Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 (54 page)

“
We finally get some alone
time,” Sandy said.

Aden laughed.

“
We need to take a
honeymoon,” he said.

“
We have six kids now,”
Sandy said. “I don’t know how we’ll ever get another
chance.”

“
We’ve never had trouble
before,” Aden wiggled his eyebrows at her and she
giggled.

“
I’m glad you’re here,” she
said. “I wish I felt better to enjoy it.”

“
Me too,” Aden said.
“Food?”

Sandy nodded.

“
Cafeteria or…?”

Aden looked down at Sandy. She was fast
asleep. Smiling to himself, he wheeled her back to her room. The
room’s surfaces were covered with bouquets of flowers from friends
and family. He had to move a forest of metallic ‘Get Well’ balloons
out of the way to get in the room. With the help of her nurse, he
got her into bed. She opened her eyes to smile at him and fell
sound asleep. Aden settled in for the duration. Asleep or awake, he
would be here for her.

He just hoped she survived.

The doctors had told him that Rachel had a
better chance of surviving than her mom. Sandy’s infection was so
far resistant to antibiotics. The doctors encouraged him not to
give up hope. She could still survive. She was just very ill. And
everything she had, she gave to Rachel in her Kangaroo sessions. He
swallowed hard.

She had been there when he needed her
friendship. She had been there when he needed her support. She had
been there when he needed an ear to listen. She had been there to
laugh at his lame jokes. She had even been there to love him and
his children, through some of the worst days of his life.

He might not have Jill’s skill to heal. But
he could love her. He only hoped that would be enough.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday mid-day — 12:30 P.M

Holding Sissy’s rejected garments, Noelle
left the dressing room. They’d taken turns. Noelle had gone first
and they’d bought a few cute outfits for Noelle. This was Sissy’s
turn. But these clothes were not right. Noelle stopped at Valerie’s
dressing room to pick up a few hangers. Happy to be shopping with
Sissy and Valerie, Noelle beamed as she left the dressing room.

And ran right into a popular girl from
school. The girl sneered at Noelle.

“
I wondered who hogged up
the dressing rooms,” the girl said.

The girl started making snorting noises.
Noelle scowled and put the hangers on the take back rack. On her
way out to the main area, she passed another popular girl. ‘Look
it’s the piggy,’ the girl said and joined her friend in snorting.
Another blonde head looked up and began snorting. The sounds chased
Noelle to the clothing rack where she picked up a smaller size for
Sissy and a bigger size for Valerie. Clutching the clothes to her,
she ran into the dressing room. She put Valerie’s over the door and
went into Sissy’s room.

“
Here,” Noelle
said.

She was turning to leave when Sissy touched
her arm.

“
What happened?” Sissy
asked.

“
You wouldn’t understand,”
Noelle said.

“
Try me,” Sissy
said.

“
You girls doing all
right?” The stylist came into the room. “Here are a few more things
to try. I think you’ll like them.”

The woman smiled at Sissy and Noelle then
left to help Valerie.

“
What happened?” Sissy
whispered.

“
There are these girls at
school who hate me,” Noelle said. “I try to be friendly but they
hate me.”

“
Why?”

“
I’m not cute or blonde or
perfect or…”

Sissy hugged Noelle to her. Pressed against
Sissy’s shoulder, Noelle kept talking.

“
Stop!” Sissy said. “You
have to stop or you’ll end up like me.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
Look at me!” Sissy said.
“I’m a skeleton who hates herself. Everyone’s too nice to say
anything and I don’t think I really noticed it until we started
shopping. You look great. Really fit. I look… like a Halloween
decoration. They told me in treatment but…”

Sissy shook her head.

“
I hate myself,” Noelle
said.

“
What did they do?” Sissy
asked.

“
They made snorts like a
pig,” Noelle said. “They said we were hogging the changing
rooms.”

“
Short? Blonde?
Rich?”

Noelle nodded.

“
Let’s sic Valerie on
them,” Sissy said.

Wearing just her bra and underwear, she went
out to Valerie’s dressing room. Noelle watched Sissy’s protruding
hip and back bones move as she walked.

“
Val? We have a problem,”
Sissy said.

Valerie opened the door to her dressing
room. Noelle couldn’t tell what Sissy said but Valerie’s face
pinched in anger. She came over to Noelle.

“
Are you all right?”
Valerie asked.

Noelle shrugged.

“
I’m going to take care of
this,” Valerie hugged Noelle. “You know, they used to make fun of
me too.”

“
They did?” Noelle’s mouth
fell open with shock.

“
I wasn’t any good at
school social crap. I had to work. I had Mike. I played sports and…
I wasn’t popular, blonde or rich,” Valerie said. “I’m not
now.”

“
But you’re a beautiful
movie star,” Sissy said.

“
I’ve been successful
because I look like me,” Valerie said. “No one in the world looks
like me. No one looks like Noelle or you Sissy. That’s our
beauty.”

“
The weirdest thing just
happened.” The stylist came up. “I went out there and a bunch of
little girls were snorting like pigs. When they saw me they stopped
but…”

“
They thought you were me,”
Noelle collapsed into herself. “I’m the pig.”

“
No you’re not!” Sissy
punched Noelle’s shoulder.

“
Are the pigs’ mothers
here?” the stylist asked.

Noelle nodded.

“
And they let their
daughters behave like that?” the stylist asked.

“
They were mean to Sandy at
the luncheon too,” Noelle said.

“
Then we have to do
something big,” Valerie said. “Noelle, do you still have your video
camera with you?”

Noelle nodded.

“
I’ll get a film editor I
know to cut it into a show stopper of a video,” Valerie said. “He
likes these little projects.”

“
A video?” Noelle’s
eyebrows pinched together.

“
These little piggies went
to market or something like that,” Valerie laughed. “I can post it
on my Facebook page so that lots of people will see it.”

“
Let’s do it!” Sissy
said.

“
I’ll take it,” the stylist
said. Noelle gave her the Flip camera. “Go on Noelle. Make us
proud.”

Valerie gave Noelle more clothing to take
out. When she left the dressing room, the blonde girls began
snorting. When she returned to the dressing room door, they were
standing in a line snorting at Noelle. Noelle had to push past them
to get in the dressing room. The women in the dressing room cheered
Noelle’s safe return. While Noelle watched, Valerie uploaded the
video via her Blackberry. She sent the video and an email to her
friend.

“
Let’s get out of here,”
Valerie said.

Valerie and Sissy collected their purchases.
Of course the girls would never dare snort at Noelle while Valerie
was there. Valerie paid the bill. Gossiping about mutual Hollywood
friends, Valerie and the stylist left the shop. Sissy and Noelle
followed close behind. It wasn’t until they were on the sidewalk
that Noelle let out a breath.

“
Come on!” Sissy said to
Noelle. “Your turn!”

Noelle had only ever had Nash and her Dad.
And now she had both a mother and an older sister and a baby sister
and a movie star auntish person. Smiling, Noelle followed them into
the next shop.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday evening — 7:30 P.M

Aden had helped Sandy get back into her
hospital bed after her last Kangaroo session. She needed to have
her vitals checked and get her medication. Aden had left to check
on the kids and get her some ice cream. The nurse had just left
when her door opened.

“
Hi,” Blane said. He set a
courier bag on the chair next to the bed.

“
Blane?” Sandy asked.
“What…?”

“
Heather said they haven’t
been able to get at your infection,” Blane said. “I thought I’d
stop by and see you if some acupuncture could help you.”

“
Acupuncture?” Her eyebrows
pinched together with concern.

Blane smiled at her skepticism.

“
I don’t want you to go to
any trouble,” Sandy said. “Plus, you’re sick. You need your skills
for Mack and Heather and yourself.”

“
I’m happy to help,” Blane
said.

“
I’ll be okay,” Sandy
said.

“
Well, since I came all
these three long blocks,” Blane winked at Sandy. “Why don’t you let
me try?”

Sandy raised a disbelieving eyebrow but
nodded. He gave her a beautiful smile as a reward. He picked up her
right wrist to begin taking her pulses.

“
You know, Alex Hargreaves
had sepsis from a knife cut a few years ago.” He let go of her
right hand and went around the bed. “She tried everything. You know
what finally worked?”

He picked up her left wrist. Seeing his
concentration, she didn’t answer. When he set her arm down, she
said:

“
Some super secret Army
thing?” Sandy asked.

“
Yes, she turned into the
Incredible Hulk. She has to live with the green skin but it did
kick the infection,” Blane laughed. “Show me your
tongue.”

She stuck her tongue out at him.

“
They’ve called Dr.
Tomogura,” Blane said.

“
I don’t have any idea,”
Sandy said.

“
The nurse told me. He’s
the best infection doc in the country,” Blane said. “I’ve worked
with him before. He was Alex’s doc. He was with me through every
step of Alex’s treatment. Ancient Chinese Treatment saved Miss
Alex’s life or at least her arm. The other option was to
amputation. That didn’t go over very well with the super secret
Army people.”

Sandy smiled at his attempt to cheer her
up.

“
I’m just really sick. I
don’t think I’ve ever been this sick.” Sandy tightened her lips
together as if she’d admitted an awful truth.

“
You’re very weak,” he
said. “Mostly, you need peace and rest. I’ll drop by a CD with some
music that will help. Even if you’re asleep, the music will help
peace enter your body.”

“
No peace in my body?”
Sandy asked.

“
You’ve had an awful year,”
Blane said.

He waved off her immediate protest and sat
down on the bed.

“
Almost everyone you love
has been in the Emergency Room this year. Aden’s been in jail and
had the shit kicked out of him there. Your brother and sister are
messed up,” Blane said. “And I know that crap with you bio father
was awful.”

“
Is awful,” Sandy said.
“The nurses all know who and what I am.”

Blane put his warm hand over hers.

“
I’m going to put some
needles in,” Blane said. “Okay?”

“
If you think it will
help,” Sandy’s skeptical voice made him smile.

He opened his courier bag and took out a
sheath of steel acupuncture needles.

“
Here, you can help me,” he
said. “Just open the end of these. Like this.”

He opened the end of the sealed package of
disposable acupuncture needles. Sandy tried one and he nodded.
While Sandy’s attention turned to opening the packages, he began
inserting the needles.

“
You and I have a lot in
common,” Blane said.

“
How so?” Sandy
asked.

“
We have similar
histories,” Blane said. “We’ve been publicly humiliated. We live
off the kindness of relative strangers and not real family. A lot
of people depend on us to hold their kite strings. And right now,
we both need other people to help us get better.”

He took the packages from her and gave her
another set.

“
That’s a lot of needles,”
she said.

“
Yep,” Blane said. “It’s
horrible for me to think that someone will give up their liver to
help me.”

“
But you have to do it!”
Sandy said. “You have a child and..”

“
So do you,” he said. “Jill
says you won’t accept her help.”

He picked up her right wrist to take her
pulse.

“
You’re fighting this
treatment,” he said.

“
Jill doesn’t need to be
worrying about me,” Sandy said.

“
She has a gift,” Blane
said. “Why not let her help you?”

Sandy crossed her arms. He smiled and
continued putting in needles. When he finished, he took the chair
Aden had been sitting in.

“
We wait for about twenty
minutes now,” Blane said. “How do you feel?”

“
Tired,” Sandy
said.

“
I bet,” he said. “This
should help you sleep. You didn’t answer my question.”

“
I did so,” Sandy said.
“You asked how I felt, and I told you.”