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Maddie slipped into the clinic’s isolation room, a stack of towels and a pack of fresh PPE in her arms. If anyone were to ask, she was checking on the ‘parvo dog’ currently in quarantine. They would be satisfied with that answer and keep their distance.
She made sure to close the door behind her and surveyed the ISO room. A small cluster of plastic-walled cages sat against one wall. Equipment filled the corner of the room. Across from all this was a dog run. The usually closed kennel sat open. The walls and floors, draped in blankets and towels, disguised the cage-like features and made it look more like a blanket fort.
It appeared empty.
The first time this had happened, Maddie had gone running to Jade. They’d nearly torn the building apart looking for their patient before he finally poked his head out from under a pile of blankets. Now she just trusted he was there.
She set down what she carried, eschewing the PPE gown in favor of the tray hidden beneath it. It was just a simple fruit tray from the grocery store. She pulled the cheap plastic off the top and set it beside her as she sat. Under the tray was one of her school textbooks.
Maddie sat on the floor with her back to the wall and opened the book in her lap. Absently, she took a piece of cantaloupe from the tray and bit into it. She kept her eyes on the text in front of her and ate leisurely.
After a few moments, she heard a soft sound.
When next she reached for a piece of cantaloupe she found the pile slightly smaller than it had been before. She took a piece of watermelon next. Then strawberries. Honeydew. She really didn’t care for pineapple, but she made herself eat a piece of that too.
She’d written down exactly how many pieces of each fruit she had before she’d come in and kept track of what and how much she’d eaten. A quick glance at the tray and some math later and she figured their guest had had almost all he needed.
Maddie had saved the best for last. She reached for the grape tray. She’d barely pulled her hand away before a tiny red fist darted out of the nearby blanket pile and grabbed a handful. Shoving the grape in her mouth didn’t do much to stifle her laughter.
There were so many things that were a mystery about their little guest. How old he was. Where he was from. What had happened to his family. What had happened to him . Heck, they still didn’t know his name.
But Maddie had learned a few things. They never locked him in, but he seemed to know that it was better for him to stay here and recuperate and stayed put. This wasn’t because he trusted them though. He always kept out of sight. He also didn’t eat food until she ate first.
This had made uncovering his diet tricky. Especially since his appetite had been very poor those first few days. Based on the little toddler potty they’d tucked in one corner, he tolerated pretty much anything a human could eat. Fruit was the most consistently successful. And even on bad days when he seemed to have no appetite at all, she’d learned she could still get him to eat grapes.
Maddie had also learned that if she sat still and quiet for long enough, curiosity would get the better of her little guest.
A few moments after the last grapes were finished, she became aware of a small presence at her elbow. She kept him in the corner of her eye, but didn’t look directly at him. She didn’t know his natural behaviors, but if he stayed out of sight, he probably preferred not to be stared at. Maddie flipped the pages of her textbook, the little red alien child peering over her arm.
Eventually, he plucked up the courage to speak. He pointed to a letter on the page. “What is that?”
“An ‘e’,” Maddie said. “‘E’ makes a sound like ‘ee’ or ‘eh’.”
“Ee-eh,” the little alien repeated under his breath.
This was becoming a ritual for them. Eat together, read, and when he finally got comfortable with her presence, he would ask about what she was reading. Maddie tried her best to answer as simply as possible. Their guest was still learning English after all. If she answered all his questions, he’d reward her with begrudging compliance when it came time to check his bandages.
He didn’t like bandage changes. He’d almost cried when he first got a glimpse of what was left of his arm.
“All gone!” He’d said as his breathing sped. “Gone!”
“I know,” Maddie said sympathetically. She didn’t know what to say to that. “I know your arm is gone. I’m sorry.”
“No,” he moaned. “No fur. I have no fur too…”
Oh. Maddie had looked down at the incision site. They’d trimmed all the fur off his shoulder and side. The fur was shaved away from the stitches on his face too, but he couldn’t see that. She wasn’t a furry little thing herself, but she could imagine if she was, she’d think losing her fur on top of her arm was adding insult to injury.
“The fur will grow back,” she had reassured him. “You’ll get new fur.”
The child sniffed. “I have no fur…never before. You know? You know I will get new fur?” He looked up at her imploringly.
“I promise,” she’d pressed a hand over her heart. “Your fur will grow back.”
He sniffled again. Finally he nodded, rubbing his nose with his remaining fist. He let her re-wrap the injury and took the pain meds… which he also didn’t like, but tolerated if Maddie tucked them into a raspberry first.
There were no tears today, but he still didn’t like the bandage changes. He sat stiff, quills flared slightly, while Maddie contorted herself around him to get the right angles. She had to be more gentle than she’d ever been while still tying the bandages tightly. She didn’t know what he’d do if she actually hurt her, but she could guess the tiny scrap of trust he’d begrudgingly given her would be put to the test.
If he hadn’t already tore his stitches once before, they’d probably forgo the bandages entirely. Better to keep the stitches covered with frequent bandage changes than deal with that disaster again.
Maddie cut away the wrapping and checked that the skin beneath wasn’t showing signs of infection. She was pleased to see no swelling or redness. There was a little bump where Maddie had to do the emergency second set of stitches, but that was looking better too. Throughout her exam, the little guy watched her like a hawk.
She offered his painkillers to him in the usual way, tucked in a raspberry. That had been a hard negotiation. Their guest would rather be in pain than trust them, but Maddie had managed to win this particular battle… with gifts.
The ISO room would be hideously boring to an adult, to a child it was intolerable. Maddie had bribed him with all kinds of coloring books, building blocks, and toy tools. He’d destroyed the beach ball in less than a day, but the basketball was still going. Today’s reward was a little stuffy. It was technically a hedgehog, but they’d pretend it was an earth echidna.
Sometimes her guest would pretend to not be interested in her gifts and she’d just find them moved all over the place whenever she visited. Sometimes he genuinely did not care, like with the little toy cars that were gathering dust in the corner. But not this time. This time he stared at the little toy, eyes wide with wonder. He reached out and poked it with one of his long, dull claws. When the toy didn’t react, he reached out again. He ran his whole hand over the toy, letting his palm rub the soft, fluffy material.
Gingerly, he lifted the toy and brought it to his lap. He traced the doll’s button eyes and squeezed its nose. He admired its belly and stared hard at the tag sticking out of its butt. For someone who couldn’t read English, he was very fascinated by it. Maybe he was trying to identify all the letters he recognized.
Maddie knew it was time to excuse herself when he disappeared. It was shocking how well he could vanish when he wanted. She knew he was somewhere under the blankets draped all across the floor and kennel walls, but she couldn’t guess where. He’d taken the toy with him, that was good enough for her.
She slipped out of the ISO room, fruit tray and textbook once again hidden under her stack of unused PPE. The clinic was quiet, most of the staff were at lunch or making themselves busy while there weren’t any clients. She thought she was in the clear. So she had quite the surprise when she turned and nearly walked into Jade.
“Careful now,” Jade grabbed her stack before Maddie could drop it.
“Sorry!” Maddie adjusted the PPE to hide the tray. It didn’t really matter of course, no one else was in the treatment area and Jade was in on the secret in the ISO room.
“How’s our patient doing?” Jade asked casually, glancing around the room.
“He ate well today,” Maddie said with a smile. There had been a few days there where it was touch and go so it was a relief to get their little guest eating again. She lowered her voice slightly. “He took his meds and I changed his bandages–it’s healing well.”
Jade sighed, but she was smiling. “I’ll take your word for it. Nobody else can get that close.”
Maddie shrugged and ignored how her cheeks warmed. She started walking toward the back of the clinic so Jade couldn’t see her face. “You just have to put in the time. He’s like a feral cat, you just take it slow and let him get used to you and he settles right down.” She set the unused PPE on a storage shelf on the back wall and made for the employee’s locker room.
“Yeah…” Jade followed after her. Like a serial killer she seemed to step slower but kept perfect stride with Maddie’s hustling footsteps. “Speaking of settling down. I just keep wondering where he’s going to go once he doesn’t need to be in there anymore.”
Maddie’s stomach fluttered with nerves. It always did when she considered the future for their little guest. There were no perfect answers. He was a kid and an orphan, so he couldn’t just be released to be out on his own. He was also an alien so they couldn’t call CPS. The list of people who knew about him was longer than it had been, but was still pretty limited. All of them had multiple kids of their own. Maddie was the only one who didn’t have children.
She shoved the textbook in her locker and turned around to see Jade was staring at her.
“I can’t,” she said.
“Mhm.” Jade nodded like she thought Maddie had said something genuinely valid, but Maddie could tell she didn’t.
She passed the tech, moving quickly so she wouldn’t be spotted with a giant fruit tray and no explanation. Long strides carried her to the break room. Luckily the weather was good enough that everyone on their lunch was taking it outside or in their cars where they could have some time to themselves for a little bit.
“We don’t have time,” Maddie explained. “I’m in school and Tom’s working three jobs. We can’t even manage a pet right now, let alone a kid!”
Jade nodded as she trailed after Maddie. “Of course.”
She shoved the tray to the very back of the bottom-most shelf and closed the fridge door. “We don’t have the money,” she said. “I mean, yeah thanks to Tom I probably won’t have any school debt, and the house is paid off since it was his parents’ but still, kids are expensive! I mean… we probably won’t have to worry about paying for school or doctor’s appointments since he can’t really do those… but that just opens another can of worms! Whoever he goes home with will have to teach him and care for his medical needs by themself!”
“I know.” Jade seemed completely genuine this time. This was good, it meant Maddie was reaching her. Now she just had to drive it home:
“And we weren’t really planning on having kids. I’m not sure we’re equipped to handle it. And he’s not a normal kid either, he’s got physical and mental trauma–I don’t think a first time parent would be the best fit for him, you know?” She felt she’d made a really good point with that last one. It was the thing that worried her most: being out of her depth handling someone else’s mental health, especially a child’s. She looked to Jade, willing her to understand.
“I understand,” Jade said, voice soft with sympathy. Then she cocked her head slightly. A soft smile found her lips. “So are you coming back later tonight?
Maddie allowed the shift in topic. “Yes, I’m sneaking back in after the front desk closes.” Together they strode out of the break room. Maddie lead the way to the nearest computer station.
“Staying the night again?” Jade asked.
“Yeah.” Maddie wiggled the mouse and the dark screen lit up.
“Doesn’t Tom miss you?”
“Oh, he’s… well, he usually comes too. When he doesn’t have work.” Maddie brushed hair behind her ear and pulled up her timeclock. “I’ve got a test this week so I’ll be studying.”
“And you can’t do that at home?”
“I mean obviously I can but… I just hate him being here all alone, you know?” She typed in her password and clocked in.
“Mhm.”
She turned back to her companion, leaning against the table. “I just figure it must be hard, being a little kid in that dark room all night long with nobody even in the building.”
“Of course.”
“And Tom picked up some board books from the library. He always seems fascinated by what I’m reading but it’s way too advanced. We thought he might like if we could get him started on something more at his level. Plus, wherever he ends up, knowing how to speak and read English better will probably come in handy. you know?”
“I know.”
“But it won’t be with us,” she felt the need to remind Jade of this. “He needs someone who’s better equipped to raise him. Someone who can earn his trust and give him the attention he needs.”
Jade nodded sagely and smiled. “I understand.”