The Medisurance card behind her mummy’s photograph!
The moment she had the card in her hand, she was ready to run to the hospital. But she was still in her good school clothes. It wouldn’t do to go there looking like a little rich girl.
She changed to jeans, a sweater. Then she was out of the hutch.
And into the arms of Dr. Blackheart! It was almost like he was waiting for her. She’d nearly knocked him down.
He grabbed her, to balance himself. Balanced, he didn’t let go.
“Please! I’m in a hurry!”
He held her tighter. Should she bite him?
“I’m sorry to have to tell you this, little girl,” he said. “Your father is quite ill. I am to operate on him in the morning.”
The tone of his voice told her he was exactly the sort of surgeon that had operated on her mummy! Her daddy was in terrible danger!
Blackheart was saying more stuff. “Why don’t you come into my hutch and sit for a while? I could give you a sedative.”
Now’s the time to bite him, she decided.
She bit him.
He screeched, and let go of her.
She ran.
Out on the street, Melissa wondered if it might not be best to visit Medisurance before going to the hospital, and straighten out her daddy’s classification. Their office was on her way, anyway.
Rain pelted down. Thunder rampaged overhead. I sort of know Garrity Two at Medisurance, she thought. A big VP like him’ll help.
She dodged through raindrops to the Medisurance tower and went in. A guard asked what she wanted. She waved her Medisurance card. He let her pass. The lobby was all soft lights, thick carpets, scented air. A receptionist at a big desk spoke to her. She took no notice and rushed on to the elevator bank. There was a list of people’s names and office numbers. In no time at all, she found Garrity, forty-fifth floor. An elevator was waiting. She jumped in, pressed forty-five, and was on her way up, up, up.
The elevator stopped, swished open. Melissa emerged into an area fancier than the lobby. She didn’t pause to admire. Near a door marked MR. GARRITY, VP, a secretary woman at a desk polished her nails. Melissa was past her and into Garrity’s office before she could look up.
The office was huge, bigger than a hundred hutches. Behind a computer-cluttered desk, Garrity gazed through a window at the storm. Light, dark, light, dark, he went, as lightning flashed in the hills.
Mehssa hurtled across the carpet to the desk, plonked down the Medisurance card. Garrity Two swiveled around, frowning.
“Please, Mr. Garrity, help me and my daddy!”
Garrity Two’s frown deepened. He’s angry, she thought. She rolled her little girl s eyes. They always worked on her daddy. Would they work on Garrity?
Yes, apparently. His face softened. His nose was pointed like his son’s. Not much hair. He still didn’t say anything.
Melissa hung her head, poor little orphan.
Instead of ordering her out, he came from behind the desk and put an arm on her shoulder. She thought of Dr. Blackheart, but didn’t shake him off. There was a crinkly grin on his face. “What a lovely little girl you are. Now, what’s all this about?”
Melissa squeezed out a tear. It might help. She told Garrity Two she knew his son, from school. Then she told him about her daddy, insured, but put in the wrong classification at the hospital.
She waved the Medisurance card under the VP’s nose.
Garrity Two took the card, returned to his chair, and punched data into a computer. Numbers Melissa couldn’t read from where she was scrolled on his screen.
Outside, thunder growled ominously.
Garrity Two glanced slyly at Melissa, like Peter in the menagerie. She wondered if he was going to ask to see her panties. He could have anything he asked, just so he helped her daddy!
He didn’t ask for anything. He said, “I’m sorry. This card is a forgery.”
At that moment Melissa knew she’d done wrong. She should have gone to the hospital, let them sort it out. If Garrity Two had made trouble later, so what?
Now she didn’t know what to do. Jump up on Garrity Two’s desk, grab the card, and run?
She flexed up and down on her toes.
It was already too late. Garrity Two shoved the card into a slot on his desk. She heard a shredder whir.
“I’m truly sorry,” he said. “There’s nothing this company can do for you. But I’m sure, in an emergency of this kind, the hospital people will take the greatest care of your father.”
Sure they will, Melissa thought bleakly, Dr. Blackheart and all.
He went on. “You say you go to school with Peter? Would you like to come up to the house and stay with us till this is over? We’ll gladly take care of you.”
The leer on the man’s face told her how. She ran!
Back on the street, Melissa found a quiet alley. With rain and thunder still going on, she sagged down against a wall until she was sitting in a slimy puddle.
Yo Yo Johnson’s voice! “What’s aching with you, Bonnie Girl?”
Splashing dirty water, she threw herself into his arms.
He hugged her. “You passed me running. I followed you. I’m glad I did. Such hugs as this are rare and beautiful. But now, please, tell me what the trouble is.”
He released her. She told him.
He said: “We must go to the hospital, and see what can be done.”
They went.
Yo Yo knew the hospital. The hospital knew Yo Yo. They weren’t there two minutes before Yo Yo found the person they had to see.
Ms. Victoria Swanky, a top Administrator, had the superior air of a high grade perm. Without Yo Yo, she’d have scared furry spitballs out of Melissa.
Yo Yo said: “This little girl’s daddy is here, we believe, in the wrong ward. He’s no uninsured temp, he’s an indigent.”
Ms. Swanky searched on her computer. “He’s here, and definitely in the right ward. His classification’s definitely uninsured temp.”
“No, ma’am, I have to disagree. He is an indigent. He and his little girl live in boxes next to mine, on Scuffle Street. You do not find temps living in boxes on Scuffle Street.”
“You wouldn’t lie to us, would you, Yo Yo?” Ms. Swanky shot him a searching look. “No, I’m sure you wouldn’t.” She examined Melissa. “This little girl does look more like a Scuffle Street person than a temp’s daughter. Is Yo Yo telling the truth, little girl?”
“Yes.” It was hard for Melissa to get out even one single word.
“Then I suppose I’ve no alternative but to have him transferred.” She set to work on her computer again. “There. Transfer completed. I see Dr. Blackheart is to operate on him in the morning. Rest assured, little girl, your father will get the best of care.”
Blackheart’s still going to operate! What to do now?
“C-can’t somebody else do him? Tonight?”
“He’ll be fine. Ice packs. Sedation. There’s nothing to worry about.” She looked away. “Anything else, Yo Yo?”
Melissa silently tried to make Yo Yo say, yes, get another surgeon, but he didn’t. He said, “I believe not, ma’am. We’re most grateful for the courtesy you have shown us.”
With Melissa scampering behind, he hobbled away on his crutches.
She tugged Yo Yo’s coat. “Could we go and see my daddy?”
Yo Yo paused. “I wouldn’t recommend it. Good fortune has been ours so far. It never pays, Bonnie Girl, to push one’s luck too far.”
He moved on. Reluctantly, Melissa followed.
Outside the hospital, she told Yo Yo about Dr. Blackheart.
“It’ll be all right,” Yo Yo reassured her. “By law, only good surgeons may treat indigents. Blackheart must be one of them.”
Melissa didn’t believe it, but didn’t know what more to say.