Mackay: Some visits

On Thursday couple of days later, Seff had some news for the other two boys.

"Guess what!" said Seff, "I've got a date, with Daisy. This Saturday afternoon, we're seeing a movie. She said something about her parents not approving of her doing something like that, but I pointed out that she could just say she's going for a walk and not tell them anything."

Both Handel and Mackay did not say anything to this.

On that night, as Mackay was going to bed,

So, this weekend Seff is going to have a don't-tell-the-parents date with Daisy. Handel is, of course, relaxing at home without the slightest care for such things. And I get my little sister lecturing me about being responsible.

Still, I suppose I'm better off that those two poor girls.

He went to sleep.

He woke in fear.

What the hell is this?

The lighting was harsh, bright white reflecting back from all lit surfaces; with shadows that were pitch black.

What?

Someone was standing besides his bed. A lady, of indeterminate age, white gown flowing in a non-existent breeze, wearing a halo that was shining brightly, casting stark shadows across the room.

"Good evening, Mackay."

She sat down on his bed, bouncing slightly as the bedsprings recoiled from her weight.

"I'm your Angel of Death. You may call me Esmeralda."

"Argggh. I'm dead?"

"No you're not. If you were, you would know beyond a shadow of doubt. Instead, you will be waking up as usual tomorrow morning, ready for another day at school. Considering the circumstances, I am taking some extra effort to relieve your mind."

This is relieving my mind?

"Well, I don't actually want you to be too relaxed, since I have some serious things to discuss."

You're reading my mind?

"Of a course. I can read your soul, so picking up your thoughts isn't all that hard."

"Oh"

"Now, one thing about your mortal existence on Earth that you may have noticed is that a lot of bad things happen to perfectly good people. It is just by random chance, it is just the way things are for you. People get broken by horrible circumstances, they are ground down and pulverised by forces too big to comprehend, an indifferent or even actively hostile world smashes them and casts them aside without mercy or pity."

"And as an Angel of Death I have to take these destroyed souls and welcome them to the afterlife. Judge them and send them on their way to the next stage, where hopefully they can get a chance to be mended and made whole. As much as I or any other angel may wish it, we are not allowed to intervene."

He eyes glowed red.

"We feel their pain, too, you know. But we are powerless to make a difference, to lend a helping hand. With our powers, it would be so easy to do so, but we are forbidden."

Mackay quailed under her glare. He could practically feel the pain also. He had an image to Jenny and Carmen in his mind's eye, suffering and dying because of some stupid accident.

"That's right, you're getting the idea."

"However, just occasionally we are allowed to make a difference. If the results are deemed worthy enough. If the stakes are high enough. As is so for this case. Not because of you or the girls, that is. But the results further down the track warrant my intervention now. The future repercussions of minor actions now will hopefully be resulting in immensely beneficial effects later."

"In other words, for purposes I won't be divulging, I have been granted authority to influence the mortal plane, for once. I'm going to help those two girls, and you will be a part of it."

"Oh"

"However, even if all of this is for our ultimate advantage, we still can't let you receive the benefits without some sort of payment. Us angles believe that everything requires a price to pay. Which you will be finding out in due course."

Gulp. "I will be paying a price?"

"That's right. And the girls. But look on the positive side. At least you will be getting your harem. Sort of."

"Oh, right. But only sort of? But, but, don't I get some choice in the matter?"

"Sure you do. You have your free will. You may refuse to help the girls. But, I should warn you, your actions will count at your final judgement. With me."

He eyes flashed redder and brighter than before.

"You will be judged on how you treated those two girls. If you choose not to help them and thus let them die, that is what you will be judged on."

"Ah, this, this, is this fair?"

"Of course not. This is your mortal life, remember. Bad things happen. Was it fair for the girls to get poisoned like that?"

"No, no, I suppose not."

"Fine. Anyway, let us get right to the point. Tomorrow morning at school, you will be given the chance to volunteer to visit the girls in hospital. It is up to your free will whether or not you take this opportunity. Just be prepared to defend your choice at your judgement."

"Ah, but, ah, well, but I don't know those two girls at all. And I think they both actively dislike me. How are they going to react when I rock up to say hi to them?"

"Things will work out. Do not worry about that part. Just worry about taking that initial choice."

"Now go to sleep, Mackay."

He went back to sleep.

He did not have a choice in that, either.

The next morning, early, he woke up again. He looked at the clock.

Ugh, far too early to get up.

"Arggggggh!"

He jumped off his bed, sending blankets flying, and stood shivering in the morning chill.

Oh my God! What was all of that about?

An Angel of Death. Free will. Judgement. Two girls dying.

Did I have a have some sort of weird nightmare?

Nonetheless, he was at the table, eating breakfast and ready to go, by the time his sister arrived.

Must get to school before the first lesson starts. Can't take any chance that I miss the call for volunteers.

His sister rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stretched her arms, yawning.

She then saw Mackay.

"You're up early! Has something gone wrong? You’re coming down with the flu and feel sick, perhaps?”

"Nyah, nyah, I just felt like getting up early."

By now, both parents were also in the kitchen. They all watched in amazement as Mackay made his lunch, packed his bag, and was the first out of the door.

"Is this some sort of miracle?" said Melissa.

Mr Daskalov took the roll call.

"Ah, Mackay, welcome to the morning! It's not usual for you to see it."

A few giggles from the students.

The first lesson came and went. Then the second lesson, with a new teacher. Then the third lesson, back with Daskalov. Half way through there was an interruption. The vice principal opened the door and walked in, followed by two men. She introduced them.

"Hello, class. This police officer is Charlie, the father of Carmen, and this man is Jiro, the father of Jenny. Charlie would like to say a few words." she said, in a bright, cheerily voice. Once she stopped speaking, her shoulders slumped, just a little. She was holding a pad and pen. She fiddled with it.

"Hi everyone." said Charlie. In his best public speaking voice, confident smile on his face.

"As you know, our daughters are in, ah, hospital, and their mothers thought it would be nice if they had some visitors to cheer them up."

His smile had gradually faded during this.

"Since they really do need cheering up. Our, ah, daughters, ah, that is, not the mothers, ah, hmm."

He stopped, pasted his smile back on, and resumed. During this, Jiro had been staring out of the window, face mostly blank, with a look of... Well, most of the students did not really know what the look was. Most of the students had never, as yet, suffered major grief. Or seen adults suffering grief, or seen them suppress the show of grief on their faces.

"So, ah, do we have any volunteers?"

He stopped, smile glued on his face, staring fixedly at the back wall. Jiro held his breath. The vice principle looked as if she really did not want to be here.

Every student in class became still. They looked ahead, and avoided the gaze of any of the adults, or they looked down at their hands on their desks. The silence stretched out tightly, like an elastic band being loaded. Was it going to break? And when?

A single chair scraped and a student held up his hand.

"Yes, I'll volunteer." said Mackay.

Both men looked in surprise at Mackay, and then looked at each other.

"Ah, yes, thank you." said Charlie.

The vice principle asked for his name, and wrote it in her pad.

Another person raised their hand.

"I, I'll volunteer, too." said Daisy.

And finally another.

"Ah, me too." said Rose.

The vice principle visibly relaxed as she wrote down two more names.

But the two men had exchanged glances again. They did not appear to be all that relieved. But they kept quiet.

"Thank you thank you. If you could please meet us in front of the school tomorrow morning at 9:00am? I take it you can all make it then?" said Charlie.

The three students nodded yes.

The visitors left.

The background noise of the class rose significantly, as every student started making comments.

"Students, if you please, it will be lunch time soon, time enough then for your gossip about these three kind friends of Jenny and Carmen." said the teacher.

"What the hell made you volunteer?" said Seff as they ate their lunch.

"Well, I suppose I just sort of felt it might be a responsible thing to do?" said Mackay.

"You? Responsible?" said Handel. "Nobody's going to hold you responsible for those girls! I'm mean, how could that possibly be fair?"

"Ah, life is not fair, you know." said Mackay.

"And you are not their friends, anyway!" said Seff.

"I know, but it doesn't seem to make any difference."

"Sorry?" said Handel.

"Never mind." said Mackay.

They met up again at the school gates after school had finished.

"So tomorrow at this spot you meet that policeman and go to the hospital." said Handel.

"Yeah. I don't mind saying I'm getting nervous." said Mackay.

"You could always cancel." said Seff.

Mackay had a brief image of being judged by Esmeralda, with her eyes flaming red, and with her not making the slightest attempt to make him feel at ease.

"No, I don't think that is an option."

At this point, someone else walked up and joined their discussion. Daisy. Looking embarrassed, wringing her hands, and barely managing to look them in the eye.

"Ah, Mackay. Sorry, but I've been thinking about the visit, ah, the thing is I really don't know the girls at all. In fact, I don't think I have barely spoken to them. I, sorry, but, I just got carried away, I thought I would do the Good Samaritan deed, and, well, sorry, but I don't think it is appropriate. So, that is, I think my mother would say no. Hmm, sorry, can you give my excuses?"

Her voice trailed off with some mumbling.

"Certainly I'll apologise for you. Thanks for telling me." said Mackay.

She has the choice of not going. I don't.

She turned to walk away, and then hesitated.

"Ah, Seff, I'll see you tomorrow afternoon? Is that, like, still on?"

"Sure, see you tomorrow."

She walked away. The three boys looked at each other. Other students walked past them. Eventually they separated and also walked away.

At tea that night at Mackay's house.

"Mum and dad, I've volunteered to visit those two girls in hospital, and will be leaving the house in time to walk to the school and be there at 9:00am. The fathers of the girls will be picking us up."

Mum and dad looked at him in total astonishment.

"We didn't know you knew those girls enough to visit them!" said dad.

"Ah, well, when the girl's fathers asked us, I, err, decided to volunteer.”

"What? Just like that?" said Melissa.

"Yes, and, well, are you complaining?"

"I don't suppose so?" said Melissa.

So he got up early again Saturday morning, made his lunch as if for a school day, and was gone.

"Mum, he even got away on time! What's going on?" said Melissa.

"I don't know, my dear."

At 9:00am exactly, a car pulled up in front of the school gate. Jiro, sitting the front passenger seat, got out and opened the rear door. After Mackay and sat himself down and Jiro was back inside, he said:

"Err, I'm sorry, but Daisy apologised yesterday afternoon for not being able to make it. I hope that is all right?"

Charlie did not make any attempt to start the car.

"Sure, that's all right. And Rose's father managed to find my contact details somehow and rang me to say the Rose is also not coming."

"Sorry." said Mackay.

Both Jiro and Charlie had turned to look at Mackay.

"We're not at all surprised. We know our daughters; we know they don't have any friends at school. Which is why we were somewhat surprised when you all volunteered. I think the two girls only volunteered because you did." said Jiro.

"Ah, well, hmm..."

"I bet you have never had so much as a single conversation with either girl, have you?" said Charlie.

"Not that we're criticising you or anything. Your obviously doing this out of sheer kindness aren't you?" said Jiro.

"I, err"

"You can bail out now if you want. We won't hold it against you." said Charlie.

"N, no, I, this is a responsibility that I have taken on. Definitely on my free will."

Charlie tilted his head slightly at this.

"And, if I may ask, if you knew that your daughters didn't have any friends anyway, then way did still you ask for volunteers?"

They both looked sad.

"Their mothers asked us to do so. I mean, they know their daughters don't have any friends as well as we do, but, but." Jiro came to a stop. He turned and looked out the window, wiping his face with his hanky.

Charlie took over.

"We're all in a lot of denial over this. Shock and denial. The girl's mothers are desperately trying to have a few moments more, of doing something mundane and normal with their daughters, they don't want to acknowledge the inevitable. They just want to pretend that ..."

Charlie gave up talking also, turned, and stared out the windscreen.

Mackay put on his seatbelt, and looked at his hands in his lap. Eventually Charlie started the car and they were off.

Mackay was trying to work out what might happen. Taking as inspiration the movie scenes he had seen where the hero is dying, he imagined something like this:

> The two girls, looking slightly pale and tired, are sitting in two beds in some hospital room, being comforted by their mothers.

> "Would you like some more orange juice, my dear?" says Jenny's mother.

> "No, mum, maybe just one more piece of muffin. Although I don't have much appetite left."

> Carmen sighs. "I suppose our class must be in its first lesson by now?"

> "Actually, my dear, it's Saturday." says Carmen's mum.

> "Oh, right."

> And intruding into this private moment between the two mums and daughters comes Mackay.

> "Ah, hi!" says Mackay.

> "Who's he?" says Carmen. "Oh, he's from our class. Why is he here?" This with a look normally reserved for repelling cockroaches.

> Jenny jumps back and grabs her mother's arms. "Mum, why is he here? Make him go away!" With a look normally reserved for when you find some thug bashing down your front door at 2:00am in the morning.

Mackay wiped his face with his hands, put them back in his lap and resumed looking at them.

What am I being set up for?

They got to the hospital. Walked through corridors, went up lifts, walked along more corridors, and at last came to a door.

"After you, sir." said Charlie, holding the door open.

He stepped in. He hoped that no one would notice that his shirt was damp from perspiration. Jiro and Charlie followed and the door closed behind them. He looked around and got a confused impression of some sort of lounge room, with a sofa on one side, and at least half a dozen adults standing and sitting. And right in the middle were two wheelchairs, and a normal chair in front of them. And each wheelchair had an occupant.

A little old lady. One per chair. Their faces were lined and cracked, like a mud puddle that has dried out and cracked in the hot sun. Lots of lines, pain lines, stress lines. Eyes surrounded by black shadows, staring listlessly ahead, without taking in anything. Hair lifelessly draped over their shoulders. Figures that were emancipated, as if they had spent the last half year in a concentration camp. Wearing hospital gowns that, on a healthy woman might have hinted at some interesting curves, but these blatantly advertised the complete lack of health. They had tubes stuck in their arms, with bottles filled with fluids of various garish colours feeding into them. And each woman had another tube coming out from beneath the hem of her gown, feeding straw-coloured liquid into a plastic bag.

Mackay stared.

This must be the wrong room. Wrong room. Surely.

He became aware of something trying to draw his attention at the back of his mind. Something banging on the base of his skull. A hoarse little voice trying to say something about the little old ladies' hair.

Medium length black hair. Long auburn hair. Oh. Shit." he thought, "These little old ladies are Carmen and Jenny.

There's some mistake. Esmeralda! There's no way I can help these poor girls! They are completely beyond my pitiful abilities!

He took a step back.

I'm out of my depth, right out of my depth, running out of oxygen, God help them because I can't.

Briefly, just briefly, the lighting in the room turned to harsh black and white. Esmeralda spoke; he could hear her voice behind him.

"You can do it! Step up and hold their hands!"

She put her hand on the middle of his back, and shoved him hard.

The others in the room did not see any change in light, nor hear any words spoken. But they certainly saw him lurch forward; they saw him stagger into the chair. He ended up sitting down with all the grace of a sack of potatoes being tossed onto the bench top. He was now at the same eye height as the two girls, and up close, they looked even worse.

The mothers are in denial? Denial? They must be in full-blown total rejection of reality!

He had just realised that sitting on the outside of each girl were two ladies, their own faces also drawn and lined with grief, each mother holding the arms of the daughter they loved.

Ah, hold their hands?

So he reached out with his hands, and took the hand of each girl. The hands were clammy and totally limp. He noticed the moderate contrast between their white skin and his own darker skin. The girls, on the other hand, took no notice of anything. Each mother managed to paste onto her face something that resembled a smile. Approximately. The other people in the room were moving around slightly, occasionally saying something.

The moment stretched out. And slowly, gradually, each girl tightened her grip on his hand. Slowly, gradually, the face of each girl relaxed. The pain and stress lines smoothed out. Not totally, but enough to make a difference. Gradually their eyes focused, they began to take into account what was in front of them. Their breathing stopped being laboured. They straightened their postures and lifted their shoulders. Eventually, they did start to notice what was happening around them.

Everyone else in the room became still and silent and held their breaths.

At last, the girls became conscious enough to be fully aware of what they were looking at.

Mackay, watching this slow awakening and wondering what to do now, decided on the simplest possible course of action.

"Ah, hi?" he said.

Carmen looked at him, then at her mother, then back.

"Who's he?" she said, "Oh, he's from our class. Why is he here?" This with a look normally reserved for repelling cockroaches.

Jenny got a good look at him, then pushed her body back into the chair and grabbed her mother's arms with her other hand.

"Mum, why is he here? Make him go away!" With a look normally reserved for when you find some thug bashing down your front door at 2:00am in the morning.

Right, it looks like I wasn't all that wrong with my imagined scenario, after all.

"Carmen, you're back." Carmen's mother wrapped her arms around her, and Carmen dropped Mackay's hand and hugged back.

Jenny hugged her mother, who hugged her back. "Mum? I must have been out of it..." Jenny also dropped Mackay's hand.

Mackay mentally compared his first impressions of the girls with what they were now.

I have actually made them better. How amazing. And wonderful.

Mackay also got the distinct impression that he was now not wanted at all; that four females had decided to ignore his very existence. So he carefully got up and backed away. As he backed away, each girl - slowly shrunk and collapsed into herself. The crease lines in their faces returned in full force, their eyes went blank and their bodies sagged.

Mackay came to a halt, standing on one foot.

What’s gone wrong now? Was that all that my influence was worth?

The mothers looked at their daughters, and then looked at Mackay. Little gear wheels turned in their heads, and their minds came to a conclusion.

"Charlie!" said police officer Janet, in a voice that could command that thug bashing down that door to stop and allow himself to be meekly arrested.

"Stop him from leaving!"

Charlie put out a solid hand, blocking his exit.

Janet focused onto Mackay.

"Get back here and hold her, I mean hold both of their hands!"

"Yes Sir! Ah, Madam!"

Back on the chair, holding two hands, the girls expressions went in reverse.

"Mum, tell him not to let go!" said Jenny.

"Mum, what's going on?" said Carmen.

Indeed, what was going on? This was on the mind of everyone present. Especially the minds of the two nurses and the two doctors present. They all watched in wonder as, over the next half hour, the girls went from near death to - well, not to full health, not yet. But they did get to full consciousness. With full awareness of their surroundings. And themselves.

"Mum, I'm starving." said Carmen.

"Me too." said Jenny.

The medical staff looked at each other.

"I'm totally confused." said the senior doctor.

"And, must we have all of these tubes stuck into ourselves?" said Carmen.

"You were very sick. But now you are getting better. This is wonderful!" said Carmen's mum.

"And, why must we keep holding hands with this - boy? What if he attacks me?" said Jenny.

"Because he is somehow making you better again. Don't ask me how, but whatever miracle this is, I'll take it!" said Janet.

"Our sincere thanks to Mackay. By the way, please call me Catalina." said Carmen's mum.

"Oh, hello Catalina." said Mackay. The first time he had been asked to contribute anything to the conversation.

"Never mind that!" said Carmen. "Do you have some of my clothes here, so I can get out of this ugly gown? Especially considering I have to keep the company of him."

"In your hospital room, my dear. We brought in some clothes when we still had some hope for your recovery..." said Catalina.

Carmen got out of the wheel chair, stood up, and took a step away from Mackay. She started wobbling around and, seeing this, Mackay also stood up and was in time to grab her she started to topple over.

"Carmen! Remember you've been ill." said Catalina, also rising to hold Carmen.

Carmen, half-draped over Mackay, said "Shit"

"I beg your pardon?" said her mum.

"Shit. Shit. Shit." Carmen straightened out and again stepped away from Mackay, balancing herself by leaning on her wheel chair back.

This attracted the attention of everyone.

"I've just realised. I somehow am aware of how much Mackay is helping my health. And when I get too far from Mackay, the effect drops right off to nothing. How bloody horrible!"

"Err, sorry." said Mackay.

Ten minutes later. They were now sitting in a row on the sofa. Mackay in the middle and a girl either side of him. Both girls were trying to sit as far away from Mackay as possible, and were both leaning away from him. Obviously, neither girl looked very happy. Nor did Mackay. The only thing stopping the girls from sitting further apart was the length of the sofa. At least the girls had their mothers standing beside them, holding their hands.

"That's right," said Jenny, 'It's like, when I want to, I can be aware of a battery charge indicator in my mind. Right now, the needle is in the red zone, and slowly creeping up, but only when I'm no more than arms length from - him. It appears that the needle will get to the green part sometime in the middle of the night."

"And, I'm assuming that once it's in the green, we are fully healthy." said Carmen.

"But I get the impression that the green range is only twelve hours long!" said Jenny.

"So does that mean we have to 'recharge' every, ah, day? Twelve hours recharge, twelve hours normal health and then the needle gets back down to the red zone. And then repeat?" said Carmen.

Mackay stared straight ahead.

Paying the price. They sure were paying the price. Stuck together like this. Hope we don't end up murdering each other.

"Let's just concentrate on eating lunch and think about this later, shall we?" said Janet.

The girls had huge appetites. Much to the continued amazement of the medical staff.

There was a break while the girls split up, went to their hospital rooms so as to allow the medical staff to remove their tubes and to allow them to get into some decent clothes. The doctors also took the opportunity to exercise the latest wonders of medical science and take various internal tissue samples from the girls, leaving behind no more than a few little bandaids to cover the pinprick areas where the needles had gone.

"Huh, can I go to the toilet also?" said Mackay.

He was escorted to a currently empty patient room by Charlie.

"Don't worry, Charlie, I have no intention of running away."

Charlie smiled. "You have the right idea."

Back in the lounge room. Mackay was sitting in the middle of the sofa as the two girls came back. Each in a wheelchair, being pushed by their mothers. Each girl was dressed in decent clothes, and wearing a jacket or coat.

They got out of their chairs, waving away any assistance.

"I can make it for this short distance, mum!" said one.

They sat down, heavily, either side of Mackay, with a gap.

Carmen gave a big sigh of annoyance.

"Yep, I can feel the recharging. This is terrible. Why couldn't it have been someone more worthy?"

"Sorry." said Mackay.

There was a small amount of experimentation. Carmen dispiritedly summed it up.

"We have to be within arm’s length. But if there's a wall or door between us, it won't work."

Mackay had a brief image of him being forced into a box and locked in for the night, while the two girls slept outside in comfort on either side of the box.

Be thankful for small mercies.

As nighttime was falling, they were still in the lounge room. Only by now, the rest of Mackay's family was also present.

"Oh, hi Mary." said Jenny as Mackay's mother appeared in the room.

"You know each other?" said Mackay.

"Ah, yes. But more importantly, what is all of this about?"

Twenty minutes’ of intense discussion later.

"Ok, ok, we'll have to accept this for the time being. The doctors are apparently going to give the results of their examinations tomorrow, so until then..." said Merton, Mackay's father.

"So I suppose you'll have to sleep over here for tonight." said Mary.

Jenny began to get agitated. "Why must I sleep next to him?"

"Because you need to get twelve hours recharge. Or whatever it is. So you both sleep next to him and have a normal day, or you spend your entire day next to him, and have a normal night. I know it's a bother, but I think the sleep option is the only practical one." said Janet.

"But what's stopping him taking the chance to attack me?"

"Jenny, please. I'll be here also, right next to you. And I'm sure Catalina will be here also, right next to Carmen.

"But, what about when you go to the toilet. He could rape me before you get back!"

By now, Jenny was simultaneously crying and screaming.

"Jenny! Stop that!"

Jenny startled at the unexpected harshness from her mother. Janet relented and drew Jenny to her body.

"My dear, I'm sorry. But, you know, I really don't think Mackay is like that."

Sob. "How do you know?" Sob. "He could be anything!"

Mackay, emotionally exhausted from the day's events, shouted

"Look, can you stop talking past me! And, I do not rape! Please!"

By now, he had tears in his eyes also.

Melissa could not take any more. She stood in front of Mackay, bent over, and hugged him.

"My big brother may be lazy in his studies and spends far too much time playing games, but he's really a very responsible person. He looks after me all the time, and I love him. Jenny! I'm sure he'll look after you also!"

Mackay looked at Melissa in wonder, and he returned the hug. After a few seconds, they separated, both going red in the face.

Jenny watched all of this. "Oh, ah, maybe. Ah, mum?"

"I'm sure it will be all right, dear."

The nurses, looking at each other and barely suppressing their giggles, had rounded up three mattresses to spread across the floor of the lounge room. Mackay was given the mattress in the middle, while the each girl, plus their mother, shared a mattress, one on either side of him.

Mackay lay there on his back, staring at the ceiling. He was so embarrassed he refused to meet anyone's eye. He kept quiet. His mattress had about thirty centimetres separation from the others on either side.

The two girls, laying on their backs, firmly tucked into their blankets, were in similar emotional states.

"Mum, I feel really ugh about this." said Carmen.

"What is that brand new in-built sense you have acquired telling you?"

"It's saying I'm getting the full amount of power from him. And I have a few more hours before full charge."

"Well, it's the best we can do."

"I'm never going to be able to get to sleep like this." said Jenny, "I'm feel so frightened."

"It's all right, I'm here all night." said Janet.

Five minutes later, all three teenagers were sound asleep. The two mothers cautiously sat up and looked at each other.

"Well, that was fast." said Janet.

Catalina gently stroked Carmen's black hair.

"This morning they were getting ready to start continuous sedation."

"And they would have - died - within two or three days." said Janet. She also was taking this opportunity to stroke Jenny's hair.

Silence.

"Whatever the hell is going on, it's worth it." said Catalina.

Silence.

"We're going to have to look after Mackay, also." said Janet.

Morning, the next day. They were eating breakfast, still in the lounge room. Balancing the plates on their knees, the three teenagers were as far apart from each other as possible while still remaining in the same room.

"Right now, my battery charge indicator is at the top of its range. It says I have twelve hours." said Carmen.

"Just like mine." said Jenny.

Both girls looked fine, in good health.

"I don't feel any such thing whatsoever." said Mackay.

Midmorning, there was a family conference. Present were all parents, plus Melissa, plus Carmen's older brother and his girlfriend.

"Hi, everyone, I'm Cliff, Carmen's brother. And this is Kiara, my girlfriend. We didn't get a chance to introduce ourselves yesterday."

It was obvious that Kiara was pregnant. But no one said anything since they had more important things on their minds.

The medical director of the hospital, and the senior doctor, and the senior pathologist, and the chief pathology technician, were present.

"Well, I'm sure that you two girls would just as happy not be the centre of attention, but, well, us medical personnel have been very busy with your cases. And, well, ah."

He adjusted his white coat and looked serious.

"Basically, yesterday morning you were very near death. Maybe another two days."

Two girls turned a shade lighter in colour. Two mothers gripped their daughters a bit tighter.

"Basically, you were very sick. And today you are healthy. It should be impossible, but I am forced to concede that, since you are showing off your blatant health right here before me, it is not impossible. Now, yesterday we took some more tissue samples. If the chief pathologist would like to take over?"

He took over, and spent ten minutes describing the state of the girl's internal biochemistry. Most of it went straight over the heads of all of the non-medical people present.

"So in conclusion, the various internal organs of the girls, such as their liver and kidneys and gall bladder and pancreas and their intestines, are all irretrievably damaged at the cellular level. In other words, they do not work. To the naked eye, they might look all right, but down at the cell level they definitely are not. We proved it. I personally supervised as we took samples, and I watched as my technician here put them through the analytical process. There is no way you girls can be healthy. Your bodies just aren’t working!"

He stopped, calmed himself down with a few deep breaths.

"Yet, here you are, eating a hearty breakfast and full of energy."

"So whatever the hell you are doing, please keep right on doing it. There's nothing further that the medical profession can do to help you."

The medical director took over again.

"Mackay, do you have any idea of what might actually be going on?"

"Err."

Mackay had everyone's full attention.

"Well."

"This might sound weird. But, well, on Thursday night, I err, you see, I had... A dream."

"But I don't blame you if you don't believe me." he said, after giving his explanation.

He looked around. No one seemed too convinced. But no one seemed too disbelieving, either.

"Well, after all, it is definitely a miracle, so I suppose one explanation is as good as another." said the medical director.

"Anyway, I'm recommending to the hospital board that we don't publish any papers or discuss this in any official forums. After all, if it is a miracle, then it is not within the province of medical science, is it? So our duty of care to our patients dictates we leave the girls alone to get on with their lives."

A little later, most of the medical types had left, leaving the senior doctor behind.

"Yes, I am happy to discharge you today. But please make an appointment to come back for another check-up in, say, a week’s time?"

An hour later, Mackay was back at home. And the girls were back at their homes.

"I have to report to Jenny's house at tea time. Apparently, they have a whopping big house with plenty of bedrooms, so it makes the most sense for us to all sleep there. And, naturally, if I don't, certain police officers will be after me."

"Ok, son." said Merton. "We will, however, be in touch with Janet and co to arrange visits. After all, we like to see you too, you know. And if, for the time being, those girls are going to be part of your life, then you can all meet here for weekly meals, or something."

"Thanks, dad."

For the time being? I get the feeling that the price to pay imposed by Esmeralda is not running out any time soon.

But he kept that to himself. For the time being.

Melissa: A daughter to be proud of

That previous night, when Melissa and her parents had returned home, she had thrown herself onto the sofa and buried her head in a cushion.

"Mum, did I really say all of those embarrassing things in front of everyone?

"You certainly did. And I and your father are proud of you."