Maggie

Mollie sat on the cot against the back wall of the Health Office holding the large syringe high in her right hand, feeding Ellie formula through her tube, watching her closely and chatting with Nurse Ester. It had been a busy morning of bruised knees and doctors who did not return calls. The two women were relaxing a little in the quiet. Someone knocked on the door, and Carla walked in holding little Maggie's hand.
Maggie had appeared in the school about a year ago at the same time as Lola. She was small for her age and slender with a thin, pale face and the smile of an angel. She spoke English when Mollie said, Hi in the hall, but chattered with warmth if Mollie addressed her in Spanish. Maggie and Lola had immediately been taken up by a group of giggling girls in their Upper Academic room at Jone's school for he Visually Impaired. and Mollie loved to watch the little group chattering in the halls and bathrooms. They seemed so ordinary and third grade, standing in a row at the sinks,washing their hands or walking down the halls arm in arm, marching around the yard in a big circle. Mollie was embarrassed that she could not tell these girls apart. They were both silly, shy, and the same age. They took turns telling Mollie the Spanish word for bracelet over and over when Mollie admired their gold chains or pink Hello Kitty jewelry. Pulsera
Mollie said, Hi, Maggie, what's up? Maggie looked up at Mollie and said, My leg hurts. Maggie had been a perfectly normal six year old in first grade at her neighborhood school until the headaches started. At first, the clinic doctor had said that it was probably nothing and suggested that Maggie was still adjusting to school. The headaches were just tension, and Maggie would stop having them when she adjusted. Maggie was a sensitive child and the baby of the family. He recommended a nap for Maggie after school, but the headaches did not get better. Maggie loved her teacher, and she was reading very well, but the headaches became blinding. Finally, the doctor scheduled an MRI and discovered that Maggie had a malignant brain tumor.
She had surgery immediately and spent months recuperating, first in the hospital where they checked her temperature and blood pressure a dozen times a day. The nurses removed the bandages that covered the open wound in her head to check that the jagged mark running over her bald skull to assure that it was healing correctly. Maggie's teachers came to visit almost every night after school. They brought Get Well cards made by Maggie's class and talked about what the children were reading. Miraculously, Maggie recovered her cheer and looked forward to going back to school; the doctors told her that she would be fine soon.
When she went home, she was visited every week by a special teacher from the district and learned to listen to the stories from her reading program on tape and figure out who the stories were about and what the action was. She could soon tell Mrs. Geoghan why she liked the stories. Of course, she always liked the stories. She learned to count unifex cubes and little bears without being able to see them. The surgery had left her intelligence and charm intact but taken her vision.
Fortunately, she was young, and she was alive. Her whole family prayed in gratitude before she slept every night. Thanks to Mrs. Geogahan, her mother did not let her get away with much, but Maggie learned to see her mother's face with her hands. She learned to eat with a fork by thinking of the plate as a circle with marks at the top and bottom and each side. Her mother told her where everything was, and she scooped with a spoon or stabbed with a fork. When Maggie could get out of bed, nothing was ever moved in the house again so Maggie would not trip. She learned to get around using the walls as guides.
After while, Maggie started at Jone's at the same time as Lola and became part of the gang of giggling little girls in hallways and bathrooms. They had to be separated in the classroom so they would pay attention to their braille reading and math. She took Orientation and Mobility with Ms. Isabel. She learned to find her way around the school using the walls and then a long cane. She learned to run on the playscape and get yelled at for riding the tricycles too fast. She learned how to read a braille map and tell North from South and East from West.
Now she was sitting on the chair next to Nurse Ester's desk with her feet swinging, telling Ms. Mollie that her leg hurt. . Nurse Ester got up from her desk and looked at Maggie's right leg. She asked Maggie if she had fallen on the yard or bumped into anything. Maggie said, No, but she had told her Mom about the pain, and her Mother had told her it was nothing and given her ice to put on the spot. Nurse Ester asked when that happened, and Maggie said, at Christmas. It was now March. Nurse Ester ran her hand up Maggie's leg and found the bump. She asked, Is this where it hurts? Maggie said, Yes. Mollie said, Nurse Ester, give Maggies some ice for the bump. It well help her feel better. The nurse looked up at Mollie and said, Yes. She went to the tiny freezer they kept medicine and water in, got an ice pack, wrapped it in a paper towel and gave it to Maggie to put on the lump. Maggie knew the Nurse and Molllie always put ice where it hurt. Ester said to Carla, Maggie can go back to class and hold the ice as long as she wants it. I'll call her Mother. Maggie left with Carla and her ice pack.
The last of the formula disappeared into Ellie, and Mollie slowly poured in two ounces of water to clear the tube. Then she removed the tube from Ellie's stoma, put the syringe and tube down on the tray in front of her, and covered Ellie's button. She took Ellie's hands and helped her off the cot. She removed her gloves and took Ellie to the sink to wash their hands. Nurse Ester called Maggie's mother and told her she needed to pick up Maggie and that Maggie could not return to school without a note from her doctor. Mollie walked Ellie back to class, watching her trail the wall independently and occasionally saying, a la derecha or vuelta, por favor.
Maggie came to the Spring program and sat with her parents in the audience. She had her right leg removed at the hip, hoping to stop the bone cancer. Her teacher visited her twice a week in the hospital and took braille get well cards made by her friends. She talked to the other girl gang members on the phone, gossiped, giggled and told them she was scared of the surgery. Nurse Ester visited her class to help the children understand and cope without too much fear. Every child in the class knew he or she was delicate; they had all seen lots of doctors and hospital rooms. The district sent a counselor trained on crisis management.
Maggie was taught by a different Itinerant teacher and started to learn her braille contractions and where a comma went. The news spread around the school that Maggie had an infection, then that she had recovered and was being fitted for a prosthetic leg. In late June, Maggie walked on her new leg with a mask on her face to keep out germs into the music room to sit with her class for music class. The teacher played major and minor chords, and the children identified them. She taught them a folk song from India about a mother who loves her baby. The children sang. Maggie sat and smiled and smiled. Molllie stood at the music room door and watched.
Mollie said nothing to anyone; she did not attend the funeral because she felt she belonged with the kids while they were in school. She did not cry, but she no longer felt that anything was more than she could stand. She never again said, Why me? She fed Ellie every day, covered bruised knees, soothed bumped heads, and put up with idiocy with as much patience as she could. When Maggie's parents came for her last report card and her backpack, Maggie looked them in their ashen faces and said, Maggie was beautiful child. I'm so sorry. She did not say, I know your pain.