Nomi Nivag Gregory’s fight with the big “C”
A tale from the Universe of Zarara
By Bruno Bernier
Copyright 2014 by Bruno Bernier
Dedication
In honor of those who fought and lost.
In honor of those who fought and lived.
In honor of those who are doing research to save lives.
In honor of those who offer their help and time to comfort those in need.
Respect and love.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
About the Author
Chapter 1
It was a beautiful sunny day and Nomi was riding her beautiful red bicycle to the corner store. Her mother needed sugar for a cake recipe and she had run out of the ingredient. So she had tasked Nomi to go get some for her. Nomi drove for a while and she finally reached the store, a few kilometers down the road from where she lived. It was an older-looking building with lots of parking around it for its clients. The store had been a mom and pop family operation in the town for the longest of time and Nomi and her family were loyal customers. Nomi dropped her bicycle besides the old building and ran up the stairs and into the store.
“Good day Miss Appleby,” said Nomi to the owner of the store.
“Good day Nomi,” replied the middle-aged woman who was sitting behind the counter and reading a magazine from the newsstand rack.
“What can we do for you today?” asked Miss Appleby as she put her magazine down for a moment.
“Mom needs a bag of sugar for a wild strawberry cake she is making for dad. Do you have any left?” asked Nomi.
“We sure do. They are beside the flour at the end of the middle row,” replied the old lady.
Nomi went and got the bag of sugar and paid up. She had some change left so she bought herself an orange slushy and began her trek back to her home. The sugar bag was in a plastic bag and hanging from the handlebars of the bicycle. She had the slush in the other hand and she was wobbling all over. She was taking the usual path to her house when suddenly her bicycle hit a deep hole and she was sent flying head over the handlebars. Nomi landed on the ground, passed out.
Everything went black for her. Then in the darkness, she started to hear a familiar voice.
“Are you okay?” said the voice.
Nomi opened her eyes and there was the bird she had encountered a few weeks ago, looking over her.
She rubbed her head. She had received a big bruise from the fall.
“You have a bad bump young Miss,” said the bird, who was standing on the ground next to her.
“I guess so,” said Nomi a bit confused at the situation.
“Let me help you. My name is Maurice by the way,” said the strange-looking bird.
The bird touched her forehead and the bruise started to slowly disappear.
“How did you do that?” asked Nomi.
“I am the royal messenger of Lord Zarara, I can do almost anything that I want or need to do,” replied Maurice.
“Lord Zarara needs your help again. That is why I am here,” continued the bird.
“Really?” replied Nomi.
“Yes. You need to come with me and I will explain as we go,” replied Maurice.
Nomi looked around her. The bike had the front wheel all bent up and the slush and sugar bag were all over on the floor, smashed up.
“Mom is going to be so upset with me. I lost the sugar she needed so badly and now my bicycle is broken too,” she said, picking herself up.
“Do not worry about it. Lord Zarara will compensate you for this when you get back,” replied Maurice.
“Come with me,” replied the bird.
Nomi followed Maurice all the way to a big culvert that was close by.
“This time you have to go thru this cement culvert to get in the Land of Zarara,” said Maurice.
“This is disgusting, why do I have to go in Zarara that way?” she asked.
“The portals to the land of Zarara open anywhere on land. Unfortunately I do not choose where they open. The only thing we are sure of when we use them is that they open close to where you are,’ replied Maurice.
“Yes, but that is still gross,” replied Nomi.
“Please crawl in,” said Maurice as he pointed the way to Nomi.
Nomi was not too enthusiastic about the situation, but she went in. She could feel the mud going thru her clothes.
“Ewww,” she said.
Then, everything went dark around her. She stepped towards the familiar light that she was used to see and she reached for the proverbial door at the end of her little trek in the darkness. She opened it and got up.
“Ah, good day to you, young Miss,” said Floyd the guitar as he waved, making Nomi’s clothes clean again.
“Good day,” replied the young lady when she saw the familiar character.
“Please walk with me,” said Floyd.
“Today, we need to help a very special boy. His name is Gregory and he is dying from cancer,” said Floyd.
“His parents have asked the help of Lord Zarara and he has decided to break his own rule to not interfere with the life of his kingdoms,” said Floyd.
“What am I to do?” asked Nomi to Floyd as they continued to walk down the long white corridor.
“Lord Zarara wants you to help a group of people save the little boy,” continued Floyd.
They both reached the familiar commode where Mister Chiffon was stored. Floyd opened it and took him out the box and placed him on Nomi’s shoulder. He tapped the shell and the little turtle became alive once more.
“Good day, Miss Nivag,” said the little robot.
“Good day Mister Chiffon,” replied the young girl.
“I guess we have to embark on a very special adventure today,” she said to the little turtle.
Mister Chiffon paused, not sure at to what was going on.
“Here let me bring him up to speed,” said Floyd.
Floyd took out a chip and put it on top of the turtle shell. A small light began to glow above the turtle. The small chip rose a bit, then started to disintegrate itself in small particles. The particles glowed intensely then were seemingly absorbed into the turtle shell. It took several minutes for this process to be done.
Mister Chiffon looked at Nomi and wiped a tear.
“This is a sad situation,” he said.
“Yes, but we have to try something,” said Nomi.
The group walked the great white corridor for several minutes and then stopped.
“There it is. You have to step through that door,” said Floyd as he showed Nomi a door that was tiny with beautiful baby aqua blue decoration on it. Floyd opened the door and Nomi stepped in with Mister Chiffon.
She was bathed in an intense light and she found herself in a room of what seemed to be a hospital. She looked all around her. Everything was so weird. All the medical instruments in the room were emitting some sort of steam. She walked through the room and headed for a door.
“This is strange,” she said to Mister Chiffon as she opened the door and walked into a corridor.
Nomi could see some weird type of robots walking around. They were all dressed neatly, with hospital attire and they were behaving like the nurses and doctors that she used to see in hospital.
Nomi walked around for a bit and she could see that all of them were steamed operated automatons. They all had copper skins and steam vents coming out of various parts of their bodies. Some looked thin. Others looked heavy set. Some of them were talking to each other some were going b
y and some were rushing by. Another in a corner was mopping the floor. Whatever their role, all of them had humanoid form. Nomi thought of this as really strange. She continued to walk around.
She could see that the wall of the corridor were all paneled out of a combination of copper and aluminum metal decorated with weird wood ornaments. The place felt more like an old library than a hospital.
Suddenly, an old man rolled by in an old clunky wheelchair and stopped in front of Nomi.
“Good day young Miss,” said the very old man.
“It’s nice to see a younger person in this landscape,” continued the old fellow.
“You, you are a real person?” asked Nomi surprised to see her first real person on the floor.
“Yes, I am a patient here. My name is Zeus,” said the old man in the wheelchair.
“What is yours?” he asked.
“My name is Nomi Nivag,” she replied, bowing her head down in respect.
“That’s a nice name for a girl,” replied the old man.
“What are you here for?” replied Nomi.
“I am here for a different thing, each and every day,” the old man replied.
“I am literally falling apart,” he said.
“Really?” replied Nomi.
“Yes, yesterday it was my hip, the day before it was my shoulder joint,” replied the old man.
“Well, I don’t know what to say,” replied Nomi.
“Do not worry for me,” said the old man.
“It’s all part of the natural process of life. Your body gets used up as you grow old and things start to fall apart. It’s when you are young that things should not fall apart. It saddens me to see young people have bad luck with their health,” said the old man.
“It’s a shame to see the youth suffer. It breaks my heart every time,” said the old man looking at the floor in front of him.
“I was sent here by Lord Zarara to help a child named Gregory,” replied Nomi.
“Oh, you are here to help that poor little boy,” replied the old man.
“He is only barely one year old and he’s got cancer real bad. His family is devastated. The doctors say that there is nothing more they can do for him. The cancer has become too aggressive and it is just a matter of time before he goes away,” continued the old man as he looked to the floor, a tear in his eye.
“I have lived for a long time and enjoyed many things in my life. I have been good and I have been bad, but I have lived a full life. This child deserved to experience life. It should not be taken away from him this way. Not this early,” said the old man.
“I am told that I might be able to help him,” replied Nomi.
“Help? But, how?’ said the old man.
“I do not know yet,” replied Nomi.
“I need to find the head Doctor here and find out what is going on,” she continued.
“Let me think,” said the old man.
“I have heard from the nurses that Doctor Chalmers is taking care of little Gregory. Let me see if a nurse that is here knows anything about this. Shall we?” said the old man.
The old man rolled his wheelchair to the desk nearby.
“Excuse me nurse. I have this little girl here who has come to help out poor Gregory. She was sent by a fellow named Lord Zarara, can you help her get directions on what she needs to do?” asked the old man to the automaton behind the desk.
“Oh my!” replied the automaton nurse a bit surprised at the question of the old man.
“Of course! We have been advised that a specialist would come to try to help us save little Gregory,” she replied in a mechanical voice. She stepped out from behind the desk.
“Please follow me, young Miss,” said the nurse.
“Let us go see the head nurse. Miss Cassandra,” said the automaton.
Both Nomi and the old man followed the nurse thru the corridor.
“I am a tad curious. I hope you don’t mind me following you around,” said Zeus.
“No, not at all,” said Nomi.
“I need some help to deal with this world anyways,” she replied.
The old man smiled at Nomi.
“Thank you, you are very kind, young Miss,” replied Zeus.
They walked around the hospital for a while. People were going around. Mostly automatons and then they turned a corner and saw a big tiger go by.
“Oh, my!” said Nomi,
Nomi Nivag and Gregory's fight with the big "C" Page 1