Chapter 6 – Medical Revolution
Rhapsody had to force herself to stop staring into every mirror she passed as she made her way down to the cafeteria with Aria’s math teacher at her side. It was so strange to see the new version of herself staring back from her reflections with such exquisite features. She wondered if Aria had purposefully enhanced her beauty, or if it was just a byproduct of the healing. She had a feeling that Aria didn’t do anything by mistake.
“You can stare,” Ali told her with a small smile. “I won’t judge.”
Rhapsody laughed, shaking her head ruefully. “Am I that transparent?”
“Not at all,” Ali told her with a smirk. “You’re just reacting the same way as everyone else who sees you and with good reason. You already had more than your own fair share of good looks before, but now you look positively stunning.”
“Thanks,” Rhapsody mumbled in embarrassment. “So is Ali short for something?”
“Nice subject change,” Ali said dryly. “Yes, it’s short for Allegra. My dad was an orchestral conductor, and was too wrapped up in his music to comprehend that Allegra is a horrible name for a girl.”
“It’s no such thing!” Rhapsody objected vehemently. “Allegra is a beautiful name for a girl!”
“Rhapsody is a beautiful name for a girl,” Ali said firmly. “Allegra sounds like some kind of pasta.”
Rhapsody couldn’t help laughing. “You know, some people worship pasta.”
“They do not,” Ali objected smilingly.
“Oh, but they do,” Rhapsody insisted. “They call themselves Pastafarians and worship The Flying Spaghetti Monster.”
“You’re making that up…” Ali said disbelievingly.
“Not in the least,” Rhapsody assured her, fighting to keep a serious expression. “There have been sightings all over the world. Some people have even found his noodly appendages depicted on grilled-cheese sandwiches.”
Ali was doubled over with laughter as Rhapsody continued. “According to Pastafarians, pirates are Absolute Divine Beings and they have charts to show that the decline of pirates world-wide over the past couple of centuries has coincided with the rise in global warming.”
“Please, stop already!” Ali gasped through her peals of laughter. “I’m suffocating here!”
“As long as you’ll concede my point that having a name that sounds like a brand of pasta is not a bad thing,” Rhapsody replied in mock seriousness. “It’s a divine name.”
“Where do people even come up with this crazy stuff?” Ali wondered.
“It was developed in response to schools allowing Intelligent Design to be taught alongside Evolution in science classes,” Rhapsody told her with an amused smile.
There were dozens of cops scattered throughout the cafeteria and outside the front doors. They weren’t taking any more chances that another mob of fundamentalists might show up and cause more trouble. The army of reporters were also being restricted from entering the hospital, much to her delight.
“So, I couldn’t help but notice the adoring looks Mr. West was directing your way any time you were looking the other direction…” Rhapsody said lightly. “Is there a story there?”
“Huh?” Ali asked, nonplussed.
“The principal,” Rhapsody elaborated. “He’s been casting calf-eyes your way all week long. He’s not bad looking, if you like the staid and proper type.”
“Charles?” Ali asked, looking suddenly flustered. “No way! He’s way out of my class.”
“I should hope so, at his age,” Rhapsody said dryly.
“Not class, class,” Ali replied with another blush. “Why would he settle for someone like me? He could pick millions of more attractive women than me.”
“That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” Rhapsody shook her head like she was trying to rid it of a particularly foul parasite. “Aside from me now, you’re the hawtest babe in four states. You have a seriously warped self-image if you think he could do better than you.”
“You really think so?” Ali asked shyly.
“I know so,” Rhapsody assured her confidently. “I’ll let him know you’re interested so that he’ll work up the courage to ask you out.”
“No, don’t!” Ali objected with a brilliant blush. “I mean, what if you’re wrong? I’ll never be able to look him in the eyes again.”
“When’s the last time you went on a date?” Rhapsody asked curiously.
“I can’t remember,” Ali mumbled.
“How old are you?” Rhapsody asked.
“Twenty-five,” Ali replied with another blush.
“What kind of people have you dated before?” Rhapsody probed further. “Jocks, geeks, rebels, preps?”
“I’d rather not talk about this,” Ali replied, folding her arms defensively.
“Oh my god…” Rhapsody whispered as she suddenly realized the root cause of Ali’s evasions. “You’ve never been on a date before, have you?”
Ali shook her head silently, avoiding her eyes. Their arrival at the salad bar gave Ali time to regain her composure. She spent excessive amounts of time on each dish, clearly trying to prolong the inevitable continuation of their conversation.
“So are you vegetarian as well?” Rhapsody asked with an arched eyebrow.
“As well as who?” Ali replied, raising her own eyebrow.
“Melody, Harmony, and Aria,” Rhapsody replied.
“Vegan,” Ali answered with another light blush.
Insecurity much? Rhapsody thought ruefully. “What made you want to be vegan? The health benefits or the animal cruelty?”
“Both,” Ali replied with a sigh. “I watched a documentary on factory farming and couldn’t bring myself to continue supporting that kind of system anymore. I used to be fairly obese, in my late teens. It took less than a year to lose it all after becoming vegan.”
“I have a hard time imagining you obese,” Rhapsody said with a small frown. “Are you talking thirty-pounds overweight? Because that’s hardly obese.”
“I was three-hundred pounds before I became vegan,” Ali revealed with a smile. “At five feet and two inches, I was almost wider than I was tall. I’ll show you pictures sometime, if you want.”
“Wow, I just can’t see it,” Rhapsody said with a small shake of her head. That would explain her insecurity, I suppose.
As the two of them sat down at one of the tables, Dr. Lorenzo and Dr. Cole joined them. Rhapsody watched them sit down curiously.
“So we’ve been thinking about ways to maximize Aria’s healing abilities,” Dr. Cole told her with an excited sparkle in her eyes. “We believe there is a possibility that recordings of her songs could heal people as well. We have several terminal patients on their way here right now. One has cancer, one has HIV and the other has cystic fibrosis. We’re going to record her songs when she heals them, then play them back at the cancer center and see if they are capable of curing the other patients without Aria present.”
“If this works, there is going to be pandemonium worldwide,” Rhapsody pointed out. “The medical industry is a large part of our economy, and a silver bullet like this will probably cause some serious destabilization issues.”
“The FDA will probably try to ban the use of any such recordings until they understand how they work,” Ali noted thoughtfully. “They do pretty much whatever big Pharma tells them to do.”
“Good luck banning a sound bite,” Rhapsody said with an evil grin. “Without a physical product to regulate, there is no way they’ll be able to stop the distribution of her songs once they get on the internet.”
“We came to similar conclusions,” Dr. Cole said, nodding at Dr. Lorenzo. “We won’t be reporting any of our findings until after we have uploaded her songs to the internet.”
“This is huge,” Rhapsody said as tingles went down her spine. “We’re talking about 1.6 million people diagnosed with cancer every year who are suddenly going to have a whole new life in front of them.”
“Yes,” Dr. Cole agreed with barely suppressed enthusiasm. “And that’s just the cancer patients. If this works for all of the other illnesses, the world is going to change overnight.”
Dr. Lorenzo looked down as his pager started beeping. “Looks like it’s show time,” he said with an excited grin that made him look a decade younger. “The patients have arrived.”
Rhapsody hurriedly finished up the reminder of her salad before following the two doctors to the elevator.
“So are you vegetarian?” Ali asked curiously as the elevator doors shut.
“Yep,” she nodded with a small smile. “My parents are vegans. They made a point of explaining how messed up a carnivorous diet is. They were quite passionate about the subject.”
“I can see why, after watching the documentary on factory farming,” Ali noted with a sigh. “It’s amazing what we will do to make a few more bucks.”
“It seems like Douglas Adams came up with a solution to the animal cruelty dilemma,” Dr. Lorenzo told them with a twinkle in his eyes.
“You mean breeding the cattle to want to be eaten?” Rhapsody asked dryly. “Yes, I have to admit that was a brilliant idea. Sick and wrong, but brilliant.”
The three patients were already waiting in Aria’s room, each of them in a wheelchair. Rhapsody could tell by the uncertain looks on their faces that they didn’t know what they were doing there. Dr. Lorenzo and Dr. Cole began installing a microphone array around Aria’s bed as the rest of them waited.
“Why have we been brought here?” the elderly woman asked doubtfully.
“It will become apparent shortly,” Dr. Lorenzo assured her. “Please be patient.”
The woman grunted sourly, but didn’t say anything else. There was a small boy in the second wheelchair that looked about eight years old. He was completely bald. A middle-aged woman stood behind him, presumably his mother.
The third patient was a young woman who looked to be in her early twenties. She appeared to be having trouble breathing. Her wheezing and labored breaths made Rhapsody inadvertently hold her breath several times before she realized what she was doing. There were two women about the same age standing behind her wheelchair, one a tiny blonde and the other with midnight black hair. Small lines of worry were etched into their brows as they watched the young woman in front of them helplessly.
“I believe we’re ready,” Dr. Lorenzo finally said, his eyes shining with anticipation. “Go ahead and do your thing.” As he finished speaking, he pressed the record button on the laptop connected to all of the recording equipment.
Aria and Harmony joined Melody’s song at the same time on the second verse. Rhapsody felt the familiar tingles begin rushing through her body as the ethereal beauty of Aria’s voice gave life to the sound waves once again. The complexity of her ululating scales became so intricate that Rhapsody couldn’t follow them in her mind.
The old woman with the sour expression was sitting in her wheelchair in stunned amazement. As the first rendition completed, she slowly stood up, her eyes as wide as teacups as tears streamed down her cheeks. The other two patients were watching her in puzzlement that quickly turned to hopeful awe. Aria’s voice began a different pattern of scales for the second iteration of the song. The young woman in the wheelchair’s eyes widened as her breathing grew stronger and the wheezing disappeared. She slowly stood up, her face filled with wonder. The two women behind her were suddenly crushing her in a tight embrace as she wept in relief. The black-haired woman kept repeating the same words over and over: “Oh my sweet Val, oh my sweet, sweet Val.”
Aria began her third iteration of the song, once again changing the pattern of her scales. The emaciated little boy gasped as his scalp began sprouting hair. The gauntness in his cheeks quickly faded, leaving a healthy glow in its place. He stood up from his wheelchair tentatively, and then let out a triumphant shout as he jumped into the air and pumped his fist. His mother let out a low cry and pulled him into a tight embrace as she stared at Aria wonderingly.
“Is my son healed?” the woman asked Dr. Lorenzo hopefully.
“Yes, he is healed,” Dr. Lorenzo assured her. “All of you have been healed.”
“How?” the older woman finally asked as she regained her composure.
“Aria has been in a coma for over a week,” Dr. Lorenzo explained after taking a deep breath. “Yesterday she started singing even though her brain monitors were still showing no activity. We discovered shortly afterward that her singing was healing the other burn patients. As to the how…we don’t have a clue. Some of us believe she is receiving instructions from the other side.”
“How can I ever thank her?” the young black-haired woman asked tearfully.
“You’ll get your chance,” Melody replied firmly. “She’ll wake up eventually.”
“It’s time to go put our theory to the test,” Dr. Cole said as she disconnected the laptop from the sound equipment. “I’m going over to the cancer center to test it out.”
“Do you mind if I tag along?” Rhapsody asked hopefully.
“Sure,” Dr. Lorenzo replied with a shrug. “The more the merrier.”
Melody and Harmony stayed behind with Aria. Dr. Cole joined Rhapsody and Dr. Lorenzo as they made their way to the parking garage. As they got closer to the garage, Rhapsody noticed a crowd gathered outside of the exit. Reporters. Great.
“Twenty points for the ones who work at Channel 13,” Rhapsody told Dr. Lorenzo from the back seat.
“Is that all?” Dr. Lorenzo said in disappointment.
“Sorry, they’re just not worth very much,” Rhapsody replied dryly.
They slowed down to avoid hitting the reporters that were all but blocking the exit. Rhapsody shook her head in disgust; she had never seen a wake of media vultures this rabid before.
Several news vans followed them out of the parking lot as they drove the short distance to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
“Try to time the next light so that you have to run it right after it turns red,” Rhapsody suggested. “Otherwise, we’re going to have an audience when we get to Hutchinson’s.”
Dr. Lorenzo looked back through the rearview mirror and let out a curse. “It’s times like this that I wish I had a few caltrops to throw behind me.”
“I’ll add it to your Christmas list,” Rhapsody promised.
The news vans were forced to slow down as Dr. Lorenzo dropped his speed to ten miles per hour. When the light turned yellow several hundred feet in front of them, he floored the gas pedal and sped through the light just as it turned red. The news vans were too shocked by the unexpected maneuver to react in time. Rhapsody chuckled as he turned off the main road and continued to their destination, without their entourage.
“Nice driving, doctor,” Dr. Cole told Dr. Lorenzo with an approving smile.
“Why thank you, doctor,” Dr. Lorenzo replied with a satisfied grin.
After parking his Prius, the three of them went into the residential portion of the research center.
“Isn’t this the part where people actually live?” Rhapsody asked with a frown.
“Yes,” Dr. Lorenzo replied without slowing down. “We don’t want to try this with any doctors present right now. We’re just going to find a patient to test it on outside of the clinic.”
“You seem quite suspicious of your own kind,” Rhapsody noted with a smirk.
“With good reason,” Dr. Lorenzo muttered. Dr. Cole nodded her agreement with a wordless grunt.
They knocked on the first door they arrived at. An older woman answered the door. “Can I help you?”
“Yes ma’am,” Dr. Cole replied in a business-like tone. “May we come in for a minute? I’m Dr. Cole and this is my colleague, Dr. Lorenzo.”
The old woman looked at them for several moments before finally opening the door wider and inviting them in. “I’m Loretta Bahvins. You forgot to introduce the girl, though I must say she looks familiar,” the woman noted with a frown.
“What is it that you want?” Loretta asked suspiciously.
“Mom, who’s at the door?” a woman’s voice called from down the hall.
“Just a couple of doctors,” Loretta called back shortly. She turned back to them with a no-nonsense look on her face. “Now tell me what it is that you want.”
“We’re conducting an experiment with musical therapy that is helping cancer patients recover at an accelerated rate,” Dr. Lorenzo explained. “Are you the person being treated?”
“No, it’s my daughter, Cynthia,” Loretta replied, looking skeptical. “You just want to play her a song? And you think it will actually help her recover?”
“Yes,” Dr. Lorenzo nodded.
“Fine, get it over with,” Loretta sighed in resignation. “It’s not like you can make it worse than it already is.”
They followed Loretta into a bedroom toward the back of the apartment where a middle-aged woman sat upright in bed, propped up by half a dozen pillows. Her head was completely bald, evidence of her chemotherapy treatment. Cynthia reached for her wimple with an embarrassed blush, but Rhapsody reached out and gently restrained her hand.
“You won’t need that anymore,” Rhapsody told her with a smile full of promise.
She stared at Rhapsody questioningly as Dr. Lorenzo quickly arranged his laptop and set up a couple of speakers.
“We just want you to listen to this song,” Rhapsody explained softly. “It will do the rest.”
The song began with Melody’s voice leading the first verse. As Aria’s voice joined the second verse, Cynthia gasped as her eyes went out of focus.
“What’s wrong with her?” Loretta asked in alarm.
“She’s being healed,” Rhapsody told her calmly. “Don’t interfere.”
Loretta watched as her daughter’s gaunt face came back to life, followed by a rich crop of blonde hair sprouting from her scalp. When the song ended, Cynthia’s face was aglow with sudden life.
“Oh mom, I feel wonderful!” Cynthia exclaimed, leaping out of bed. She ran around the bed and hugged her mother tightly as they both cried into each other’s shoulders. Rhapsody felt a warm glow in her stomach as she watched the fruits of Aria’s miracle taking form.
“Apparently the recordings work as well as the live versions do,” Dr. Lorenzo noted quietly.
“The world is about to go through a medical revolution,” Dr. Cole replied with a look of awe on her face. “Nothing will ever be the same again.”
Still Alive Page 9