Page 10 of Resist Me Not
I shake off a cold chill from the reminder and keep my smile in check as I return the chart.
“Doctor Dana said I have to go into this big tube thing today,” Noah says. Dana being Doctor Aldrin. Aldrin was tough for Noah to say too and kept coming out like Aldi’s, although that one may have been on purpose. Maybe Ham ‘N Cheese was too.
“I see that.” I stand on the opposite side of the bed from where Emma is once again sitting. “In just a little bit, huh?”
Noah nods. “Mom and Dad are talking with the radio guy.”
“Radiologist,” I infer. “His name’s Greg. Really nice guy. He’ll get you through it fine.”
“Is it, um… is it scary in there? They said it’s going to be really loud.” He is obviously trying to not make eye contact with his sister, but I know she won’t tease him about being a scaredy cat until after the MRI is over. She’s good like that too.
“It is noisy, but that’s why they give you headphones and your choice of music.”
“But is itscary?”
That one I answer the only way I can. I lie. “Not at all. Do you know who Captain America is?”
“The superhero?”
“How did he become a superhero?”
Noah thinks. “He, uh… he was small but was good and wanted to help people, so they chose him to become big and strong!”
“And how did they make him big and strong?” I continue before he has to think too hard on that. “They put him in a tube thing. His was standing upright, and yours will be lying down, but it’s just as special. When you come out again, we might know more to help makeyoubig and strong.”
“Just not as cool as Captain America,” Emma adds.
Noah throws one of his stuffies at her. He has a small collection always around or near his bed in varying sizes. Everything from a tiny black cat to a peeled banana almost as big as Noah’s torso. His favorite whenever he has tests being taken is a gray owl dressed like a doctor, which happened to be nearest to him and the one he chucked at his sister.
“Hey! Don’t be so mean to Doctor Hoot! He might not want to go with you into that tube thing.” Emma dances the owl in front of Noah’s face, but as soon as he pouts, she relents. “He can take Doctor Hoot with him, right?” she asks me.
“As long as it doesn’t have any metal in it.” I take the owl from Emma. It’s one of those Squishmallows, fat, round, and doughy. “You’re good. I’m pretty sure Doctor Hoot here is made of marshmallows.”
“He’s not marshmallows!” Noah giggles again. Any time I can cause that makes it more than worth it to visit him on my off hours.
“Are you sure? Feels like marshmallows to me.” I squish the owl’s middle. “Do we need to do exploratory surgery?”
“No!” Noah is still laughing as he snatches the stuffie back from me.
“Too true. Doctor Hoot should do surgery on someone else. Maybe… this fella. “I pick up a stuffie I think is meant to be a matcha latte. “He’s looking a little green.”
Noah giggles harder and snatches that one from me too, losing his grip on Doctor Hoot so I have to bend to catch it. Crisis of touching a hospital floor averted.
A knock at the door whirls all of our attentions around. It’s Greg. Or rather, Doctor Chadwick, the radiologist, one of several here, but the one most often used in our department. Noah and Emma’s parents are right behind him, standing outside the doorway with the same scared but hopeful faces as when I first met them. I smile and wave at them with Doctor Hoot.
“Hey there, Noah,” Greg greets. He’s really great with kids. I wasn’t lying that he was nice and would help Noah get through the MRI, which could take up to an hour. “Sorry to interrupt such a good time in here, but we need to get going for that important scan now, okay?”
Noah looks a little winded again from the activity. He lays down, clutching the rescued matcha stuffie. “’Kay,” he says, but I can tell he’s still scared.
“While you’re gone,” Emma pipes up, grabbing Noah’s Switch, “I’m gonna trade all your good Pokémon for my crappy ones.”
“Nah uh!” Noah complains, maybe half believing her, but I know she’s just trying to preoccupy him with something other than being in a tube, especially when she adds:
“Better get back quick then.”
Greg comes in to wheel Noah out on the bed. Noah could walk, but without fully knowing what’s causing his seizures, we don’t want him overexerting himself.
He’s almost out the door when I remember I’m still holding Doctor Hoot.
