Page Content (OCR)
The Call - Thirteen grades enough to make the passing list. He and Ted wanted to be sure they would do nothing to set off Miss Flowers again. By the time April rolled around, conditions at the house were generally back to normal. Ralph was no longer so unset- tled, and he and Ted were finally sleeping well. Knowing that he was fulfilling his godmother’s wishes gave him an inner peace and strength. Ted, however soon began going downhill. At first he was merely tired, and then he became continuously weak. One evening when he came home from work, his stomach was so upset that he suddenly fell into a fit of vomiting, and every- thing he’d eaten that day was lost. For the next week, each day was the same. He woke up exhausted, struggled through work, tried to eat, and then threw up at night. In this state of constant physical upheaval, Ted lost weight rapidly, unable to keep anything down, and his fatigue was overwhelming. No longer able to function on the job, at last he went to the doctor. A series of tests were ordered as the doctor tried to deter- mine the problem, but the results were all negative. He gave Ted some medicine for nausea and sent him home with instructions to come back if the situation didn’t improve. But if anything, the problem grew worse. Ted tried to keep up with his work, yet suffering from continual nausea and exhaustion, he could not carry on with the job. Everything came to a head one morning as Ted sat dispir- itedly at his desk, unable to concentrate. He felt a sudden wave of dizziness overtake him and fought to get out of his chair. The next thing he was aware of was being in the hospi- tal emergency room, surrounded by medical personnel, with an IV stuck into his arm. There was no memory of fainting or of the ambulance ride to the hospital. In a fog he listened as the doctor ordered him admitted immediately for more tests. During the next three days, Ted underwent an exhaustive battery of procedures. As he sat visiting with his parents on the third evening in the hospital, the doctor finally came in to discuss the test results. “We don’t know what’s wrong with Ted,” he told Mr. and Masquerade of Angels 122 The Call - Thirteen Mrs. Rice apologetically. “I don’t want to be an alarmist, but there are a lot of symptoms here which make me suspect the possibility of cancer. But I really don’t know yet. The only way we can be certain is to do exploratory surgery, a biopsy. And I need your consent to do it.” Stunned by this news, Ted tried to discuss all the possibil- ities with his parents, and although no one wanted him to undergo surgery, his condition didn’t seem to leave them any option. Reluctantly he agreed to the procedure, and the doc- tor scheduled it for early the next morning. After his parents left, Ted lay in bed feeling very alone and frightened. He thought about the doctor’s fears of cancer, and he tried to accept the idea that he could be facing a termi- nal situation. All his hopes for the future ran through his mind, like a movie of lost possibilities. The nurse brought in medication to sedate him, and as he drifted fitfully into sleep, Ted suddenly thought of Maya and Sun Valley. Her image seemed to hang in the air before him, and her smile, so com- forting and confident, was the last thing he remembered that night. At seven a.m. the next morning, the doctor and two order- lies came into Ted’s room, rousing him only slightly from a hazy awareness. The doctor flipped on the light and then froze in the doorway, staring wordlessly at Ted. He waved the orderlies back out of the room and told Ted, as calmly as possible, “Don’t move. Don’t get out of the bed. I'll have somebody in here very shortly with a bedpan if you need one, but whatever you do, don’t move.” The doctor backed out of the room and shut the door. Half an hour later, he returned with the orderlies, but this time they were wearing surgical masks and gloves. He exam- ined Ted thoroughly and then called for the lab to send a technician. Blood samples were drawn and carted away, and Ted was ordered to stay in bed. He tried to get an explanation from the doctor, but his questions were ignored. It was a couple of hours later-long, worrisome hours for Ted-before the doctor reappeared. “We've got the results back,” he told Ted, “and I just can’t figure this out. You have hepatitis, Ted. The moment I came Masquerade of Angels 123