to him.
“I feel like acid is eating away at my stomach. Damn! I just realized I wasn’t supposed to be on call last weekend. I covered what was supposed to be Harold’s call because Bruce and Matthew couldn’t. My damn career got in the way. I would have had Julia, found out about her condition, and maybe prevented something that happened to her last weekend.” He jumped out of the chair, ready to pound his fist into the wall.
Mary confronted him face on, holding Julia tight. “Don’t you dare throw a guilt trip on yourself. You have a responsibility with what you do. Shit happens. You can’t change certain paths, Danny. You should know that more than anybody.”
The pounding pulse in his wrist began to subside as he searched Mary’s dark blue eyes. She stared back at him, ready to take him on if he gave her or himself more grief. He slinked back into the chair. “I suppose you’re right.”
Mary grinned and resumed rubbing Julia’s back as they heard footsteps outside the door. Dr. Thomas entered with one step to the examining table where he placed x-rays and opened Julia’s folder to his notes. “Why don’t you both sit down?” he said.
Saul’s tense facial expression warned Danny. He felt throbbing around his temples and tried to keep his hands from fidgeting. Meanwhile, Mary obliged the doctor’s request.
“First off,” Saul said, “your suspicions were correct. There is crystal clear abuse going on with your daughter. But here’s some good news first. Your daughter seems to be okay from a heart and lung perspective. And this is also good - I don’t see it often if child abuse is suspected, but her weight and length is normal on growth charts. There is no failure to thrive. It makes me think that the primary caretaker is not responsible for the injuries we’re seeing.”
Danny and Mary shot each other a glance. It seemed strange … he couldn’t figure that out, yet he didn’t have a clue about Julia’s life with her mother.
“Otherwise,” Saul said, “I don’t know where to start. The mark on her upper inside right arm that’s circular with the ragged edges is a cigarette burn. As a partial thickness burn, she will probably keep that small scar. The other one on her buttocks is undoubtedly a full thickness cigarette burn and that’s a nasty disfiguring scar which is going to stay.” He paused. “Thank God it’s not on her face, Danny.”
Danny shuddered. He looked at Julia, all innocence in Mary’s arms.
“Mary,” Saul said, “basically the differences with skin damage from burns depend on the depth of injury to the skin layers of the epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissues. A superficial burn to the outermost layer of the epidermis has the best healing. In this case, we’re not so lucky.”
“This is so evil,” Mary said. “I can’t take it when I hear about animal abuse, but I’ve had no exposure to this.”
“Well, I’ve got more to tell you. As Danny knows, at the bottom of your sternum is an end plate called the xiphoid process. Julia’s has been fractured.” He took the two x-rays from the table and slid them into the viewing box behind them as they both stood and got out of the way. He pointed to the bottom of Julia’s breast plate, or sternum.
“No, no, no,” Danny whispered.
“How did that happen?” Mary asked. “Was she punched or something?” Mary cringed saying it.
“Not necessarily. It can be done with finger or thumb pressure. An outright punch would more likely also cause internal organ damage.”
He pointed to the adjoining film. “This is Julia’s left arm. She has a spiral fracture of her humerus. In an infant, it’s indicative of someone jerking the baby’s limb. As Danny knows, shaking a baby can result in severe head trauma, but I don’t see evidence of that.”
Saul hated giving such information to any parent. Pediatrics wasn’t always a joyous specialty. “Julia’s arm also has a bruise” he added, “like a handprint.”
After giving Danny and Mary a few seconds to absorb his findings, he forged ahead. “Luckily, Julia’s arm fracture is healing. The bone is coming together nicely and there is nothing further to do for either break. I hope you can take her out of harm’s way.”
----------
Their heads hung low, Danny and Mary brought Julia back to Danny’s office where Joelle sat with Annabel and Nancy in the waiting room. “Well, I see you’ve all met,” Danny said. “And Joelle, this is my sister, Mary, and my other daughter, Julia.”
“Nice to meet you, Mary, and I’ve enjoyed talking with your daughters, Danny. Annabel’s been picking my brain about my specialty. I told her if she’s going to go the med school route, neurosurgery and infectious diseases are equally rewarding.”
Danny laughed, which felt like a release from the morning’s tension. “I won’t arm wrestle you over that one.”
“Are you a runner?” Danny asked. She was dressed in running shoes and airy black shorts and a purple top and smiled wholeheartedly at Julia.
“I try,” she said. She swiped a wrist band across her upper lip.
“My colleague Matthew Jacob is an avid runner, too.” Danny said. “Why don’t we all go back to my office? Annabel, would you mind giving Julia some milk and the baby food jar we brought?”
“I’ll do it,” she said with a small smile to hide her braces. She took Julia from Mary and brought her to the kitchen while Nancy followed.
“Joelle, I hope you don’t mind if I make an emergency phone call,” Danny said. “I have somewhat of a crisis going on with my baby.”
“Not at all, is there anything I can do?”
“You already have your hands full with our epidemic.”
“I’ll have to fill you in, Danny, however, I don’t bear good news today either.”
Danny looked through his cell phone contacts for Mark Cunningham’s number. He scowled at himself. It was a number he should know by now. He didn’t expect to find his attorney in the office on a Saturday, so he tried his cell phone number. The way he saw it, Julia was supposed to go back to her mother the very next day but now that seemed out of the question. That would be like putting a fawn in front of a cougar.
On the other hand, Danny had continued to learn from Family Court. He knew an order was an order and his documents spelled out visitation rules. He’d be breaking the judge’s order if he didn’t bring her back to her mother. This had to be worked out legally, and yet how could that happen in one day? His thoughts spun as he placed the call, only to get a recorder.
“Mark, this is Danny Tilson. Sorry to bother you on a Saturday but its imperative we talk. I’m having my first visitation weekend with my baby girl, but I just had her seen by a pediatrician. He’s confirmed she has multiple injuries indicative of child abuse. I really need your help. Certainly we can’t send her back tomorrow to her mother.”
Danny put the phone down while Joelle gasped.
Chapter 18
“You seem to live life in the fast lane, Dr. Tilson,” Joelle blurted. She placed her water bottle on the coffee table and crossed her legs. “I hope your baby daughter is going to be all right.”
Mary joined her, nestling into the corner of the coach. “Julia is littered with cigarette burns and broken bones,” Mary said. She gritted her teeth, showing her disgust.
“I don’t have kids,” Joelle said, staring ahead. “How could anyone do that?”
Danny made a feeble attempt to camouflage his apprehension as he moved from behind his desk and sat across from them. “I don’t know, either, Joelle. I swear, it has to stop and I’m sorry to dampen your day about it. Anyway, I better mention why I called you. Mary’s fiancée, who is my best friend and a paramedic, remembered an event which may be useful. It may be nothing, yet some people may consider it strange, and it’s certainly perplexing why I haven’t gotten sick like the others especially after coming in contact with all that saliva.”
Joelle clasped her hands together and leaned forward. “I’m dying to hear anything. And I have to tell you something, too. I spoke to Peter and Ralph today. But go ahead first.”
“Well, excuse me if this story sounds crazy, but two weeks ago from tomorrow, the day after Michael Johnson had his accident, I had off that Sunday. I was cutting down tree limbs, missed the branch, and cut my left hand instead.” Danny turned his hand over, showing her his palm, although he remembered she had seen it briefly at one of their meetings. “We debated whether I should get stitches. Casey and Mary were there. We all live together in my deceased parents’ large house, but I digress. The point is that the cut was quite bad, and bled substantially. My dog was there and I let him act as the lap sponge.” He shot a glance at Mary who nodded, “despite the advice of my sister.”
“Danny trusts the dog’s saliva,” Mary said. “He says Dakota has a clean mouth.”
“Sounds like a lot of loyalty going on between you and your dog, Danny,” Joelle said. “Hmm,” she slumped back into the sofa. “An open wound treated with dog saliva. Which then ended up in your bloodstream…..and since twenty percent of your cardiac output goes to your brain, your brain cells got a dog bath, too.”
Danny erupted with a therapeutic smile and laugh. “Not mainlined like an IV because I’m not a druggie, but probably the next best thing.”
“We’re up against something unprecedented for these modern times,” Joelle said. “I’m willing to hear and research any possibilities. I’m spending the afternoon in the lab. Dog saliva will be put on my agenda.”
“Are there still research dogs in kennels on the roof?”
“They’re still there,” Joelle said, “and used for med student class demonstrations by the physiology professor.”
“What do they do with them?” Mary asked.
“I saw my first demonstration,” Danny said, “of what a muscle relaxant does using a dog.”
“How awful,” Mary said.
“Not exactly, Mary. They are the same drugs we use on people, be it during anesthesia or for reasons in the ICU and other areas of the hospital.”
“And these dogs,” Joelle said, “come to us from kennels where they were slated for euthanasia.”
Danny looked back at Joelle, who took a slug from her water bottle.
“So what’s the bad news from this morning?” Danny asked. “What does our southern CDC partner have to say?”
Joelle put down her empty plastic container. “Ralph and his colleagues did a total head count this morning from all sources around the country. The total number of PAM cases are up to eighty-nine, with thirty-two deaths.”
Shock registered on Danny’s face and Mary froze.
“Peter Brown and Timothy Paltrow are doing an excellent job with our patients here. Michael Johnson continues to be the youngest. He is in a full-blown coma but at least Peter is not battling waning vital signs with him compared to the older patients. Bill Patogue doesn’t look like he’s going to make it and the word from Kentucky is that Michael’s mother passed away yesterday. His father won’t be able to hang on much longer either.”
“Unbelievable,” Danny managed to whisper. A morbid, oppressive feeling came over him. The little optimism he had felt about the day upon awakening was swallowed up and lost.
----------
Joelle filled her water bottle from the kitchen sink before leaving Danny’s office, and then she jogged back to her apartment several miles away. She nodded to the security guard at the gate as she sprinted past the water fountain along the brick circular drive in the front of her condominium. She moved aside to let a young couple wearing high end running gear exit the elevator and rode to the top floor.
On the ninth floor, she owned one of the four units. With no outside work from a house, all she wanted for a residence she had found in her present condo. A large bedroom and bath, a shiny kitchen, and a big room with a hardwood floor that sometimes creaked. For furnishings, she’d kept it sparse because she disliked rooms with cluttered furniture. She was orderly and exact in both her professional and personal life and her greatest comfort at home besides her flat screen TV which ran news coverage or movies, was Bell, a six year old Siamese cat.
The sun spilled into her bedroom windows. She glanced out, below and beyond, amused at the weekend quiet from below. Downtown Nashville still slept after a Friday night of honky-tonk and late night country western bars. Bell meowed from Joelle’s bed, reminding her to say hello. “Spoiled thing,” she said and went off to embrace her. The cat purred while Joelle stepped into her closet and picked out casual clothes. After showering and dressing, and deliberating the other avenue her PAM research should go in, she decided to call another researcher who had a lab under hers in the medical campus. The researcher was a veterinarian associated with the vet school, but sometimes their paths crossed, including the potential use of the animals housed on the roof top.
After Joelle placed the phone call, the veterinarian agreed to come by her lab in the afternoon. Joelle made a brunch of yogurt, a bagel, and an orange juice. She rinsed her dishes, cuddled Bell again, and headed to the lab.
----------
Joelle flipped the lights on in the darkened lab and also pulled the shades up all the way. She turned on the transistor radio stuck in the corner, but changed the dial from country to easy rock. She looked over her current PAM projects which bore no good or new discoveries. As far as she was concerned, nothing was fruitful because neither Ralph’s people at the CDC or her were on the right track to finding a cure.
Joelle knew more information from the CDC had been reported to the media that morning. The evening news would announce to the world the major scare patients, the public, and the medical community were facing. Would it be crystal clear that curing, if not stemming, the epidemic at present was hopeless? For anyone prone to panic, the reports should give them justification for alarm.
After putting samples back into refrigeration, Joelle grabbed a bag of lab materials and rode the elevator to the roof. She exited outside to the cacophony of barking dogs. She faced two rows of six large kennels with an aluminum roof over each. A toned and tanned vet student busily cleaned out a cage while its resident enjoyed his freedom.
Behind her, against the elevator, the door opened from a small office which held supplies and furniture for personnel looking after the dogs.
“Hey, Joelle,” a young woman said with a bounce to her step. “I just got here.” Rhonda Jackson, the veterinarian, was no more than five feet. Even though she sported a nose ring and pink squared fingernails, her eyeglasses were traditional preppy.
“Good to see you,” Joelle said. “As I mentioned on the phone, this has to do with the meningoencephalitis outbreak. I figure you deal with dog saliva more than I do.” She shook her head. “Actually, ha, I’ve never worked with dog saliva, but there’s a first time for everything.”
Rhonda eyed the young man ahead of them. “You can say that again.”
“I see your point,” Joelle said, eyeing the student. “Anyway, it’s a long shot but we have to acquire samples. We have to see if there’s anything in a dog’s saliva which thwarts or kills this horrific amoeba.”
“Joelle, I’m all too happy to help. Since he’s got that dog out already, why don’t we sample him first?”
“That’s fine,” Joelle said, approaching the dog.
“Here, you write while I gather samples,” Rhonda said, pressing a notepad and pen into Joelle’s hand. “It may not be necessary to do this, but at least we’ll be keeping track, especially if we need to redo any samples. Write sample 1, Golden Retriever.”
Rhonda pulled a sterile swab packet from the contents of her lab bag. “This is different than getting a DNA sample, where I’d use a smaller swab and run it in between a dog’s gum and cheek.” She nodded at the young man. “We won’t disturb you, we’re just randomly picking out three dogs for an experiment.”
The student tapped the small shovel’s waste into a lined aluminum can. “No problem, Dr. Jackson. Holler if you need help.”
“By the way,” Rhonda said, “when did they last eat?”
“Long time ago, probably six hours.”
“Thanks,” she said and turned to Joelle. “That’s good, we can harvest pure saliva without contaminants. Here, hold his head while I open his mouth. Don’t worry about any of these dogs. They’re all friendly and should be in someone’s living room, not here.”
Rhonda swiped a large, spoon-like swab in the dog’s mouth and smeared the contents into a sterile container. “The kid’s working to help pay his tuition,” she said. “Plus he gets experience with canines. I was in his shoes just a few years ago.”
“Get paid for doing what you like,” Joelle said. “That’s the trick to a well chosen field.”
Rhonda stood up. “Do you have a preference as to which breed is next?”
Joelle pointed. “How about the docile little one down there?”
“Put sample 2, mixed Collie.” Rhonda opened the cage and Joelle watched, amazed when the vet practically got in the crate with the dog and procured her sample. “Thanks, cutie,” Rhonda said. “She doesn’t have a name, but sweet dog. Who’s next?”
Joelle glanced to the set of kennels behind them. “That’s a huge dog over there, how about him?”
“Excellent choice,” Rhonda responded. “That’s George. He’s got plenty of saliva to spare. Put sample 3, Newfoundland. George.”
With specimens in tow, both scientists left the dogs and their caretaker, went back to Joelle’s lab, and hunkered down during a supposed day off.
----------
“I would have taken you all out to lunch on the way home,” Danny said, holding Julia in his arms as they piled into the kitchen at home, “but Julia needs a nap.” Dakota sprinted into another room and came back dangling his pillow like a true retriever.
“What that poor baby has been through,” Mary said.
“I’ll go put her in her crib,” Danny said. When he came back downstairs, Annabel and Nancy had taken Dakota out.
“What do you plan on doing,” Mary asked, “if your lawyer doesn’t call you back?”
“I don’t have a clue. The more I think about it, I realize lawyers like him don’t return weekend calls. Otherwise, they’d never get a break.”
Mary slipped off her sandals and slid onto the stool. “I’ll listen for Julia if she wakes up. I’m going to go paint for awhile.”
“Thanks. I’m going to jump on the riding mower and cut the front lawn. I have to divert my rampant thoughts for an hour or two. My own child’s torture and a deadly epidemic are consuming me.”
----------
At six o’clock, Danny announced to Mary and the girls that his pizza level had been low and he’d called for two take out large pizzas. They sat out back with the large cardboard boxes and a six-pack of coke.
“Thanks for feeding Julia,” Danny said.
“You’re welcome,” Nancy said.
Julia played in the small portable playpen Danny had pulled outside. For the first time that day, she interacted with a toy rather than looking scared at her surroundings. A simple brown bear captivated her attention as well as Dakota who sat alongside the netting, body guarding her.
The evening hour brought more discomfort to Danny. His heart felt pain and he twisted his hands as he thought about Sara. Tonight was a big night for her, one that made Danny cringe. He wished she were with them, and not on her first real date after their divorce.
As if reading Danny’s thoughts, Annabel interjected. “I wonder if Mom is having fun tonight with the principal.” She had her pizza folded in half, waited a second to drip some oil off, and took a small bite.
Danny’s expression soured. He made a feeble attempt to act natural as he looked down.
Nancy swiveled toward her sister, her hazel eyes dancing. “I wonder where they went and what Mom wore.”
Danny had eaten two slices. Suddenly he wasn’t hungry anymore. “I must check on what news the CDC released today,” he said leaving the table. As he turned on the TV and glanced at his Rolex, his stomach churned with his cheesy, oily meal. Mark Cunningham still hadn’t called. What was he going to do about Julia’s return the next day?
Chapter 19
Sara beamed into the mirror. She admired her peppered blonde hair which looked as good as a professional salon’s highlighting job. She tried a new look by putting on a thin multi-colored head band. It made her look more youthful than her already young looking forty-four years. She whipped her hands around her head, tucking in a few strands, and realized that just getting ready for the date had been a lot of fun.
After putting on a light lip gloss, she left the bathroom to hang up the two blouses and pants she had decided against wearing. A dress had won out. It buttoned straight down the front with matching buttons on the end of the three-quarter length sleeves. It stopped at her knees and was a solid, rich brown. Maybe not light weight enough for late summer or early fall, she considered, but restaurants were always more air-conditioned than they should be and the dress looked smart on her.
Downstairs, she grabbed a purse and made sure it was stocked with things she needed. She drove the fifteen minutes into the downtown area rethinking her decision to meet Ross there instead of his invitation to pick her up. She didn’t regret it. It would save any awkwardness of him taking her home, even seeing her to the door. She couldn’t think that far out - if she even wanted a man kissing her yet. She wanted to know him better than going on one date. Anything physical between them could wait, especially since they would be working under the same roof.
Seafood & Steaks Galore had customers spilling between the two sets of front doors. She craned her neck looking for Ross, then felt a hand on her arm. She turned and smiled at him as he guided her around the couple between them.
“Not exactly a quiet place is it?” he said, raising his voice. “You sure look nice! I told them to page us at the bar when our table is ready.”
Not only did he wear a warm smile, but his teeth were white as clouds. As they neared the occupied stools at the bar, one person left, so Ross signaled for her to sit. Several people ambled around, but there was still enough room that it didn’t seem overly crowded.
“What can I get you?” he asked. The bartender precisely monitored newcomers and slapped down two napkins.
“A white Chardonnay,” Sara said.
“A Calfkiller beer,” Ross said.
Sara could feel the Saturday night party spirit. The busy surroundings put her at ease. A wide screen TV over the liquor bottles and mirror played local news.
“This is an excellent place in case you haven’t been here before, Sara. The steak or seafood will melt in your mouth. I used to take my wife here at least once a month.”
“I haven’t been. I should get out more than I do, especially since the girls are older now. We pop into less expensive places maybe once a week. Otherwise I’m a pretty good cook.”
“My wife was a good cook.”
Sara thanked the bartender as he placed down a tall wine glass. The evening news shifted to national news as she decided to glance up. Other patrons looked up at the concerned reporter and banner streaming underneath the newsroom which spoke of a national health alert not seen since the pandemic influenza outbreak many years ago. The current PAM made that outbreak seem like a sneeze during the flu.
Smelling the sweet aroma of her Chardonnay she thought of Danny, deeply immersed in the biggest far-reaching local news event stemming out of their own Nashville.
----------
The house was quiet. Even Annabel and Nancy were sound asleep. They had watched a short rental movie and had gone to bed before eleven. Danny had rolled in an old but comfortable desk chair from the other room and sat next to Julia’s crib. The curtain was parted all the way and he stared out at the black night, the moon, a crescent figure brilliant behind the trees. He had always been fascinated with the night sky, especially when he’d had late nights at the Caney Fork River, and suddenly regretted never having a telescope to scan the stars.
He looked over at Julia, off in some dreamland. That’s what he’d do if he ever got to spend substantial time with her, he’d purchase an optical instrument to enhance their understanding of astronomy.
Danny studied her little face - angelic with snow white, blemish free skin, and a long nose. Her dark blonde hair was fine and already a good inch long. Her wide set eyes were a dead giveaway from her mother. Rachel’s eyes were spectacular and Danny guessed his daughter would follow in her footsteps. Their color bordered on aqua blue.
His dilemma hadn’t changed because Mark still hadn’t called. While pondering what to do the next day, he faintly heard the garage door open and close beneath the bedroom. He hoped Casey would stop in before going to bed.
The lowest setting of the three-way light bulb from the dresser lamp was on, so a faint light spilled under the door. Casey saw it as he made his way down the hall. He tapped on Julia’s door and quietly pushed it open.
Glad to see him, Danny prompted Casey forward with a wave. “Come on in. How was work?”
“Are you making up for lost time with her?” Casey asked back. “It’s pretty late.”
“I believe I am. I feel so guilty about her situation.”
Casey looked clean cut for coming off work. His white shirt looked effortlessly wrinkle free, he wore dark pants and a sharp looking black belt. He nodded with understanding at Danny’s remark and went to the windowsill and sat in the alcove.
“Guess where Mark and I went to pick up a patient today?” Casey asked.
Danny shrugged, “Opryland?”
“No, but you’re on the right track. A movie theatre. In the aisle, in a crowded showing, while the movie still churned along. By the time we left, they had stopped it but I don’t know how they were going to make it up to the customers.”
“What about the patient?”
“He probably had a stroke.”
“What was playing?”
“Don’t know exactly, but I think it was one of those superhero things with far too much action and violence.”
“That’s probably why the patient stroked.”
Julia squirmed with restlessness for a minute while they sat in silence.
“So what’s going on with Julia?” Casey asked.
“I never heard back from Mark. If I don’t hear back from him tomorrow morning, I don’t think I should bring her back to Rachel.”
“You’d be doing the correct and moral thing by not handing her back to an abusive situation, but you could get in a heap of trouble. I have off tomorrow. I’ll come with you for the exchange if you decide to meet Rachel, but I’ll help in any way you need.”
Danny took a deep breath. If he gave her back to Rachel tomorrow, he could be putting her into a perilous situation. He would never forgive himself for that. “What would you do, Casey?”
“I wouldn’t let her set foot out of this house, metaphorically speaking, that is.”
----------
Sunday morning Danny dangled his arm alongside the bed, feeling for Dakota’s wavy coat. The dog wasn’t to be seen and he wasn’t lying next to the bed. Danny couldn’t remember when that had ever happened before. He swung his legs off the side of the mattress, got up, and walked in his underwear to the bathroom. He slithered toothpaste on his brush and as he swished it around his mouth, he peeked out the back window. As far as he could tell, his furry friend wasn’t out back either.
Danny threw on shorts and deck shoes and pulled a tee-shirt on over his head as he walked quickly to Julia’s room. It was almost nine o’clock so he’d certainly slept in. Julia wasn’t there. He smiled at the dependability of living with a joint family.
“Will you look at that?” Danny said with a big smile when he got downstairs. Julia had an advanced toddler grip in Dakota’s neck hair, sharing the same space next to the coffee table. Dakota didn’t even get up to greet him.
“They are precious together,” Mary said, rinsing dishes at the sink. She still wore pajamas and slippers and looked backwards towards her brother.
“Thanks, Mary. Looks like you took care of Julia this morning. I didn’t mean to sleep in.” Danny came over and planted his arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze.
“You’re welcome,” she said as the garage door opened and Casey came in with Annabel and Nancy, each of them with a grocery bag. As they said good morning to Danny and shoved the things on the counter, Casey went back out and brought in a dog food bag.
Nancy yanked at her hair, pushing one side in front of her ear. She peered into the bags and found what she was looking for. The six-pack of glazed donuts came out while Annabel’s hand was already flipping the box top open. “You pig,” Nancy said as Annabel took her first bite by the time the box made contact with the counter.
Annabel rolled her eyes while turning her back to her sister.
“We need a joint discussion,” Danny said. “As Casey knows, I’m not giving Julia back to Rachel today. I’m calling her to let her know. So, I have a dilemma about taking care of Julia when I go to work tomorrow and don’t know how long I’ll have her or what’s going to happen.”
“Ha, Dad, look at that,” Nancy said after she swallowed. “Dakota can take care of her.”
“You idiot,” Annabel said.
Nancy’s shoulders moved up and down. “Just kidding, you moron.” She put a donut on a paper napkin. “Dad, school starts this week otherwise you could’ve paid me to babysit all summer.”
Danny took the dog food bag, turned around and put it in the bottom of the pantry. “Yeah, bad timing. Thanks for the offer anyway.”
“But we could still do it once in awhile,” Annabel said, “if she stays with you.”
Danny stepped back up to the counter and also took a donut as Mary placed a cup of coffee before him. “Thanks Mary.”
“The lady who cleans here every two weeks,” Mary said, “with your monetary input for expenses, has minded her grandkids part-time all summer. But the kids go back to school. I could ask her if she’d like to come in every day and help out. I could take care of her to around nine a.m. every day and fill in, too.”
“And between the two of us coming and going,” Casey chimed in, “we could look after her. After all, she’s part of the family now.”
“Dakota is even helping out,” Mary said, pointing to the scene on the floor.
Danny watched each of them one by one, without hesitation, offer whatever assistance they could. He didn’t deserve a family or a friend like this after all the trouble he’d bestowed on them. He took a big sigh of relief. “You all are the best,” he said. He couldn’t say more or he’d choke up.
----------
Danny grabbed the portable phone and stepped out back where it would be quiet. He called Rachel’s cell phone, but it went straight to voicemail. That’s not what he needed. He thought quickly about the message he had to leave. The beep came on and he began his recital.
“Rachel, I don’t know what’s going on with Julia, but it’s obvious she’s been physically abused. We’ll have to clear up this whole issue, but in the meantime, I can’t morally give her back to you. I won’t be coming to the interstate rest area today at 5 o’clock to give her to you. I’ve called my attorney but haven’t heard back from him. Please call me when you get this.”
Danny hung up. He hadn’t minced words and had been straightforward. She had plenty of time to call back.
----------
Rachel was exhausted. After her crazy Friday of moving and meeting Danny, after working on Saturday, and after unpacking almost everything she owned that morning and afternoon, she was ready to lie on the bed and take a nap. She looked at the night table clock she had just set from her watch and realized she had to hustle to meet Danny at the interstate exit at five.
Luckily her bathroom had been set up with her routine toiletries and makeup. She dabbed some eyeliner on, a hint of lipstick, and slipped ivory earrings into her pierced ears. She decided to keep on her low slung cotton shorts, but changed her top into a wildlife shirt she’d gotten somewhere up north. She threw things into her purse, including a bottle.
Rachel didn’t bother packing her cell phone which was off and sat deep in the corner shelf. It had been turned off on Friday when she left Leo’s. There was no way she was going to answer or listen to any of his incoming calls. She expected he was furious at her and had rung her up several times. The best thing was to let him cool off a few days and allow him to evaluate his situation, get her money, and meet her at Maxine’s on Wednesday. She’d deal with him then and in the safety of a public place.
Heading west out of Knoxville on a late Sunday afternoon proved to be a snap compared to a weekday. The number of lanes dropped off to two by the time she hit twenty miles out. She turned off the light air conditioning, rolled the back windows down to half way, and enjoyed a prerecorded car show, more humorous than serious. An hour and a half later, she exited the interstate to the same rest area as Friday night. Without seeing Danny’s car, she got out of her vehicle and hurried in to use the restroom. When she came out, she waited where she’d sat two nights ago.
After fifteen minutes, she cursed under her breath. She hastily got off the now uncomfortable bench, grabbed her purse, and walked to the glass doors in a huff. Hopefully, he was headed her way and would get a wind of her temper. She pushed the door open but still didn’t see him, or Casey for that matter. More importantly, there was no sign of Julia.
She walked out to the path and headed toward the area where the cars rolled in, even further to the dog walk area. Maybe Danny had brought Dakota and needed to take care of him first. Turning around, she scanned the truck lot, but then went and sat on the nearest picnic bench and watched every car that drove in and parked. She waited another forty-five minutes, to no avail.
The fact that Danny had planned not to bring Julia back to her had never crossed her mind. Maybe he had more balls than she thought, in which case she had truly underestimated him. But if he thought he was going to get away with it, he was dead wrong. Julia meant more to her than any irrelevant man. She’d make sure he’d get a surprise he hadn’t banked on.
Chapter 20
Not far from the rest area, Rachel took an exit littered with fast food signs and ran into the gas station travel center, as busy as a mini mall. She waited in line and asked to borrow a phone book. After looking up the nearest police station to her house, she got back on the road.
After parking her car outside the sheriff’s office, Rachel pulled her visor down and looked in the mirror. She dragged her purse into her lap, rummaged for a lipstick, and carefully applied color. Her brush came out next and she lightly ran it through her hair.
When Rachel got out of her CRV, she took a deep breath and ran up the steps. She yanked the door open and hurried to the policeman at the desk, his head buried in a newspaper. “Who should I talk to, sir? My baby has been unlawfully taken by her father.”
“Sounds like an internal domestic matter,” the elderly policeman said dismissively. He rolled back his chair and scratched his belly with thick, round fingers.
Rachel bit her lip. “I wouldn’t call it that. Please, sir, this needs attention.”
He grinned and picked up the phone, spoke softly and hung up. “Go through the door and make a right. Officer Parks will speak with you.”
Rachel scurried away from him. When she made a right and headed down the hall, a blonde-mustached man peered out of an office. In his early forties, he fit her description of the ideal man specializing in law enforcement.
“Hello, Miss,” he said. “Come in and have a seat. I’m Officer Parks.” He stepped back to let her in and motioned to an old wood chair.
“I’m Rachel Hendersen, nice to meet you. I wish it were under different circumstances.” She silently applauded her subtle yet perfect remark. She wouldn’t mind being pulled over by him.
His brow went up and she caught a gleam in his eye, but it passed quickly. “What seems to be the problem, Miss Hendersen?”
“I have an infant, sir, who is under the protection of specific court orders and she lives with me. This is the first weekend her father has been allowed visitation. There are concerns by myself, the lawyers and the judge that he might try to take her from me.” She crossed her legs. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to slow down a bit. You see, I’m a total wreck.”
“Take your time. I’ll ask you questions in a minute.” He slid a form from a pile in front of him and dropped a pen on top.
“Anyway, three hours ago, based on detailed arrangements, I went to pick her up from her father. I waited an hour. He never showed with my daughter!”
“Ma’am, this is …”
“Please, Officer Parks, call me Rachel.” Moisture accumulated in her eyes and she wrung her hands.
“Good grief,” he said, “don’t start crying. I want you to know this is not uncommon and the police often don’t get involved with this type of situation when it’s so fresh.”
“Officer Parks, I can understand that. However, like I said, it’s the first time her father was allowed to take her. And he lives in Nashville. They only gave him from Friday night until today and I haven’t heard from him.”
Evan Parks looked around for a tissue box. He leaned over to the shelf and grabbed a thin box and handed it across the desk.
“Thanks.” She swiped one out while noticing the absence of a wedding ring and dabbed the corner of her eyes.
“Okay, I need to fill in this form, but I’ll tell you right now I’m going to wait until the morning. If you still don’t have your daughter or a plausible explanation, I’ll ask the Nashville office to look into this, especially to make sure your daughter is safe as well as returned to you.”
Rachel let out a big sigh and clasped her hands together. “I think you’re my hero.”
----------
Monday morning Danny peeked into Julia’s room before the sun came up, the night light illuminating her sleeping figure. He silently went downstairs and let Dakota out for a few minutes while readying a to-go cup of coffee. Dakota came back in with a stick and Danny stealthily threw it into the trash. “Bye, Dakota, you be a good boy for Mary and Casey today and mind Julia, too.”
He drove to work listening to talk radio while occasionally taking a sip at a red light. Not only did he feel obligated, but he longed to visit Michael Johnson and Bill Patogue. He found a premium parking space, slid on his white jacket, and went straight to the ICU where both of them were spending a comatose existence.
Activity at the nurses station was quiet. It was well before the 7 a.m. shift change. Bill’s room was closer, so Danny slid in there unnoticed. Bill had changed. He no longer looked younger than his forty-two years, but looked older than Danny. On the IV poles and pumps, Danny read the labels on all the infusions. Bill was receiving the big gun medications to maintain his blood pressure and the doses were hefty. Danny sat on the bed, took Bill’s hand and held it for awhile. He wished above all that Bill would hang onto life; there was always hope.
Danny went three doors down, nodded at the solo nurse at the desk, and went into Michael’s room. He scoured the IV medications to find that Michael’s circulatory system was in a much better state than Bill’s. The youngster continued to receive the last regimen of antibiotics selected for the PAM patients, but he wasn’t on any vasopressors. He also had a central line with liquid nourishment being infused at a steady slow rate. Danny sat alongside him and took the youngster’s hand in his gloved palm. It wasn’t as cold as Bill’s. He said a prayer, hoping the boy would someday go back to school, books, and girls. He closed his eyes tight, knowing his mom and dad had passed away.
When Danny walked out of the room, Timothy Paltrow and Peter Brown were coming into the ICU together, talking quietly. Timothy shuffled with his cane and the ICU ceiling light bounced off Peter’s bald head. Danny waited and they stopped in front of him. “Morning, gentlemen,” he said.
“Good morning as well,” Tim said. “Did you see Michael and Bill?”
“I did. I can’t add any more suggestions to what you both are already doing for them.”
“I’m going to start a central line on Bill today,” Tim said.
The three of them shot dismal glances at each other. “Have either of you spoken to Ralph or Joelle?” Danny asked. “National PAM numbers are growing exponentially.”
“We have,” Peter said. “We’re talking to Ralph in a few hours for another update, particularly if he has news to report on treatment research.”
“I saw Joelle Saturday,” Danny said. “We considered a long-shot possibility – something to explore as far as a cure. If anything develops about that, you’ll be the first ones to know.”
Tim tapped his cane. “What does it involve?”
“Dog saliva.”
----------
Although he wanted to smooth his hand over Mary’s shoulder and kiss her good-bye, Casey got up without disturbing her. Today was Monday, the start of a seven-to-three week. After dressing, he peeked in on Julia, sleeping with a precious curved outline as only a baby can do. His heart melted when he saw Dakota stretched under the crib. Dakota popped his head up and looked at Casey as if to say, “Chill. I’ve got her taken care of.”
When Casey went downstairs, he made an instant coffee from the jar Danny had left on the counter and brought it with him. Outside the ER, Mark was already preparing their ambulance for a run. Casey jumped up into the back.
“We’re off and running,” Mark said. “How was your weekend?”
“Better than I deserve, how about yours?”
“My weekends could use improvement.”
“What have we got?”
“Big MVA outside the city, with multiple ambulances en-route.”
Casey raised his eyebrows, unbuttoned his top button, and rolled up his sleeves.
“There’s major trauma and head cases,” Mark said. “I’m running inside to let them know we’re on our way.”
Casey decided to let Danny know. The Neurosurgical Group of Middle Tennessee has enough of a doc shortage, Casey thought. Giving Danny information about incoming trauma may help them juggle their morning surgeries, rounds, and office appointments. He rang Danny also knowing he wouldn’t be in surgery yet. “Danny, it’s Casey, you should expect major head trauma this morning. Mark and I are going out now.”
“Thanks for the heads up.”
“And Julia was still sleeping like a baby when I left, along with her new guardian, Dakota.”
Danny pictured it. “Thanks. What an unexpected team. Okay, have to run.”
“Me too,” Casey said. He hung up and Mark jumped into the driver’s seat and started the ignition.
En-route to the southern interstate accident, continuous chatter from police and first responders sounded on their radio. For some reason, even seasoned accident first responders registered shock upon arriving at the scene. Mark drove furiously fast, but kept a step ahead of other automobiles that could present problems. He slowed once because an old gentleman, barely high enough in his seat to see out the front window, continued to drive in the fast lane. Mark peeled onto the shoulder lane, hugged the median, and zipped past him.
Finally they came upon traffic barely crawling, so the ambulance drove on the shoulder the rest of the way. They slowed to a minimum speed as troopers on foot guided them into a safe, yet close, spot to park. Casey and Mark piled out of the vehicle.
Wreckage, glass, police, and first responders dotted the highway. The first vehicle planted in the right lane was a humongous semi, the front cab not touched. But the next vehicle was the remnants of a white sedan, which had its front end all the way to its rear seats jammed under the truck. The top of it didn’t exist anymore, at least to the naked eye. A car had also hit this vehicle from the back end.
Another ambulance’s personnel slipped a patient on a stretcher into their vehicle as Casey and Mark met a trooper half way. “What happened and what do you have for us?” Casey asked. His adrenaline had kicked in. He wanted to save a life.
“The truck here wasn’t responsible, but the driver’s hurt and they’re taking him now.” He nodded to the departing ambulance.
Casey stared at the main gnarled mess of the car wedged under the back of the truck. It was as bad as they get. He looked at the trooper. “I told my neurosurgeon buddy we’d be bringing in a head case, and it looks like we’re going to deliver.”
“Not from this one.”
Casey and Mark huddled closer to him. The surrounding noise and commotion made it difficult to hear him. “Why not?” Mark asked.
“Because the guy in this car was decapitated. His head is in the back seat. He was texting while driving, drove right underneath the semi. It was the last text he’ll ever deliver.”
Casey felt sick. He’d been to a lot of accident scenes, but this topped them all. He tasted the instant coffee he had sipped on earlier. His heart sped faster and he wanted to scream out that it should be against the law to text while driving. However, the guy probably shouldn’t have had a driver’s license in the first place.
He looked at Mark, who’d turned pale. The officer was making a valid attempt to lure them to the next car which had plowed into the mess. “Mark, are you alright?” Casey asked.
Mark nodded. “What’s wrong with this world, anyway?”
“Fellas, here’s your patient,” the officer said, breaking into their thoughts and discussion.
The woman they extracted was clearly a patient for the trauma service and Dr. Danny Tilson.
----------
On Monday morning, police officer Evan Parks itched to call the distressed lovely lady who had paid him a visit on his evening shift the night before. He felt it would be all right if she called in the status of her baby girl’s whereabouts, but he wanted to contact her first personally. She had grabbed his attention. However, she hadn’t left a phone number for him to reach her.
As he walked out of his office to pour more generic stationhouse coffee, he grabbed his ringing phone. “Officer Parks,” he said.
“Oh, they put me through quickly,” a velvet-voiced female said. After talking with her only once, he would recognize her voice anywhere. “Officer, this is Rachel Hendersen. We met last night. I am calling to confirm that I am ready to plunge from the George Washington Bridge if I don’t get my baby back. And I don’t even live in New York.”
“Okay, Miss Hendersen. It is miss, correct?”
“Yes sir.”
“Okay, let’s see what we can do about this.” But this time, he was going to get her phone number.
----------
Dr. Bruce Garner slipped a patient’s chart over the desk to the office billing clerk. “This patient is getting dressed and will be out in a moment. If she can’t pay her co-pay today, just waive it for later.” Matthew Jacob came up alongside him and also slipped billing paperwork on the desk.
“One office person out sick and we all feel the shortage,” Bruce said, grimacing. “Plus, I can’t wait for Dr. Jeffrey Foord to start.”
Matthew shifted his eyes as Bruce continued. “Danny’s got his hands full seeing all our patients and doing surgeries today. And you should have limited hours today after being on call this weekend. It must seem like residency again to you two.”
“I must admit,” Matthew said, “it’s a challenge. He gazed out to the waiting room as the door opened and two uniformed officers entered. Matthew’s eyes grew wide. He’d never seen holsters and guns in their office. Bruce still blabbered about the practice, so Matthew tapped his hand on the counter and motioned ahead.
One policeman stayed at the door while the tall one approached the desk. Patients reading magazines in the waiting area lowered them away from their eyes and mumbled amongst themselves.
“Who’s in charge here?” the tall one said across the counter. “We’re looking for a Dr. Danny Tilson.”
Bruce felt like he’d swallowed his tongue. What the hell did Danny do now? “He’s over at the hospital seeing patients. He’ll be in surgery at some point, too. Is there something I can do for you?”
The officer listened while he gazed at the three doctor’s business cards on the counter. He picked up Danny’s card. “No. We’ll take care of this with him. Good day, docs.” He turned, surveying the office, and exited with his partner. He waved the card in front of them. “I’ll never go see this guy,” he said.
Chapter 21
Danny continued rounds before his delayed late morning surgeries started. He had Bruce’s and Matthew’s patients to see, too. The list of names was so long, he kept looking at it and shoving it back into his pocket. The paper now resembled a wad of paper that had been tucked into a pants pocket and gone through a washing machine cycle.
The clerk at the desk checked off Danny’s orders from the previous patient and helped him find the last chart he needed. He finally sat, looked through his patient’s progress over the weekend and any additions Matthew had made, and went to see his craniotomy from late last week. When he went in the man’s room, the man looked up from reading a paperback. His face soured. “I heard you left a sponge in my brain last week,” he said.
Danny froze. No way, not that he was aware of. His pulse quickened. But maybe Matthew had discovered it over the weekend by CT. Not one more thing. Plus, he better get the man to surgery if there was any truth to it.
“Does that mean you’ve given me a memory like a sponge?” the man said, breaking his seriousness. “And do I owe you extra for the craniotomy?” The man chuckled.
Danny could walk again, but the patient’s remarks this morning didn’t strike him as funny. “I think you’re off the hook but I don’t think I’ve improved your mental status. However, the sponge idea may be a good one for dementia research.”
Finally, Danny smiled back. He unwrapped the man’s head bandages and discussed his discharge from the hospital. When he returned to the nurses station and finished discharge orders, his beeper went off. They needed him in the ER stat.
He made it down the stairwell at topnotch speed to the sleepy emergency room, except around the trauma room and hallway. Danny wiggled his way through where Mark gave report to the ER doc with Casey behind him. The female patient with Spanish features and an endotracheal tube already in place also wore a neck brace. Danny nudged Casey’s arm, and they both went to the head of the table.
The first thing Danny did while listening to Casey’s account of the accident scene was to evaluate her head and reaction to light. He kept working while Casey added the story about the texting driver. Danny shot him a mournful glance, and then continued.
Casey stepped back as an orderly tugged at his sleeve. “I think those guys are looking for Dr. Tilson,” he said. At the doorway, a police officer grinned at the scene.
“Are you sure?” Casey asked.
“That’s what I heard.”
Casey weaseled his way through. “Who are you looking for, officer?” In the hallway, Casey spotted another uniformed cop by the back door.
“Dr. Danny Tilson. That’s him in there, right?”
Casey nodded. “Can it wait a minute?”
The narrowed-eyed man didn’t respond, but stepped against the back wall. Casey went back to the trauma patient as Danny conversed with the ER doc, discussing the need for a head CT as soon as possible.
“Danny,” Casey said, “there are two cops here asking to talk to you.”
“I just had a joke pulled on me upstairs. I’ve had my quota for the day.”
“Danny, I wish it was a joke.”
A path cleared and Danny spotted the man in blue. “What the …” He didn’t say the expletive as he joined the deputy. They went into the hallway with Casey trailing.
“Let’s go somewhere quieter.” Danny pointed to the kitchen. The three of them stepped in, where the room was empty of personnel.
“You’re Danny Tilson?”
“I am.”
“Your baby girl has been reported missing,” the officer said as he eyed the coffee pot. “The mother filed a report in Knoxville. She thinks you have her and you’re not supposed to.”
Danny’s anger welled up. His pulse banged against his temples. Casey handed a Styrofoam cup to the officer, eyeing his friend. “This is backwards,” Danny said. “It is I who should be reporting her. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get this mess cleared up because it was the weekend and my attorney didn’t call me back.”
“And….,” the officer said, as he poured a cup. “Where’s the baby? You’re not a baby snatcher or crazed lunatic, are you? We often don’t get too involved with vindictive domestic troubles and you seem like you have more important things to do. However, kids or babies often have to be found quickly if they’re missing as the odds are unfavorable once they’re gone for more than a day or two. We’re just doing our job.” He finally took a sip of the coffee.
“Rightfully so,” Danny said. “I have Julia. This is my friend, Casey, and he lives with me and can attest to her safety.”
The officer eyed the both of them. “Oh no, it’s nothing like that,” Danny said. “He’s engaged to my sister and we all live in my deceased parent’s house.”
The officer rested his brow and shifted his weight.
“Anyway,” Danny continued, “I got Julia from her mother on Friday night and we found evidence of child abuse. We even had her seen by a pediatrician on Saturday. I couldn’t give her back until this gets resolved. Imagine if I had handed her back to suffer the same treatment. She’s peppered with broken bones and cigarette burns.”
“Ouch,” the deputy said. “Is this true?” he asked Casey.
“Regrettably so,” Casey said. “She’s at the house with my fiancée right now getting appropriate care.”
“I’ll get my attorney today to do something,” Danny said. “You can go by the house if you’d like.”
“I think you two are credible. As a matter of fact, aren’t you one of the guys all over the news these days with this brain epidemic?”
“That’s me,” Danny said.
“You’re saturated with problems, but you all better get a cure.” He took his half cup of coffee with him out the door. “You two have a good day, gentlemen,” he waved. “We’ll call the Knoxville police station. And stay out of trouble.”
----------
Noon came all too quickly. Danny’s first surgery patient had enough anxiolytics, IV meds on board for anxiety, to let him sleep the rest of the day. The OR personnel still had a few more instruments to ready for the case, so Danny made use of every minute in the doctor’s lounge. He’d had a break. After reviewing the trauma patient’s CT scan of her head, he ruled out any intracranial injury. The patient’s hemodynamics from multiple organ injuries had caused her morbid mental status.
He readied a sandwich, the first thing to eat all day, slapping three types of cheese on a robust rye bread and added cole slaw to the plate. He bused a coke over to where he sat at the corner table and moved a nearby telephone beside him mumbling under his breath at his attorney. Since all the major dealings of his divorce and child support to Rachel had been finalized, it was like Mark Cunningham couldn’t be bothered with the small stuff.
Danny dialed, expecting the worst scenario having to leave a voicemail. But Mark answered on the second ring.
“Danny, you’re in my pile of phone calls to make.”
“Mark, I depended on you calling back,” Danny said in an irate tone. “I can understand over the weekend not hearing from you, but you could have called first thing this morning. My message was clear.”
“I have motion hour over in the courthouse on Monday mornings, Danny. You should know that. I’m catching up in the office right now and have clients waiting in the waiting room. But I was going to call you shortly.”
“But I was paid a visit this morning by two policemen while a big trauma came in. Rachel went to the cops because I kept Julia. They wondered if I was a baby kidnapper or something.”
“Well, did you keep her?”
“What do you mean, did I keep her? Would you send your own kid back to be tortured by someone?” Danny tried to keep his passionate voice low.
“Okay, sorry Danny. We’ll have to straighten this out temporarily until the bigger picture gets resolved.”
“What do you mean temporarily? Rachel obviously shouldn’t have her daughter full time.”
“Danny, you haven’t been in the system long enough. There’s nothing permanent in family court.”
Danny fought to gather his composure. He waited a good ten seconds, but Mark spoke first.
“Give me the name of the pediatrician and tell him I will contact him today. I will get something in front of the judge by tomorrow. We’ll try and get Julia to stay with you for the present time and Rachel to only get supervised visitation. You are probably quite aware, it’s difficult to prove child abuse, so I don’t know if you’re considering filing charges. Plus, you don’t know if it was the mother. Single mothers get involved with some strange bedfellows.”
Finally, Mark was making more sense. At the heart of it, Mark usually knew what he was talking about. “Okay, do the utmost you can. Besides looking after a baby’s welfare, we can’t have me visited again by the police. I thought I was going to be handcuffed and transferred to jail.”
“I’ll come down hard about that issue. That was your former lover’s, I mean girlfriend’s, attempt to be malicious. You have been sending her the allotted child support, correct?”
“I have. But I did have to switch my weekend’s visitation with Julia from last weekend to this weekend. That probably upset her.”
“Rest assured I’ll be on the phone with Rachel’s attorney, Phil Beckett, when I get off the phone with you. So what’s the pediatrician’s name?”
“Dr. Saul Thomas.” Danny gave Mark his number.
“Why don’t I meet you at your office at five o’clock? I’ll talk to that pediatrician first, prepare paperwork, and have something ready for you to sign.”
“Okay, see you later.” Danny took a bite of the cheese sandwich which he’d forgotten about.
----------
After an uncomplicated intracranial surgery, Danny’s last case for the day was a back. Unfortunately for the young adult patient, he had a nerve root compression which resulted from the extrusion of some nucleus pulposus caused by a tear in his annulus fibrosus. In other words, Danny told him, a little too much sport’s practice. The young man had initial pain, was treated conservatively and had resumed routine activities, but relapsed.
Danny kept his thoughts on his case, his patient turned prone and doing extremely well, with little bleeding. Dean did the anesthesia, the first case with Danny for the day. He chit chatted with staff more than Danny and finally stretched his legs and walked to the bottom of the table to evaluate the blood loss.
“Danny, I just heard someone say in the doctor’s lounge that you may be under arrest.” Dean had stopped on the other side of the patient’s open back, blue drapes clean, and few red lap sponges on the field.
“What?” Danny exclaimed.
Dean shrugged his shoulders. The scrub tech looked with scrutiny at Danny.
“I dismissed them saying that, but they said they saw two cops haul you out of the trauma room this morning.”
“Not to worry, I don’t have someone’s brain parts in a jar in my closet.”
“You know how the rumor mill is, Danny. I’d rather let you know what’s being said. Actually, you’re a bit of a holy man around here, being that health care workers can’t figure out how you escaped your patient’s meningoencephalitis.”
“Actually, Dean, the police thing is a personal family matter. But suffice to say, they talked to me because I’m involved with preventing more harm occurring to someone else.”
“So in a way, you are a holy man,” the scrub tech said, handing him an instrument.
“No,” Danny said, “far from it.”
----------
Joelle itched to get done with the last hour’s worth of routine research. She couldn’t abandon it because it was the basis of the backbone of a paper she was writing. Rhonda Jackson from the vet school was on her way. They were going to evaluate the meningoencephalitis amoeba research together.
A med school lab assistant left for the day after logging Joelle’s last hour’s data into the computer. She went into the rest room for the mirror and tied her hair tighter off her face. She stayed extra careful around the epidemic research with her hands and face, clothes and equipment.
When Rhonda still hadn’t arrived, Joelle lined up two more microscopes. That would save time. Besides other antibiotic research, they had three simultaneous experiments going on with the dogs’ saliva because they had used three different dogs. She went to the other side of the lab which housed shelves of equipment, and pulled three clean microscope slides from a small box. While there, she turned up the volume of soft rock on the radio, then went back to her main bench.
Joelle began preparing the three slides as Rhonda showed up.
“Hi, Joelle,” she said, pulling gloves over her pink nail polished fingers. “I left a group of students with rat dissections. That’ll keep them busy.”
“I hope so, now let’s see what we’ve got here.” Joelle placed the three slides under the three scopes as Armageddon’s “I don’t wanna miss a thing” began on the radio. “Well, that’s appropriate,” she said. “Let’s see if we can live up to the song.”
Joelle and Rhonda looked into the microscopes from left to right, in order of the dogs they had selected. Silence and disappointment enveloped the two women until the third slide. Joelle shot her head up. “Rhonda, look at this,” she said excitedly. “We’re onto something. Let’s go get some more dog samples.”
Chapter 22
When he left the hospital, the humidity in the air hit Danny like a warm washcloth. He turned the air conditioning in his car on high for the short ride to the office. As he slipped out of his Lexus and went in the back door of the office building, his cell phone rang. Danny peeled up the back staircase two steps at a time as he answered.
“Danny, it’s Joelle. I’m with Rhonda and we’re at the lab. Come on over if you get a chance. We’ve got good news and bad news.”
“I’ve got some personal matters to take care of at the office, but I’ll be there after that.”
Danny hung up as he arrived at the office. A cluster of patients still sat in the waiting room. “Hi everybody,” he said, passing the girls at the front counter. Cheryl saw him and stepped up close. She motioned him into the kitchen where Bruce looked in the refrigerator for a patient’s medication.
“Danny, are you okay?” Cheryl asked.
“Better yet, what did you do?” Bruce asked. “There were gun-carrying cops in our office this morning looking for you. Did someone pay your bail?” Bruce smiled at his last remark.
“It’s a long story, but they were barking up the wrong tree. Actually, my attorney is taking care of it now. He’ll be here soon for me to sign paperwork to go before a judge.”
Cheryl still had a question mark on her face. “My baby daughter has signs of child abuse so I didn’t give her back to her mother this weekend. I’ll get it straightened out.”
Bruce finally let the refrigerator door close. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Me, too, Danny, that’s terrible,” Cheryl said. “That woman has given you nothing but trouble, but she doesn’t have to hurt an innocent child.”
Danny nodded. When he left the kitchen with both of them, Mark Cunningham stood in the waiting room.
“Mark, come on back,” Danny said. He looked dapper in a light brown suit and followed Danny with quick baby steps to his office. “Have a seat,” Danny pointed to the couch and sat opposite him, wondering if his sixty year old attorney had ever lost a strand of hair in his life.
“I weaseled my way into getting a medical statement from that pediatrician upstairs,” Mark said. “And he’ll testify if it comes to that.” He opened his brief case and laid out several papers on the table. Danny read the one pertaining to Julia. On paper, the description of breaks and bruises and burns were enough to make a normal person livid.
When Danny finished, Mark pointed to the other papers. “These are what you need to sign. I’m not asking for a restraining order for the mother, but supervised visitation. The current arrangement I want flip-flopped. You have Julia, and she gets the visitation. I think it’s what the judge will agree to until a more formal hearing and requests are made.”
“So, does this change the definition of the actual joint custody?”
“No, custody is still joint. Changing that would be another big deal and I don’t think we’d get that changed anyway. For now, let’s focus on your baby girl’s safety.”
“Perfect,” Danny said. “I hope this works.” Danny started skimming over Mark’s motion and then signed.
“I’ll call you tomorrow if I get any action on this.” Mark got up. “Another thing. I hope you’re not seeing more women like her now that you’re single. I’ve got enough business.”
Danny grinned at his straightforward lawyer.
“And I hope you’re not getting contaminated with that deadly disease,” Mark added, “or you may need to find another attorney.”
----------
Danny got back into his car. He’d cracked the windows open while he was gone only to find the heavy air’s moisture on the dashboard. The weather better turn nice in the next month, he thought as he started the engine, or Casey and Mary’s wedding plans would be foiled. He drove back to the medical campus, and entered the glass bottomed building. A mixture of students and residents passed him with books and backpacks. They carried high hopes of someday being in his physician shoes.
Upstairs near the lab, he heard Bob Dylan singing “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” He donned the precautionary lab clothing and came up behind Joelle and Rhonda. “Sounds gritty in here,” he said, “like the OR sounds sometimes.”
“Hey, Danny,” Joelle said. “Yes, soft rock helps me think.”
“Makes me dance,” Rhonda said. She bowed and strummed an imaginary guitar.
Joelle turned sideways beaming at Danny. “Wait until you see this.”
“Let’s show him the others for comparison,” Rhonda said, her elation showing with her bobbing head.
With Joelle’s feverish enthusiasm, she pushed Danny to the left. “So look in here.” She motioned for his head to lean forward and get his forehead on the scope.
Danny shot her a glance and laughed. “Don’t you both know I do microscopic work on people’s brains?”
“That’s right, sorry.” Joelle nevertheless waved her hand for him to get looking.
Danny positioned his eyes at the eyepiece and rotated the coarse adjustment knob.
“See our culprit? It’s the trophozoite form. You can see it’s intact, even it’s pseudopodia, responsible for its movement.”
“Got it,” Danny said.
“Sample number 1, the Golden Retriever’s saliva, hasn’t done a thing to it.” Joelle pulled him back to the middle microscope. “Look under here, and it’s the same thing with sample number 2.”
Danny nodded in agreement while looking. “That one’s the mixed collie,” Rhonda added.
Before Joelle dragged him again, he stepped over to scope three and fine tuned the focusing.
“And voila,” Joelle said, “there’s a trophozoite, there’s a difference. The amoeba’s cell membrane has been violated. I think it’s from an enzyme in the dog’s saliva.”
“The Newfoundland gets the filet mignon,” Rhonda said.
“I see it,” Danny said, echoing their excitement. “I can understand the importance. But now what?”
“We’re close yet so far,” Joelle said. “Right now, there is nothing in the samples that disarms this organism. I even injected the saliva into other trophozoites, but nothing happens. We’ll hope to get into the cell with something extractable from this saliva, but now we need to find a missing link. We must find what can be carried along with this enzyme into the cell to destroy it.”
“And we still wonder about your situation, Danny,” Rhonda said. “Joelle and I went and got more dog samples and have started working on them.” She checked their notepad on the lab bench. Samples four, five, and six are a beagle, Labrador retriever, and a greyhound.”
“Have you contacted Ralph yet at the CDC since time is of the essence?” Danny asked. “Perhaps they can parallel the path you’re both on.”
“I’m calling him as soon as we wrap up here,” Joelle said.
“Speaking of wrapping up,” Rhonda said, “I’ve got some students who wanted to meet with me after their dinner break. I ‘gotta run. It’s been real.”
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Rhonda,” Joelle said. “Appreciate all the help.”
“No prob. Bye, Dr. Danny.”
Rhonda pulled off her protective accessories at the door and was gone.
“One more thing about dog saliva. I’m going to give you the tools to get and bring in some of your dog’s saliva, the one that licked you. Can you do that tomorrow?”
“I’ll work it in.”
Joelle pulled a silver pen from her lab coat. “I’m making him number seven. What’s his breed?”
“Chesapeake Bay retriever.”
“Okay, got it,” she said, writing it down. Why don’t I come by your office tomorrow and pick it up? Will you be there?”
“That’ll work.”
“Now, please, I didn’t ask in front of Rhonda. What’s going on with your daughter’s situation? Is there anything I can do to help? And has there been any healing with the other love of your life, your ex-wife?”
Danny could tell her a lot, but he also had to get home to Julia.
“That’s all right, we can save some of it for another time,” Joelle said. “I must admit, part of my curiosity is because I don’t know anyone as interesting as you.” Joelle patted him on his arm. “However, I’m willing to give you a woman’s perspective.”
----------
Half way home, Danny went by a flower shop he passed every day since living with Mary and Casey, but had never stopped in. He made a right hand turn and parked in their lot behind the building. The inside smelled gloriously sweet. The arranged flowers came in so many vibrant colors, he couldn’t decide. Mary had been a life saver to help him out with Julia. She deserved a token of his thanks.
He wanted the stop to be brief, so he smelled a bouquet of mixed carnations, orchids, and roses and took them out of the bucket. Then he grabbed another one and went to the counter. “One I’d like to take with me, and the other one I’d like you to send tomorrow with a gift card.”
The smiling woman wore an apron full of daisy pictures and handed Danny a form for the recipient’s address. Danny filled in Sara’s address and took a gift card. He wrote Sara’s name on the envelope and inside the card he only wrote, Just because … He signed it Love, Danny.
----------
At home, Mary was pulling a meatloaf out of the oven. When she turned around, Danny presented her with the flower arrangement. “For me?” she asked.
“Yes, thank you for helping me with Julia.”
“You’re welcome. She’s a sweetheart.” She placed the pan on a trivet and took the flowers. “But I think Dakota deserves these more than I do.”
“Where is Dakota?”
“He’s upstairs with Casey right now. They’re putting Julia to bed.”
“Yikes, I guess it is a baby’s time for sleep. I better go up. I would have been here already, but I had to stop at the lab.”
Danny hurried up the steps. Casey stood over Julia, patting her back as Danny entered the room and Dakota rushed to greet him. “I didn’t know you had a way with babies. I sure do appreciate you, Mary, and Dakota helping out.”
“If Mary and I decide to have kids, at least I’ll have a jump start. I bet you have a lot to tell me after that talk with the cops.”
Danny nodded. He wanted to hold Julia, but knew better than to disturb her going to sleep. “Let’s go down. Mary has prepared dinner.”
The flowers were nicely arranged in a vase when they got downstairs. “From Danny,” Mary said to Casey.
“Nice bouquet,” Casey acknowledged while Mary handed them plates from the cupboard and then placed down a bowl of vegetables and Italian bread.
“Dig in,” Mary said.
Danny sliced the meatloaf. “So here’s my update. The cops were also at our office today, but Bruce wasn’t as annoyed as he usually gets.” He sat down on a stool. “Mark Cunningham is working on my keeping Julia and PAM is still spreading like wildfire. And in the lab? Joelle and a vet named Rhonda found a research tidbit that may prove useful. I have to bring in a sample of Dakota’s saliva in the morning.”
Casey squeezed ketchup on his meat. “That’s progress,” he said. “And how did that patient from the texting accident do?”
“No head case,” Danny said. “She stayed on the trauma service.” Danny looked across at his sister. “Did you get a chance to call the cleaning lady about babysitting?”
“I did. She’s thrilled to death with the offer. She was going to start looking for a part-time job besides the cleaning she does. I told her we don’t know how long we’ll have Julia, but she’s coming tomorrow. Let’s see how she works out.”
----------
Danny woke up before the alarm. Dakota trotted after him into the bathroom and settled on the rug while Danny brushed his teeth and washed his face. “I’m taking your saliva into the lab this morning,” Danny said, after rubbing his face with a towel. He dressed in tan trousers and a light blue shirt and went in to see Julia. He was glad to see her awake, especially since he had some time built in to change her diaper and clothes and hold her for a few minutes. “Bye, Julia, I’ll see you later today.” He put her sitting up in her crib with a small teddy bear.
Dakota followed Danny downstairs where Danny put on a pot of coffee and grabbed the container packet and swabs Joelle had given him. He placed Dakota in a sit. “For this, I wish you were more of a slobberer.” But Dakota was no trouble at all and Danny left the house with a coffee mug and Dakota’s sample.
Chapter 23
Danny dropped off Dakota’s container on his desk and made coffee for the staff. Matthew came in and avoided Danny’s eyes. “Did the cops hunt you down yesterday?” he asked.
“They found me all right.” Danny frowned. Matthew was always last to hear things. “Looks like we’re in charge today,” Danny said, changing the subject, “Bruce has a full load at the hospital.”
Matthew checked his watch, as if he was timing laps. “We’ve got overflow today, too,” he said lightheartedly. “I wore my most comfortable shoes.” Danny checked. They did look as comfortable as the sneakers Dr. Jeffrey Foord wore on his interview.
With a bounce to her step, Cheryl walked in. “Morning, docs,” she said. “Dr. Tilson, your first patient arrived a little early. Feel like getting a head start?”
“You’re a slave driver.” Danny belted out a laugh. “Let’s go.” He was out the door before her.
Danny shook the hand of his first patient. “May I call you Toby?” he asked the twenty-three year old. After evaluating the notes from his primary care physician and taking a full history, he had him read from the eye chart on the back wall, had him take a mini mental exam, and tested his coordination and balance. He had the young man get dressed and then met him in his office.
“Toby, I’m writing an order for you to get an MRI. They’ll schedule the appointment at the desk, okay?”
“I guess if you say so.”
“I’m being safe rather than sorry. Everything may be fine, but it’s wise to get images of your brain.” The young man nodded and carried the paperwork to the front desk.
Except for post-op patients doing well, Danny’s morning was peppered with potential cancer cases. He shuddered at malignancies – it certainly didn’t discriminate its prey. At eleven o’clock, Danny called the local pizza place and rattled off a delivery order for lunch. He no sooner put down the phone when Joelle rounded the corner into his office. Her hair shined like her earrings and she wore a smart casual dress.
“I do have a present for you,” Danny said, standing up. He moved Dakota’s sample in front of her. “So tell me. You’re always asking about me. Don’t you have your own dog at home to get a sample from?”
“No time for a dog, so I have a cat. She’s like a dog, does that count?”
“It depends. Why do you think she’s like a dog?”
“She begs.”
“Oh, I see. Is she enough company?”
“Plenty. And every once in awhile I get tangled up in a relationship, and then have to untie a dozen knots to get out.”
“Sounds complicated.”
Joelle smiled.
“You’ll be happy to know I sent my ex-wife flowers on a whim today. I’m hoping the man she had a date with Saturday night isn’t doing the same thing.”
“You can’t go wrong with flowers. It’s a time tested romantic gesture.” She opened her handbag and carefully put the sample inside. “Oh, by the way, we’ve decided to do a press conference late tomorrow. The press is hammering Robert for our hospital’s update. Ralph is going to come up, too, so we’ll also have a general summary.”
“And maybe you’ll have some lab info to spill?”
“I hope so.”
Danny walked her to the door. “By the way, pizza is coming if you’d like to eat with us.”
“No, I better run. Bugs are waiting for me. And Danny, I hope the situation with your baby is getting resolved.”
“Thanks, Joelle.”
----------
Danny paid the teen delivering the pizzas at the front desk. He started to carry the pies to the kitchen when Joelle came back through the entrance. “Danny,” she said in a quiet tone since the room had patients, “Peter Brown just paged, can I use a phone?” They exchanged serious expressions while Danny scooted her through the front desk door and handed her a phone.
“Peter, it’s Joelle.” A long silence erupted as Joelle’s demeanor soured. “I’m in Danny’s office. I’ll be over. Maybe he wants to come, too.” Joelle leaned over the counter and replaced the phone. She stepped away from the desk out of earshot of the staff. “Peter and Timothy are together in the ICU. They were just going to page you as well. Michael Johnson is dying.”
Danny rested his forehead and short dark hair into his hands. He gulped for air. “I’ve held out the most hope for him. We know this organism literally eats brain cells, but I’ve been in denial. Michael has held out longer, that’s all.”
Matthew came out of a room and spied Danny and Joelle. Danny waved him over. “Matthew, I won’t be long. The source case, our first and youngest patient with the meningoencephalitis, is close to death. Joelle and I are driving over. Would you let Cheryl know for me?” He pointed to the boxes on the desk. “I bought lunch for the office, too, if you could take those back.”
“Thanks, Danny. I’ll tell her.”
----------
Danny and Joelle couldn’t see Michael in bed because Peter and Timothy stood at the foot of his bed. The two physicians looked like a comical pair – the younger Peter with a short stature and shiny bald head, and the older, tall Timothy leaning on a cane with a few hairs dancing as if they were plugged into electricity. But that’s where the entertainment ended, for the two white coated men talked solemnly and in a whisper under their masks, so as not to be heard above the ventilator.
With two steps, Danny and Joelle were next to them. A cloak of death enveloped the very air around them. Under the sheet, Michael’s long frame, like a pronounced skeleton, marked the bed. For sure, Danny knew, despite his thready vital signs displayed on the monitors, Michael’s existence was now far removed.
With their eyes only, all four doctors acknowledged each other. “I have him at the highest dosage of life support infusions I’ve ever run,” Peter said. “He’s been like this all morning.”
“Peter, there is nothing more we can do,” Timothy said. “It’s unfair for Michael to go on like this for a few more hours. It is too gruesome what’s going on in his brain right now.”
Danny’s heart thumped against his chest, an irregular beat, as if reminding him of Michael’s cursed destiny from the moment he had hit fresh water from a high jump. A little more than two weeks ago his future had been taken away from an innocent summer day of fun. He remembered walking into the cubicle in the pre-op area and exchanging a few words with the young boy. In Michael’s head, the proliferation of killers had already begun and there had been nothing Danny could do to stop it.
“Let’s do the right thing,” Danny finally said. He walked over beside the youth. He grasped Michael’s right shoulder, giving it a good-bye squeeze, and further closed the teen’s eyes. He turned the switch to off on the medication pump, and then turned around to the ventilator. He clicked the master switch to off. The drone of the ventilator ceased and within two minutes what little EKG activity had been present was gone.
----------
As Danny returned to the office and Joelle to the lab with Dakota’s saliva, the sky darkened. The built up humidity was waiting to burst in the form of a thundershower. By the time Danny parked and shut down his engine, the rain thrashed his car hood like an expert car wash. The road dust and light pollen disappeared. He reached for the compact umbrella he kept on the back floor and protected himself running into the building.
Danny went straight to his office as Cheryl tagged behind him. “I saved you two pieces of pizza,” she said, “I’ll warm them if you’d like.”
“Cheryl, I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Danny said. “How about just warming one? I’ll eat it here while looking at the next patient’s chart.”
Cheryl brought him warmed pizza and a soda. After savoring every bite, he dug back into seeing patients. He could have blessed the stormy afternoon. There were three no-shows and at four o’clock the last patient called in. The elderly couple said it was too dangerous to drive and the lady would reschedule her appointment. Wrapping up early by four-thirty, Danny’s apprehension finally got the best of him and he called Mark.
“Danny,” Mark said, “I was just going to call you. I’m leaving my office soon. Can we meet for a quick, early dinner?”
“Okay, pick a place outside of Nashville, on the way to our suburbs.”
“I need a meat and potatoes kind of meal. How about that steak place at the Willow intersection?”
“I’ll meet you there in a half hour.”
Danny helped Matthew with an opinion about a diagnosis, grabbed his trusty umbrella, and headed for the restaurant. He had just slid into a booth by a window when Mark’s baby steps brought him quickly across the wooden floor.
“Nice shirt,” Mark said, realizing they both wore a green Oxford.
Danny nodded. “I can’t wait to hear today’s developments.”
A twenty-something year old with red hair stopped at their table. “What can I get you both to drink or eat?” she asked.
“Know what you want, Danny, besides a possible beer?” Mark asked.
“Medium rare rib-eye, vegetable of the day side, and baked potato.”
“Make it two beers and two of the same dinners,” Mark said, “and one bill to me.” The young lady grabbed their unused menus and left.
“Thanks,” Danny said.
“Don’t thank me. It’s factored into your bill.”
“Well, thanks anyway. Saves me the big trouble of taking out my credit card.” Danny grinned.
The waitress returned with two beers and a basket of bread, and filled their glasses with water. “Steaks will be out in a bit,” she said.
Mark slipped his unused reading glasses back in their case. “So first thing I did today was call Rachel Hendersen’s attorney. Phil Beckett was clueless as to what transpired in the last few days, including Rachel sticking the police on you. But he got defensive for her quick enough and ranted how you’d broken a court order to return Julia.”
Danny restlessly moved on the plastic cushioning. He took a sip of beer and placed the mug down harder than he should.
“Anyway, I made our motion into an emergency protective order for Julia and got it before our family court judge this afternoon. If I didn’t have the pediatrician’s signed statement, we’d be sitting here eating crow right now. Phil put up a great defense for his client.”
Danny relaxed, waiting for more definitive good news. Mark split and buttered a small roll. He ate half, keeping Danny waiting. “So, Danny boy, guess what I got ‘ya?”
“Mark, spill it all out.”
“The judge was actually angry about the physical evidence of abuse. Julia is staying with you, except for supervised weekend visitation with Rachel. It will be the same visitation as you had with her. Danny, this is unusual because you two were never married. Unusual for a single mother who had a baby on her own to lose physical custody like that. However, she could bring more into this history if she is so inclined. Like if a relative had hurt Julia, or something like that.”
Mark took a sip of his beer as the waitress placed down their plates. Danny sighed with relief. Sometimes there was a God.
“Now this only deals with visitation. It would be difficult to change custody from joint to sole custody to you. If we tried that, it would involve a lot more, including a trial. But I would let it rest. Family court nowadays won’t even give one parent sole custody if the other spouse is a dead beat, drunkard, or drug addict.”
Danny listened intently, letting his plate cool, while Mark continued.
“The judge also agreed he’d sign a motion for me to amend the child support you’re paying. I’ll draw the papers up tomorrow and simply bring it next Monday to motion hour. I can get that down to practically nothing. Basically it will be a token payment to her for occasional weekends. Not big enough to pay for her designer shoes, or whatever the hell she wore or didn’t wear which caught your attention.” Mark put on a sheepish look and cut a piece of steak.
“This is fantastic news.” Danny looked out at the pouring rain. Life had just changed for the betterment of Julia, but it wasn’t going to be easy for him to raise another child. A baby he had never planned for. And starting over with a youngster at forty-six years old? Nevertheless, he vowed to provide her with a proper moral upbringing, see to all her needs, and love her like his other daughters. And that love stretched to infinity.
“Well, better you than me,” Mark said, butting into his thoughts. “But you did the right thing. Makes up for all the wrongs you’ve done.”
“Mark, if I want a pontificator, I’ll go to church.”
“Sorry, Danny, skirts can be a dangerous thing.”
Danny tried not to roll his eyes. The dinner was going to be delicious and hefty, and like his attorney, maybe almost too much to handle.
Chapter 24
By Tuesday Rachel hoped that any anger Leo felt towards her would have subsided. She’d see him the next night and he’d better bring her payoff.
Rachel also knew that fine cop had followed up with her situation by reporting Danny to the Nashville police. She wished she could have been around to watch the surprise on Danny’s face when he was confronted by men in blue uniforms.
However, she still didn’t have Julia. She trusted that Leo wouldn’t call and harass her now, so she turned on her cell phone. She retrieved Danny’s phone message from Sunday and spent the day on and off calls with her attorney. Phil Beckett told her there was evidence that Julia had been abused, it was rock solid, and that Danny’s lawyer would get to a judge by the end of the day.
She paced back and forth in her new apartment until she’d worn an imaginary track into the old hardwood floor. Phil wasn’t even telling her everything, she assumed, maybe deals were going on behind her back. She was a good mother, she would never bend on that, and it wasn’t her who had caused Julia’s pain and scars. But if she explained to any of them that the person she lived with had done it, that wouldn’t bode well for her either. Half of the injuries Phil had told her about, listed on the pediatrician’s statement, she didn’t even know about. Hell, that Leo was one freaking maniac. She should charge him double for all the trouble he’d caused her.
Rachel made an iced tea and squeezed in a lemon wedge. She sat and drank slowly looking out at the Tennessee River. Storm clouds from the west had rolled in and the rain started picking up. Finally her cell phone rang, an incoming call from Beckett and Livingston.
“Phil, I hope you have a definitive time set up for me to get my daughter back,” Rachel said optimistically.
“Uhh… no, Rachel. I’m afraid not. I want you to know you still do have joint custody with Dr. Tilson.”
“Well, now, I don’t think that was a question.”
“Ms. Hendersen, the visitation schedule has changed. The judge ordered Julia to spend the time previously allotted with you to go to her father. You’ll get supervised visitation on weekends twice a month.”
Rachel could swear her skin erupted with hives. “What?” she yelled. “I thought you were going to fix things today, not make them worse.” She got up and paced her previous path.
“Sorry. The facts you left me to work with, most of which I learned from Mark Cunningham, were dismal. Have you ever considered they could press charges against you?”
“It’s not me,” she mumbled.
“The judge in one swoop also changed your incoming child support. It’ll be a hundred bucks a month, a token for those weekends you have her. The judge said he’d sign it at the next motion hour.”
Rachel slithered back down into a chair. A horrendous headache had begun alongside her temples.
“And Ms. Hendersen, you can file a motion like you’ve been doing to have Dr. Tilson pay my attorney fees because of the huge discrepancy of income, but I wouldn’t count on it this time.”
Rachel wished he stood in the same room as her, because she’d wring his neck with the telephone wire. Then she realized she was so upset, she’d forgotten she was on a cell phone.
“Mr. Beckett,” she said, ramping up her decisiveness, “file that motion. The way I see it, the Judge will consider it tossing me a crumb after taking my daughter away. I’ll send you my new address by email and then send me all the legal paperwork of everything that’s transpired. Good-bye for now.”
Rachel hung up, knowing there was nothing else she could do. However, this would put a serious dent in her finances. The money to be used for rent just disappeared. She paced again. She guessed it was time to call back that police officer, Evan Parks, and find out more about him.
----------
The waitress abruptly stopped at Danny and Mark’s table with a water pitcher and topped off Danny’s glass. The rain outside had ceased to less than a sprinkle and the light thunder now rumbled off in the distance. Danny picked the napkin off his lap and wiped his hands as his cell phone rang registering Casey’s number. The two men had finished discussing legal matters and had turned to lighter topics, so Danny took the call.
“Danny, we all just left the dress shop where Mary got fitted in her wedding dress. We see your parked car. Where are you?”
“At the corner steak restaurant. Come on in. Mark is here and he gave me good news. I’ll treat you all to dinner.” Danny closed his cell phone and put it to the side. “Looks like my sister, her fiancé, and my baby are joining us.”
“Joining you, Danny.” Mark only had half a potato left. He put down his fork and took another sip of his half-full beer. “I better get going. We’ll talk soon and I’ll get the bill on the way out.” Mark slithered out from the bench and paid the bill at the register. When the group entered the front of the restaurant, Mark introduced himself to Casey and the girls. Sara was with them and Mark had previously met her in court because of the Tilson’s divorce hearings. He smiled at Julia in Casey’s arms and said, “So this must be little Julia.”
Danny waved the family over. The waitress with the red hair moved the adjoining table next to theirs. Danny got up and took Julia from Casey, giving her a hug and a kiss. “What a surprise,” he said. “Please scoot in here where I was,” he said to Sara, “and I’ll sit at the end with Julia.” Casey and Mary sat opposite and the girls sat at the wooden table.
“I don’t understand,” Danny said. “What were you all doing while Mary got fitted? Isn’t it non-customary for the groom to see the bride in her dress before the wedding?”
The waitress handed menus and napkins with utensils to the newcomers. “What can I get you all to drink?” she asked, looking at Casey.
“Water?” he asked around. “And a couple of iced teas?” All the women nodded as they began looking at the menu. The waitress headed off. “You’re right, Danny. I didn’t peek. I stayed with Julia, comfortable in another area.”
“Good. Mary’s wedding dress will be a surprise to you and me, too. And how were the first two days of school, girls?”
“The usual,” Nancy said, “but Annabel got the stupidest science teacher in the whole school. What a dork.”
Annabel tapped her fork on the table. “Doesn’t matter, it’s my last year there.” She smiled wide at her father.
Danny expressed his joy for her with a laugh. “Look at you. Braces gone. Your teeth look spectacular, like you.” He realized she had recently backed off the tomboy look just a bit.
“Thanks, Dad,” she said, “and thanks for getting them for me in the first place.”
The waitress came with their drinks, scribbled Sara’s order first, and went on to the others.
“Sara,” Danny said in a low tone, appreciating her orange ginger aroma, “besides your new job, how did your date go Saturday night?”
Sara hesitated. “I am so happy to be back teaching, you have no idea.” She wiggled her beaded necklace for Julia’s amusement. “And my date? He’s a nice man.” She paused and a small smile crept over her face. “Actually, I was going to call you tonight. Thank you for the flowers. They are lovely.”
“I’m so glad you liked them.” Danny’s eyes softened. He hoped she wouldn’t be going out with the principal again.
“So what happened, Danny?” Mary asked. “Did he have good news?”
“Oh, not good news. Fantastic news.” He sat Julia on the table in front of him, holding her hands. “I will keep Julia all the time, except for Rachel’s supervised visitation every two weeks. I’ll fill you in later with details, but that’s the gist of it.”
Mary sat dumfounded while Casey raised his glass in congratulations. Sara smiled at Julia, who stared at Sara’s double strand of beads. The girls chirped in. “Guess I can make extra money babysitting,” Annabel said, “when you need someone extra, Dad.”
“Hey, I can help, too,” Nancy pouted. “That’s great, Dad. Julia has a better family with us than whoever she’s been with.”
“That sure blew up in Rachel’s face,” Casey said.
----------
On Wednesday, Joelle opened her drapes to a pretty morning. The rising sun beaming on the scattered, departing clouds from the day before deflected color on the horizon and up into the sky. She smiled because of her condo’s view, at least it was something to make up for her asphalt city life.
Today she anticipated the big PAM meetings the team would conduct in the afternoon, first amongst themselves and then with the media, so her choice of clothes was carefully planned. She slipped on a burgundy dress with pewter-looking buttons down the front and pulled on a belt as an accessory. She slipped on a pair of sandals with very little height and a pair of amber and silver earrings. Then she pinned a small crystal fruit cluster brooch on the lapel of her dress.
As Joelle put together paperwork for her brief case, her cat jumped onto the top of the desk. She stopped sorting her things, and scratched Bell under her neck. “You’re a sweetheart. I’m glad you don’t belong to the medical campus.” Joelle gave her another swipe and left for the big day.
----------
After routine catch up with her ongoing research work, Joelle examined the previous PAM work she had started before the canine contributions. She made notes and went over twice to the young student by the window, who assisted her for the day. Results so far, except for the ray of hope with the dog saliva or enzyme penetrating the organism’s outer wall, proved to be futile. When would the incidence of PAM breakouts stop? When would its morbidity and mortality be put to an end by medical miracles stemming from a lab?
Rhonda showed up at noon, sacrificing her own lunch time to evaluate Joelle’s plates and slides and offer any suggestions. She popped to the lab door with all the enthusiasm of a fifth grader and began donning a mask. Joelle turned around. “You changed your nose ring, I see.” She frowned. “Less conspicuous. I like it better.”
“That’s what everyone says,” Rhonda said. “Hardly anyone comments about a woman’s bracelet, or necklaces, or earrings, but everyone notices nose rings. I think I’ll start a company to market and sell them.”
Joelle grinned. “If pet rocks were a big thing, you may have something there.”
“Yeah, think of the cool possibilities. Nose jewelry mimicking cat whiskers and elephant tusks. The more bizarre, the better.”
Joelle’s eyebrows rose. “Will you stay in veterinarian medicine and research?”
“Hell, yeah. You have to have a real day job.”
“Good, glad to hear it. You had me worried for a minute.”
Rhonda started glancing at Joelle’s table for slides. “I’m about ready to put them on the scopes,” Joelle said. “I have in order here sample four, five, and six. The beagle, Labrador retriever, and greyhound.”
“I thought you were also doing Dr. Tilson’s dog that dunked his tongue into his wound?”
“I did, but I didn’t get it until a day later, so it’s not ready yet.”
“And why do you have two sets of each sample again?” Rhonda asked.
“This first row is the new dog’s saliva simply put with the organism. So we’ll see if the saliva’s contents wormed its way through the wall, like the Newfoundland’s did. The second set is where I have injected the saliva into the organism, to see what it does then.”
“Obviously you’re hopeful one of them will destroy the amoeba from inside,” Rhonda said.
“Precisely.”
Joelle put the first set under the stage clips on each microscope to hold the slides in place. She then peered through the scopes from left to right with Rhonda following her lead. “Wow,” Joelle said, standing straight and speaking fast. “None of these dogs’ saliva penetrated the amoeba like the Newfoundland’s.” She tightened her lips, wishing she could change the results.
“”This isn’t good,” Rhonda said. “But at least we’ve had one that did.”
Joelle took the slides off and clipped on the next three, where the samples had been microscopically inserted into their killer creature. She went around Rhonda and again started on the left. Joelle focused with both the coarse and fine adjustment knobs. All she stared at was an intact trophozoite amoeba – inside and out.
“I guess a beagle is no good to us,” she said. Rhonda also looked and nodded in agreement. Their theories were going out the window.
Joelle went to number five, the Labrador retriever. The exterior of the eyepiece had a fleck of dust so she reached for a lens cleaner and smoothed the cloth over the glass. The two ladies frowned at their dismal attempts to get results.
Leaning over again, Joelle peered down at a hazy slide, so she fine-tuned the knobs. Finally, her picture looked crystal clear. She held her breath, stood up and rubbed her eyes, and looked again.
Joelle let out a gasp. “Another mother of pearl,” she said.
Chapter 25
Joelle’s arms broke out in goose bumps. She stood tall, squared her shoulders and smacked Rhonda’s upper arm. “Look at this!”
Rhonda viewed the slide. “Damn, Joelle, that saliva has decimated the cytoplasm. And it’s made mince meat of the nucleus.” Taking her eyes off their work, she looked at Joelle with wide eyes. “This is fantastic!”
Joelle bit her lip. “Wow. In vitro we’ve killed this brain-eating amoeba. Now we have to combine what the Newfoundland’s saliva did by getting into the cell with what the Labrador retriever’s saliva did once it was inside.”
Rhonda’s hair along her arms stood on end. She pushed her blonde bangs away from her preppy glasses, walked a few steps and turned abruptly. “So we don’t have Dr. Tilson’s dog done yet?” she asked absentmindedly.
“No, we’ll check on it by tomorrow.”
“And what breed did you say it was?”
“I didn’t.”
A smile crept over Rhonda’s face. “Pray, do tell me.”
“A Chesapeake Bay retriever.”
“Hot dog.” Rhonda said. “I have a crazy idea. But I just don’t know.”
“Rhonda, you know what Albert Einstein said, don’t you?”
Rhonda stared at Joelle, a blank expression on her face.
“If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is not hope for it.”
Rhonda nodded. “Thanks,” she said. She turned and started towards the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To get you more saliva from Chessie’s other than Dr. Tilson’s.” She turned with a huge smile. “If my suspicions are correct, I’ll pierce your nose if you want.”
“No thanks,” Joelle said. But Rhonda had already disappeared into the hallway.
----------
Late in the day, the conference room came alive on the upper administrative floor outside Robert Madden’s office. All the major physician and nurse players broke from their other duties and patient care. Everyone made sure their beepers were set correctly so any nursing calls about meningoencephalitis patients would come through during their absence. They wanted the most up to date information before heading into the news conference to follow. Joelle came in last, scurrying in her flat sandals and lugging her brief case. She had received six pure breed samples from Rhonda before leaving the lab and had quickly gotten them processed. Rhonda had procured them from both the vet school and a dog breeder she knew who bred several large pedigrees on the outskirts of Nashville.
Ralph looked like a tired, jet-jumping business man, not like a non-clinical physician from the CDC. His receding hairline had taken the next row of seats. “All right, y’all,” he said standing in front of Robert Madden at the head of the table, “we’ve got to push on downstairs where the national news media wants information to make ‘em stuffed as a hog. Since we’re standing in the hospital where the outbreak started, our info has to be right off the press.” He looked back at Robert Madden, the poor CEO who’d been standing up to a stiff board of directors, news media, and patients’ families since the whole mess started. Robert grinned back at Ralph, jammed his hands into his pockets, and prayed there would be no major surprises.
As if his fingers were too heavy, Ralph rested them in his suspenders. “I have today’s numbers,” he said with utter annoyance. “This damn amoeba is running rampant faster than a scalded dog.”
Joelle elbowed Danny, who was sitting beside her. “Funny he should mention a dog,” she said. “I’ve made some progress with in vitro experimentation, but need to bring the two parts to work together.”
Danny nodded. “Sounds hopeful?”
“Perhaps. But then even if we get somewhere…”
Danny nodded again. “I know. Then there’s the problem of applying it to humans.”
“Precisely.”
They kept their voices low as Robert took the floor and announced their admission stats on meningoencephalitis patients.
----------
On the ground floor, Robert Madden, Ralph Halbrow, Pamela Albrink from nursing, and the team of doctors single filed between the rush of reporters outside the meeting room. A stream of questions bombarded them as well as flashes from cameras.
At the front of the room, two young technical men helped their CEO with a microphone. Robert cleared his throat. “Thank you all for coming. Today I have assembled everyone from this hospital who has been directly involved with our cases of PAM - either patient care or research to find a cure. We also have Ralph Halbrow from the CDC in Atlanta. First, for those of you who don’t know him, Dr. Danny Tilson is one of our neurosurgeons. He was responsible for our source case and involved with the initial diagnosis. He has a recent development which we didn’t break yesterday since the family situation was a bit precarious.” Robert handed Danny the microphone and stepped aside.
“As previously reported, the first case which sprouted this outbreak came from a fourteen year old named Michael Johnson. Michael came in on a Sunday, seventeen days ago. It is with great sadness that we are reporting Michael’s death yesterday.”
Reporters pushed forward, hands waving in the air, and camera clicking noises competing with each other.
“What about that length of time? Wasn’t that longer than other PAM patient hospitalizations?” a reporter said clearly over the others.
“Yes, Michael’s sixteen days of survival after contracting PAM is the longest so far. Perhaps his age had something to do with it. Michael received the same treatment as other patients. And those antibiotic treatments continue to fail.”
“What were the circumstances under which Michael came to the hospital?” a man asked with a camera crew close by.
“He hit his head on a boat console while boating with his family. I did surgery on him because he had an acute subdural hematoma. However, something else was going on with Michael and he became the source of a rapidly disseminating infection. He acquired the sinister organism from jumping off a cliff into Center Hill Lake. The fresh lake water carrying the amoeba was forced into his nose, which can penetrate the brain by this route.”
“Does this organism only live in that lake?”
“No,” Danny said. “First, it only thrives in fresh water. It is widespread. It is the mode of transmission which is important. Like most of us, little did Michael’s family know this.”
“Why isn’t modern medicine helping us out here?” a tall female with a small name tag asked. “Is there any progress regarding a cure?”
“I’m sure Dr. Ralph Halbrow has an update.”
Ralph leaned over and said, “We continue twenty-four hours a day at the CDC in Atlanta to discover a treatment. So far, I have nothing substantial to report.”
“Dr. Joelle Lewis struck a small ray of optimism today,” Danny said. “I’ll let Joelle say a word about that.”
Joelle stood next to Danny and took the mike. “I have nothing concrete to tell you. Just a researcher’s gut feeling that we’re working on in the lab. We’ve made two small, yet highly significant independent steps at disarming this organism.”
“Dr. Lewis, don’t keep it to yourself,” a burly reporter said. “Tell us anything nonsubstantial as well. Is it a break-through antibiotic or what?”
“No.”
“Then what’s causing your gut feeling,” he said, despite other reporters clamoring with their own questions.
Joelle sneaked a peek at Danny and grinned. “Dog saliva,” she said.
The reporters indistinct mumbles sounded throughout the room and a throng of reporters yelled out their questions. “That’s really all I can tell you right now,” Joelle added.
Ralph took the microphone from Joelle. “Ladies and gentlemen, y’all will have to let Dr. Lewis answer questions at a later time, when she gets more facts.”
Things quieted down and Ralph continued. His tone turned pensive. “I have today’s CDC numbers to report. Nationwide, the total number of cases reported is two hundred and eighty-three and there have been ninety-five deaths.”
The stunned news media took a second of silence to absorb the CDC’s count. “That does include Michael Johnson?” a young woman asked.
Ralph scanned the entire room carefully. “Yes. And please advise your viewers and readers if they have a hint of symptoms or signs of this meningoencephalitis as previously reported, then they should immediately seek medical attention because isolation is required. Patients are continuing to spread this brain-eating organism. I can’t think of anything worse to befall anyone.”
Chapter 26
Rachel pulled her CRV into Maxine’s parking lot, shut off the engine, and peered into the visor mirror. She didn’t need to do a thing to her hair, so she got out and smoothed her knee length skirt and V-neck, long sleeved top. The temperature had turned a little cooler. She enjoyed it when the weather played cat and mouse, teetering between one season and the next.
Rachel looked around at cars and spotted Leo’s two aisles over. Draping her bag over her shoulder, she headed into the restaurant. Her nerves got a bit jumpy. She saw him inside at the bar where they had previously had dinners and the flat screen TV was on. She walked up behind him.
“Hello, Leo.”
“Well, well,” Leo said. “If it isn’t Miss Extortionist.”
Rachel’s heart thumped, like a kickstand on an old bike.
“Nevertheless,” Leo continued, “there’s a lot to be said about her.” He looked her up and down, slowly. He then gazed at her face, scrutinizing it in a clockwise fashion. “She’s just beautiful.” He put down his beer mug. “But even beauty can be a mirage.”
“It’s nice to see you, too, Leo.” She slinked onto the bar stool.
“What’ll you have?” the bartender asked. He placed a napkin on the counter.
“Get her a double scotch,” Leo said. “She can handle it.”
“No,” Rachel said, her pulse quickening. “I don’t do scotch. Get me a Bailey’s.”
The young man turned around to his bottles by the back glass wall.
“Nothing hard core tonight,” Leo said, “you’re going smooth and silky.”
“That’s my style.”
“Bull shit,” Leo said.
Rachel tried not to bite her lip. She tried to look peripherally around him. Had he brought her money?
The bartender put down her liqueur as well as two menus. He turned around and focused on the screen. Rachel looked up as well. Live coverage had begun of a news conference in Nashville. The CDC specialist handed over the microphone to the neurosurgeon in charge. Leo’s interest gained momentum when he realized Rachel’s eyes were glued on the news.
“As previously reported,” Danny said, “the first case which sprouted this outbreak came from a fourteen year old named Michael Johnson. Michael came in on a Sunday, seventeen days ago. It is with great sadness that we are reporting Michael’s death yesterday.”
“So,” Leo said, “I gather that must be Julia’s father. The other man you hijacked.”
Rachel kept quiet.
“Okay, then, what’ll you have?” Leo asked, moving the menu towards her.
“I don’t want anything, especially if you’re not going to be civil.”
“Okay, Rachel. We’ll call a truce. I was sorry to see you left me like that. You covered all the bases in your letter, however. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.”
Rachel relaxed enough to take a sip. The drink warmed her tongue and slid down like melted chocolate. She took a deep breath. “Did you bring the money?”
Leo cracked a smile. “You must be destitute to ask for such a thing.”
Rachel flinched. The comment struck a nerve.
“Don’t worry. I decided to give you the present with strings, of course. I don’t expect anything else to come of this.” He looked questioningly at her.
Rachel swallowed. She worried over legalities that could arise from Danny. Would he press charges, in which case, she would have to claim her innocence and pin Julia’s abuse on Leo? What if he motioned for change in custody and dragged in the pediatrician’s testimony and she’d again have to pin it on Leo? She couldn’t think about it now. She needed the payoff, she’d have to stay out of Leo’s way, and hope the custody issues didn’t flare up.
“Leo, unless a court forces it out of me, then no one else is going to know what you did to my baby.”
Leo narrowed his eyes at her. “I’ll hold you to it.”
“No problem,” she said.
“I have your money in two small bags. They’re big bills. They’ll fit fine in that shoulder bag you’ve got on purpose.”
Rachel’s comfort zone returned. She finished her drink.
“If I can’t buy you dinner,” Leo said, “then how about coming back to my place? It would be nice to get my money’s worth.”
Rachel gave him an evil look. She stood and opened her shoulder bag.
“I think I’ll skip. I have a babysitter and I want to get back to Julia,” she lied. There was no way she was going to tell him about the recent turn of events.
Leo slipped his hand into the inside pockets of his sports coat. He dropped two plastic bags into her purse. She sat the purse on the stool, loosened one of the bags, and looked in. Cash was there. She thumbed through it the best she could and felt confident he had made good on her blackmail.
----------
Danny and Casey lounged in the great room watching the 9 p.m. nightly news recap. Danny kicked off his shoes, startling Dakota, and Casey chugged down the last of his soft drink. The small can of mixed nuts they had shared was empty.
The taped evening news conference on the PAM update began. “This is historic, you know,” Casey said. “Here we have the first devastating human illness of the third millennium.”
Danny blinked. He hadn’t thought of it that way.
“You don’t look too bad for a normal guy being on television.” Casey peered over at Danny and patted Julia’s diaper. She lay asleep on the coach between them.
“I guess. But I wouldn’t want to make a habit of it. I’ll be glad when this whole mess is behind us.”
Casey nodded. “Me, too. Every time Mark and I make a run, we worry if it’s going to be someone infected.”
Danny reached for his cell phone on the coffee table and lowered the volume on the TV. “I’m going to call Joelle real quick.” Danny hit her number and she answered on the second ring.
“Hi Danny. You watching our media recap?” She had a curled up position with Bell on a recliner.
“I am. I couldn’t go to bed without putting all my faith in your lab work for tomorrow. Will you call me immediately the next few days if you get any breakthroughs?”
“You bet. Especially since all our present hope rests on your dog. Or what his DNA can do.”
Danny smiled at Dakota who rumbled in his sleep. “Thanks Joelle. They say there is a greater thrust these days towards intertwining human and veterinarian medicine.”
“For sure. And Rhonda has been a big help.”
“Okay, good night,” Danny said.
Casey flicked the television off since the news conference coverage ended. Danny picked Julia up, but she didn’t stir too much. Both men turned off the lights and headed upstairs where Mary was already asleep.
----------
Joelle helped the young medical student assistant with the spectrometer samples and results he worked on. The sun beamed into that area of the lab as she showed him how she wanted the outcomes recorded. He asked her questions about the ongoing medical epidemic. “I want to be a medical researcher some day,” he said. “I don’t think I can handle listening to people complaining about what aches them here or there.”
“You may make a fine researcher then,” she responded. “Especially if you like detail.”
He gleamed and pushed back his long hair. “Plus, I’m good with numbers.”
Joelle finished with him, turned the radio up a bit, and went to the other side of the lab. He was probably another student filling his resume, covering all the basics, and then would come to her in a few years to write a recommendation. That’s the way it usually worked.
She couldn’t wait to prepare her slides from the seventh saliva sample and needed to start without Rhonda, who had told Joelle she’d get over in the afternoon if a small window of opportunity came along.
Joelle moved the base of the light miscroscope over and sat on the bench. She had several slides of the same thing and slipped the first one under the stage clips and worked the knobs to adjust the image. Before looking, she tapped her fingers on the scope in time to the music, praying for an optimistic finding.
Under the scope, what she peered at was a trophozoite whose outer membrane had been breached like what the Newfoundland’s saliva had done. But in addition, the inside, the cell nucleus, had been decimated, like what Joelle had caused to happen with the Labrador retriever’s saliva. One dog, or possibly one breed, had done both.
“Eureka!” she exclaimed. She stood up, switched to another slide and it showed the same thing. Tears came to her eyes. She sat down again. The tears accumulated and flowed. She reached for a tissue, sobbed, and pumped her fists when she stopped whimpering with joy.
----------
Ten minutes later and with much more composure, Joelle called Danny. When Danny saw her number, he excused himself from speaking with a patient in the pre-op area and went to the desk. “Joelle?” he said.
Joelle choked up again. “Guess what?” she sputtered.
Danny closed his eyes. “I’m taking your tone to mean we’ve got a positive result.”
“Yes. Your dog’s saliva both penetrates and destroys the inside of this amoeba. In vitro, of course.”
Danny felt his hair stand on end. The implications were staggering. “Joelle, nice work. This is incredible.” He spun the stool around to face the wall, away from staff and patients.
“Nice team work for all of us,” she said.
“You know this will go somewhere. It has to. The implication is that Dakota’s saliva probably kept me from getting PAM, or killed the amoeba once I picked it up.”
“I hear you. Let’s see what results we get from Rhonda’s samples she brought me yesterday, although we have a beginning substrate for a cure. But … there’s always the FDA to contend with.”
“However, lives are at stake,” Danny said. “What can I do for you now?”
“I have to call Rhonda right away. Can you call Ralph at the CDC and give him a heads up, too?”
“You’ve got it. I’ll talk to the southern humorist doc any time.”
----------
When Joelle called her veterinarian friend with the news, Rhonda confessed, “I’ve never been this happy about results to do with humans ever!”
“Why don’t you come see for yourself at the end of the day,” Joelle suggested. “I think we can prepare the next six samples you brought over by then ... the other Chesapeakes. I am so curious if it’s just Danny’s dog or indicative of the whole breed.”
“I have my theories about that,” Rhonda said. She stood at an open classroom door monitoring students taking a test.
“Are you going to tell me what they are?”
“I’ll explain later.”
----------
At four o’clock Danny and Joelle met with Timothy and Peter at the hospital to round on all present patients with PAM. Joelle explained to Timothy and Peter how her lab work showed promise and how they had gone down the route they had. They visited Bill Patogue, barely alive, in a deep coma. They each silently said their good-byes. Death would come during the night.
They sat down in a small room for families, which was empty. Timothy propped his cane in the corner and sat with a heavy heart. “I’m retiring soon, all of you. It is very sad to be leaving under these conditions.”
“Maybe we’ll break ground before we throw you a retirement party,” Joelle said, forcing a smile.
“I’ll second that,” Danny said. “Even so, Timothy, I know you’ve had a stellar career. You and I have sent patients back and forth for each other’s expertise for years and I can attest to your neurology skills.”
Timothy grinned, his crow’s feet giving testimony to his seventy-one years. “Thanks, Danny.”
A half hour later they broke up their discussions and Joelle and Danny walked over to the lab. A cool, pleasant breeze blew through the wind-tunnel between the medical buildings, hinting of an advancing change in the weather.
Chapter 27
As Danny and Joelle passed the fountain and towards their own reflections on the glassed ground floor, Joelle pulled out her cell and called Rhonda. “Danny and I will be in the lab in two minutes. Is it a good time for you?”
“I’ll be there in five,” she said and hung up.
After gearing up, Joelle and Danny took a spot at her lab table. “Let me show you what your dog did.” She opened a slide box nearby. “By the way, what’s his name?”
“Dakota.”
“Good name. How did you come up with it?” She set up a scope with the morning slides.
“I didn’t. My baby girl’s mother dumped him on me. Her loss. She then wanted him back after she blew town and got settled.”
Joelle fiddled with her earring. “Well, I can say two things about her. She has good taste in men and dogs.”
“Well, thank you. I think what you mean to say is that she had good taste to figure out a sucker.”
Joelle laughed. “We all make mistakes, Danny. Now you’ll never make that one again.”
“I make a better surgeon than a womanizer,” he said with a smile.
She signaled for him to look under the microscope. “I have a sneaky suspicion it’s your ex-wife that’s your soul mate.”
“Me, too.” Danny stared at the brain eating amoeba whose inside had been churned to goop. He whistled. “Hallelujah,” he said.
“What did I tell you? I think either Dakota or you are going to have a medical cure named after you.”
“I’ll second that,” Rhonda said, planting herself behind them. Her painted fingernails did an imaginary writing in the air. “The Dakota or Tilson antibiotic, or DakTilmycin.”
“Oops, I better get the new samples ready,” Joelle said. She’d forgotten to turn on the radio, however, so she did that first. “I work better with music in the background,” she said as they watched her zip back and forth doing her scientific steps using the six dog saliva samples left.
“So what’s you’re thinking about these samples?” Joelle asked Rhonda. “What was it you wouldn’t tell me before?”
Danny swung to the side of the stool. Rhonda grinned. “Okay, here’s what I’m thinking. It’s all about DNA.”
“It always is,” Joelle agreed.
“I believe these samples will show the same results as Danny’s dog, his Chesapeake Bay retriever. It’s the breed’s DNA that’s the key, slightly different than all the other dogs, each of them with their own slight differences.” She paused, but realized they knew their genetics, too. “The only positive results we’ve had were from three breeds. The Newfoundland and Labrador retriever each did something different. But the Chessie is accomplishing what they both did. It is felt that Chesapeakes are bred from Newfoundlands and Labradors. So they inherited the positive features we’re looking for from both those breeds.”
Joelle and Danny both smiled. “Which would be a blessing for Dakota,” Danny said, “because then we’re not just dependent on the contents of his mouth to experiment with.”
“That, too,” Rhonda said.
“Okay, it’s time to say a prayer,” Joelle said, pointing at the six microscopes with slides on them. She looked at the first one. Danny and Rhonda stayed back, letting her do it alone. She stood straight, keeping a straight face. She held out her hand to Rhonda. “Nice work, Dr. Jackson. You were correct and that was a solid working hypothesis.”
As if Rhonda couldn’t believe it, she asked, “The three of us did it?”
Danny was already looking at the second slide, a lump in his throat. “Congratulations to all of us,” he said. “This is a huge breakthrough, and as my paramedic best friend would say, the first major medical epidemic and breakthrough for the third millennium.”
----------
Danny, Joelle and Rhonda left the lab and perched themselves at Coffee ‘N More. The place had a quieter atmosphere than the busy daytime hours. The few students there concentrated on books or laptops and staff physicians who wandered in left with Styrofoam sandwich containers and to-go cups. Danny ordered them three hot chocolates and an assorted sample of mini-pastries.
“Who’s calling Ralph?” Joelle asked.
“You are,” Danny and Rhonda replied in unison.
“This will make his day,” Joelle said and used her cell phone. “Ralph, it’s Joelle. Danny and my veterinarian research helper, Rhonda, are with me. We have more progress you want to hear about.” Danny and Rhonda listened to Joelle’s recap of their findings.
“It’s utterly fantastic what y’all have accomplished up there,” Ralph said. “Do the three of you want a job with the CDC?”
Joelle smiled and addressed Danny and Rhonda. “Ralph wants to hire us. How much should we ask for?”
Danny laughed in spurts. “Tell him he can’t pay me enough to leave my loved ones.”
“And I prefer more animal involvement,” Rhonda said.
“No takers,” Joelle shot back to Ralph.
“Can’t have everything,” he said. “It’s just that we’ve also been working with the samples you provided, but you’ve been one step ahead of us. We’ll catch up to you tomorrow and we both better git on the stick to develop a curative antibiotic.”
“I think this will be the easier part,” Joelle said.
“I will release CDC funds to your lab if necessary, Joelle. This is a priority. I don’t want the cost for your institution’s involvement to be a burden.”
“Thanks, Ralph. That will be much appreciated, especially by the higher ups overseeing budgets.”
Joelle got off the phone. “Ralph promised financial support. I think I’ll be going underground for awhile. We have to isolate the substances and microorganisms in the dog’s saliva which destroyed the amoeba and develop an antibiotic.” She surveyed a chocolate torte and finished it with two bites.
“Joelle, we won’t abandon you,” Danny said. “We’ll give you all the help you need.”
“You can buy these pastries any time for us,” Joelle said, “although I’m not running as much as I should these days.”
Rhonda swiped her blonde bangs away from her glasses. “I’m in, too. And why don’t you take the student in the lab away from whatever he’s working on and put him solely on this project?” She slid a square coffee cake off the center plate onto her own.
“Yes, I’ll do that,” Joelle said.
Danny finished his hot drink and got up. “I better get going, but you two finish the goodies. I need to spend some time at home with my baby girl.”
As Danny approached the door, he thought twice, and backtracked to the table. “If either or both of you are free a week from Saturday, my sister and Casey are getting married at the house. Consider yourself invited. It will be grand.”
“I love a good wedding,” Joelle said.
“Me, too,” Rhonda said, “as long as it’s not my own.”
----------
Friday morning Danny cut himself some slack about going to work extra early. He’d checked on Julia but hadn’t disturbed her sleep. He sat on the back patio steps with a coffee mug in hand and Casey sitting an arm’s length away. It had rained overnight and the moisture clinging to the grass and the trees glistened with the 6 a.m. light casting from the east.
Danny stretched his neck but Dakota was far down the hill and out of sight.
“You made excellent coffee,” Casey said. He placed the mug between them. “I drink the ER coffee out of necessity only.”
“It’s pretty good stuff,” Danny said, “a French roast.”
“So you know my partner, Mark?” Casey asked. Danny nodded. “He still hasn’t given up on going to med school. He’s been cracking the books again and is retaking the entrance exam.”
“Well, his background, like yours, is conducive. And it’s never too late, or almost never too late, to change careers.”
“He’s ten years younger than me.”
“Medical student ages really vary. A fair number of students in an incoming class are over thirty years old.”
“Better him than me,” Casey said. “I wouldn’t want to start over with school. Besides, I really like what I do.”
“You do. It’s a good field.”
Dakota sprinted between two large trees at the top of the hill. Whatever he smelled didn’t keep his attention and he bounded towards them. Casey grabbed his mug for safeguarding as Dakota rustled in front of their knees. The dog presented his back end to Danny and his head to Casey.
“I guess it’s time to acknowledge both of your rambunctious ends,” Casey said.
“I’m on call tomorrow and off on Sunday,” Danny said. “It will be fun for me on Sunday to have Julia around.”
“I think she’s starting to smile a bit more like a normal baby,” Casey said. He took a sip of coffee and placed the empty mug back down. His hand went behind Dakota’s ears and massaged. “So what weekend coming up does Rachel want her? I hope not next weekend for our wedding.”
“I haven’t heard from her. I don’t know what to make of it.”
“The recent legal results must have been a blow to her master plan.”
“I guess.”
“It’ll be fun, though. Julia can be in some of the wedding pictures.”
“Too bad she’s not older. She could have been the ring bearer up the aisle.”
“Well, not exactly an aisle,” Casey said. “This place is going to be hopping all week. Mary is going to have this yard transformed, then chairs and canopies and a floor and food will be set up next Saturday morning.”
“Oh, I invited Joelle and the veterinarian on the PAM case.”
“No problem. We’ve got plenty of room.”
Danny stroked Dakota’s right thigh as the dog leaned against him with more pressure. “Bruce, Matthew and I are getting some relief on Monday. Harold’s replacement is starting. He’s fresh out of residency and trained in Tennessee. His name is Jeffrey Foord. He’s a short, sneakered guy, young for a neurosurgeon. Patients will probably think he looks the Doogie Howser type.”
“I’ve seen him around during an elective rotation. He’s probably a good choice.”
“I hope so. I never know when Bruce is going to retire, so our business and professional choices now are more important to me.”
Danny heard the incoming message noise on his cell phone. He pulled it off his belt to see a text message from Peter Brown. “Bill Patogue died at 4 a.m.”
Danny passed the phone to Casey and buried his head into Dakota’s sorrel fur. “That’s the last of the initial group of PAM patients to die. And someone who meant a lot. Since I couldn’t just go into all of their skulls and weed this sinister hijacker out of their brains, it hurts even more. I’ve been helpless and I’m supposed to perform astonishing cures inside people’s heads.”
“Danny, you’re still going to have a part in its cure. Quit beating yourself up.”
Danny grinned. “Peter and Timothy are still flooded with newer cases.”
“As is the whole country,” Casey said. “Come on, let’s get to work.”
----------
Saturday proved easily manageable. Danny saw patients and did two elective surgeries and was home by four o’clock. Although he had several phone calls into the evening, he had no neurosurgical emergencies. He had no idea what time it was after going to bed and then hearing his door creak open and a moist nose nuzzle him.
Danny’s eyes cracked open. “Where have you been, you traitor? What did you do, let me sleep in?” He eyed the time – 9 a.m. “I bet you’ve been with Julia.” Danny rolled out of bed and gave Dakota a heartfelt greeting. He donned a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt from Mary with fish and ‘Alaska’ on it. Julia wasn’t in her room so he hurried downstairs.
“I thought you’d never get up,” Mary said, aiming his way with Julia in her arms. “Here’s your daughter. I’m stacked high with wedding chores today.” She handed Julia over.
“I’m so sorry, Mary.”
“No, no problem. We wanted you to sleep. Your hours and responsibilities lately have been crazy.”
“I appreciate it. But if it’s not one thing, it’s another anyway.”
She nodded. “Casey’s working until three and you’ll have the house to yourself most of the day.”
Danny gave Julia a kiss and small squeeze. “I hope you don’t mind it, I’ve invited the docs who have been working closely with me lately to your wedding besides some of the office staff which you knew about already.”
“That will be fine. There will be plenty of food. It’s going to be one big party. Plus, I know your cash wedding gift to us is going to help pay the bill.”
Danny rolled out a laugh. “Mary, Mary. I said I would, so I will.”
Mary planted a kiss on her brother’s cheek. She threw some things into a shoulder bag and headed to the garage door. “I fed her some breakfast and she’s diapered up. See to her second installment by noon. See ‘ya.”
“Thanks, have fun.” He stepped out the back door holding Julia. Dakota followed every step. Besides taking care of Julia, he planned on adding wedding details around the house as best he could.
----------
On Sunday afternoon, Rachel took a fast, long walk along the river. She especially needed the exercise since she no longer had Leo’s basement equipment at her disposal. She wore gray sweat pants and a pink tee-shirt and passed young joggers and older walkers along the way. The benches were peppered with people sitting and reading books or newspapers.
She kept a brisk pace but not enough to break out in a sweat. Billowy clouds rose vertically keeping the sun at bay and a soft breeze twirled the green leaves on the trees lining the sidewalk. Deep in her pocket, her cell phone rang. After digging it out, she approached an empty bench and sat down. The caller ID popped up with Evan Parks. A sheepish grin spread across her mouth.
“Hello, officer Parks.”
“Well, hello, Miss Hendersen. I’m calling you on purpose on a Sunday afternoon while I’m not on duty, so may I call you Rachel?”
“By all means.”
“Before I ask you on a date, I hope to find out if everything worked out well with your baby girl. I did personally file a request with the Nashville police to pay a call to your daughter’s father. I’m assuming you have her now.”
Rachel leaned forward listening carefully to his every word. The date part was perfect, but she kept her mind clicking ahead, anticipating responses to all his queries.
“Yes, thank you, Evan. The situation is under control thanks to you. I decided to legally go easy on him. He was so desperate to spend more time with her, especially since the visitation was difficult and a distance away. I decided it would be best for him to have our daughter for an extended period right now.”
An older woman with a stroller passed close to Rachel’s knees so she scooted back in the bench. She heard the television on in the background of his call.
“That is very thoughtful of you after what he put you through.”
“Yes, well, I have to do what’s right for Julia.”
“I bet you’re a rare conscientious, modern mother.” A silent pause ensued. “So the other reason I called was to ask you out.”
“I’d be delighted.”
“Perhaps you’d like to do something extremely casual the first time out with a man who carries a gun.”
“Evan Parks, you sure make a woman feel secure.”
----------
When the call ended, Rachel logged the date into her cell phone calendar. She slipped her phone into her pocket and crossed her legs. She’d get to know Evan Parks soon enough and felt suspiciously confident that he was in her cards. But for now, she had a lot to think about. First, she needed to boost her income and would have to accomplish that on her own accord. Child support was basically gone and the newly earned ten grand from Leo wouldn’t last. She knew she had to request more hours to work at the hospital and she could even work overtime if the need arose. But, hopefully, a longer work week wouldn’t be a long-term situation for her.
Her second dilemma was Julia. She missed her so! She imagined her pretty little face with staring big eyes and her little growth milestones which made Rachel proud. Explaining Julia’s scars and injuries to Danny to try and get back her back seemed like an impossibility. Would he believe her, trust her, or think the baby could end up in the same situation again with her? Right now supervised visitation didn’t appeal to her. Not only wouldn’t it be fun to have someone watching her as she interacted with her own child, but any of the Tilson’s could start prodding her with questions as well.
Rachel racked her brain thinking of a solution, but none came. She would have to straighten it out somehow. Suddenly a practical saying came to her about how the passage of time heals most things. She’d wait a few months, that’s what she’d do. Then she would call Danny, give him some kind of sob story about her life, and tell him how much she missed her daughter. She’d take him and the attorneys up on the supervised visitation but work to get her daughter back by hell or high water.
With her plan ironed out, Rachel rose and engaged herself again in a brisk walk home knowing she’d lay low for the foreseeable future.
Chapter 28
Casey’s mind still lingered between sleep and wakefulness. He changed positions, nearer to Mary, and came closer to opening his eyes. With reality giving him a nudge, he woke up, realizing what the day held in store. It was Saturday, the day they’d been waiting for.
“Mary,” he whispered, sliding his hand to her shoulder. She turned, slowly and purposefully, to gaze into his eyes.
“Good morning,” she said. “Happy wedding day.”
Casey ran his hand down her sleeveless arm, ending with his hand cupping hers, stroking it with his thumb, feeling the contour of her palm and long fingers. He leaned over and kissed her on her mouth. “Happy wedding day to you, too. It’s going to be memorable and lots of fun.”
Mary gave his strong hand a squeeze. “I better get going. I have a salon appointment to get my hair done.”
Casey was on his feet before her. “Most importantly, do we have nice weather like the forecast promised?” He padded over to the window wearing only jockey shorts, opened the blinds, and looked out over the yard.
Mary came behind him and wrapped her arms around him. “It looks like a nice day,” she said.
Casey laid his arms on top of hers, not letting go. “Yes, and that’s a wedding picture already.” Much of the property he couldn’t see since it went far down the back hill where it became more wild and less landscaped. Before it dipped down, a raised platform and a flower-laden trellis had been mounted for where they would take their vows. Eighty chairs were on each side of the low-cut lawn and between them lay a blue cloth aisle.
“I won’t need our bad weather back-up plan after all,” she said. “This is terrific.”
Casey turned around. “You’re terrific,” he said, giving her a squeeze.
----------
Downstairs, Danny carried Julia’s playpen through the French doors and placed it on the left against the patio wall. He went back in and hoisted her into the air, causing her to sparingly smile. With Dakota following, swinging his tail, Danny put her in the playpen outside. He pulled out a bonnet from his pocket and snuggled it onto her head. He’d left one door open and heard the front door bell ringing. He looked at his watch. It was 8 a.m., the arrival time for the caterer to set up the tents and tables and then follow in the early afternoon with all the food.
Danny began stepping away but hesitated and turned to Dakota. “You’ll be in the way at the front door, so stay here and mind Julia.” By emphasizing ‘stay here’ and ‘mind Julia,’ Danny knew Dakota understood what he asked of him and hurried to the front door. Casey and Mary hadn’t shown their faces yet.
Two men greeted Danny when he opened the door. “Is this the Tilson residence?” one asked.
“It sure is.”
“Come on, show us what you want set up first.” They walked to their large truck with Danny following. “Say, ain’t you that Nashville surgeon to do with the deadly outbreak?”
Danny shook his head. “Unfortunately.”
“Man,” he said, “one of my wife’s friends died of that thing. We don’t go visit anybody in the hospital anymore, just in case.”
Danny went through a diagram they had on a notepad. “My sister must have drawn this layout for you. It looks good and you can get started with the first tents marked here. There are many trees, but we’ll dot the eating and food tents between them.” He pointed to the left side of the yard’s diagram.
----------
Mary and Casey both bounded down the steps. “Truck’s here,” Casey said.
“Danny can take care of it. I have to run. I’m the bride and I have to look gorgeous.” She toed her right foot in and peeled away from Casey into the kitchen. Casey followed while she poured a cup of coffee. Mary kissed him and picked up her travel mug. The car engine started after she disappeared out the door.
As Casey rinsed out a mug in the sink he heard Dakota bark. He glanced toward the doors, one of which was ajar. He poured a half cup, pulled apart an English muffin, and popped it in the toaster. Dakota’s bark become more petulant. Casey decided against taking his first sip. Dakota was having a fit out there.
After rounding the center island, Casey fully opened the other door. Julia was sitting up in the playpen on the verge of crying while Dakota swiped one look at Casey and then back to the area between the playpen and the rock wall. The dog held a cautious stance to stand within distance of something, yet his bark and tensed muscles showed aggression. He had never seen Dakota look so upset.
“What is it, Dakota?” Casey’s instincts fired up as he took hurried steps. He got behind Dakota and looked forward. Casey gasped as his heart pounded. There on the patio between Julia sitting in her play pen and the rock wall was a copperhead. Even worse, it was a baby copperhead with a distinctive yellow tail, more unskilled at holding onto its venomous load than its adult counterpart.
Casey made a split second decision. Around him, he had absolutely no tool to tackle the snake. Empty handed, it would strike one of them successfully. He spun around into the house, flung the door open to the garage, and grabbed the shovel in a tool rack adjacent to the door. He raced back as Danny came out to the side of the play pen.
“Dakota, what’s…” Danny said, but didn’t finish.
“Danny,” Casey said. “Right now, yank the play pen as fast as you can towards you.”
Danny had no idea why, but with unquestioning faith, swiftly moved it. Julia toppled over and started crying while Dakota maintained his posture and growled.
Casey wielded the shovel forward and down, lopping off the snake’s head.
----------
Danny picked up Julia and cradled her in his arms, securing her head into his chest, kissing her forehead. His bounding pulse slowed as he watched Casey verify the copperhead’s death.
Dakota edged cautiously closer to the kill. “Leave it,” Casey said, his own adrenaline starting to ebb as if he’d just done bench presses. “You are such a good boy. Thank you, Dakota.” Casey wrapped his arm around the dog’s torso in appreciation and then got up.
Danny struggled to unparalyze his vocal cords after the last frightful seconds. “Casey, your quick thinking may have just saved Julia’s or Dakota’s life.”
“It was Dakota. I just came downstairs. I would have never known except that he was telling us.”
“I went out front…”
“Yes, Mary and I saw that. You were taking care of wedding necessities.”
“Dakota, come here boy,” Danny said. Dakota’s snout came an inch away from Danny and Julia. Danny pulled him closer and caressed his entire head, whispering in his ear. “You are a good boy. Thank you. You are special and we all love you.”
Dakota sat and gave Danny his paw. His eyes glowed.
----------
The upstairs bedrooms were transformed into wedding party dressing rooms while hired help downstairs took care of every minute detail Mary and Casey had poured over for months. Between the inside and outside, the spacious home and grounds became a palatial enchantment. Soft colorful orchids lined the trellis on the wide platform for the bride and groom’s vows and for the reception band to follow. Large planters with hanging flowers sat at the four corners of the rows of folding chairs for the ceremony and lights were strung from the bottom of the trees for when it got dark.
By three thirty, the yard had swelled with guests. Casey’s coworker, Mark, acted as the usher along with another paramedic and the string quartet on the platform played softly. The temperature hovered in the mid-sixties, while the air was fresh with little or no breeze. A few clouds dotted the deep blue sky and moved without speed. Not the usual number of songbirds hit their feeders or perched on tree limbs, but some weren’t shy and graced the guests with song.
At quarter to four, Casey and Danny stood up front, crisply attired in tuxedos. Casey’s eyes sparkled and he smiled at guests. Only occasionally did he wring his hands in anticipation.
Danny’s eyes streamed over the crowd, appreciating the many relatives, medical colleagues of Casey as well as himself, and friends of the bride and groom. He stretched his neck, waiting to catch a glimpse of Mary, Sara, and the girls as they came out the French doors.
Finally, the doors opened and the ladies gathered on the patio. A wedding planner helped embellish the folds in Mary’s dress as well as the short tail. The ushers placed the last guests wanting seats, the flurry of excitement in the back subsided, and the string quartet began a soft rendition of Wagner’s “Bridal Chorus.”
Nancy began the procession down the blue strewn artificial walkway. Never had she looked older than her fourteen years until now. Her light brown hair still hid her ears, but Danny felt her confidence had soared to be first down the aisle. She carried a flower, which she handed to Casey’s mom sitting in the front first row.
Annabel came next clasping a white pillow, the wedding rings loosely tied by a satin ribbon. Through the half smile she wore was the pleasure of her braces gone.
Sara came next, lovely in a burgundy dress similar to the girls but a longer length. They had chosen well, Danny knew, with the gathered fabric at the waistline and the lacey sleeve to the elbow. The highlights in Sara’s hair glimmered as though dipped in fairy dust. Sara joined Danny, the way Mary and Casey had requested for their best man and maid of honor.
The next jewel was Mary, her face aglow, her dark red hair pulled up, only to drape down in silky radiance. Her dark blue eyes twinkled as she held a full bouquet of flowers. Danny stole a glance at Casey. Casey’s eyes were fixed on Mary as his hands relaxed and he took a deep breath.
The music stopped as the minister began the couple’s ceremony, proclaiming the sanctity of marriage and the beauty of the couple, the day, and the love all around. Then he announced that although Mary and Casey had written their own personal script which he had read, they wanted the customary English Rite of Marriage for their vows.
Casey and Mary faced each other. “You may repeat after me,” the minister said.
Casey listened but didn’t have to. He had rehearsed the words in his heart. “I, Casey Hamilton, take you, Mary Tilson, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.”
Danny glanced at Sara, wishing it could have been a double wedding as his sister spoke her vows as well. The bride and groom were pronounced husband and wife. Casey didn’t hesitate and affectionately kissed his bride.
----------
While the wedding party had pictures taken, and guests went to appetizer and drink set-ups in the house, on the patio, and in a tent closest to the house, a crew swiftly folded up the ceremony chairs. Tables with white tablecloths and flowers had already been placed under the tents for the buffet dinner. A portable dance floor had been put down in an open space. The string quartet packed away their instruments and a DJ cranked up his equipment.
After rounds of professional pictures in the gardens, Annabel ran into the house and retrieved Julia and Dakota. Julia wore a pink dress as well as matching baby shoes and bonnet. Dakota looked fit for a Chesapeake calendar, his curly top coat fluffy, and his eyes like Julia’s – wide and expressive. They joined the family for additional pictures.
The wedding planner announced the bride and groom to the floor when the photograph session ended and the DJ struck up Mary and Casey’s first dance as a married couple. Mary at first squeezed into Casey’s chest. “How perfect,” she told him.
At the end of their love song, Danny danced with Mary next. “How happy are you?” he asked.
She pushed him slightly away. “He’s the one. I think Casey was always the one. I bet there are women hospital employees sorry to see him get hitched.”
“You have nothing to worry about. He is sometimes the slightest flirt, but it’s never prompted by him. His morals are more important to him than any of his admirers and I’ve been around him almost my whole life. He loves you, Mary.”
Danny twirled his sister and she laughed. “We didn’t want to concern you this morning,” he said. “Has Casey told you what happened?” She looked at him quizzically. “A copperhead was on the patio near Julia which made Dakota pitch into a raucous bark. Casey killed it before it struck. If it weren’t for Dakota or Casey’s quickness, this would have been a sad day. An infant would have never survived the venomous poison and Dakota could have gotten bit, too.”
Mary’s dancing slowed to a few steps. Her smile faded. “How awful. I can’t believe I didn’t know.” The possible outcomes swirled through her thoughts and she wrung her hands. Moisture gathered in her eyes. “That’s ironic. Casey had a large part in almost saving Melissa, now this, with another daughter.”
Danny stared into her eyes. “I hadn’t thought about it that way.”
“He was dedicated to you a lot sooner than he was to me.”
The music stopped for a new selection and Danny gave his sister a kiss. “Too bad Mom and Dad aren’t here. They would have loved this day.”
The dance floor got lively as couples bumped and started varying their dance steps to a soft rock selection. Danny looked for Sara. He found her in a tent with Annabel and Julia. Sara had a banana from a display of fruit and fed Julia a slice.
“There you are,” Danny said. “May I have this dance?”
Annabel smiled more widely than Sara as her Mom and Dad walked to the dance floor.
“I felt honored to have such a beautiful Maid of Honor at my side,” Danny said, taking her into his arms for a slow dance. He held her hand in his and hugged her close. “It’s not just how stunning you are, or your fragrance which drives me nuts, but you can dance, too.”
“Thank you for the compliments.” She looked down. “That’s also a roundabout way of telling me that you still care?”
“I care… besides being in love with you.”
Chapter 29
Danny tracked down his group from the office and steered them to the tent where the PAM doctors had gathered. After asking Sara to join him, he held her hand across the grass and introduced her to the partying groups. They intermingled with food and drinks in hand.
He approached Joelle, standing with Rhonda, Peter, and Timothy. “I hope you’re all having a good time,” Danny said. “This is Sara.”
“All of us are happy to meet the Maid of Honor,” Joelle said. “Danny speaks highly of you.”
“Oh?” Sara said.
“Yes, we’re all working on a meningoencephalitis cure and sometimes we need a conversational break from bugs and microscopes, rounds and patient deaths.”
“Sara,” Danny said, “Joelle and Rhonda are very close to perfecting an antibiotic. I forgot. Have you all met the canine running around here whose saliva is a lifesaver?” Sara registered a look of surprise.
“No,” Joelle said.
Danny scoured the area for Dakota. Spotting him closer to the house, Danny took a step outside the tent and yelled his name. The dog turned his attention from a group of guests enticing him with baby meatballs and trotted through the crowd to Danny.
“He’s beautiful,” Rhonda said, crouching down.
“Sara, Rhonda is the vet in the group. Can’t you tell?”
Joelle dropped down, too. She wore cream trousers and a soft pastel top with a drop down neckline, material gathered in smooth folds. Her silver earrings had an extra embellishment – a blue topaz dangling in the middle. “Hi, Dakota,” she said. “You’re an important boy. I’ve been working intimately with your body juices.” She laughed and ruffled his coat with Rhonda.
Danny laughed. “Good thing you didn’t bring a date… he’d be jealous.”
Timothy hoisted his cane towards Sara. “Don’t mind us, Sara. We’re all a strange bunch.”
After a glass of wine, Danny and Sara ambled along the hot buffet table and added salmon, vegetables and bread to their plates, and then joined Danny’s colleagues.
“Sara, you know Bruce and his wife, but you may not have met Matthew Jacob. And Jeffrey Foord is a new doc who started with us last Monday. And you know Cheryl, my office nurse.”
Sara shook Jeffrey’s hand.
“Danny told us you’ve gone back to teaching.” Bruce said.
“I have. At our girls high school. I forgot how much I missed it.”
“I bet you didn’t skip a beat,” Bruce said.
----------
With a three-quarter moon casting a glow, the wedding party ended by midnight, much later than the newlyweds had anticipated. By that time, Danny and Sara were side by side without a second thought.
----------
Within two days Mary and Casey took off to Alaska for their honeymoon. Danny hired more help for Julia and the pressure in the office had eased due to Dr. Foord’s employment. He still hadn’t heard from Rachel. He wondered why, although he knew any supervised visitation would be awkward for her as well as for him.
The round robin of calls between Joelle’s lab, Ralph and the CDC, Danny and Peter and Timothy continued. Sometimes Danny joined them on rounds for the newer cases of PAM. Although Danny asked them if they didn’t want his input any more, they all insisted he was integral to the project.
One day in the doctor’s lounge Joelle put her hands on her hips and told him her opinion. “Timothy is the medical neurologist but you are our physical neurologist, so to speak. If we need someone to do surgery or brain biopsies or come with us to the FDA and explain this disease and how it eats the brain, then you must continue to be part of this team. Besides, you’ve been with this from the onset.”
Danny couldn’t argue with her. He continued to visit the lab twice a week and see for himself the progress the two women were making. Apparently, they were still one step ahead of the CDC. Finally, three weeks later, as the country’s cases soared to 870 deaths, 1,251 cases, and outbreaks reported in Canada, Mexico, and Australia, Danny was about to receive a call from Joelle.
The late afternoon office hour made Danny feel pressured to finish seeing the last of his patients, but he stood with Jeffrey in the viewing room, helping his younger colleague. “This is so subtle,” Danny said, pointing out an area of midbrain on an MRI. “It’s not only what stands out at you, but consider what you’re not seeing.”
Propping his elbow on his other hand, Jeffrey nodded.
“You’re off to a capable beginning,” Danny reassured him “The nice thing about having colleagues and not being in a solo practice, is that you can bounce things off other docs. It’s why we make a good group.”
Jeffrey pointed back to the MRI. “I see your point. No one’s presented it to me that way before. Thanks, Danny.”
Danny’s pager beeped as the earringed doctor squeaked out of the room in his tennis shoes. He turned to the phone in the semi-lit room and called Joelle back.
“How’s it going today?” Danny queried.
Joelle let out a long sigh like a balloon getting rid of stale air. “Finally, we’ve got it.”
“Really?” Danny shot back.
“Really. Rhonda is here, besides the two aides I’ve had the last couple of weeks. We can’t go any further unless we want to readdress every aspect of this drug over the next twelve months.”
“What chances do you give it in vivo?”
“We have to say a prayer that the FDA gives us clearance to try it without the usual hurdles. And then it’s anyone’s guess, but we’ll have no other choice.”
Danny looked at the x-ray view box, the white illumination like a sunrise in the dark. “Perfect timing,” Danny said. “Maybe you’ve discovered the north star in a stormy night.”
“I hope so. Get packed. You’re coming with us to Silver Springs, Maryland.”
----------
At The Food and Drug Administration’s headquarters, the chief administrators awaited the arrival of the medical doctors from Nashville and Atlanta with hope and skepticism. The pending meeting was labeled an “emergency conference,” the meeting of minds between the only existing topnotch experts directly involved with the biggest epidemic in modern times. The FDA had been told by the CDC that the epidemic so far had been miraculously spared a larger spread due to the meticulous isolation hospital precautions all around the country. Otherwise, the CDC had warned, there would have been more widespread puddle jumping of PAM causing rampant spread in most other continents.
The pack of doctors and one nurse left the Hilton Hotel’s breakfast buffet at the same time and grabbed cabs to the FDA’s base of operations. When the nine of them arrived and exited the three cabs, a swarm of reporters converged. The Saturday morning coverage would supply good fodder for the entire weekend news and it looked like no reporters stayed in bed.
It was chillier in Maryland compared to home, but Danny unbuttoned his sports coat as they single filed between the crowds. “It would be best to give you information after the meeting,” Danny said to the nearest reporters. The sky threatened rain, so they hurried along not only to push through the reporters but to escape any sudden shower.
Familiar with the complex, Ralph veered them up the steps and to the right. Joelle and Rhonda both wore heels and kept pace. Timothy brought up the rear. He stopped for a breather and gave the reporters a minute of his time. The group waited for him after they entered the building.
A man in a suit and a woman in a uniform waved them over to one section of the massive building. They opened the doors to a large conference room with a serious table.
The group of nine who had flown in included Ralph and another researcher from Atlanta. The remaining seven were Nashville people including Robert Madden, the hospital CEO, to lend a hospital’s perspective on the epidemic. The visitors, after making out name tags, sat on both sides of the table. Pitchers of water, cups, and pads of paper were available and all those with briefcases opened them up and put papers in front of them. Ralph passed copies of data sheets to everyone around the table.
A rounded man with a gray suit began speaking before he sat. “Welcome, everyone. I am Grant Edwards. I’ve had multiple conversations with Ralph Halbrow from the CDC. The folks in this room from the FDA represent the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Because we also understand your project involved canines, we have a representative from the Center for Veterinary Medicine.” He pointed to a hunched over man nearby, and then allowed them to begin.
Joelle brought along notes of the team’s key points. “So we’re on the same page,” she said, “as we began working with this amoeba, it most similarly looked and behaved like Naegleria fowleri, but there were differences. It also has a predilection to affect the host’s salivary glands, causing increased salivation. Coming in contact with this saliva in an unprotected way is one mode of transmission. Of course, as we all know, it wreaks havoc on brain cells. Dr. Danny Tilson, our neurosurgeon can comment on that. You all have the mortality and morbidity stats from the CDC in front of you.”
Danny glanced at his sheet. Not only had the numbers grown, but another country had been added, probably from a travelling American to Costa Rica.
“So,” Joelle continued, “we realized we were dealing with a different genus and species. This organism has now officially been named Naegleria salivi. The baptismal name had to go through the proper channels. Up until now we’ve been nicknaming the epidemic as a PAM, for a primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, but PAM doesn’t just refer to Naegleria fowleri. This particular epidemic is due to Naegleria salivi.” Joelle glanced around the table making eye contact. Her discussion was for utmost clarification and announcement of the taxonomy.
“I have presented you with the essence of the scientific backing for the antibiotic we have developed. It is before you in the stapled packet of papers. All previous drugs that were helpful, but not always curative, in the treatment of Naegleria fowleri did nothing against Naegleria salivi. No other classes of antibiotics eradicated the organism either. We discovered that the Chesapeake Bay retriever breed held something in their saliva which not only penetrated the amoeba’s outer membrane, but then also penetrated and broke down the organism’s nuclei. Before that, we could not find that unique combination.”
Joelle eyed the serious faces giving her attention. It wasn’t always the case to present what she had to say without being interrupted. She smiled, glad for the freedom to forge ahead.
“What our lab has developed is a streptomycin which does exactly what I’ve told you. In vitro, this antibiotic has been tested for days on Naegleria salivi resulting in its death one hundred percent of the time.” She switched her gaze to Robert Madden. “For any of you without a full scientific background, in vitro means ‘in the lab,’ as opposed to in vivo, which would mean testing it in a living organism. In other words, humans infected with the disease.”
Joelle took a sip of water and looked towards Ralph, who took her cue and stood up. He ran his thick hand on top of his receding hairline and then planted his thumb at the junction of his suspenders. “Ladies and gentlemen of the FDA, the CDC has been a step behind Dr. Joelle Lewis and her team, but has verified her results in our own lab. We are requesting that this organization side step all the regular channels for developing and testing this drug and make it available to the public. It is our responsibility to not waste one more day. In addition, you must recognize that the people already infected for awhile are probably going to die. This is the only hope, if given early on. And I emphasize early. We think getting this antibiotic into a person’s bloodstream as soon as the diagnosis is made is key.” There was a silence.
Grant Edwards cleared his throat. “We will be candid here, Mr. Halbrow. We are the only thing that stands between a potentially harmful drug in the making, and making it a safe and effective product that is supposed to heal or improve the health of the people of this country. We can expedite our own testing based on information you supply us with.”
“So you’re saying,” Ralph said, “the FDA is goin’ to go around its ass to get to its elbow?”
Grant’s face reddened. Danny stood up.
“Mr. Edwards,” Danny said as he looked around to all the members of the FDA, “I have a single sheet with your packet which explains the sinister way this organism penetrates the brain. It not only travels from the contamination Dr. Lewis spoke of, but it can occur from fresh water, as in the first case of young Michael Johnson jumping into a lake.”
Danny’s pulse began to quicken. He must pound them with the scary details. They had to get approval.
“Ladies and gentlemen, how would you like to be sitting here well and alert and within a few hours, have this amoeba introduced unsuspecting to you, into your nose? First, the mucosa or tissue responsible for your smell, olfactory bulbs, will dissolve, even hemorrhage. You know, bleed out. Then these little organisms are climbing along your nerve fibers straight through the skull area called the cribriform plate. That’s the floor of your cranium. So now it’s inside your brain.” Danny swallowed hard and looked piercingly at them all.
“Piece by piece,” Danny said, using his fingers to demonstrate, “your brain cells are being sucked in and consumed. That’s because Naegleria salivi has special suckers extending from its cell surface. As you have fewer and fewer cells for thinking, or moving, or speech, you are already in a coma, and the contents of who you were are nothing more than a parasite’s meal. This is the reality behind this silent fear which has grown to pandemic proportions. Don’t you agree that this real amoeba is more disgusting than a Stephen King novel?”
The room erupted in silence as visual images crept over the participants’ thoughts. A few heads nodded. Grant Edwards stood. “Can all members from the FDA follow me into the adjacent room, please?”
As they began heading toward the door, Danny spoke up again. “I have one more thing for your consideration. Even though the drug isn’t perfectly formulated yet, consider me the first in vivo patient to have received its key ingredient. I had an open wound and my Chesapeake Bay retriever thoroughly licked it, inoculating my bloodstream and brain cells with his saliva’s protection. It stands to reason why I’m on this side of the grass compared to the victims and I’m able to give you this pitch. Give the American people and the world the same opportunity.”
Chapter 30
Danny paced back and forth behind his chair to cool off. Joelle got up and took off her linen jacket. Rhonda twirled her pen and Timothy tapped his cane on the table leg. Peter poured ice water and downed it in several minutes.
Robert sighed and leaned forward over the table. “From a business man’s perspective, your presentation and the papers you all have submitted, are top notch. I don’t see what more you could have done if they deny your request.”
“It wouldn’t mean denying it for us,” Joelle said. “It’s denying a potential cure to the public.”
“I understand, Joelle. Let’s hope for the best. It’s certainly taking them long enough.”
Danny slid back into his chair and relaxed. The back doors finally opened and the FDA group came in, their steps reverberating across the room. Grant Edwards went back to his prior position at the head of the table and spoke.
“The FDA has decided to give both organizations, the CDC and the Nashville research team doctors, the emergency clearance they need. We’ll work with you to get an approved drug manufacturer who can produce a substantial first quantity of this drug, as pills first and then IV formulation A.S.A.P. As the first round treats patients, we’ll have an understanding of how well it works, or if it does work for humans.”
The elation was unanimous and everyone popped out of their chairs. Timothy lagged, but rose nevertheless. Danny and Joelle burst into a hug and Rhonda joined them.
Joelle stepped back to the table and rapped a few times. “By the way,” she said, “we gave the drug a nickname in lieu of the two most important characters that influenced its development. How about we make that name official?”
“What is it, Miss Lewis?” Grant asked.
“DakTilmycin. For Dakota, the Chesapeake Bay retriever responsible for smearing his saliva on Dr. Tilson, and of course, for Dr. Tilson, responsible for helping identify the origin, the mechanism, the cure, the biopsies and patient care. Need I go on?”
“We hereby declare it DakTilmycin,” Grant said. “Let’s hope the drug is a winner.”
----------
The media swarmed them. “Is it true? Is there a cure?”
“How many more lives must be sacrificed before you all do something?”
“We heard the CDC brought a proposal to the FDA. Did they accept?
“We heard a rumor a drug has been manufactured from a dog?”
“Has the FDA swiped your research? Is it going to take months before they release their results?”
The press corps pushed and prodded and the docs answered. As they learned the facts, they pressed with more questions. Some of them didn’t know whether to pursue the doctors or get their coverage live on television or zoomed to their headquarters. The public would know shortly that help was on the way. Major networks covered the details, which streamed to foreign countries, and discussions began about the believability of the cure.
The news coverage was creative. One reporter on prime time news said, “A medical catastrophe that not only began spreading like wildfire through saliva is now going to see its cure with saliva.”
The 9 p.m. nightly news said, “Do you know where your Chesapeake Bay retriever is? Chances are he or she is a precious commodity because what’s thought to be the cure for meningoencephalitis is coming from the breed.”
A headline newspaper blared out, Now famous Nashville neurosurgeon’s dog and hand injury may hold cure to continental epidemic. And the next day’s major national newspaper announced, The silent fear of the perfect pandemic may be drawing to a close.
----------
Back home in Nashville, the team met Monday morning at 8 a.m. at the bedside of a patient infected with Naegleria salivi. The twenty-three year old student had caught it in their own hospital while training to become a nurse. She had not lapsed into a coma, had been diagnosed by MRI the evening before, and jumbled her words. She wore a pretty nightgown and had a nursing book on the end table. The team hoped she’d get back to that book and reuse her sleepwear under better circumstances in the future.
“Here, Claire,” Joelle said. “This is the new medication you and your family signed for. We hope it cures you of the disease you caught.” Joelle handed her a small cup with apple juice and Claire reflexively took the pill and washed it down.
The team left Claire’s room. “I wish Bill could have been one of the first,” Danny said.
“Nevertheless,” Joelle said cautiously, “we’ll wait and see. Maybe we’ll know in a day or two.”
“Peter and Timothy,” Danny said, “I’ll order an MRI on her for two days from now. You all call me to let me know how she’s doing.” Everyone stopped in the hallway, ready to part. “That’s it, then,” Danny said. “The writing’s on the wall in two days?”
“In two days,” Joelle said.
----------
Danny’s desk swelled with files and small messages in front of the phone. Other than seeing patients, his office work had piled up. He scoured the notes of people who had called. He could be picky choosing his news interviewers. It was mid-week and 5 p.m. Bruce rounded the corner. “Come on, the MRI you’ve been waiting for just came in.”
Danny jumped out of his office chair and followed Bruce to the viewing room. The solo large gray envelope sat on the aluminum table. “She’s only twenty-three. A nursing student,” Danny said. He jimmied the new film onto the viewing box and as importantly, the last two films for comparison. Bruce adjusted his bifocals and also studied Danny’s films.
For a second Danny hesitated with fear. What if DakTilmycin hadn’t done a thing?
“You all have made a medical breakthrough,” Bruce said, looking at the film and interrupting his thoughts.
The inflammation of the patient’s meninges had subsided and Danny felt his pulse subside. He saw the beginning of a marked brain improvement as well and tried to dampen his excitement. He wanted to shout like a kid. Plus, it also mattered if the nursing student had a better neurologic exam now and how she looked clinically to the rest of the team.
Bruce shook his hand. “I think by tomorrow you’ll have a confirmed cure,” he said. “Congratulations, Danny.”
----------
At home, Danny pulled into the driveway alongside Sara’s car and sprang out of his vehicle. When he opened the door, Nancy handed him Julia and Dakota gave him a rambunctious hello. He pulled Nancy’s head towards him, gave her a kiss, and squeezed Julia. His fingers inched into the baby’s hand and he mimicked a dance with her.
“We came over, Dad, because Mary just got back her wedding pictures and we haven’t seen their honeymoon pictures. We’re not staying long though, because Annabel and I haven’t done our homework yet and Mom has school stuff to do, too.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re here.”
“Dad, I’m not kidding, at school it’s like we’re the daughters of some medical rock star.”
Danny shot her a glance. “I’m sorry. I hope that’s not a bad thing.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I can live with it.”
Danny walked toward the inside coffee table where Casey, Mary, Annabel, and Sara gloated over an album. “Come see the pictures,” Mary said as Danny’s pager went off.
“I’ll be right there.” Danny held his breath. It was Joelle, calling from her condo. He placed Julia on the counter facing him, her little hands patting his face, as he used his cell phone to call.
“Joelle,” he said. “The MRI looks so much better. I can’t say great, but the meninges swelling is less pronounced. Please, tell me, does that correlate with the clinical picture?”
“Hallelujah,” she said. “Our first experimental patient to take DakTilmycin has had four doses of the drug. Claire’s neuro status has improved. I had an almost perfect conversation with her an hour ago. Peter, Timothy, and I are pleased. We believe it’s working and there seem to be no problems. Even her labs are better.”
Danny hung on every word as he watched Julia wistfully apply a smile. He tried not to be a guy who would cry, but he couldn’t help it, and two tears made their way down his cheek. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Then don’t say anything. I’ll see you tomorrow, Danny Tilson. Why don’t you go spend the evening with your family?” she asked, eyeing Bell.
“I will. Joelle?”
“Yes?”
“Your mother would be proud.”
Joelle closed her eyes. “Thanks, Danny. I appreciate that.”
----------
Danny slinked into the room so as not to disturb everyone’s delight over the group pictures. Annabel crunched on a potato chip and gave him a little wave. He sat next to Sara, cross-legged on the floor and Dakota nestled in behind him.
“Hey,” Casey said. His toned body sat on the couch hovering over the pictures, pointing from one to the next with a wide smile. “Here’s you with the girls,” he said to Danny, “and Dakota on the back lawn.”
Danny’s eyes settled on Sara. “Nice,” he said.
“Does that go for the picture as well as your ex-wife?” Casey asked.
“For sure.”
“How is the new drug working out?” Mary asked.
“Like a charm,” Danny said. He cradled Julia with his left arm and his right hand went to Sara’s on the floor between them. He laced his strong fingers through hers. She surprised him by raising his hand to her lips and planting the most meaningful kiss he’d received in a long time.
About the Author
Barbara Ebel is a physician-turned-author. Since she practiced anesthesia, she brings credibility to the medical background of her plots. Even this book was based on an organism that really exists. She lives with her husband and pets in a wildlife corridor in Tennessee and has lived up and down the East coast.
The following books are also written by Barbara Ebel and are available as paperbacks and as eBooks:
The first book in the Dr. Danny Tilson series:
Operation Neurosurgeon: You never know… who’s in the OR
- excerpt follows -
Outcome, A Novel: There’s more than a hurricane coming...
Younger Next Decade: After Fifty, the Transitional Decade,
and What You Need to Know
(nonfiction health book)
Visit the author at her website: http://barbaraebel.weebly.com
Also written and illustrated by Barbara Ebel:
A children’s book series about her loveable therapy dog:
Chester the Chesapeake Book One
Chester the Chesapeake Book Two: Summertime
Chester the Chesapeake Book Three: Wintertime
Chester the Chesapeake Book Four: My Brother Buck
The Chester the Chesapeake Trilogy (The Chester the Chesapeake Series) – eBook only
http://dogbooksforchildren.weebly.com
Operation Neurosurgeon:
You never know … who’s in the OR
By Barbara Ebel, M.D.
A Dr. Danny Tilson Novel.
Chapter 1
- 2009 -
Through the desolate winter woods, she could see a run-down single story house. She firmly pressed the accelerator to climb the hilly, rutted road as pebbles kicked up from the gravel, pinging underneath her sedan. All around her, tall spindly trees stood without a quiver, the area still, quiet and remote. On this damp, cold February afternoon, she had come to conclude a deal with a man named Ray.
The road narrowed past the house, fading over the hill, but she veered slowly to the left, a barren area in front of the peeling house, where a dusty red pickup truck stood idle and a black plumaged vulture busily scavenged. Deliberately she left her belongings, clicked the lock on her car and walked to the front door. She threw the long end of her rust scarf behind her shoulder. The raptor grunted through his hooked beak as he flew off to the backwoods. The door opened before she knocked.
“Nobody visits a feller like me,” the man said, smiling at her while adjusting his baseball cap, “unless we’re buying and selling. You must be the lady with the book.”
The tidily shaven man wore a salt and pepper colored beard and mustache and an open plaid cotton shirt with a tee shirt underneath. The boots peeking out from under his blue jeans had seen muddy days.
The woman smiled pleasantly at him and went in the front door empty handed. If the man had any furniture, she wasn’t aware of it. Car parts lay strewn everywhere, which made her wonder if he slept in a bed.
Ray followed her glance. “You nearly can’t find one of them no mores,” he said, pointing to a charcoal colored, elongated piece of vinyl plastic on the floor. She looked quizzically at him and shoved the woolen hat she’d been wearing into her pocket.
“It’s an original 1984 Mercedes dashboard. See, the holes are for vents and the radio. Got a bite on that one from a teenager restoring his first car.” She didn’t seem interested though. She eyed the dust, in some spots thick as bread.
“Are you sure you have twelve-thousand dollars to pay for this?” she asked, unbuttoning her jacket.
“You come out thirty miles from Knoxville? That baby in your belly may need something,” he said, pointing to her pregnancy. “You want a soda or something?”
“No thank you,” she said, grimacing at him.
“Oh, yeah. I got the money,” he said. “All I got now to my name is seventy-five thousand dollars. I got ruint in Memphis. Was a part owner in a used car dealership. Went away for a little while, and the other guy cleaned me out. Can’t afford nothing like a lawyer to chase ‘im down.”
She tapped her foot.
“Anyhow, I won’t bother yer with all that. I got a thing going good on eBay. I got a reputation, it ain’t soiled. You can trust me, I give people what I tell them, whether I’m buying or selling.”
A beagle-looking mutt crawled out from behind a car door. “Molly, you’re milk containers are dragging on the floor. Better get out to your pups,” the man said, prodding her out the partially closed door.
“You like dogs?” he asked.
“I suppose so.”
“I got no use for people who don’t care for dogs. Something not right about people like that.”
The woman turned and followed the clumsy dog outside, grabbed a bag from the front seat, and came back in. She took out a book, opened the back cover, and handed him a folded piece of paper. Certificate of Authenticity, the man read, from a company in New Orleans, verifying the signature on the front page to be Albert Einstein’s. He inverted his hand and wiggled his fingers, gesturing to her if he could hold the aged book.
“Where’d you say you got it?” He observed her carefully.
“It’s been in the family for years. I took my precious belongings with me when I left New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina. Since I lost my house there, I decided to stay in Tennessee. Now I’m selling my expensive things. I have to make ends meet, especially with a baby coming.”
“Good thing you got this certificate with it, then. Twelve-thousand dollars, we’ve got a deal.”
He walked away to the back of the house while she held on to the physicist’s 1920 publication. He came through the doorway with a stack of money and a brown paper bag. She nodded once when she finished counting the bills, so he handed her the empty bag.
“I still got your email address and phone number,” he said. “I keep track of what goes and comes.”
“You won’t need them,” she said and left abruptly.
He watched her back out and stood there until the car disappeared out of sight down the gray road.