Read Online Human Blend by Lori Pescatore - Free Book Online

for
cancer. “You poor thing,” Julie whispered, reaching to touch her
tightly curled hand that was clutching the cover. Julie held in a
gasp as she felt the tremendous amount of pain buried deep inside
the little girl. She was heavily sedated. Julie was unable to
remove the girl's pain, or even attempt to work on ridding the
cancer. This was not because she couldn't, but because of the large
amount of time she would need for her own recovery. She had done it
once before for one of them, and had collapsed into unconsciousness
for a few hours. She could not take the time to disappear for a few
hours on her first day in the new job. “I'll come back soon,” Julie
whispered, lightly brushing the girl's head. She looked at the
little girl's chart, and committed her name to memory.
    Julie felt a tug of her uniform and looked
down. A little boy who looked to be around three or four years old
looked up at her. Julie knelt down to his level. “Hi. What's your
name?” she asked.
    “Billy,” the little boy replied.
    “Nice to meet you, Billy. My name's Julie,”
she said.
    “Can you help me build a tower?” Billy asked
her.
    Julie smiled. “Of course, I can,” Julie
answered. She stood and held out her hand to him. He grasped it
tightly and led her over to a plastic bin filled with colored
wooden blocks. Julie could tell the boy was recovering from
Salmonella poisoning. The boy's body was having a hard time ridding
itself of the bacteria. The short walk to the blocks was enough to
take most of it from the boy. She took some deep breaths as she sat
down to build with him, battling the infection within her now. It
was a resilient strain, stronger than she had encountered
before.
    “Are you okay?” Billy asked when she didn't
start building right away.
    “Mmhm,” Julie grunted. Julie felt a hand on
her back. She turned to see a handsome man kneeling down next to
her. There was a concerned look on his face. “I'm... fine,” Julie
stammered as she battled. She knew she would be fine in another
minute, and just wished the man would go away.
    “You're as white as a ghost, and look very
nauseous,” the man said. “I don't think you are okay.”
    Julie's body gave a final shake and was done.
“I appreciate your concern...” Julie said, then paused as she
noticed the name tag. It was the doctor Joy had mentioned. “Doctor
Elsworth. Really, I'm fine.”
    “I'm fine, too, Mister Doctor,” Billy piped
in. Both Julie and the doctor looked at the boy. His color had
improved, and he was smiling. “Doctor Julie fixed me,” Billy said.
Julie smiled at Billy and averted her eyes from the doctor's.
    “Tell you what, Billy: Why don't you and
Julie come with me, and we'll see how you are both doing?” the
doctor suggested.
    “I, um... have to be getting back to the
fifth floor, actually,” Julie said, standing.
    “You're the new volunteer I've been hearing
so much about,” the doctor commented.
    Julie raised an eyebrow. “What have you been
hearing?” she asked.
    The doctor smiled. “I'll be down to check on
you later,” he said to Julie. She took that as her cue to make
haste, and headed for the stairs.
    She was cut short by Billy, who had run up to
her and hugged her leg. “Thanks, Doctor Julie,” Billy said. Julie
knelt down, gave him a hug, and sent him on his way. Her eyes met
the doctor's briefly, before she continued on back to the fifth
floor. What's he thinking ? Julie asked herself. She had
little time to dwell on it as she was thrust right back into
work.
    Julie had tucked away her encounter with the
doctor for now. She spent the rest of the afternoon assisting
patients to Physical Therapy and back. Joy, at one point, allowed
Julie to just do random visits on her own, as she was tied up with
other things. It was during one of those random visits that Julie
ran into Doctor Elsworth again. She knocked and then entered Mrs.
Bosley's room. She had visited the older woman before, with Joy.
Julie didn't notice