by DK Land
He winked at Mabel and said, “Good mornin’ ladies! How are you gals on this fine, fine day?”
“Good morning, Sheriff Wheaton,” said Tandy. “I’m a whole lot better today than I was twenty four hours ago. Especially now, after hearing the great news from Mabel about what happened last night at the hospital.”
“Mornin’, Mr. Law Enforcement Officer,” smiled Mabel. “You’re sure acting rather spry, considering the fact that you didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night.”
As he sat down on his favorite bar stool, he smiled. “Yeah. But, I slept like a baby for the short time that I was in bed. Boy, I tell you. I don’t want to go through another day like yesterday EVER again!”
Tandy said, “Say, Mabel. I’m gonna take these hamburger patties back to the cooler, and start cutting up some spuds, okay?”
Harold interrupted. “Uh, before you do that, Tandy, I need to talk to both of you for just a minute, please?”
As Tandy wiped her hands on her apron, she said, “Sure, Sheriff Wheaton. What’s up?”
Mabel reached for the coffeepot and said with concern. “We don’t have another problem, do we, Harold?”
He waved his hand. “No, no! It’s not anything big. It’s just that… I stopped over at the hospital before I came for breakfast and talked to Dan Roberts. He asked me if we would all just kinda keep quiet about all of these brain death readings they were getting yesterday. Ya know? Until they can figure out just what was really happening. Now, he’s beginning to suspect that the machines were on the fritz or something.”
Tandy smiled at Mabel. “See, Mabel! That’s exactly what I was saying.” Then she looked at Harold and said, “Mum’s the word,” as she pretended to zip her mouth shut.
Suddenly, Mabel jumped. “Oh, for Pete’s sake! I haven’t even started your breakfast!” As she busied herself at the grill, she inquired, “Did Dr. Roberts say if there had been any improvement in J.T.’s condition?”
“No, there hasn’t been any change at all,” said Harold. “He said they’re trying to keep the rest of the boys under observation, but that’s next to impossible. They’re running all over the hospital. You know? Acting like normal kids. But, poor J.T. is still showing no brain activity.”
“Oh, another thing,” said Harold. “I finally had a chance to talk to Shauni and Jefferson about the Sadler boy.”
Mabel turned around. “Really, and how did it go? Did you behave yourself?”
He smiled, “Yes, Dear. I behaved myself.”
“So, what did they say?” asked Mabel.
Harold shook his head. “Well, they both said that they hadn’t seen anything suspicious going on up near the creek.”
“Aaaaand?”
Harold slowly shook his head and said, “Jefferson said that he hadn’t been up to the creek since his rat became pregnant.”
“What?” exclaimed Mabel with a smile.
“That’s right, Mabel. You probably won’t read about it in today’s paper, but that’s the big news of the day. Jefferson Cordain has not visited Quail Creek since his rat became pregnant.”
* * *
As Jefferson walked in to J.T. Zimmerman’s hospital room, he inquired, “How’s he doing, Audrey? Any change at all?”
The nurse was slowly wiping the small boy’s forehead with a damp rag. “Hi, Jefferson. No, I’m afraid there’s no change. He just lies here so still and calm.” She looked up sadly. “I’m afraid we might lose this one, Jefferson.”
He smiled softly. “Well, we can’t give up hope yet. If you just walk out into the hall, you’ll see that we’ve had a pretty good survival rate from this thing so far. We’ve got kids swinging from the stethoscopes out there.”
As she looked back at her young patient, she said with a slight smile, “I know, Jefferson. It’s been just an absolute miracle what’s happened with those kids. It really has. But, it’s so sad about little J.T.” Then she tried to shake off her depression. “Was there something you wanted, Jefferson?”
“Yes, actually,” he replied. “I’m planning on going home to get some rest in a little while, and I thought, if you could disconnect my EEG machine from J.T. and hook up the hospital’s machine, I’d take both of my machines with me when I leave.”
“Of course,” said Audrey. “I’ll have it ready for you in just a few minutes.”
“Thanks, Audrey.”
As he closed the door to J.T.’s room and began walking down the corridor toward the nurse’s station, he heard his name being called from behind.
“Say, Jefferson.”
He turned to see Gerard Slocum and Dan Roberts walking toward him.
“Oh, hi fellas,” he said. “What are you guys up to? You both look like you just barely escaped from the can crusher.”
Dan Roberts grinned. “Well now, Mr. Cordain. You don’t look much better than a piece of day old cheese yourself.”
Jefferson chuckled. “I probably don’t smell much better either. I’d give my left shoe for a nice warm shower right about now.”
Gerard said, “We were just going to the lounge for a cup of caffeine. Would you care to join us?”
As the three men sat drinking coffee in the Doctor’s Lounge, Dan Roberts mused, “You know guys, we’ve had some miraculous things happen in these last eight or nine hours.”
Gerard and Jefferson nodded in agreement.
“But,” continued Dan, “I hope you realize that we’re still sitting on square one with this whole episode.”
“What are you getting at, Dan?” asked Jefferson.
“Well, think about it,” he replied. “There is not a single thing that we have done medically to stem the horrible events that these little kids have been through. I mean, all we’ve been able to do for these kids is monitor their conditions and keep them from losing too many fluids. Now, that makes me mad as hell. Even though we’re a small facility, our whole staff is very well educated and this hospital is relatively well equipped. There should have been something that we could have done to help our patients.”
“I agree,” replied Gerard. “I’ve done a lot of thinking about that very thing. The conclusion that I’ve arrived at is that somebody, somewhere, has been playing with all of us, including these sixteen little kids.”
“Exactly!” said Jefferson. “Until we can have those EEG machines checked and calibrated, we can’t really be sure that we were dealing with actual brain death. But, let’s say that the machines were NOT giving us accurate readings. That alone wouldn’t answer the most serious questions. There was something very grave happening to those kids, and we need to try to figure out how we can begin to investigate just what occurred here.”
Gerard interrupted. “Wait a second! Right now, we do seem to have proof that the EEG machines WERE giving us accurate readings.” He looked at both men as he continued. “Down the hall at this very minute, we’ve got the young Zimmerman boy, still comatose, and still flatlining.”
“Yes,” said Dan Roberts, somewhat confused. “But, I don’t see how that…”
“Of course!” interrupted Jefferson. “Right now, J. T. is reading flatline on one of my EEG machines, NOT on one of the hospital’s machines!”
At that moment, Audrey tapped on the half-opened door. “Excuse me, Jefferson. I’ve got your EEG machine sitting on a cart out here in the hallway for you.”
“Oh! … That’s great, Audrey. Thanks very much,” he replied.
Dan Roberts interrupted. “Is that the one that J.T. was hooked up to, Audrey?”
“Yes, Doctor Roberts. I’ve got one of the hospital machines hooked up to him now,” she said.
“Did you, perhaps, hook up the phone connection?” he inquired.
“Yes, I did. It’s already to go.”
“Great, Audrey. Thank you,” said Dan as he rolled his chair over to the computer. “I think I’ll just connect to his machine and monitor him for a bit.”
Jefferson said, “Boy, Dan, you can’t even take a fifteen minute break,
can you?”
“Well, it’s just all been so damn frustrating, trying to figure out this whole…” He paused as he squinted at the computer monitor. “Hold the mayo everybody… Audrey, isn’t J.T. in room 108?”
“Yes, he is, Doctor. Is there a problem?” she asked.
Without removing his eyes from the computer screen, he asked, “How long has it been since you were in his room?”
She stammered. “I… I… came directly from his room to the lounge with Jefferson’s machine. It’s probably been no more than two or three minutes.”
“He was comatose when you left him, right?”
“Well… of course he was, Doctor. The little guy’s been doing nothing but flatlining for hours now.”
As Dan turned to look at the others in the room, he said. “I don’t know, guys. You continue to try, but things go awry.” He crossed his arms and nodded toward the monitor. “Will somebody please tell me just exactly what is going on in room 108 at this very moment?”
They all peered at the screen as Gerard exclaimed, “Holy cow!”
Immediately, they all jumped to their feet and rushed toward the lounge door.
As Dan, Gerard, Jefferson, and Audrey entered room 108 they were shocked to see young J.T. Zimmerman sitting in the middle of his bed yanking at the wires that were adhered to his scalp. The boy froze in place as he saw four wide-eyed people staring at him with their mouths open.
“Uh… What?” said J.T. with a shy grin.
Chapter 7
“I’m really having a tough time trying to figure out how to deal with this Willy Sadler case,” said Harold, as he and Mabel continued their discussion.
“Harold!” she pleaded. “Can’t you just admit that the poor boy drowned while trying to catch frogs up on Quail Creek? You’re not still suspecting that Jefferson had anything to do with that unfortunate incident, are you?”
Harold replied, “Well, no… well, actually, I guess I still have my suspicions about Jefferson Cordain, but it’s nothing I can put my finger on. I guess I’d have to say that, for the time being, my feelings about him have to be put on the back burner. The thing that bothers me about Willy’s death is that, if this whole flu thing over at the hospital was really caused by somebody messing around with some pet disease, and Willy drowned because he was coming down with the disease, then I guess the person that started the whole thing would legally be guilty of second degree murder. Or at least manslaughter.”
“Of course!” said Mabel thoughtfully. “I hadn’t considered that. The person that started this whole thing could be held liable because he started the original disease.”
“That’s right!” said Harold. “And Dan Roberts told me this morning that he’s going to have to rule the drowning as accidental, because he hasn’t found any signs of foul play. And, for that matter, neither have I.”
Mabel asked, “If this mess should ever be eventually proved to have been started by some one individual, couldn’t charges be filed at that time for Willy’s death?”
“I really don’t know for sure,” said Harold. “I guess that would be for the county attorney to decide. I just want to make sure that everything is done proper at this end so if charges are ever filed, there’s no chance that they could be dropped because of mishandling of the case.”
Just then, the cowbell came to life as Ollie Torgerson walked in. “Good morning, Mabel. Mornin’, Sheriff Wheaton,” he said with a restrained smile as he walked over and sat on a stool next to Harold. “How are you folks this morning?”
“Good morning!” beamed Mabel. She studied Ollie’s expression, and asked bluntly, “Ollie, are you feeling well? You look as if you might be a little under the weather.”
Ollie smiled back at her, and replied, “Nah! Heck, Mabel, I’m about as healthy as ol’ Wilbur out there in the lake. I guess I’ve just been a little preoccupied lately. That’s all.” He turned to Harold. “So, Sheriff. How’s the flu bug thing going over at the hospital this morning? Have you checked up on all them sick kids lately?”
“Well, Ollie,” chuckled Harold. “I was over there just before I came here for breakfast, and things had quieted down quite a bit. But, you should have seen it last night about one o’clock.”
Ollie raised his eyebrows. “Oh really? What was going on that time of night at the hospital? Nothing serious I hope.”
Mabel interrupted with a hearty laugh, “I’ll say it was serious! I bet the hospital’s going to have to buy a whole new supply of linens after the major pillow fight that took place in the ward.”
“Pillow fight?” exclaimed Ollie.
Harold grinned. “Yes, like Mabel said, it was a major pillow fight! Those kids were goin’ at it like they’d never been sick at all. Why, at one point, even the nurses and doctors were getting into the act. It really got outta hand for a while.”
“Well, I’ll be darned!” said Ollie. “That big flu epidemic that everybody was so worried about didn’t amount to much of anything then, did it?”
More seriously, Harold said, “Well, for a while, the doctors were a little worried. But, hey! This little town has a wonderful medical facility, and I think we all owe those folks a debt of gratitude.”
Mabel said, “Boy, that’s the God’s honest truth. Instead of having a boat parade this weekend, we ought to be having a parade for those selfless people that work so hard to keep the people in this town healthy.”
Ollie nodded with a grin. “Ya know, I know the parade’s only two days away, but don’t you think that we’d be able to come up with some kind of float or something that we could have the whole staff from the hospital ride on?”
Harold replied, “Well, Ollie. Personally, I think that would be a great idea. But, I have this sneaky suspicion that you’d find it a little difficult getting that past our esteemed mayor. His main concern is to not give the summer people any idea that anybody in this town ever gets sick. I’m sure he would feel that if we loaded a trailer with medical people and pulled it down Main Street, every person visiting here from out of town would suddenly head off screaming into the woods, never to be seen again.”
Ollie laughed. “You know? You’re probably right. Paul Sorenson seems to spend most of his time walking around with that ‘deer in the headlights’ look, doesn’t he?”
“Well,” said Harold. “I’ll admit that Paul has some rather extreme ideas about how he wants the town of Medesha to appear to the tourists, but I’ve got to admit that he’s probably the most dedicated mayor we’ve ever had.”
“Yeah.” Replied Ollie. “I reckon I’ll have to agree with you about that.”
Then, Ollie’s grin faded as he said solemnly, “Ya know? It just broke my heart when I heard the news about poor little Willy. What a terrible thing to happen to such a nice little kid.”
“Yes,” answered Mabel. “It really is such a horrible thing. I feel so bad for Will and Brenda. I know Willy was such a wonderful joy to both of them.”
A far away look came over Ollie as he remembered, “Willy was just a little kid, but I really looked at him as being a good friend. He’d come into the station with his frogs, and I’d always give him an extra dollar or two because he’d always collect the good slender green ones that work so well on the end of a hook. The fishermen always liked Willy’s frogs. Why, heck. I would usually set aside some of Willy’s for my own use.” After a pause, Ollie said, “That reminds me. I know that it’s going to be a busy day being that it’s right after Memorial Day, but Willy’s funeral is going to be next Tuesday over at the Lutheran Church, and I’ve decided that I’m going to keep the station closed for the day in honor of Willy. So, Sheriff, if you need gas for your cruiser, I’ll leave the key to the pumps here with Mabel. Would that be okay?”
Quietly, Harold said, “That’d be just fine. You’re a good man, Ollie.”
Trying to shake away the sadness of the conversation, Mabel thrust her hands out, and said, “Well, here I am acting like I don’t work for a living. I haven’t eve
n asked you what you’d like to eat, Ollie.”
He smiled at Mabel and replied, “Well, Mabel. If it’s not too much trouble, I have two requests.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Oh, really? Two requests? Am I going to have to write all of this down?”
Ollie grinned. “No, I’m sure you’ll be able to remember it all. Really, what I’d like for breakfast is the ‘usual’ and, if you wouldn’t mind… my second request would be to have a little private discussion with Tandy.”
Mabel paused for just a second, and said, “Okay… that’s one pork chop, two eggs basted, hash browns, one cup of coffee, and one Tandy. Coming right up.” She smiled and continued, “Why don’t you go and have a seat in the back booth, and I’ll go fetch Tandy.”
A few minutes later, after Harold Wheaton had left to begin his day of protecting the citizens of Medesha, Tandy came walking shyly out of the back room, wiping her hands on her apron. Mabel handed her Ollie’s breakfast plate and the coffee pot, and whispered, “You two take as long as you need, Honey.”
She walked out from behind the counter and over to the back booth. “Ollie?… Good morning, Ollie. Mabel said you wanted to talk to me?”
Ollie grinned widely. “Good morning, Tandy. Well, if you don’t mind, I’d kinda like to talk to you for a few minutes. That is, if you’re not too busy to take a little break.”
Tandy said nervously, “No, I’ve pretty much gotten everything ready for the day, and we shouldn’t be getting busy for another half hour. Would you like some more coffee?”
“Sure, that’d be great,” replied Ollie. “Please… sit down. I usually don’t bite this early in the morning.”
Tandy’s hand was shaking as she poured the coffee. Ollie said, “What’s the matter, Tandy? You’re feeling alright, aren’t you?”
As she sat down on the opposite side of the table she replied hesitatingly, “Uh…no…I mean…uh… well, yes. I’m fine. My arms just get a little strained from handling all those big pots and pans in the kitchen.” She smiled shyly. “You know? It makes my hands shake a little. That’s all.”