Chapter Two

As they waited in the emergency room, Juri passed the time by telling jokes to his Mama and his teddy bear, Bennett.

“Three tomatoes were walking down the street, a Papa, a Mama, and a Baby. The baby started to lag behind, so the Papa Tomato walked to the back and said “KETCHUP!” A little boy, a few years younger than Juri, started to giggle as Jurko told the tomato joke.

Juri was not the type to be self conscious. He enjoyed the little boy’s attention and quickly thought of another joke to tell.

“How do you stop a Rhinoserous from charging?”…

“You take away his credit card!”

That did it, the boy erupted with laugher and the twinkle in the two boys’ eyes cemented their friendship.

Before they had a chance to speak any further, Juri heard the nurse call his name.

“Well, that’s me, gotta go!”

Juri & Mama followed the nurse down the hallway and into the curtained exam room. She showed him the gown he had to wear, and left him to change. He was cold in the gown, so Mama pulled a blanket from the bottom of the hospital bed and wrapped it tighly around him. The heat of her arms and sound of her heartbeat as she wrapped him up were so comforting. Even though he had been joking around in the waiting room, he still felt strange and afraid.

Juri was hugging Bennet tight when the doctor came in the room.

“Well, hellow there young fellow – you must be Juri.”

Juri was taken aback – the doctor had reached out and shook Bennett’s paw – greeting him as if he were the patient, and not Juri!

“No, no! I am Juri! That is Bennett!” Juri cried out.

“Ah! I thought something was fishy! Never had I seen such a furry little boy before!” The doctor chuckled at Juri’s alarm and patted his shoulder.

“Not to worry – I can see you are a clever and funny boy! I am Dr. Smiley – let’s see what we can do today to make you feel all better.”

 

Dr. Smiley helped Juri down from the hospital bed and onto a scale.

“Now, what was Juri’s weight the last time you weighed him?” The doctor asked Mama.

“As I recall he was 78 lbs. in March. But I have noticed that he is wearing his belt on the next hole now. Has he lost a lot of weight?”

“He has. About 12 lbs. which for a boy and an active boy such as he is, is quite notable.”

Dr. Smiley saw Mama’s face drop with worry.

“Not to fret – we will do some blood work and other tests and see what we can’t discover.”

While the doctor continued to soothe Juri’s Mama, he methodically took Juri’s temperature, measured his blood pressure and pulse and checked his reflexes.

Juri just kept his hold on Bennett the whole time – even when the nurse came to take his blood and escort him for an MRI. Holding on to his bear made him feel that a part of him – even if just his imagination , was still in the meadow in the clubhouse with Nelly and his sisters and the rest of his make-belief friends.