Morning Star by Randy Mixter Read Free Book Online Page B

receiver. "This glass is half full."

20
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    On the morning of the last Friday of July, the day before the wedding, Nate took his daughter to the hospital for some tests. It was to be her first weekly visit as agreed upon the day she checked out.
    Her father assured Dannie repeatedly that this would not be an overnight stay and she'd be snug in her own bed by nightfall.
    Dannie took no chances however. She produced a handwritten sheet of paper before they left the house. It read: 
    I will stay with Dannie the whole time. NOT DROP HER OFF! I promise to bring her home by supper time. SHE HATES THE FOOD THERE! 
    Two lines ran across the bottom of the page. One for her father's signature. The other for a witness. 
    “You don’t want it notarized?” Nate said after looking it over.
    “No need,” Dannie replied.
    Nate saw Dannie’s nurse coming down the stairway. She carried a knapsack loaded with the girl’s necessities. Necessities meant coloring books, her stuffed bear, and a bag of strawberry Twizzlers. Nurse Edmonton was loosening up. 
    “Just in time Martha. I need a witness.”
    She flung the full knapsack over her shoulder as she walked toward them. A petite woman at slightly under five feet tall and no spring chicken at fifty eight years of age, Martha Edmonton had yet to ask for help in any task at the ranch. Nate liked that.
    She took the paper from Nate and glanced at it. When she passed it back a pen was with it.
    "Looks official to me. Better sign it."
    Once signed and witnessed Dannie folded the paper into her shirt pocket and announced she was ready to get this over with.
    Katy's parents met them in the hospital lobby. Al and Margaret had witnessed Dannie's remarkable improvement over the last few days but were still amazed when she walked across the hospital tiles without the assistance of Nate or the nurse.
    "Unbelievable," Al said as Margaret applauded vigorously.
    Doctors Matthews and Fleming greeted them in the reception area. Dannie walked up to each and shook their hands.
    "Let's get this over with," she said. "I've got a wedding to get ready for."

    Dannie and her nurse walked off together. Dannie turned and winked at the gathering  before the door to the examination shut behind her. 
    "And why couldn't we go in there with her?" Margaret asked.
    "No family this time. Dannie was okay with it," Nate said.
    They waited together, not saying much. Cindy and Margaret spent most of the time together, talking quietly. 
    Al found Nate at the window, looking at the street below but seeing nothing, his mind on what was happening behind closed doors. 
    "I'm so happy you're marrying Cindy, Margie is too," he said and clasped Nate's shoulder before he walked back to his seat.
    The wall clock directly in front of them read 2:35 pm. It had been almost five hours since they arrived. Doctor Matthews came in through the door behind them.
    "If you'd like to follow me, you can see Danielle now. All of you please come this way."
    He led them down the hospital corridor without saying a word. He moved at a brisk clip and they walked fast to keep up.
    He led them into a large room of many machines of different shapes and sizes. Some beeped actively, others stood silent. Dannie lay on a bed in the middle of the room. Nurse Edmonton held her hand and talked to her. Doctor Fleming worked a machine, his back to the group.
    "Danielle your family is here," Matthews said above the beeps, buzzing, and whirring. 
    Dannie turned in her bed and smiled and waved.
    "This way please. I'd like you to see something before you talk to the patient."
    Matthews led them to a table by the door. He picked up a long sheet of paper. There were several graphs on the page.
    "I don't pretend to understand this but the results of the test were very encouraging. Look here." He pointed to the first graph. "See those spikes going up."
    He picked up another paper. "This is the analysis from two weeks ago. Look at the spikes. They are not nearly