Roswell Fanatics

Coach Greer watched in amazement. He'd been watching for over thirty minutes, and they still were doing it like clockwork.

He'd been up in the little camera perch above the practice field, running a new circuit into the box for a small heater for the cameraman. The young lady who'd done their camera work last season had complained that she'd nearly frozen. It was a simple enough job, and he'd already completed it before the young couple had shown up in their sweats, the Douglas boy carrying the football.

They'd set up on the twenty-yard line, and the girl had been running patterns. Watching her do it, Greer had ALMOST wished that girls could play tackle football in their league. The girl moved with a quick easy grace, and her patterns were flawless, practically putting her foot on the same blade of grass with every repetition. He could understand why she was becoming the dominant girls basketball point guard in New Mexico.

And Andrew Douglas. He'd never have believed that the boy would catch fire with the same sort of intensity that the girl showed, but he certainly had. She ran pattern after pattern, perfectly. He threw pass after pass, anticipating her break and flawlessly hitting her in full stride. Greer was reasonably sure that if you'd taken films of the patterns, they would have all looked identical.

Bobbi....the girl's basketball coach, had told him about how much Joey was improving,,,told him about what appeared to be an engagement ring, although currently residing on a chain around the girl's neck. He wondered if their parents knew....normally he wouldn't have approved, would have even felt guilty about his part in it....OKing her taking those internet courses.

No, somehow Greer just couldn't bring himself to think the conventional wisdom, that they were too young...too inexperienced......too immature, and he found himself analyzing why that was. Eventually he decided that it was because the kids were playing by the rules....working hard, harder than most people work in their entire life, trying to EARN their way to the goal they wanted. If you judge maturity that way, and...Greer finally decided that really was the way he DID judge maturity, these weren't immature kids at all. If they worked half as hard at making a good life with each other as they were working trying to get set up to get married and go to college together....well....Greer figured they'd do just fine.

As he carefully climbed down from the tower, Coach Greer thought about Bobbi. He was supposed to meet her for dinner tonight. She was really a very lovely person, and they'd been dating for months now. Greer had always been a little afraid of....commitment in relationships. He wasn't just sure why that was. Certainly, those two weren't. They were working hard to create a good life together. He and Bobbi ought to be doing that....he was pretty sure she wanted to. He still had two hours before he met her. The jewelry shops were still open.....

He looked back at the young couple, now running laps side by side. Maybe they were the mature ones. Maybe he ought to try a little of that sort of commitment himself.

It was the second game of the night at the New Mexico southern district regionals, pitting Roswell against Las Cruces in the winners bracket. Deming, beaten by Roswell 72-56 the preceding night had just finished beating Hobbs 68-42 to finish third.

Coach Bobbi O’Malley looked up in the stands as the Roswell girls team took the floor for their warm-ups. The stands were full of Roswell team supporters, but the one she was really looking for was Jim Greer. She spotted him at last and smiled up at him….still not used to the diamond ring on her finger. As she saw the chain around the neck of her point guard she wondered briefly if she should ask her how you were supposed to act when you were newly engaged….but then thought better of it. She wasn’t altogether sure that was really an engagement ring…and wasn’t sure Joey’s parents knew about it if it was. Whatever the case, she strongly suspected that it had been the catalyst for Jim Greer’s recent proposal.

Coach O’Malley respected Las Cruces, but wasn’t afraid of them. They’d played them earlier in the year…a narrow victory for Roswell, but her team had improved immeasurably since then. Las Cruces was a taller team, but Roswell was faster, and that advantage allowed Roswell to build a significant first half lead on the outside shooting and fast break opportunities of the two Roswell guards, Andrea Lopez and Joey Guerin.

Realizing they couldn’t run with Roswell, Las Cruces tried to slow it down in the second half, making the contest largely one of set plays, favoring the rebounding abilities of the taller Las Cruces girls. That slowed the bleeding somewhat, but Roswell continued to pull away, slowly but inexorably.

Late in the fourth quarter however, something would occur that would ultimately have a profound effect on the Roswell girls' chances for the New Mexico State title. The Roswell center, Janet Obansky went up after a rebound and as she came down, happened to come down on the foot of of a Las Cruces player. These things happened in basketball, but as Bobbi O’Malley saw the foot turn, saw the look of pain on Janet’s face as she went to the floor, she knew that the girl had at best a severe sprain, and possibly a fracture. She quickly substituted with the backup center, as ice bags were piled on the ankle, the swelling and bruising already obvious.

The postgame x-ray confirmed a nondisplaced fracture. Janet would be alright, ....in fact, good as new….in three to four weeks. They’d take her to Santa Fe for the finals, even let her suit up and sit on the bench. She’d earned it. But she wouldn’t play.

Roswell would be going up against Farmington in the first round, and if they got by that game, the winner of the Santa Fe and Central High of Albuquerque game……and they’d be doing it without their senior starting center.

Coach O’Malley thought they still had a chance at the title, if the other girls on the team could step it up a notch, but only if they had no more injuries, and if they could keep any of the starters from fouling out.

As they rode the bus back to Roswell, the girls were happy with the win, excited to be going to the finals….but the celebration was more bittersweet than sweet as they autographed the cast that was on Janet Obansky’s left ankle.

“OK guys, I’m counting on you to bring that title home for us,” said Janet.

The nodding heads went around the bus, with Obansky looking directly at a pair of very determined…very blue eyes looking back at her.

Kate REALLY didn't understand it as she planned the VP's trip to Dallas. Sure, it had been over fifty years since that November day when they'd lost the POTUS there, but the Service had always been kind of superstitious about Dallas, ever since that day. She couldn't believe that she was being tasked to plan the visit. And the Deputy Chief of the Secret Service, George McClanahan, wanted to talk to her when she got back.....about a special assignment. What was it with that?



Annie Gruber knew she was going to Santa Fe with the team for the State Finals. She was praying that she wouldn't see a minute of playing time. As the only other freshman on the team, Annie had been overshadowed by Joey Guerin. And that was OK with Annie, too. Annie's game was volleyball, and she was good at volleyball....or at least, she had been good, before the growth spurt had added a foot to her height in a little over 18 months. She frankly knew that she hadn't really figured out this knew body yet, and while it would help her in her volleyball in the long run, right now she wasn't as coordinated as she had been in the seventh grade.
That was really why she'd turned out for basketball, figuring all the drills and workouts would help her get back her agility and coordination. She knew she wasn't all that good at basketball, that's why she was backup to the backup center....only now, with Obansky on the bench, make that backup center.

Annie needed just one more quarter playing time to letter this year, thanks in large part to the minutes she'd played in 'trash time' after the starters had blown out to insurmountable leads. But even so, she was praying she wouldn't get any playing time. She knew that no team they in the tournament was going to get blown out of anything.....and the only way she'd be put in the game is if the starting center center was gone...and that would spell disaster for West Roswell.

'Please God,' she prayed, '..don't let the center get hurt or foul out.'

Bobbi O'Malley was using this practice to get her team up for the game. It started with the videos.

"The two top-ranked teams in the state, right now, are Farmington and Central High. Which one is the best depends on if you believe one poll or the other. The team I honestly believe is the best is the team we go against first, Farmington. That is because they are an all-around better group of athletes. What puts Central up there is their center, Janice Jacobs, who has been absolutely dominant at that position all year. She's a senior and the stands will be packed with major college scouts, just to watch her play. She has good reflexes, she boxes out enormously well, and she is probably the top rebounder in the mountain region. If she has any fault, it's her unwillingness to come out of the paint defensively....not that she's really had to. For right now though, I want you to just worry about the Farmington game. These are the key players we'll need to match up against....."


Meanwhile, in Alexandria Virginia, Kate Powers was fixing dinner for Bob Adams......at his place. It was only logistics really. She'd done all the prep work at her place, but it was just easier to drag the stuff 30 feet down the hall to where Laurie had her own bedroom after a late dinner, and Kate and Bob could just put on a DVD without worrying about sitters or transportation. Kate hadn't made a meatloaf in years, and Bob and Laurie hadn't had one. Kate was almost a little shocked as they sat down. A casual observer wouldn't have even known that they weren't just a young family having a quiet dinner at home. That thought both warmed her ...and scared her. She was, after all, a career woman in a pretty non-traditional career. And she always thought that was what she had wanted. She knew that she still wanted that but this...this was awfully....well comfortable. Seeing the two of them eat something she had prepared, hearing Bob rave over it...and it wasn't really that good, just meatloaf, ..... well, she was beginning to think she wanted it too.

It was two hours later that she got up from watching the movie to 'powder her nose,' and on the way to the bathroom she went right by Laurie's room. When Kate had been a little girl she'd always wondered how her mother could tell when she was starting to get sick, and her mother had always told her, "That's just how mothers are. When you get to be a mother, you'll know it too." Kate had never been a mother, didn't know if she'd ever be a mother, but something made her uneasy about the tiny cough she heard when she went by Laurie's room and she peaked a look inside.

She was still sleeping but even by the dim glow of the nightlight, Laurie did not look good, her pale skin mottled and discolored. But the pillowcase stained darkly with blood, and the small trickle still coming down from her left nostril alarmed Kate. Laurie as such a little girl, and there was so much blood.

"Bob, come here quick. Laurie's in trouble!"

The car sped along Interstate 395, Kate feeling helpless in the back seat, holding Laurie. Even so, she knew it was fortunate she was along. The patrolman who had tried to pull them over for speeding on the George Washington Parkway had looked first at her Secret Service badge being held out the window, second at her cradling the bleeding Laurie in her lap, and read the words she mouthed, 'Children's Hospital National Medical Center,' and that had been all it had taken for him to take the lead with his siren blaring and strobe light bar lighting the night.

At the 14th Street Bridge they had been met by two DC Police units that led the way as the Alexandria City unit pulled aside to let them by, a hurried 'Godspeed and good luck,' coming from the PA unit of the car as they passed. In all, it was almost eleven miles and a drive that normally took over twenty minutes took less than ten, although it seemed like hours to Bob Adams and Kate Powers.

Somewhere in those ten minutes, holding the small frightened girl in her lap, watching her become paler and paler, Katherine Powers came to terms with just how much Laurie meant to her.

It wasn't just that she liked Bob.....well, more than liked him, actually. It was that Laurie had seemed to love Kate from the moment they'd met....like the mother she had lost, and Kate had enjoyed the little girl like the daughter she wasn't sure she'd ever have. And it was more terrifying to Kate to see Laurie quietly going into shock in her lap than anything else she'd ever known.

Secret Service Agents were by their nature, assertive take charge personalities, and she had never felt so helpless in her life as when she'd been sitting there in the back of the speeding car, watching the life slowly drain from the small child.

The intern on duty in the Emergency Room seemed to know Laurie by sight, talking calmingly to her as the nurse held her arm while he deftly inserted an IV catheter in the small vein at her elbow. On the other arm a lab tech was already doing a fingerstick for lab work.

"I need a stat crit, a type and cross for 4 units of packed cells, and 6 units of platelet concentrate. Also, a Chem-20 and a CBC. Brady is the fellow on call for hematology-oncology, we'll need to page him and get her a bed in the intensive care unit. Let's keep these lines open with normal saline until the platelets and blood are ready...run the first 100 milliliters in stat, then cut back to 40 milliliters per hour and continue oxygen at 2 liters per minute by nasal cannula"

The medical staff moved with practiced precision, and both Bob and Kate found themselves tripping over people and equipment trying to stay out of the way. Dr. Brady talked to them briefly and indicated that Laurie was in stable condition and the platelets seemed to have stopped the bleeding. When he said that they would need to do a bone marrow aspiration in the morning, Bob visibly winced, but nodded his head. He'd obviously been through this 'routine' before. Kate wasn't sure how it was possible for him to stand it. Dr. Brady indicated that if the kidney function tests were normal it was likely that no serious damage had been done by the shock, but they would probably have a new malignancy to contend with.

When Laurie was finally settled in to the ICU, with nurses havering over her, she went to sleep. One of the nurses came over to them and said, "Mr. and Mrs. Adams.....we won't have the lab results back for another 30 minutes or so. Why don't you go get a cup of coffee or something down in the cafeteria, we'll page you if anything comes up." Bob was going to correct the nurse about Kate, but before he could say anything Kate simply said, "Thank you, we appreciate that...and appreciate the care that you're taking of Laurie,' and led Bob by the hand toward the hallway.

They were sitting in the semi-darkness of the Children's Hospital Medical Center cafeteria at 3AM, nursing two cups of black coffee. Bob had called his supervisor and told him what was happening, and was told to take as much time off as he needed. Kate had called the duty office to let them know she was tied up. She was going to be free for two days, until the Dallas trip. Kate looked at Bob sitting at the table, gazing out the window into the darkness.

"So I take it you and Laurie have been through this before?"

"I suspect this will be the fourth malignancy. the third serious bleed.."

"So this is caused by.....a cancer?"

"Most likely. They won't know for sure until they do the bone marrow aspiration in the morning," his face showing obvious distaste as he spoke.

"What is that?" she asked, almost instantly wishing that she hadn't as she saw his eyes water from unshed tears...

"They take a large hollow needle and shove it into her hipbone just above her buttocks.....then suck out some of the marrow."

"That doesn't sound particularly pleasant."

"The physicians here say that's about the most painful thing they do around here....although Laurie takes it like a trooper. I think it's actually harder on me just knowing they have to do it."

"Does this happen often?"

"Actually, the last time it happened was the morning after the first date we had......one of several reasons I was rather poor company that night....not that I'm particularly good company tonight either it seems."

"I don't know that a guy caring about his child can ever really be bad company, Bob, I'm just sorry that Laurie has to go through this....that you have to go through this."

Bob continued to look off into the darkness beyond the cafeteria windows.
"Thanks Kate. And thanks for helping me get her here. I was afraid if we went to the Alexandria hospital.....well, I did that once. They aren't used to little people as much, starting IVs and knowing about her medical problems.....I was just afraid she wasn't going to make it.

She sat down beside him and pulled him to her. She found herself wishing he could cry.....knowing he would feel better if he did but knowing also that Marines didn't cry....even when they should.

They had both spent the night by her bedside and were back in the cafeteria at 6 AM. Kate now wore surgical scrubs, loaned to her by one of Laurie's nurse's, her own dress soaking in a basin of cold water, growing pinker by the minute as Laurie's blood gradually was soaked out. Her hair was a little unkempt, her face a little tired. Looking at her and the hospital personnel getting their own breakfasts, after a long night shift, Bob smiled. "You look like you fit right in here....the scrubs and the tired look."

"I don't see how they do this....I'm not sure how they deal with this much intensity every night. My job...well, it's mostly research, preparation, prevention. I carry weapons that, if I do my job right, I hope I'll never have to use, and we spend unbelievable amounts of money to keep the first drop of blood from ever being spilled. The people here," she said, looking around her, "...well they are in the trenches every single night. I don't know how they can do it."

“They amaze me too. If it wasn’t for them….well, I’m sure that I would have lost Laurie by now.”

A tired looking Dr. Brady walked through the door toward Bob and Kate.
“Well, Laurie is stable and her clotting is back to normal. Her blood volume is back up and there’s no apparent kidney damage. So now we have to find out what caused the problem.”

“So another bone marrow aspiration?” asked Bob.

“Well, something’s crowding the cells that make the platelets right out of the bone marrow. We need to find out what it is to be able to know how to treat it effectively so….yes, I’m afraid we need to do another bone marrow aspiration. We’ll plan on doing it in the procedure room on the ward at about 8:30. If you’ll stop at the nurses’ station sometime before 8:00, we’ll have the paperwork ready for you to sign. I know she’s been through the procedure before but if you have any questions…?”

“No, unfortunately I’m familiar enough with the procedure, doctor. I’ll be up in a little bit to sign the paperwork. I’d appreciate it if I could be in there for the procedure though.”

Dr. Brady looked a little bit uncertain. “Well, let’s talk about that at the time, Mr. Adams.”

Twenty minutes later they were alone in the waiting area outside of the ICU. They had already checked on Laurie who appeared to be sleeping comfortably and Bob had signed the paperwork.

“Tell me about Laurie’s medical problem, Bob. What really IS the problem?”

“Well, the immune system has something the doctors call endogenous antitumour T-cells. The theory is that cancers occur in humans all the time…just by random mutation of the cells, but that the body’s immune system uses these endogenous antitumour T-cells to kill the cancer while it is small, and we never even know we had it. The theory is that Laurie’s exposure to radiation actually caused a cancer of these antitumour T-cells, and that her own cells have been replaced by defective ones. So when she gets a cancer, which the doctors think happens three or four times a year in humans, instead of her body just stomping it out when it’s small, the cancers just keep growing. She has had three previous cancers, acute lymphocytic leukemia, a non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and a kidney tumor. Fortunately, each one responded to treatment each time. But unless we can find some way to cure her defective endogenous antitumour T-cells, this will just happen again and again until ultimately we run out of drugs or she has a serious toxic reaction to them.”

“And the radiation from the bomb did this?”

“That’s the theory.”



“Bob, what really happened in France?”

“What do you mean, Kate. The dirty bomb? It was in all the news…you must have seen it.”

“Not just that Bob, but the whole thing…the fall of Europe and the establishment of the Caliphate there. How did it all happen? How did things get…..that bad. How did the terrorists win over there….in modern countries….first world countries?”

“Well, I guess that depends on whose theory you want to believe. My in-laws…the Durings, will say that we should have compromised and somehow accommodated the radicals. The only problem is…they don’t want to be accommodated. I learned that in Portugal.”

“Well Portugal was one thing but…..Spain, Italy, France, Germany…..those were the countries that …besides England…pretty much built Western Culture. How did they all go under…and so fast?”

“The reality, Kate, was that they didn’t go under fast….they went under over a period of about sixty years, but no one was paying attention.”

“I guess I don’t understand then..”

“It was basically a matter of demographics, Kate. That and some basic economic issues. OPEC, for one. But the true story started in the 1950s. For a variety of reasons, women seriously slowed down having kids. I did a Master’s paper on it. To keep a population stable, each woman needs to have about 2.1 kids. In Europe they started having about 1.6, and that tapered down to 1.3 by the turn of the century. Women generally have kids between fifteen and thirty-five. So on the average, every 25 years, the number of women of child bearing years was cut to between 65 and 80% of the number 25 years previously. So in 75 years, you only have about 40% of the number of European women of childbearing years you did 75 years ago, and each of those is producing only a fraction of the number of children their predecessors produced. But because healthcare and nutrition was better, people were surviving longer. By the time the populations actually started to fall, these were old old populations, with few young people to increase the population. At the same time the monopoly of OPEC had artificially raised prices…..a lot of that money went into fundamentalist mosques and religious schools. These were the people that Europe imported to do the work when they had no young people. While they were a small proportion of the total population, they were a large proportion of the young…and a growing proportion. In the embassy in France, our ambassador never believed that could happen…he believed the French government official line that it was only a small minority that was the problem, and to an extent it was. It’s just that the rest of the people were largely old people who could not successfully resist that small minority, because they were a MAJORITY of their generation. Ultimately, Karen and Laurie paid the price for our State Department not understanding that. Instead of getting out when we could, we stayed behind to provide an appearance of support to the government, a government which itself collapsed only weeks after our embassy was hit”

Karen found herself mulling over how much the Secret Service and the military were alike. You sometimes found yourself supporting the office, because you believed in the office, even when the voters or the bureaucrats had installed people or policies that made no sense whatever. One of the occupational hazards of being in the Secret Service was that you were expected to take a bullet for the person you guarded, even if he or she had done something stupid to let the shooter have the opportunity. Of course, there weren’t any five year olds in the Secret Service.

It was a cool winter day in Santa Fe New Mexico as the West Roswell High School bus pulled up to the hotel. It had been a four hour drive and the team had been escorted by a small convoy of fans and well-wishers. The first two games of the finals would be played tomorrow. Roswell had the opener against Farmington at 4 PM with the Central High -Santa Fe game starting at 7PM. Sunday the losers bracket game, to decide 3rd and 4th place, would be at 2PM with the championship game at 6 PM. Joey had scrambled to get tickets for everyone....Andrew and his folks, her folks, and Uncle Kyle and Aunt Ava for the first game, but had been able to do it. She knew Andrew and his folks had been in the convoy of cars....her mom and dad as well. She wanted to see him...to have him meet Uncle Kyle, Aunt Ava, and her cousins, but Coach O'Malley had different ideas. Everybody was bunking in pairs, in adjacent rooms, and meeting in her room for videos of Farmington games until bedtime.

Joey was a little unhappy about that, but the reason to be there was to win the state championship, and she'd do what she needed to to do that. The Coach had said that there were a lot of college scouts there for the tournament...attracted by the big center from Central, Janice Jacobs, who was a senior and was expected to be MVP at the tournament and have her pick of major colleges offering her athletic scholarships. Joey knew she was a ways away from graduation but hoped to perform well enough for them to remember her when her turn came around. But more than that, she hoped that West Roswell could take the title home.

Joey was rooming with Andrea Lopez and both were excited. When the team went out for dinner they went to a Mexican restaurant, owned by Andrea's uncle. Even though her cousins went to Santa Fe High, her uncle put on a party for the Roswell team in their own small banquet room.
One thing led to another, and eventually the contest became how many jalapeno slices you could put on one nacho chip and wash it down with one glass of lemonade or ice tea. Andrea made the mistake of betting Joey her dessert dish of flan that she had a higher tolerance for jalapenos than Joey did. She'd played the game with her cousins for years and it HAD seemed a safe enough bet. As Joey started on her second dish of flan, Andrea looked at her and said, "A moment on the lips and years on the hips..." Joey looked back, smiling, and slowly added a handful of jalapeno slices to the second dish of flan. "Don't worry, Andrea, I'll run it off in the morning..."

The Douglas's were settled in to their hotel room.

"Cheer up, Andrew," said Barbara Douglas. I'm sure you can see her in the morning."

"Well, yes.....we are going running in the morning, actually. But I don't see why the coach had to keep the whole team penned up all evening."

"Probably last minute coaching about the Farmington tem. That really shouldn't be that much of a surprise to you," said Roger Douglas.

"OK, OK, I guess you are right. It's just that...well I miss her."

Roger Douglas shook his head and smiled. "How can you miss her? You saw her just this morning..."

"Don't tease the boy, dear. You weren't much better when we were courting....neither was I for that matter. We couldn't bear to be apart either."

Andrew smiled at his parents. "I know it sounds silly....but I really do miss her. Thanks for coming up here and supporting the team and everything. I really do love to see her play."

Barbara Douglas looked at her son. "Andrew, we love Joey too. Don't ever have any doubts....I mean....I really don't think you could have chosen anyone better to fall in love with. Your dad and I couldn't be happier for you...or prouder of you."

"Well, Joey did all the hard work. Mostly I just broke my neck."

"Don't remind me. I still have nightmares about that. At least I used to. Now this blue-eyed blonde seems to intrude and tell me everything is OK. Is Joey dreamwalking me?"

"I don't think so, Mom. I try to keep her busy myself."

Barbara Douglas shook her head and smiled. "Well, behave yourself....even if it's just a dream."

"Speaking of behaving yourself... I talked to Michael and Maria," said Roger. "If you have any trouble the three days we are in St Louis visiting your aunt, let them know and they'll help out. I was going to give them a power of attorney so they could get medical care for you while we were gone if you needed it and Maria rolled her eyes and said, "Like Joey would let anything happen to him..." which I guess is probably right. Just behave yourself and drive carefully on the way back to Roswell. The roads can get icey this time of year. We aren't going to have time to stay for the presentation of awards, but if you just drop us off at the airport and don't wait for us, you can get back in time for the awards dinner. The Albuquerque paper is predicting that center from Central for MVP but personally...I'm betting on the point guard from Roswelll."

"Don't worry. I'll be careful. I'll follow the team bus home the next morning. They only do about 50...stop at railroad crossings and stuff. I'll be safe. No sense getting home before she's there anyway."

Andrew went over to the digital clock by his bed and started setting the alarm. Barbara Douglas stared at him in obvious disbelief.

"Five-forty? You are going to get up at five-forty for a 4 PM game??"

"Joey and I are going running at six, Mom. Then we are going to have breakfast together."

Later, as Andrew was in the bathroom, Barbara Douglas turned to her husband. "Does it strike you that things are going AWFULLY fast with those two? Do you think that this is really just....too much, too soon, for them?"

"Normally yes, dear. But there really isn't much of anything normal about their relationship...except for their love for each other. I never really did tell you the whole story about what happened between Joey and me in the podchamber...back when I was still afraid of her. I kind of pushed her real hard....I figured if she was a threat to my family..I needed to find out. She ...connected to me...not like she does with Andrew I'm sure...but even so. It was like looking into someone's soul...and she didn't hide anything from me. She really does love Andrew....just unconditionally. I doubt if there's anything she wouldn't do for him.

Michael confessed to me that she kind of backed him and Maria into a corner over the engagement thing...so did Andrew. It was kind of a permit-the-engagement or risk the two of them running off. And having seen Joey's feelings in the connection, I don't doubt that she'd have done it. What it really comes down to, much as I hate to say it, is whether or not Andrew's feelings are the same as Joey's. Joey apparently thinks they are, and she's seen into his soul as well. It's kind of hard to argue with her, that being the case.

I guess I have to agree with Michael...it'd have been nice if this happened a couple years from now, but it didn't. Are they too young? Yeah, and we probably were too. But on the other hand....they really are good for each other. And they are trying so hard to prepare for their future together. Maria said that's what all the training and everything is about. Joey's taking extra courses so she can graduate when Andrew graduates, both are working hard to get athletic scholarships and to keep their grades up so they can go to college together. Sure it's scarey but they couldn't be working much harder, couldn't be much more mature about how they are preparing for that time. I just don't know, but I also don't know what else we can do....neither do Michael and Maria."

"Well dear, it'd be hard to argue that the two aren't good for each other. I don't just mean...well Joey healing Andrew. I hate to think of what he'd be going through right now if that hadn't happened.... but besides that, I've never seen Andrew more happy...working harder at his studies and his training...and Joey too. It'd be hard to find two nicer kids."

"So you don't think we are being crazy...letting them grow up so fast?"

"Well, I don't think there's anything we can do about it anyway but......no, I can't regret what's happening between them. There are too many positives. Of course, you are losing your baby.....and we don't have the option that Maria chose...to start another one."

"I can't believe Maria and Michael did that. Can you imagine having a teenager in your fifties or sixties?"

"Heck, up until recently I wasn't sure I could handle having a teenager in my late thirties. But he seems to be coming out alright....."

It was 10:30 PM before all the videos had been watched, all the coaching hints had been given, and the bus time announced for the ride to the arena tomorrow. The team would have most of the morning to go sightseeing or just get psyched up for the game.
Coach O'Malley wanted everyone to have lunch by 11;30 at the latest, and be at the bus at 12:00 with their gear in hand. The team was told to get to bed.... that it'd be a hard day tomorrow and that they'd all be watching the later Santa Fe-Central game to find out who they'd be playing....one way or another, and when they'd be playing them. Hopefully it would be the late game in the winners bracket rather than the early game in the losers bracket.

In twenty minutes Joey and Andrea were ready to get to sleep, Andrea still not quite sure how her roomate had beat her at the jalapeno game. As both girls were getting into bed and about to turn the lights out, Joey reached for the phone and punched "O".

"Front Desk"

"This is room 427. I'd like a 5:45 wake-up please."

"5:45 for room 427. OK."

"Oh no girl, you can't be serious about a 5:45 wake-up. This girl is NOT getting up at any 5:45," said Andrea.

"Relax, I'm just going to go for a run at six."

"A RUN?? Before the quarter final game? Don't you think you'll be getting enough exercise at 4 PM?"

"I always run, but I'm cutting back to half what I normally do because of the game, don't worry."

"Even so, Joey, Santa Fe is a nice town but you may not want to be out running by yourself at 6 in the morning. Why don't you just wait until seven or eight, and use the treadmill in the exercise room downstairs?"

"Treadmills are BORING. Besides, I won't be running by myself, Andrew is meeting me here to go running at six."

"Andrew is going running with you at six in the morning? What is it with you two? You train more than anyone I know."

"Just trying to stay in shape."

"Really? You sure that you aren't taking Obansky up on her suggestion....that the two of you get a room somewhere?" inquired Andrea, giggling briefly, until the pillow came flying in from Joey's side of the room.

"No. Besides, I think he's doubling up with his parents in their room. Might be a little crowded."

"Seriously, Joey....I like Andrew and well....you've changed since the infamous kiss, you've changed a lot. I like you a lot better this way."

"What do you mean? I'm the same person I always was."

"No, you really aren't. I mean, you are still intense, but you aren't the brooding loner anymore. You are a lot more fun. So tell me......while we are on the subject of Andrew, ...did he give you the ring you wear on the chain?"

"Well, yes..."

"Am I correct that the stone isn't a cubic zirconium or rhinestone or something...it's a diamond?"

"Well, yes...., he inherited it from his great-grandmother....he's the last of the Douglas's and she wanted it to go to him."

"And he gave it to you .... planning on NOT being the LAST of the Douglas's I take it?"

Even in the dim light Andrea could see Joey blush. "Yeah, something like that anyway."

"Well what's the deal then....why the necklace."

"My parents thought we were a little young, or at least a little early in the relationship, so it went from the finger to the chain....for the time being."

“So…do they know you still have it?”

“Oh sure. I mean, Andrew had a long discussion with my Dad and they kind of compromised on us being kind of not-publicly engaged for awhile, but my folks know it really doesn’t change anything between us.”

“Engaged….Wow! How long have you two been a couple?”

“Well, we met way back in elementary school in a soccer league. He first asked me out a couple years ago but….well, I really didn’t figure it would work out with us..I mean, I had this huge crush on him but I really didn’t think he’d ever really like me….at least, once he got to know me, so I said no.”

“Hey, I know you. You’re OK. Why wouldn’t he like you…although I have to admit that he does seem to have improved you. You’re a lot happier than you used to be. So….what changed your mind about him? ”

“Honestly? I thought I’d lost him…back during football season.”

“Oh my God, that’s right…that was Andrew that got kidnapped.”

“Actually, I wasn’t too worried about him being kidnapped. It was the neck injury that scared me. When I saw them put him on that backboard and stretcher and take him away in the ambulance I thought…. 'Damn..you may have lost him, and you never even gave it a chance.’ I guess I decided that letting him know how I felt and being disappointed was still probably better than just never knowing. Better to have loved and lost…and all that.”

“Well judging by that kiss, you didn’t lose him. I thought the Coach was going to come unglued when she saw you and him in that lip-lock in front of the whole crowd.”

“Yeah….well you should have seen my Dad if you thought O’Malley was shocked. We really didn’t mean to do that….we just kind of got carried away. We hadn’t officially gotten engaged then….with a ring or anything…but we had been kind of….well talking about it the night before and when I saw him again…Well, like I said, I got a little carried away.”

“Hey, I can understand getting carried away. Enriquez and I get carried away all the time. But….engaged? Wow, that’s like almost married. It’s still hard to believe that your mom and dad are OK with this.”

“Well, it wasn’t particularly pleasant the night we told them,” said Joey, remembering coffee boiling in a cup and a near powerblast firefight in the kitchen. “But they seem to have decided they trusted us to make our own decisions finally. They even called up Drew’s folks for a quiet little family celebration. To tell the truth, Drew won over my dad somehow. When my mom took me off so they could talk…man-to-man, I had almost the same feeling I had when I saw the paramedics take him off in the ambulance…..you know, not sure I was ever going to see him again. But somehow he got Dad to compromise on the whole thing….and his parents are just great about it, particularly his mom. I think she always wanted a daughter and when I came along….well, a daughter-in-law will do.”

“So do they really think that they believe that the two of you are going to do OK…..I mean the happy ever after thing, or did you just do the ‘If-you-don’t-agree-we-are-going to-run-off-together-thing?”

“To tell the truth, I think my folks are kind of praying for the first because we….because I kind of did the second. Once I had that ring on my finger…well, I wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Getting it on a chain around my neck for awhile and not going public for awhile was about all the compromise I was going to make. I think my Dad at least realized that.”

“So you think they are REALLY OK with it….or just sitting there hoping you’ll change your mind?”

“That’s a good question. I don’t really know. I know that his parents trust me.” ‘Heck, all they’d have to do if they didn’t is to tell the world I’m an alien,’ she thought. “But I’m not just one hundred percent sure that my parents trust him…I guess I really didn’t give them too much choice.”

“So are you on the pill or patch or what?”

“Uh…I don’t use any birth control Andrea.”

”Joey! Are you crazy? You get pregnant and the whole college thing can go away. You need to be careful.”

“Well we…..well we haven’t had sex yet.”

“OK, I’m just not going to say anything until you put that ring on your finger, but when you do….well, Enriquez is going to get an earful if he hasn’t proposed by then. Heck, I’m a junior and we have been going together for 3 years and I’ve been on the pill for 3 months already. Hasn’t Andrew ever really pushed you about it?”

Joey blushed deeply, noticeable even in the darkened room. “Actually, I thought he did once.” She shook her head. “Promise to not ever tell anyone?”

“OK”

“I thought he was going to get condoms. He was so intense and nervous and …well we were alone in this house and…well I thought…..well I thought about what you said, that guys just seemed to need it more…so I got undressed and got in bed and he came back with….”

”Yes….”

“...the ring….”

Andrea started to giggle first, then Joey. Finally both were laughing. They tried to stop but each time they looked at each other they’d go into another cycle of giggling and laughing.

Finally, with tears in her eyes Andrea said, “I promised I wouldn’t tell…..so I won’t. But if you ever change your mind…..I will swear Enriquez to eternal secrecy and tell him that story. Then if we aren’t engaged in a week, I may give him his walking papers. That is the most incredibly romantic thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Yeah, well it was about a half hour later that we were talking to my parents. I distinctly remember thinking just before I left him with my Dad that it might have been better if I’d just pulled him into the bed with me. I really wasn’t sure I’d ever see him again.”

“So why haven’t you?”

“Why haven’t I what?”

“Pulled him into bed with you…?”

Joey sighed deeply. "I talked to him about it once and…well, I guess I’m scared. Not of doing it….really, but of waking up all by myself in bed the next day, without him there..”

“Joey, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but you are going to wake up in that bed tomorrow morning when you get that damn wake-up call and you’ll be the only one in that bed anyway. Even if you get married in college and are both on athletic scholarships, you’ll each be traveling with the team sometimes…and bunking alone. The fact that you can’t live your life in Disneyland is not a good reason to never visit the place. But…to each her own. If what you are doing works for you and Drew…that’s great.”

“I thought not too long ago you were complaining to me that Enriquez was kind of pushing you?”

“Well….I guess I’ve come to like the pushing a little bit,” Andrea giggled. “It’s real…..cozy.”

"Do you feel....well guilty or anything...I mean, what if your parents knew?"

"Well I've got it easy there, because I'm Catholic. For ten Hail Mary's and ten Our Fathers each Confession, Enriquez and I can be real happy," she giggled. "And I think it gives the priest something to liven up Confession a little bit,too."



As they drifted off to sleep, Joey’s mind was in a little bit of turmoil. Was it time to become more intimate with Andrew? She needed to talk to him about what he thought…how he felt. But that was so hard. Just to ask the question would change things maybe….create hopes or expectations. It was scary. Sometimes she dreamed about their first time and it was all romance…..sometimes she just worried that it wouldn’t go well. Tonight she almost envied Andrea. If it were over….she wouldn’t have to worry about it. It wouldn’t be the elephant in the room in their relationship. It was so bizarre, she knew with absolute certainty it WOULD happen, but spent so much time fretting about the “how”. She decide it probably would be a good idea to NOT dreamwalk Andrew tonight, with him in a room with his parents and her in a room with Andrea. ‘It’d be just like one of us to talk in our sleep…..’ she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

It was 8AM in Washington DC and Bob and Kate were in Laurie’s room. Laurie was awake, still looking frail, but the bleeding had stopped and the transfusion had returned the pink to her cheeks. Bob explained to her in a halting voice that she would need another bone marrow aspiration, and Laurie’s eyes first went wide and then started to tear. Bob was not doing much better, but he was surprised by her next request. “Daddy, can Katie be with me when I have the bone marrow done…?”

“Well honey….,” he said, looking from Laurie to Kate and back again, “Katie might be uncomfortable being in there…and they only allow one non-medical person. Maybe Daddy better be the one..”

“Please Katie?” implored Laurie.

“Bob…it’s OK…I mean, if it’s OK with you…it’s OK with me.”

Bob looked to Laurie’s face, nodding her head and pleading with her eyes. “Well…OK I guess. I’ll be waiting right outside.”

Katie led Laurie to the procedure room but really didn’t understand what was going on until the door closed and Laurie looked up to her with big tearful eyes. “It hurts when they do this, Katie….but it hurts more when I see how much it hurts Daddy when they do it. You don’t have to look if you don’t want to but….if you stay in the room, it’ll be better for Daddy.”

The nurse and oncologist heard Laurie and gave sad smiles. “Kid’s are tough, Ms. Powers, particularly Laurie here. But seeing the people they love hurt is harder on them than hurting themselves. Just be strong for her, and she’ll do fine.”

Kate winced as the large needle went through the pelvic bone above Laurie’s right buttock, and the oncologist aspirated a sample of the bone marrow, but the procedure was quick. A large band-aid quickly covered the puncture wound as the specimen was spread on microslope slides and sent off to the lab. Even before the specimen was on its way, Laurie was in Kate’s arms, being carried out to Bob. It was 30 minutes before they got the preliminary report from the pathologist of acute myelocytic leukemia.

“Briefly, Mr. Adams, acute myelocytic leukemia or AML is a cancer of the bone marrow. It’s a little unusual in five year olds, but in general the life expectancy untreated is only about four months. Over the past several years we have gotten better treatment…as late as the turn of the century, we only got long term remissions….for all practical purposes, cures, in 20 to 30% of the patients. Now days, we are up near 80 percent. The factors going against your daughter are that she’s already been exposed to some of the drugs we use to treat this when she was treated for her other cancers and we aren’t really sure of the longterm effects of some of them. We may need to modify her chemotherapy protocol because of that.’

“So what’s your best estimate, Doc?”

“I think the odds are good of us getting her in remission….probably 95%. Long term remission or cure…? Maybe 75%. I’m sorry, but that’s probably pretty close to the truth.”

The concern Kate felt was mirrored in the face of Bob Adams. “Do your best, Doc,” he said. “She’s already beaten worse odds. We’ll just have to keep praying and hoping.”


By 8AM Santa Fe time Joey was done with her run and had showered and she and Andrew had met with their parents at the local IHOP for breakfast. By 9AM Barbara, Maria, and Joey were shopping together in one end of the mall, while Andrew, Michael, and Roger were across the street at the Suzuki dealership…looking at dirtbikes. JUST LOOKING, Michael had assured Maria.

“You like dirtbikes, Andrew?” asked Michael.

“I’ve only been on them a couple of times.”

“Did you enjoy it?”

Andrew got a sort of funny smile. “Yeah, it was….great.”

Michael suddenly remembered the last time Joey had borrowed his bike. ‘You don’t want to know, Michael. You REALLY don’t want to know.’ “Hey Roger…you ever considered getting Andrew HIS OWN bike?”