Memories Unlocked #13

          Starr opened the door and walked into the hospital.  It looked a lot different from the one at home.  It was all spread out with many branching hallways.  She sighed knowing it wasn’t going to be easy finding her father there.  She gulped and straightened her shoulders and walked up to the desk marked Information.  An older woman was sitting there writing out something and didn’t notice her.

“Ahem, excuse me, I’m looking for my dad.”

           The woman jumped, startled by the voice. “Oh, dearie me, I didn’t even hear you come up.  You’re looking for your father, you say.   What’s his name, Hon?”

“Todd Manning.  Can you tell me where he is?  I haven’t seen him in a while and I really miss him.”  Starr’s voice trembled and she felt tears start to form. She blinked rapidly hoping to clear them from her eyes before they fell.

The receptionist caught a glimpse of the tears and noted how the little girl struggled to appear brave. “ Goodness, I’m so sorry to hear that.  Let me see if he’s here.”  After a brief silence, she looked at the little girl.  “There isn’t anyone by that name here.  Do you know why he is in the hospital?”

Starr shook her head.  “Mom didn’t say but I heard her talking to the other lady and she was told he was here.”  She thought back to what she had overheard.  Then she remembered what else her mom said. “Wait, he’s not a patient.  Mom said he works here.  Please look and see if he’s working here?”  Starr crossed her fingers and prayed as the woman looked on her computer again.

“I’m sorry Dearie, we have no Todd Manning on staff.  You must have misunderstood.  We do have a couple of Todds though.  One of them, Todd Barker, is in housekeeping and the other Todd Drake, works on the Children’s Ward.  Where is your mother?  Maybe if I had more information I could find out who told her that your father worked here.  Is she around, Hon?”

Starr did some quick thinking, “Um, she told me to wait here while she paid the taxi driver.  I’m not sure what is keeping her.  When she comes in she can tell you what you want to know.  Excuse me, but can you tell me where the bathroom is?”  She began dancing from foot to foot and the lady nodded toward the hallway to Starr’s left.

“It’s right down there, Sweetie, come back and see me when your mother gets here.”

Starr took off fast before the lady could ask any more questions about her mom.  She went into the bathroom and leaned against the wall, her tears fell fast as disappointment set in.  She had been so sure she would find her dad right away. After a few minutes, she reached up and wiped her tears away with her hand. She straightened her shoulders and thought out loud. “Okay, the lady detective said Daddy worked here.  He’s got to be here.” She thought a moment longer and then grinned to herself. “That’s it.  Daddy is using another last name so they won’t put him in jail.  I’ll find those guys, one of them must be Daddy.”

****

“You were right Li, dragons are very hard to kill.”  Todd paused thinking about all his scars, he seemed to have escaped death a number of times.

“Mr. Drake, what happened next,” asked Blanca?

Todd looked toward Lucy’s room and noted that the nurses were still in there.  He was beginning to fear that Lucy was fighting her own battle to stay alive.  He ran his tongue under his lips and then forced a smile onto his face.  “What happened next?  I’ll tell you.”  He continued the story hoping to keep the children distracted.

 

Now the island that the dragon landed on was so isolated that the natives who lived there knew nothing of dragons.  The children of the island loved to play in a special cove near the ocean  and that particular day they had all decided to go swimming. One of the little boys spotted the large mound on their beach.

“Hey, look at that.  What do you think it is?” asked Kwan turning to his friends.

The children made their way down to the beach.  They moved closer to the beast.  As they neared it, one of the girls noticed it was injured.  “Oh the poor thing, we have to help it,”

“We should be careful.  It isn’t a whale or a shark.  My father says great sea serpents swim in the ocean, it must be one of those.” said Kwan  and his friends all nodded.  It sounded reasonable and they had never seen a dragon.  “Maybe we should just leave it alone.  It might eat us.”

The little girl who had seen the wounds turned to Kwan.  “ Look at how hurt it is.  We should help it.  Let’s gather some seaweed and we’ll cover the wounds.  Momma’s been teaching me how to care for our injured farm animals.  I bet we could, at least, make the beast more comfortable.”

Kwan wasn’t sure the beast could be trusted, so he and some of the boys decided to keep watch over it while the girls worked on helping it.

The dragon had awakened at the sound of voices but he was too worn out to attack the children and he was curious if they would harm him some more.  He cracked open an eyelid to watch the boys as they stood guard.  None of them wavered and the boy who had spoken stood directly in front of the dragon’s mouth with a stick.  It would have been so easy to snatch the boy and eat him but the dragon was intrigued by the boy’s bravery.

The girls returned and soon they began to smooth the seaweed mixture of crushed coral and herbs into the gashes in his side.  The dragon stirred in surprise.  The mixture was cool and soothing and he relaxed.  He rolled over giving better access to his wounds and again pretended to be asleep. They were helping him.  

His movement had caused all the girls to scream and back away. Even some of the boys had moved back but Kwan had stepped forward and pushed his stick down on the dragon’s mouth determined to protect the rest of the children no matter what.  When the beast made no further moves, the girls began binding up the leg and the broken wing.

The great dragon allowed the children to continue and he again looked at the brave boy. He had felt the boy’s stick on his nose and he could have snapped it and the boy in two but he admired the boy’s courage.  He was the only one who had stood his ground when the dragon had moved.  As evening fell, the great dragon rested and tried to regain some strength.  After the children had dressed his wounds, they had cheered that they had helped the beast but then they had taken off to swim.  The mighty dragon had listened to their laughter and tried to figure out why they had helped him.  That night when he awoke he was surprised to find a pile of fish left close to his mouth.  The children were gone but they had been kind enough to leave him something to eat.

Days passed and the dragon got stronger. The children returned daily to get him food and drink.  The girls continued to dress his wounds and soon the boys had relaxed enough to help them.  Only Kwan remained vigilant. He had come out one night and had watched as the dragon attempted to get to his feet.  When the dragon was unable to get up, he let out an enormous blast of fire and roared his displeasure.  Kwan realized then how dangerous the beast was and he was not going to let his friends get hurt.  As his friends once again ran to get fish for the beast, Kwan approached the dragon.  The beast opened his eyes and looked at the lad in front of him, for the first time, he spoke.

“What do you want, Kwan?”

Kwan jumped. He was startled and shocked.  No animal that he knew could speak, yet the great beast was talking to him. For a moment, Kwan wanted to warn his friends.  This wasn’t an ordinary animal.  Kwan straightened to his full height, determined not to show the beast his fear.  “I saw what you can do.  I won’t allow you to hurt my friends.”

“I have no intention of hurting your friends.  All of you have been helping me, but you are right to be afraid.  People like you are the ones who hurt me and I’m helpless right now.  If your parents find out I’m here, they will try to kill me and I’ll have to defend myself.  Because of your help, I won’t harm you but I need to leave this island.  You must find a way to get me on my feet.  The longer I’m here the more likely your parents will come looking for you and then they’ll discover me.  If you help me, I promise to leave you in peace.” Once again the dragon attempted to get to his feet and once again his damaged leg gave way.  “You see my problem.  Will you help?”

Kwan realized the best way to help his family was to get the beast off the island.  “My father is the toolmaker for the village and I help him.  I think with the help of my friends, I could make something to help you get on your leg.  If I do that, will you leave and not hurt our village?”

“If you can get me on my feet, I promise to leave without harming anyone.”

“How do I know I can trust you?”

Todd paused in his story when he saw Lucy’s parents walked past the activity room in a hurry.  He felt a chill go down his back.  It appeared Lucy was failing fast.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
Your comments are 'payment' for the work of the authors. Our writers like to hear your feedback. Please leave a comment when you read.