Topic: Heroes

Maranya Valkonan

Date: 2009-03-05 10:39 EST
Maranya Valkonan stood in the doorway of the Recovery Ward with her hands on her lilac scrubs covered hips.

"Hey, hey, hey! I could hear you guys all the way to my office," she scolded. The effect was marred, however, by the smile that went from ear to ear, and the twinkle in her hazel eyes. Patients lively enough to kick up a fuss that loud were patients well on the way to good recovery. And that's gold" nyet, platinum" in my book.

"Now, what were you all fighting about, again?" She shook her head as five out of the six children present's voices chimed in unison, and lifted a hand for silence. "One at a time, please. Benny, you start." She flashed a smile to the boy, whose legs were in traction after a successful operation to lengthen their bones.

"Well, Doc V, it's like this. Me and Stevie said that Captain America could whip Batman in a fair fight, yanno, no super powers or nothin'." The boy's hand gestures energetically accompanied his words. "And then Ernie was mouthin' off about how the Hulk can stomp anybody inta paste, even Superman!"

"Well he can!" Ernie insisted. "The madder he gets, he can kick serious butt, right?" The frail looking boy in green hospital pajamas hoisted himself up on his elbows, careful not to disturb the IV attached to his left arm, held in place with surgical tape, and looked up earnestly at the Good Doctor.

Maranya's lips pursed in thought briefly. Not wanting to crush the frail boy's obvious worship of the physically stronger superhero too much, she nodded. "Mm, that is pravilno, Ernie. Truth," she reflexively translated for the children. "See"" Ernie gloated.

She held up her right index finger. "However, Superman is not exactly weak, either. He can hold his own in a fight against the Hulk, because he gets his power from the yellow sun of Earth. Unless of course the Hulk is wearing Kryptonite gloves, then Supes is toast for sure." She looked at the children one by one. "Did you know that Batman beat the Hulk in a fight once?"

Maranya shook her head with a smile as the recovery ward erupted in an energetic chorus of "No way!" from her young patients.

"Way. And I can prove it," she declared, and went to the cabinet where the hardbound comic books were kept. To ensure that they would survive multiple viewings, she had specially treated the paper pages to not only resist tearing, but to repel stains also. She flipped through a book bearing the letters Crossover Classics: The Marvel/DC Collection Vol. 1 on its spine. Then she walked over to each bed in turn, and pointed to the frames where Batman used a well-placed kick to the Hulk's solar plexus, which, as a result, made the green goliath suck in the knockout gas.

"Aw maan," Leo grumped, and crossed his arms, the right in a cast to the elbow, over his blue hospital pajama covered thin chest.

"Hey, how come a girl knows so much about comic books?" Glenn challenged.

"Yeah! How come?"

Maranya shook her head again, her smile still in place, as the normally quiet Petey finally chimed in. "Comic books aren't just for guys, Petey. I'll have you know that my favorite comic book growing up was Iron Man. Still is, actually."

"You mean they had comic books back then?"

Laughter briefly escaped from her, rich and full. "Da, Stevie, they did. Only, they were carved on rocks, and were delivered by dinosaurs," she teased the boy while she headed back to the cabinet to return the book to the proper shelf. "Iron Man came out in, mm, 1963, specifically the March issue of Tales of Suspense, number thirty nine. He got his own book in May 1968. So, since I was born in 1977, how long had his book been running before then?" she challenged.

The Good Doctor watched the boys puzzle out the answer as she moved one of the visitor's chairs to face the row of occupied beds along one side of the ward. Then she sat down on the chair, with her back to the row of empty beds on the other side of the room.

"I know!" Glenn waved his left hand, one of the few parts of his body that he could move, as the rest of him was wrapped in a cast that extended from his lower chest to his feet.

"Very well, Glenn, how long?"

"A long long time ago, 'cause you're old!" He grinned. She joined the boys in their spirited laughter, even if it was at her expense.

"Very funny. Any serious answers out there?"

"Nine years?" Petey asked in a timid voice.

"Bingo! Petey wins a No-Prize," Maranya declared, with a thumb up gesture to the boy wrapped in a red and blue pressure garment to reduce the possibility of scarring from his burns.

"You like comic books for real, Doc V?"

"For real, Benny. My brother Andy used to sneak them to me, because my parents wouldn't let me read them." Her nose wrinkled up with that memory.

"Not even the Hulk?" Ernie asked with wide, soulful eyes.

Maranya shook her head sadly. "Nyet, not even the Hulk.

"That sucks," he sulked.

"Da, it does," she agreed with a solemn nod. Then a mischievous smile curved her lips. "But! But, I managed to sneak in reading them at night, with a flashlight under the covers. Now, how many of you have done that"" She nodded in approval as six hands went up simultaneously. "Excellent. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go see some really sick people," she stated as she rose from the chair, and carried it back to its place on the other side of the ward. "Try not to tear up things here too badly, you hooligans. Please."

"Aw maan! That's no fun!" Leo's good natured grumping reached Maranya's ears, before she closed the ward door behind her.

The real heroes aren't those four color costumed ones on the pages of their favorite comic book that they worship so much, but those kids back there, and others like them.

That thought echoed in the Good Doctor's mind while she strode purposefully to the Neonatal ward, the next stop in her rounds.