Image credit: Wikipedia: This image is of an anesthesia machine.
Sharon Page worked as a doctor. She was having issues of her own that she had not seen about.
She started having numbness in her face and her fingers. The sensation was like a shot of Novocain wearing off.
Sharon was still seeing patients and ignoring what she was feeling. She examined one of her afternoon patients and prescribed the proper treatment and ushered her to the front desk to settle the bill and make a follow up appointment in ninety days.
Just as Sharon was about to knock on the door of the next patient she felt a stabbing pain behind her left eye. She couldn't move. She slid to the floor with some semblance of control. She was holding her hand over her eye and crying out in pain.
Doctor Sharon Page's husband, Randall, was also a doctor at the office. He quickly assessed her and thought she might be having a stroke. Whatever was wrong was more than Dr. Randal Page could handle. He dialed 911 and reported that it was possible his wife had had a stroke.
At the Emergency Room they immediately put Sharon on Stroke precaution. An IV was started and lab work was done.
After portable X-rays were taken a transporter came and took her for a CT scan.
In a little while the ER doctor, Doctor Simons smiled as he came in, so Sharon thought the scan came back okay.
Dr. Simons smiled and said he had good news and bad news. The good news was that she did not suffer a stroke. The bad news was that she needed to be scanned again with contrast medium this time.
Sharon and her husband's mind were going to the same place. Their thoughts went over every possible illness or event that could require another CT scan done with contrast medium.
The scan didn't take long. She was wheeled back to her ER room. Soon the doctor still came in smiling. Sharon knew that Doctor Simons always smiled. It was like a habit that he couldn't break. He could have deadly news to report and he would continue to involuntarily smile.
Again, Sharon thought that whatever was wrong with her had to be minor, but that wasn't the case.
Sharon got the shock of her life. The CT done with contrast medium showed that she had a tumor on her brain pressing into the back of her eye.
Sharon was shocked beyond belief. Doctor Simons informed her that is she didn't have surgery soon to remove the tumor it would cut off the nerve function of her optic nerve.
She was conflicted. She had patients that needed her. Her husband assured her that the office would run okay without her for a few days. After all, Sharon's father is also a family doctor in the office and between her husband and father they could keep the office running.
Sharon was admitted immediately to the local hospital. The verdict was that she would need to have a micro-craniotomy to remove the tumor from her brain.
The anesthesiologist came to see her that evening. He explained that he would put her under a mixture of two types of anesthesia so he wouldn't have to use so much of the paralyzing drug in the general anesthesia.
Sharon was held NPO (nothing by mouth) after midnight. She was the first case to go to the operating room that morning. She was given a preop shot to make her drowsy before she was wheeled to the operating room.
Sharon's arm was fastened to a board. Two medications were administered to help her go to sleep. At the same time the anesthesiologist put the general anesthesia mask over face to her keep her completely unconscious.
When Sharon was sufficiently unresponsive, the plastic airway was inserted so she could be intubated.
The trouble was that Sharon was wide awake, though she was being breathed by a machine. She appeared to be out but he was screaming inside her head. She was aware of the endotrachial tube being placed so she could be respired.
The OR staff got everything ready so that when the neurosurgeon, Doctor McCann came in that the operative site would be shaved and draped.
Susan felt it all. She heard the music play in the background. She felt the skin flap being cut. Susan was screaming but no one noticed. Next she felt a drill boring into her skull. The noise was a deafening screech that changed to a lower pitch once it started cutting through her cranium.
There was nothing Susan could do but lie still and take the torture. She tried to distract herself by naming all of the states in the United States.
"Owwww! Please stop! I'm awake! I can hear you! I can feel everything!" Sharon silently screamed.
‘What can I do to get their attention,’ she thought. The pain and anxiety was torture. She was angry that no one who was working on her could tell she was wide awake.
She thought she could move her fingers. She had to try.
Are my fingers moving? She thought she could feel herself raise her right index finger.
Mary Steadman, the circulating nurse was the first to notice that Sharon was not fully under anesthesia.
"Something's wrong!" Mary said to Doctor Chet Avery, the Anesthesiologist.
"Her vitals are still okay." Chet said. However he also noticed Sharon moving her index finger and her middle finger on her right hand.
Chet made an adjustment in the anesthesia and he noticed that her fingers were still.
"John," Chet said to Doctor McCann, we need to wind this craniotomy up quickly so I can wake her up."
Sharon opened her eyes in the recovery room. The nurse was taking her vital signs.
"I felt everything! I tried to tell them but I couldn't tell them."
"You did tell them, Doctor Sharon. They noticed your fingers moving."
Doctor McCann came into the recovery room to reassure her that everything was okay with her now.
If Sharon hadn't been so sedated she would have been ripping mad that she was tortured in such a way, but she also knew that anesthesia was still quite a mystery on how it behaves on the brain.
While in recovery, the pain she felt in the operating room was fading away.
Chet, made a note in Sharon's chart that the mixture of anesthetics did not properly take away her sensation. She was paralyzed with succinicholine but she remained fully aware.
Sharon recovered quickly and was back to treating patients of her own within just a few weeks. Her experience taught her to bee en more compassionate than she already was.
When Sharon meets patients for the first time she takes a full history. She also goes one step further. She asks her patients if they have ever felt any sensations after being out under anesthesia. If any of her patients had any problems with anesthesia she wanted to note it and pass the information on to any surgeon she would refer patients to.
Her experience was horrific, but it was nobody's fault. Sharon felt her experience would help her become a better doctor.
Randall Page, Sharon's gorgeous husband knocked on the open door to her office. She was just dictating her last case for the day.
"I'll be ready Ina minute dear." Sharon said.
"How about we try out that new steakhouse that opened up near Stone Mountain this evening and when it gets dark enough let’s get a blanket and sit out across the park and watch the laser show.
"Sounds good to me! Let's take a shower together to save time when we get home so we won't miss the show! I'm starved!" Sharon said as she removed her white coat and grabbed her bag.
Together, they left work arm in arm, leaving the job and all unpleasant memories behind.
Image credit: Flaming heart is by me.
I'm sorry Mrs. Stevenson, your husband has passed away.
Miriam Stevenson thought back to the day when two Army officers rang her doorbell to tell her that her husband had been killed.
It was a lifetime ago and she had never gotten on with her life. She didn't know what to do with herself and her time when she discovered that her precious Daniel was shot down in from his helicopter in North Vietnam. The only saving grace was, Miriam thought, was that he was killed instantly and not taken as a prisoner of war.
All these nearly fifty years Miriam still felt married to her dearest Daniel. She still remembered the care packages she sent. There were plenty of times she sent cases of toilet tissue to him to share with his unit. She sent canister fuel containers so he could heat food when it was convenient. The heating canisters had fuel in them and heated food quickly. The canister fit perfectly in his backpack. She remembered sending candies and other non-perishable items.
Miriam lived in the past. To her, Daniel was still with her. She still owned the record player that she had when Daniel got his orders that he was going overseas.
Miriam went to her desk and reached for the 45 RPM record if Mr. Lonely. Sung by Bobby Vinton. She dusted off the cover if her hi-fi record player and carefully placed the record on the turn table. The sound took her back to the days before Daniel left. They were both grieving for each other.
Daniel signed up into the army after graduating high school. He had great plans if making his life's career army life. He planned to take college courses and move up in rank and retire after 30 years with a great pension.
Miriam knew differently. She knew when he went overseas he wouldn't come back. She just had a bad feeling. She didn't have these feelings often, but she saw flashes in her mind's eye that he would be in one of many caskets draped with the United States flag. She didn't see how he would die, but she knew he would, and he would number flown back to the US to be buried with full military honors at Arlington.
She told Daniel that he wouldn't come back and to please not go.
Daniel laughed and put his arms around her and told her he would be fine, and he would write her every chance he got.
The time came for Miriam and Daniel to kiss one last time and board the plane that would take him to where he would be stationed.
Miriam couldn't go on with her life. She knew that Daniel would not want her pining away for him when he was gone. He would have wanted her to marry again and have the children that they never had together.
Daniel and Miriam used to talk for hours on end some days that they would open their home to children who had no place to call home. That dream never materialized.
She kept thinking about that dream. It bugged her. She couldn't shake the thought that she was supposed to make a difference somehow in forgotten children's lives. Was this Daniel nudging her from the other side?
Just then she felt momentarily dizzy. She didn't feel herself. Her thoughts were not her own. She felt like her beloved husband had somehow swooshed into her body. She was looking through his eyes rather than her own. She suddenly remembered something she never even knew. Daniel had millions of dollars in bonds, securities and mutual funds.
She even collected a memory she had no way of knowing. There was a key to a safe deposit box at the Atlanta Main Street bank. The key was hidden in a slight crack between the third shelf in their pantry. Miriam had been in that pantry every day for forty years and she had never noticed it.
Gingerly, Miriam reached up to where the crack was between the shelf and the wall and there the key was.
Miriam was astounded that whatever was happening to her was real and that Daniel was leading her to do something.
'What do you want me to do Daniel?' Miriam spoke aloud to her husband's spirit.
The next thing she felt was a pull to open her laptop and Search for children's homes. One web page stood out to her more than others. The home was going to have to close if they didn't get bought out by another company or miraculously get some serious investors that were willing to make a home for these forgotten children.
Miriam called the number listed on the website. The woman, Patsy Gresham, who answered the phone, was warm and friendly. Patsy was very forthright with Miriam that money from donations would be gone in a matter of months.
"In fact, we have all gone on half salary to try and save this great home. We are the only family these kids have.
"These are not just ordinary kids that didn't make it in the foster system. These kids are special kids that were born with physical and mental challenges. Their parents placed their kids here because most felt it wasn't fair to their other children to have a severely handicapped child." Patsy said.
Miriam asked if she could take a tour and see some if the children. Patsy made a call to Mr. Carl Blake, the administrator and he entered Patsy's office in almost no time at all.
Carl led Miriam to the West wing, where the two to three year olds were housed. Three caregivers were attending the toddlers. Miriam noticed two of the toddlers couldn't hold their heads up. They were so profoundly disabled it was heart-wrenching. Miriam fought her urge to cry.
One if the children, Cassie, looked up into Miriam’s eyes and smiled. Miriam approached the toddler and she held her arms up to be held. Miriam didn't even ask. She picked Cassie up and held her in her arms. It was very evident that Cassie had Downs Syndrome.
Carl looked at Miriam and said, "it's a crying shame. Nothing is wrong with this child. She is a highly functioning Downs Syndrome baby. Her parents didn't want her in that condition. They gave up their parental rights and placed here. They never came back. They don't even pay to house her here. She is free to be adopted but so far no one is interested in adopting her because if her condition."
Right then Miriam had one of those sensations where she felt Daniel swoosh into her body. She hoped it didn't show, but the sensation was strong.
Unbidden thoughts raced through her mind like a movie playing on fast forward, only a hundred times faster. She understood every thought and word being told to her.
Miriam stated she had money to invest in this home. She would invest if she could adopt Cassie, and gave some say in the clinical and financial running of the facility.
Arrangements were made. Miriam went to the bank and liquidated all if the investments that Daniel had made secretly over the years.
'Why didn't entity tell me about this money years ago? ‘Miriam asked aloud feeling that Daniel could hear her.
A great peace fell over Miriam. The money was inherited from his grandfather before he was born. He invested it and forgot about it.
Miriam knew what Daniel wanted her to do. She invested over a million dollars into the home to get it running well into the black.
More staff was hired for activities as well as speech therapists and physical therapists.
Miriam adopted Cassie. She grew into a vibrant and precocious child. When she turned five Cassie started kindergarten. She lived it. She made friends quickly. No one noticed she was different in a bad way.
Cassie taught her new mom a thing or two. Miriam learned that we are all different in our own ways and love is love. It doesn't matter how you look or what you can or can't do. Love had no boundaries.
Image credit: Wikipedia
This is a short story about a young goat named Lotus Blossom. She has been kept in the backyard chained to a pole all of her life. Her only shelter is a dog house. She is treated and ignored like some dogs are ignored by their masters. Lotus Blossom has a gift. She can talk, and she uses her voice to make her life better and have the home she has always wanted.
Betsy and Jane live almost next door to each other. In between their houses is another house where Lotus Blossom, a pet goat lives. Lotus Blossom belongs to a man we call Uncle Don. There is something about Lotus Blossom that Uncle Don doesn’t know and won’t believe. Lotus can talk! Yes, she can!
Betsy and Jane often played in Uncle Don’s yard where Lotus Blossom lived. She was chained to a pole and had a dog house to live in. She was happy as she could be since she was chained up and couldn’t really go anywhere.
One day when the two girls were out playing with Lotus Blossom, the girls had petted her and turned their backs on her to get ready to leave. They had spoken a few words about where they wanted to go next, because it was a boring Saturday. Just then Lotus Blossom butted Jane in the behind. That got Jane’s attention and she whipped herself around so that she wouldn’t get butted with Lotus Blossom’s hard head again.
“Baaaaa I don’t want to be chained up. Baaaa! Unhook me please?” Lotus said.
Startled beyond belief, the girls looked at each other and Jane said, “Did you hear what I heard?”
“I sure did! Lotus can talk!” Betsy said.
“Uncle Don! Uncle Don!” Betsy yelled as she ran up to the house. She climbed up on the porch and knocked on the screen door. Uncle Don came to the door and opened it so that Betsy could come in.
“Hi Betsy, what are you and your sidekick up to today?” said Uncle Don.
Out of breath, Betsy said, “Uncle Don, Lotus can talk! She can really talk!”
“Balderdash!” said Uncle Don. “Goats can’t talk. Now stop telling stories and take yourself home.”
Dejected, Betsy left Uncle Don’s house and told Jane that he told them to go home.
“Not until we unchain Lotus and take her with us. She doesn’t like being chained up and in the heat all the time.” Jane said.
Betsy and Jane looked up towards the house and they didn’t see Uncle Don anywhere near the windows looking out. Boldly Betsy unhooked the heavy chain from Lotus Blossom’s collar.
“Baaaa! Thank you! I am free!” Lotus said.
Lotus Blossom followed Betsy and Jane around like a puppy. Everywhere they went that day, Lotus was right along beside them. Lotus never even thought of running off, because she liked these girls.
In the meantime, Uncle Don comes outside to check on his strawberry garden and he sees that Lotus Blossom is missing. He becomes extremely angry that someone had let her off her chain.
“I bet you your bottom dollar those girls, Betsy and Jane took off with that blasted goat!” Uncle Don said to nobody in particular. “I’ll fix their wagons!” Uncle Don left his yard and turn to the left and he saw Jane’s mother and told her to keep Jane off his property. “Your girl, Jane, and that Betsy next door to me have let Lotus Blossom off her chain and no0w I don’t know where she is!” he fumed.
Then he went to the right and went to Betsy’s parents’ house and found her parents. By that time Uncle Don was in a dither. The more he thought about his goat missing the madder he got. “Your Betsy and that girl next door to me, Jane, have taken off with my goat! I don’t want either one of those two in my yard anymore!” Uncle Don said.
Betsy’s mom said, “Don, you are the one that invited the girls to come into your yard and play with Lotus Blossom. You know they have loved that goat since she was the tiny baby that you brought home. Betsy says that Lotus can talk. Did you know that?” Betsy’s mom said.
“You know dang well that no goat can talk! It’s about time you parents stop filling those girls head with all this fairytale nonsense!” Uncle Don said. Betsy’s mom, Louise, walked Don to the door. He was a nice man, a bit cantankerous at times, but good all the same. He was so good that all the kids in the neighborhood called him “Uncle Don.”
Betsy, Jane and Lotus Blossom were sitting up in the park where the road forked into the main highway. The road made a Y and the park was right in the middle of the two prongs of the Y. The girls were eating M & M’s and they bought Lotus Blossom some marshmallows.
“Baaaaaa! These Marshmallows are good! Yummmmm! Baaaaa.” Said Lotus Blossom.
The girls finished their candy and they fed Lotus a few more bites of the big marshmallows. “It’s time we better start heading home. We’ve got to get you back to Uncle Don’s before he notices you are gone.” Betsy said.
“Baaaaa! Nooooo! I don’t want to go home. He will just chain me up and I don’t want to be a prisoner anymore in a dog house. I want to go home with you!”
“I know!” Jane said. “Let’s go ask your mom if you can keep Lotus Blossom.”
“That’s not going to work. She will just tell me that I took her without asking for permission and she will make me take Lotus back to Uncle Don’s.” Betsy said.
“Baaaaaaaa! Betttttsy! Don’t take me home to be chained up again. I’ll run away!” Lotus said.
“I’ve got an idea, Betsy said. Have you got your iPhone on you?”
“You know I don’t go anywhere without it.” Jane said.
“Let’s just have this conversation and record it on your phone. We can play it for my parents, your mom and even Uncle Don! We will prove that Lotus can talk.” Betsy said.
Jane held the phone and put it on record so she could make a video of Lotus Blossom talking. Lotus talked and talked and talked. She said how if felt being kept prisoner being on a chain all the time and never getting out to walk. She talked about how it felt to never get any treats. She said how much she loved the marshmallows. She also said she wanted to go live with Betsy or Jane.
When the video was completed, all three watched it. Lotus was just as interested as the two girls were. She was bobbing her white head up and down as if she agreed with every word she spoke.
Louise, Betsy’s mom was pacing the floor worried about where her daughter was and did she have that goat, Lotus Blossom, with her. She did and both girls and the goat came through the back door of the house. They tried to sneak Lotus into Betsy’s bedroom, but Louise caught sight of the girls and said “Stop right there! What do you think you are doing with that goat? Get her back over to Don’s before he has a cow!” she said.
“But Mom!”
“Don’t but Mom me young lady. March!” Louise said sternly to her daughter.
“Mom, hear us out. Lotus can talk! She doesn’t like being chained up at Uncle Don’s and held prisoner. She won’t run off. She likes to hang out with Jane and Me. That’s all. Look! We took a video of Lotus talking to us.”
Louise watched the video and her mouth dropped almost down to her knees. “Well, I’ll be! That goat can really talk and make sense too! It’s like it’s human!” Louise said.
“Mom, please help us talk to Uncle Don. Ask him if we can have her!”
“Noooooo! I’m not having a goat in my house. I don’t care if Lotus can recite the Gettysburg address, she isn’t coming to live with us.”
“Baaaaa! Pleeeeaaaase? I promise I won’t mess in the house. I’m better housetrained than a dog, and I’ve never lived in a house before! I don’t even stink? Here, smell.” Lotus approached Louise and let her pet her and get close enough to smell her coat.
Louise had to admit that the goat didn’t have a smell like most livestock do. She is very clean. Louise put her hands down on her knees and struggled to get on her feet. “Well, girls and I mean you too Lotus, let’s go over to your house and see what Uncle Don has to say.”
Uncle Don heard people talking outside in his driveway. It sounded like they were getting closer. “Is that Lotus I hear bleating?” Uncle Don thought to himself. He came to the door just as Betsy, her mom, Jane and Lotus came traipsing up in his yard. “Ahh Hal! There you all are with my goat. Betsy, you chain her back up since you are the one who took Lotus off her chain.”
“Uncle Don, Lotus Blossom doesn’t like being chained up! Look, we took a video, see?” Jane opened up the video so that Uncle Don could watch the video.
“Well, tarnation! Will you look at that? I’ve never heard Lotus talk before! She sure is a special goat, isn’t she?”
“Uncle Don, since Lotus has never talked around you, and because she hates being chained up because she feels like a prisoner, can we keep her?”
“What do you mean, Betsy? You want to keep my Lotus Blossom? The goat I’ve had since she was a baby?”
“Yes, the goat you have had chained up since she was a baby. She doesn’t like it! How would you like being in her place? Try it just for a day and see how you would like to wear a tight collar around your neck with a heavy chain attached?”
Louise tried to stifle her daughter’s outpouring of emotion, but she couldn’t. She was adamant that she could give Lotus Blossom a better home.”
“I’ll tell you what, girls. If it is okay with your mother, Betsy, I’ll let you foster Lotus blossom out for the summer. If you still want her after the summer is up, then I will gladly let you have her. She does seem very happy with you.”
“Yayyyyy!” Betsy exclaimed. “Can we Mom? Can we Huh?”
“Well, I guess so. On a trial basis. The first time Lotus has an accident and makes a mess on the floor, she is out of the house and back at Uncle Don’s.”
“Baaaaa. I told you I have good manners. Baaaa! I won’t mess. I promise.
That night Lotus Blossom slept in a bed for the first time in her life. She laid next to Betsy and snuggled. Betsy, smiled in her sleep and put her arm aro9und Lotus and hugged her even tighter. All was right with Lotus Blossom’s world.
Henrietta the Hippo Finds Love
Image credit: Wikipedia
Frankie and his parents, Adisa and Deka take a short trip from their home in Southern Nigeria. They came near the river of Nigeria and they saw a single hippopotamus bathing in the muddy water.
The hippo caught sight of the family. The little person, named Frankie really took her fancy.
The hippo wanted to get their attention. She wanted to see them. She really felt love at first sight with Frankie. Frankie talked to the hippo and said "you look like you should be named Henrietta. Henrietta understood right away that she had a name. She was happy.
Frankie and his parents took one last look at Henrietta and says goodbye as they went on with their safari.
Henrietta had other ideas. She felt love for Adisa and Deka, but she had an unusual loving feeling for Frankie.
Henrietta has seen humans before and never cared for them. She knew she was a hippo and didn't even like people that much, but Frankie and his lovely family were different.
Henrietta was about one thousand pounds. She climbed out if the Nigeria River and followed behind his newly found friends. She stayed a little behind, so not to call attention herself.
Frankie and his family walked awhile more and decided to walk the two miles home. They had gone to just see the animals in the wild.
They headed home to their simple home. They had a spacious, but very simple home with dirt floors. The house was very neat. Some of the floors were covered in mats made of straw. Other floors were simply neatly swept dirt floors.
Deka kept the front door open to let in the cooler air that was blowing in from the north that evening.
Frankie was sitting down on the mat while his mother started making food if fermented fish and rice. The fish was sliced thin like sushi, but it was stored in brine for three years. The family was hungry and their mouths were all set for their gourmet meal.
Henrietta was really close now to the home of Frankie and his family. Because the door was open, she smelled the pungent aroma of fermented fish. She had never tasted that, but the aroma drew her to the door. It smelled good!
Frankie was sitting near the open door. His eyes got big when he caught sight of Henrietta. Immediately Frankie invited Henrietta into the house. Frankie was not scared of the hippo at all. He immediately wrapped his arms around Henrietta's upper body and he kissed her on the hump over her left eye. The hippo nuzzled in close to Frankie and lay down on the mat where Frankie had been sitting. Her girth took up much of the room.
Frankie sat down next to the prone Henrietta and started petting her head and ears. Frankie noticed how clean she was and she had only a musky scent that was pleasant to the senses.
"Supper is ready!" Adisa called.
"Coming mom!" said Frankie. He got up to go to the kitchen to eat and Henrietta hoisted herself up and followed Frankie into the kitchen.
"Well look who we have here!" Adisa exclaimed.
"Henrietta is hungry mom." Frankie said.
"So she is." Adisa was a little leery about getting close to Henrietta's mouth.
Henrietta opened her mouth wide. Big teeth jutted out of her mouth. Adisa tossed a piece of the fermented fish into her mouth and Henrietta gently closed her mouth and swallowed the morsel of fish. Then she opened her mouth for more. The fish tasted delicious to Henrietta's sensitive taste buds.
Frankie gently pushed his mom aside and he fixed a plate of the fermented fish and rice, and also cut up some mango and bananas that were sitting on the counter.
"Come, Henrietta! Let's go in the den and eat. Frankie sat down and Henrietta laid down beside him with her head raised and her mouth open.
Frankie was not frightened of Henrietta. He knew instinctively that Henrietta would not bite his hand if he put the food on her tongue. Henrietta waited until her mouth was clear before she closed it to swallow. Frankie ate from the same plate. When the plate was finished, Henrietta went outside in the bush and did her business. Frankie got a pail of water and a rag and commenced to washing Henrietta down. He cleaned her up really well and dried her with a towel that was hanging on a tree to dry.
Adisa had washed clothes by hand outside in a wash basin and hung them up on top of the bushes to dry. Frankie knew his mom wouldn't mind him using one towel to dry and massage Henrietta's skin.
Henrietta loved the attention. She hoped she could live forever with Frankie and his family.
Henrietta stayed with Frankie and his family for a week.
"It's time we take Henrietta back to the river where we found her. It's not healthy for her or you to be so attached. I think Henrietta is truly in love with you Frankie." Adisa said.
A reluctant Frankie and his parents led Henrietta back into the wild. She was so sad. Henrietta stepped toward Frankie for one last hug. Frankie didn't want to let go. He didn't want to say goodbye to his precious Henrietta.
The family said their warmest goodbyes and headed for home. Tears began to flow silently from Henrietta's eyes.
Night came. Then morning broke. One day and night led into another. Henrietta missed Frankie and his family. She longed for Frankie the most.
Henrietta went to sleep on the river bank. She was too sad to stay awake. When she awoke she had a great surprise.
Henrietta had found a mate in the water, beside her. It was love at first sight. It was a love as strong, but also different from the love she felt for Frankie.
Henrietta discovered she could communicate with her newly found male friend. Mentally she asked if he would be willing to be named Henry. The male hippo was so happy to be Henry to Henrietta.
Henry and Henrietta became an inseparable pair. They even had a bun in the oven. Yes, Henrietta was expecting her first child.
Henrietta grew big with her unborn calf. Within days it was time for Henrietta to give birth. Her baby was a boy.
Months had gone by and Frankie was worried about how Henrietta was getting along. It had been a long time with no contact with her. His parents didn't want Henrietta to cling to them. She didn't belong in their house. She was much too big to be a pet. Besides, Henrietta was young yet. She had lots of living to do yet.
"Mom, Dad, let’s just go and see how Henrietta is doing."
Frankie and his family trekked out into the river basin and found a wonderful sight.
"Henrietta!"Frankie ran to her and put his arms around her neck. He kissed the hump over her eye and gave her a good scratch behind her ears.
Henrietta's mate lumbered over to meet Frankie too. Just then a little head popped up out of the water and Frankie saw that Henrietta had a baby.
Frankie took in the sight of the little family, and for the first time Henrietta spoke to Frankie telepathically and said "My little boy's name is Frankie. We named him after you. I love you Frankie." The baby hippo came up onto the bank to meet his namesake. There was instant love between the two of them also.
Frankie kissed Henrietta again and said I love you Henrietta."
Reluctantly, Frankie and his family turned to head for home.
Frankie turned around and called back to Henrietta and her family that this is not goodbye. He would be back every few weeks to bring them some fermented fish and fresh fruit.
Henrietta looked Frankie straight in the eye and opened her mouth wide as if she were smiling in her own way. She loved her own family and she also loved her human family.
The end
