The Meridians(15)

"What the hell is that?" said Lynette. Normally she didn't like to curse, she thought it was ugly and showed a laziness of thought she found repellant. But she was tired, and frightened, and overworked, and nothing seemed to be going right, so she used the word that with such vehemence that Robbie, who was sitting beside her, jumped in startlement. "What the hell is going on with my baby?"

Doctor Cody's expression didn't change, as though he had been expecting such an outburst and had come emotionally prepared to deal with it.

"The ductus arteriosus is a major blood vessel in charge of fetal circulation. It allows blood to bypass the undeveloped lungs and deliver oxygen directly to parts of the baby. In full-term babies, the d.a. closes of its own accord so that the lungs can do their work uninhibited. But in some premature children, it remains open."

"What does that mean?" asked Robbie, his own tired eyes staring at Doctor Cody with a dull, glassy stare.

"It means that excess blood is flowing into his lungs, making it harder for Kevin to breathe."

"Why did he turn gray?" asked Lynette.

Doctor Cody looked at his toes. They had been around long enough by then to recognize this as a bad sign, and Robbie gripped Lynette's arm. "Because his heart failed."

Lynette started crying. "Is he going to die?"

"I hope not," said Doctor Cody. "We're taking him right to surgery to clamp the d.a., hopefully that will allow him to resume normal lung functions."

"Hopefully?" said Lynette. "What do you mean, 'hopefully'?"

Again Robbie gripped her shoulder, but she shrugged his hand off her. "Why can't you people just fix my baby?"

Doctor Cody kept looking at his feet. Lynette had heard that in spite of his downcast facade and lack of a real bedside manner, Doctor Cody was one of the best doctors in his field in the state, so she was glad to have him watching over Kevin Angel, but at that instant she wanted to strangle the man.

"We're doing what he can," he said. He turned to leave, then stopped and faced them. "Are you churchgoing folk?" he asked.

Robbie nodded. Lynette didn't. She couldn't. She was too spent to even move at that instant.

"Then I might invite you to pray," said Doctor Cody wanly, and left.

They did pray. Lynette grabbed Robbie's hand instantly and said the most heartfelt prayer she could think of: that Kevin Angel would live.





***





8.

***

Benjamin had known he wanted to be a nurse since he was eight years old. But he nearly changed his mind some twenty years later.

On his eighth birthday he had been riding his present - a brand new Huffy two wheel bike. He had had a two wheel bike without training wheels for almost two years now, but this was a full sized grownup bike, or at least it had seemed so at the time. Certainly it was too big for him; he had to stand on a curb in order to throw his legs high enough to straddle the crossbar. Starting the bike was a matter of taking a flying leap of faith, jumping forward and then landing hard on one of the pedals, and hoping that he had enough weight behind the action that the pedal would crank hard enough to start the bike. The entire process was wobbly, frightening, eminently unsafe.

And Benjamin loved every second of it.

He was actually getting pretty good by the time his mother came out to announce that it was time for his birthday dinner. The birthday would be a family-only affair that year, since he had opted for the bike in lieu of a party.

"Benjamin!" shouted his mom. "Go get Gina!"

Gina, his little sister, was playing at a friend's house down the street. Benjamin decided he would not only bike down the street to get his sister, but he would set a new all time landspeed record in the process. He hopped on a curb, standing next to his bike, threw his right foot over the crossbar, and then pushed off, jumping heavily on the right pedal in a kickstart motion that sent the bike cruising down the street.

Zero to sixty in no seconds, thought the eight year old.

Soon he was going fast, fast, faster. So fast the wind was blowing across his face, whipping his long blonde hair around his face like a halo.

Then the unthinkable happened. With a sickening thunk, his bike chain slipped off the teeth of the bike sprocket, and suddenly he was pedaling faster than ever before, but felt as though he were pedaling through air as all resistance instantly disappeared.

He was no longer totally in control of his bike. That scared him. What scared him worse was the fact that his brakes - coaster brakes that relied on the chain to stop the bicycle - were no longer functioning.

He panicked. Forgetting the obvious - that he would simply coast to a gentle stop if he stopped pedaling and just let friction and gravity gradually halt his momentum - he looked frantically around for some way to arrest his forward movement.

He saw the chain link fence almost instantly. It was a logical thought: I'll grab the fence, and stop the bike. Easy-peasy.

He reached out. Check.

Grabbed the end post of the fence. Check.

Held on tight. Check.

But the bike didn't stop moving. No check. In fact, it whizzed away from him, riderless, as he stopped his own motion but failed to clamp down and retain control of the bike. The Huffy sped away, wobbling and then falling only a few feet later.

Benjamin, however, did not wobble away. His forward momentum changed to a sharp arc as he grabbed the fence, swinging him around until he came into contact with something that did stop him.