Easter Sunday 2016

beep beep beep

The slow and steady sound of the life signs monitor caused the sleeping girl to stir. Alternating between which eye she peeked out of, Maggie started to grumble quietly, "Can somebody please stop that frazzledtwitterbeepy thing from hurting my ears?"

Rhiannon Harker set her book on the nightstand as she stood up. "Hello to you, too, Maggie." She chuckled softly as she kissed her daughter's forehead. "I'll get the nurse and see what we can do about the beeping, ok?"

The ten-year-old's eyes squinted as she looked at her surroundings. "Why am I in the kids' wing ..." before she could finish her sentence, a mighty yawn overtook the child.

"Because, Maggiebug," it was her father's voice that greeted her ears, "you got sick on us this morning." Dennis took the seat his wife had vacated. "At first, we thought it was just a tummyache from the Easter treats."

Maggie's patience was growing thin with her father's verbosity. "Da! As Gran like likes to say, get to the finish line, please!"

Beverly Masters was a petite twenty something nurse that recently finished her graduate degree. She smiled thoughtfully as she adjusted the machinery that was disturbing her patient. "Are you always so feisty and short tempered, Miss Harker?"

Maggie turned her head and read the tag on the breast pocket of Beverly's uniform. "Feisty, yes. I'm not short-tempered, Miss Beverly, I'm impatient. That's a whole other thing!"

"Well, since your father is taking his sweet time like molasses moving in winter to get around explaining," she winked at Dennis, " I can tell you that the diagnosis was acute appendicitis. You had no bad reactions to the anesthesia. Surgery went well and you should be able to go home in 7 to 14 days."

Dennis started started to object, but Rhiannon spoke as she came back in with two coffees; one black and the other black with cream. "It's a matter of keeping a very active child quiet ....relatively quiet for a steady period of time so her body will do its job." She handed off the black coffee and sipped from her own cup.

"Mama! What about all that extra stuff that I'm s'posta have?" Maggie scowled.

"You've never been this sick before and we don't know which side of the family your healing factor is going to come from." She set her coffee next to her book. "So, we'll be here with you tonight then take shifts for the next couple of days."

"After that," Dennis said, "you'll be here be here with the other kids at night." He tucked the covers around Maggie. "You think you'll be ok with that?"

"MM....yeah," she sounded resigned.

"Doctor Valkonan will be in during rounds tomorrow. So will your surgeon, I'm sure he's notified her of your condition," Beverly said as she started to leave the room.

"Time to sleep, now, Maggiebug," Dennis finished tucking Maggie in as she drifted back to sleep.

As promised - or should that be forewarned - by text, Lyneth showed up a day or so later with a big box of Get Well Soon shortbread cookies.

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy107/ShannaraRhyDin/getwellsoon_10adf938-b000-4520-b6aa-67d0ca8ee81b_large.jpeg

But that wasn't all. As word spread around Maple Grove of Maggie's indisposition, the trip to the hospital had been postponed to allow time for others to offer up a little something to make the time go by for the active young personality.

From the Storms came a Make Your Own Dreamcatcher Kit, and an animated photograph of Lir, the newest dragony addition to the family, putting out dancing flames on Fliss' hand with spat mouthfuls of water.

From the Old Man, Jon, and Vicki came Dancing Shoes, Ballet Shoes, Skating Shoes, and Theater Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild, packaged up in a beautiful basket that could easily be put to some other use.

And from Daisy, Dom, and Elle - despite their being on vacation right now - came The Complete Alice Compendium on audio (Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass).

Add to that a huge card signed by everyone on the Grove - including the animals - and it was a wonder Piper was even visible behind the care package.

It was midday on thr 28th when Ebon stopped at the Clinic and poked his head into Maggie's room. "Hullo, Maggie!"

"Hi!" came back the cheery reply. "You came to visit me?"

"Of course! I'm the Governor, so how could I not visit one of Rhy'din's favorite daughters when she's in the hospital" Besides, we're practically family by now." He flashed a grin as he settled into a bedside chair. "I've been laid up more than once myself, you know, so I understand how nice it is to get visitors." He set a little snowglobe on the bedside table, containing a scene of flowers—a small bed of clover, in fact—and when shaken it raised a cloud of miniature butterflies rather than snow. "Something to brighten the room a bit....although, I have to admit, the rooms here at Riverview are very nicely decorated, aren't they?"

He sat with her for a while and they talked about Children's Day and the Shanachie and duels. Ebon realized that he'd never faced her in the ring, and promised to take her up on a duel sometime soon, after she was back in top form. Finally he rose to leave. "Take care, Maggie, and get well soon!"

(afternoon on the 28th)

"Hi, Maggie!" Doran left the door slightly ajar as he slipped into his friend's room. "I'm done with all my lessons and chores for the day, so I'm here to visit until they kick me out. Or you do." He held a planter of flowers in one hand, and reached the other towards her, holding out a pair of envelopes. "The blue one's from Azure....and Olivia, technically, but she just got some grape jam on it. Azure turned the smudges into purple butterflies!" The youth flashed a grin as he set the flowers down on the side table. "I made the other one."

The front of Doran's card depicted green forested hills with the words "Get Well Soon!" Opened up, it showed the same scene with the sun rising above the hills, saying "You make our lives brighter!" While it wasn't great art by any means, it was clearly heartfelt.

As the afternoon wore on, the two BFFs chatted and played a few games. When Maggie tried to stifle a yawn, Doran smiled and drew a little flute from his pocket. He played a soft lullaby, letting the music drift her off to dreams before slipping quietly out and closing the door gently behind him.

There would be more visitors over the next few days, of course, but for now it was time to sleep.

A package found its way to Maggie's room at the clinic with the following note:

Dear Maggie,

I'm sorry I can't visit right now, but hopefully, this little care package will help cheer you up. I'm not sure if you can eat the jelly beans yet, but you can always save them for later! Hope you're feeling better soon.

Love always, ~Marissa

P.S. I will try to come by and visit soon. There's someone I want you to meet. Be good! Love you!

Along with the note were the following items:

http://www.stuffedanimals.com/v/vspfiles/photos/NJP00136-2.jpg

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy107/ShannaraRhyDin/AR-26158-2.jpg

http://content.boomerangbooks.com.au/content/bm~pix/jelly-bean-jar~s600x600.jpg