Chapter Two: Nosy Neighbors

Kate was right when she said I would have never been able to read her handwriting. Peeking over at her as we walked down the road past clusters of people, I couldn't help but notice. She tugged the directions further out of my line of sight as she seen me doing so, and I sighed heavily when she remained silent even after catching me.

When we began to wonder around the same area, I looked at her in confusion.

"Kate, if we're lost just say so. I didn't think you'd be able to read your own handwriting as sloppy as it is. You've got to work on that, this is becoming an issue and we're losing time," I fussed at her.

She scowled at me but remained with her nose in the directions. "I know where we are, just give me a minute. I don't see you doing much better even if you had taken the directions."

I crossed my arms, "I doubt that, but if you say were not lost just try to hurry and figure out where we are, if not then lets ask for directions. Do you know who our patient is?"

"We go by the boys house first," she began looking around, "ah ha, over there. Just down that road, third house on the left." She smiled, the wind blowing her straight blonde hair across her face. She picked up her pace towards where she had pointed out, and I followed quickly, trying to keep up as we went down the dirt path on the outskirts of Dusseldorf.

There were trees lining the road, making a tall green canopy over top of us. We continued walking, eventually coming out at a neighborhood of houses lined up side by side. This was undoubtedly where the working class lives.

Thankful to know we were on track again though, I followed her down the road another 10 minutes before we were walking up the dilapidated steps to one of the houses.

"You're sure this is it?" I asked before wanting to make any noise, when she nodded I proceeded.

Knocking on the door loudly, I listened carefully afterwords for any footsteps. Kate and I looked at one another as we awaited to see if anyone would answer the door. For several moments the only sounds were that of our breaths. Finally, we heard some shuffling inside the house, then slowly, the door creaked open. A very skinny, older man, perhaps in his 60's, with a long grey beard stood before us, a confused look on his face.

"Hello, sir, we are here because a neighbor of yours was a little concerned for your boy. You see, I am a doctor, and I think I might be able to help your son. Would you care if i-" I started, but he cut me off with a shake of his head.

"No, Madam, I have already told our neighbors many times that we can not afford a doctor. If we could, we would have done it by now," he said, upset brewing in his voice. I couldn't help but notice how skinny he truly was; his eyes sunken in and dark from lack of sick, and illness no doubt. My heart ached for him.

"I will not cost you anything, sir. I promise, you. We only wish to help, and learn a thing or two if possible..," he seemed to ponder this for a moment, unsure of whether or not to allow us around his child undoubtedly.

"Look, what if I told you that I will not do anything to your son that will make him any worse? So what do you have to lose?" I said, trying my best to win him over. Slowly, I watched as his face changed to something unrecognizable.

"Ma'am, I have my son to lose. Need I mention that it is most uncommon to see a woman claim she is a doctor. Would you allow a stranger near your sick child?"

I truly can be so stupid sometimes; moving so quickly to get the job done that I give whatever excuse I can to get to my patient. It isn't that I don't care, it's just that I have developed this ever consuming feeling to keep looking. I felt my face soften, and I sighed.

"I am sorry, sir, if i offended you. It was not my intention. You see, I work at the Inn, I tend to many patients of many different backgrounds. Are you sure you have not heard of me before? My name is Anne Aske?"

"I do seem to remember my brother telling me of a doctor who was seeing patients out of the Inn... making house calls and such... I did not realize that you were a woman, however."

"Yes, sir, I think you will find that us women have a mothers touch- gentle. Your son would be in good hands, and I truly think I can help him, sir. Joan and Daniel at the Inn would vouch for me, if you happen to know of them?"

"I do know them... i'll tell you what. I am a desperate man. I love my boy, he is all I have left of his mama in this world.. but i will be close. The room has no escape so if you think to harm him, you will not be able to escape, just so you are warned."

"I understand, sir. No harm will come to your son, he will be in good hands, and you'll see it won't take me long to examine him either way."

"If you'll just take us to the patient, sir, we will get to work immediately." Kate said, her professional sounding voice taking me by surprise.

"Just follow me, it's this way," he said, leading us down a dark hallway to a room.

"So, can you very quickly tell me what symptoms your son has been having?" I asked, wanting to be sure there were no additional signs.

"He can not keep anything down, be water, nor porridge. He strains to breath, and his whole body is covered in a rash like I have never seen before, so much so that it has made his body swell up and now he can not open his eyes."

"Is this all? Nothing else?" Kate asked for me, taking mental notes.

"That is all, but it seems to be enough to take the very life from my boys limbs," he cried.

"May I ask your name?" Kate questioned as we came to a door just past their living space at the beginning of the hallway.

"Mr. Addison," he began, "Mr. Albert Addison...and in there, is my only son, William Addison," another tear escaped his eye, and he was quick to catch it before he twisted the door knob, cracking it just so that we could catch a glimpse of the boy.

"I think I will be able to help your son, I just need some time alone with him, if that is acceptable?"

"Very well, I will be just down the hallway if anything were to happen though," he passively warned us.

"Of course, Mr. Addison. I would not dream of escaping if I ever did anything that you are accusing me of. I think you will find that I have no ambition to hurt your boy, in fact, I intend to save him," I said, stepping into the room with Kate, and shutting it behind us and we heard him take several steps down the hallway, stop, and then keep going. Once we knew we were alone we started our work.

The boy before us was unrecognizable, though; a swollen mass of red, irritated flesh. I would need to give them a cream to help with that. I sat in awe for a moment, taking in what I was seeing, this boy is very lucky that he hasn't passed away already. A reaction like this would have suffocated many already. I wonder how long he's been like this.

It did not take a genius to understand what was wrong with him, and I was so relieved for the sake of the boy.This was an allergic reaction to something.

I quickly sat down my black leather doctors bag, and rummaged through the contents looking for one of the epi pens I had packed. When my hand came into contact with the familiar pen, I pulled it out along with the bottle of alcohol and some cotton swabs. Kate took the alcohol and cotton swabs from me, understanding what I meant to do.

I uncapped the epi pen, and administered it into the boys leg. By the time I had this finished Kate had placed an IV into the boys arm and was holding up a bag of saline.

Once again, I reached into my bag and removed my own breathing machine, placing the Albuterol into the slot, and placing the mask on the boy. The machine is solar powered, so it powered on immediately, and with little sound when I hit the button.

I checked the boys heart rate again, feeling a satisfying healthier, more steady pulse.

This meant he would be alright for the most part, but his parents needed answers as to what caused this sudden bout of sickness. That way, they can prevent it from happening again.

We waited until the IV drip was finished before administering a mild pain killer, and drawing some blood from him. By this point, his swelling had already began to come down, but due to the pain killers he was sleeping soundly- even snoring slightly.

Kate and I left the room, coming into the hallway and meeting Mr. Addison in the living space. He stood up, ready to hear our report and I smiled.

"Your son is going to be fine, but he's had a reaction to something. There's going to need to be changes not only to his diet, but to his schedule and what he's allowed to do until I can get more answers as to what did this to him. I suggest not trying anything you know he's not already tried and had a good reaction to, and keep him away from the woods or strange places. It could also be a plant that hes been around."

"But how are you going to learn this? You're just a girl." He said, surprised at himself, as I saw him place a hand at his mouth. Too late. The words had already escaped, and he looked ashamed.

"Sir, I am my Father's daughter when it comes to medical intellect, and I assure you I will get to the bottom of this, don't worry about my methods- they're up to date. Why don't you follow me for a moment?"

He followed me down the hallway back into little Williams room. I looked over at him, judging his expression, and was not disappointed.

He went by Williams side and dropped down by the bed, taking a look at the boy who's features were already beginning to go down.

"You really did help him. It's a miracle... you didn't use....," he trailed off, and then looked up from me to Kate, judging out reactions,"witchcraft?"

I feigned shock, "No! Not at all Mr. Addison. I used what God put on this Earth for his flock to use. Using that same method I am going to help find out what did this to him so you can avoid it."

"That's amazing, he already looks better. And his breathing is sounding a lot easier as well." His eyes fell. "It's a hard thing watching your child suffer, but I want you ladies to know that I am incredibly in your debt. I know you did not need to help my son, but did out of christian charity. God bless you."

"If it's alright with you, Mr. Addison, I have another patient I must see today who is gravely ill. Since your son is doing better now, I shall take my leave. Please, remember my instructions, I would hate to see something else happen to William. Oh!" I said, reaching once again into my bag, shuffling around for a moment and then pulling out a small round, glass bottle of cream for the boys rash. "This is for his skin. Rub it on his 3 times daily, when he is out come see me at the Inn and I will make you more."

"Of course, Doctor," he said, taking the bottle from me. "Allow me to see you out," he followed us down the hallway to the door and held it open for us.

"Thank you once again. I don't know how I could ever repay you... Have a blessed day," he waved us goodbye.

"Just take care, and let me know if there's anything else you need. Thank you, Mr. Addison."

"Goodbye," Kate said, waving him away as we walked back down the steps down the path that led us to the houses, back towards town.

We kept walking until we got back to town, Kate slowing down as she was looking at her directions again. I rolled my eyes in frustration, "are we seriously lost again?"

"No, I did make a mistake earlier though. The directions I have just say to see the constable at the City Palace. So realistically, we should have seen them first I suppose," Kate said shrugging her shoulders.

"It doesn't really matter at this point. That's actually kind of exciting, I wonder who we'll be tending to. I always wanted to visit the palace since we arrived her, but you have to be invited so it's kind of hard to get in. So I guess the constable know's we are coming?"

"I sure hope so, the person I seen today said to come by and talk to him. So I would like to think that they would tell him to be expecting us."

"I hope so too, if not I guess we'll just call it quits for the day. Go get some lunch..."

"That would be nice, either way it goes, lunch after this, agreed?"

"Agreed," I said, watching my feet as we got closer to town.