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About The Hellgate Lance (Missoula, Montana) 1964-current | View This Issue
The Hellgate Lance (Missoula, Montana), 23 Dec. 1980, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/TheHellgateLance/1980-12-23/ed-1/seq-7/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
of the hell, Mrs. . \Don ' t forget · tmas charity Have some goo<l the hell rang she 'ting for her by the umpteenth She had always nothing of her wn classic bone he reached her aimlessly as · jacket. Katie Katie! How's it ly. \No not yet to fall and art- and consterna- Nicholas. \You eir affirmative that's just fine, he then turned the street. 'th us?\ Tessa /r .. .._ ; L ! / ~ - - t • around to retort, \No I wouldn't want to intrude . I'm silre you have plenty to say to each other!\ \Come on Tessa, get in and I'll take you home. \ As they drove Tessa's pain slowly turned to anger. 'Why had he been so unfeeling?' She finally turned to Nicholas , \Why did you have to say anything?\ Nicholas' eyes turned to steel. \What did you expect? I thought she knew ; that you had told her. Can I help it if you chickened out?\ The car shot forward in his anger. \ Chickened out! What do you mean?' ' \You had a whole weekend to tell her. As much as you girls gossip I thought you had thrashed it all out already . \ ' Me tell her? Why not you? You ' re her friend too! Besides, you were the guy she expected to go with anyway. You should have br~ ken the news to her yourself! Don ' t blame me for your own insensi- tivity! \ \You ' re the insensitive one . You should have known that she'd rather have heard it from you . It would have been much less humili- ating coming from you as another girl.\ Nicholas was calmer now . Knowing what he said was partly true Tessa refused to back down. \I think you ' re mean, cruel and- and horrible! Take me home now and you can - \ Nicholas interrupted with a sharp, \Insensitive mean, cruel and now horrible, what next Tessa? Are you going to tell me what I can do with my date?\ \ How ' d you guess? \ The car stopped in front of Tessa ' s house . Tessa got out, went around the car, and l~ed in his window . \ You can take your lousy date and-\ Tessa's sentence was never finished as Nicholas interrupted her again, as if she had never s~ ken . \ Well you can just forget it! You aren't breaking our date . You can say what you like but I refuse to be made a fool of now that ev- eryone knows you're going with me. No, I'll be here to pick you up at seven sharp and you better be ready!\ With a careless gesture he started his car with a roar. He drove away without a backward glance . Tessa had spent a miserable week. Katie refused to speak to her and she was so angry with Nicholas that she wouldn't speak to him. His attitude piqued her . She wished he would be angry and defensive to her but he almost seemed to enjoy the treatment he received . And now on top of a horrible week Tessa found out that she and Nicholas and Katie had been assigned to the same team to visit the hospital today. They had thought it was the perfect arrangement two weeks ago when they had signed up . It was intended to give Tessa a chance to get to know Nicholas and Nicholas a chance to ask Katie to the party. Now the thought of the day ahead filled Tessa with f-i r s t place , Am y Sc herer .- - - ~ - -. · ._ ... ~- •, . -= ~~E. : 0fC\IInlt Z3 , 1910- 7 dread . So much for the Christmas spirit Mrs . Sheffler asked for. As Tessa got ready to go she felt she was preparing for her own funeral. Katie and Nicholas were in the waiting room when Tessa arrived at the hospital. Katie's frozen expression boded ill for the remainder of the day . Nicholas still appeared totally unperturbed . Tessa glared at him . \Hello Katie, sorry I'm late.\ \You ' re not late!\ Katie said, and marched stiffly ahead as they followed a nurse off to the children ' s ward . \She'll get over it , \ Nicholas murmured into Tessa ' s ear as he moved closer to her . He walked casually with his hands thrust in his pants pockets . Tessa jerked away and thrust up her chin without even glancing at him. \So the cold war continues.\ Nicholas murmured with amuse- ment. Tessa kept her face averted . As Nicholas reached out to touch her he was rewarded with a violent jerk of her shoulder. Nicholas snick- ered . Just when Tessa thought her temper would overflow into speech and allow him to score a point they were ushered through the swing- ing door and into the children ' s ward . As Tessa gazed around the room her anger seeped away . Her eyes softened as she saw the tiny bodies lying on the beds , many with some strange attachment , be it machine or a plaster cast. Her heart wrenched as she saw one little girl swallowed up in a giant iron lung. She turned to find Nicholas watching with moist eyes as a small boy with skinny , twisted legs chained in braces, dragged himself along with two metal walking sticks . Nicholas ' eyes slowly came to meet Tessa ' s and there was a moment of silent communication between them . Tessa could see that Nicholas felt as hopeless as she did . They both wanted to do so much but realized they weren ' t either of them big enough to stop that small child's suffering . They simply watched. It was Katie who with a smile of love and a cry of joy, ran forward and hugged the child as he reached his destination , a large red ball lying in the comer of the room. With a smile of triumph lighting his face the boy held out the ball to Katie in a silent offering . Here was a small suffering child who had so little physically but with that little gesture he had so much love to give . As Tessa felt a small hand wriggle into hers , she brushed tears away and turned to look into the cherubic face gazing at her . \ Hi! Who are you? I'm Mikey . Do you have an owie too?\ Tessa gave an unsteady laugh and replied \No , I don ' t have an owie . I'm Tessa . My two friends Katie and Nicholas, and I, came to see you and read you stories . \ \ Oh goody ! No one has ever read me a story here before . My mommy used to but not for a long, long time . \ Mikey, obviously a spokesman of sorts for the other, shyer child- ren, soon informed them that the boy with the walking sticks was Jason and the girl in the iron lung Melissa. He proudly squired them around the ward telling them names right and left as small faces peered out at the three teenagers. \Let's play ring-around-the-rosey\ squealed Janey. \No that's too girlish!\ scorned Mikey. \Let's play cowboys and Indians. \ \Hold it, hold it! We can play both, first ring-around-the-rosey and then cowboys and Indians , okay? Nicholas had reached a comp~ mise suitable to both children . As the children who were able and the three teenagers formed a circle all the other children watched avidly. They played ring- around-the-rosey until Mikey's · plea came again , and they then played cowboys and Indians . When it soon became evident that Nicholas excelled at this game by pure brute strength and size Katie gave Tessa a conspiratorial wink. . With a nod both girls attacked him with shrill war-whoops . They soon had him tackled and were on the point of scalping him when he said \Okay okay you squaws win! Let's call a truce . Now, I think is the time for some stories .\ As the minutes went by Tessa felt as though she would burst with feeling as she watched Katie holding Jason on her lap . As the story Katie was telling ended amid many giggles she looked up to catch Tessa's eye on her. They shared a smile of sheer joy . Limited to half an hour with the children according to hospital rules, they found the time flew by too swiftly . Before long it was time to say goodbye. As the children returned to their beds and fare- wells were exchanged there was more than one set of wet eyes and they weren't all small children's, either . Outside the ward the three stopped by mutual consent. Tessa tried to speak but her chest was so tight no sound came out. She looked up to see Katie and Nicholas feeling the same, choked up sensation. Nicholas said, \I won't try to explain how I feel because if I do I'll probably cry . I think I saw the most beautiful thing ever, in there . \ He jerked his head towards the ward. \It really chokes you up doesn't it?\ \ I feel so small and petty,\ Katie said . \I went in there all upset because I couldn't have the date , I wanted for a stupid, insignificant Christmas party. When I saw that little, helpless boy drag himself so slowly and painfully to get that ball and then turn and offer it will- ingly to me I realized how selfish and unreasonable I was.\ \I know what you mean , \ added Tessa. \We thought we were in such bad shape but we have everything to live for . We take our lives and all the love we ' re shown for granted . I feel so ashamed .\ \ Hey , if we don ' t watch it we'll all start crying right here in the middle of the hall. Let ' s go ,\ Nicholas said . He casually moved be- tween them and put an arm around each to propel them down the corr i dor . As th e y stepped outside Katie looked up at him with laughing green eyes and said impishly , \ A thorn between two roses .\ \ A good looking thom.anyway ,\ Nicholas replied . Laughter rang out as both girls siezed snow and pelted him with a flurry of snowballs.
