Angels on Earth
by Kaitlin Stokes

chapter two

After Joan had finished filling out all the papers, she handed them to Sarah and smiled.

"Thanks Joan, so will you be staying this afternoon?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess I could manage that, just let me call home and leave a message."

"Sure, the phone is just over there." Sarah waited for Joan to call home, and then offered to give her a tour of the floor.

"Down this hall are the patient rooms, they each have a different theme. There are four play and activity rooms located on this floor, plus a teen room and a movie room. They are scattered throughout the unit." Joan noticed how beautiful everything was. "Down this hall and through those doors is the BMT unit."

"BMT unit?" Joan asked puzzled.

"Yes, the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit. Those kids are the sickest of the sick and the most in danger of getting germs. Chances are you won't be volunteering down there." Joan shook her head to clear her mind of the image of sick children and she followed Sarah on more of her tour. "Down here are the chemotherapy rooms, there are TV's for every chair, because chemo can take a while and the kids get bored. Over there is the kitchen, the kids get anything they want to eat anytime they ask within reason because we are so desperate to keep them eating. Any questions so far?"

Joan shook her head, "Nope."

"Great then, if you don't mind I'm going to leave you with a little one who could really use some company. Her name is Emma and she's got a very aggressive cancer called Neuroblastoma, it's one of the hardest to treat. She's in the chemo room right now, and her parents can't be with her because they have to work."

"How old is she?"

"Six."

"Six years old and all alone in the hospital?"

"No, not really, the kids here are never alone. We make sure to take good care of them while their parents can't be here. Cancer is extremely taxing on the family." Sarah said before leading Joan into the brightly painted Chemo room.

"Sarah!!!" A small child squealed from her seat in one of the large chemo chairs, much to large for a child's small body.

"Hi sweetie, I've got someone to sit with you, how does that sound?"

"Great!" Emma said happily.

"This is Joan." Sarah said pointing to her.

Joan smiled and waved, "Hi Emma."

"Hi Joan! Like Joan of Arc?? I love Joan of Arc, she's real neat."

Sarah smiled as she saw the shocked expression come across Joan's face, " I know, she's a smart little cookie huh? Well, I'll leave you two alone, if you need anything, get a nurse, if not after Emma is unhooked from her chemo you two can go to the playroom if you like." Sarah said as she turned to leave.

Joan looked back at the small frail child in the seat and smiled. She was bald and looked exhausted, but her blue eyes were wide and full of life and joy. "So you like Joan of Arc huh?"

"Yep, I love history, all history, but especially the really cool girls cause girls rule!" The child chattered excitedly.

Joan smiled and nodded, "Well, I don't much like history, but I did like the Joan of Arc part."

"You're really pretty Joan." Emma said, lifting a small hand to touch Joan's long hair.

"Well thank you sweetie, I think you're real pretty too." Joan said, a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

" I only gots a few more minutes of chemo and then we can go to the playroom okay?"

"Okay Emma, that sounds like fun to me." Joan was almost taken aback at how much love she already felt for the child.

"This is my stuffed pig Wheezy." She said, holding up a soft, adorable pink pig.

"She's cute. You like pigs?"

"I love pigs!"

" I like lambs, I have a bunch of stuffed lambs."

"Wow, grown ups can have stuffed animals too?"

"Of course, but I'm hardly a grown up Emma. So what would you like to do until your chemo is done?"

"Will you read me a story?"

"Sure." Joan said as she opened up an old children's book.

Once Emma was finished with her chemo, a nurse hooked her up to some fluids, put a mask over her face to reduce the risk of infection, and sent her and Joan off to the playroom. They played Barbies, Play- Dough, painted, drew, built with blocks, and played a few video games for an hour and a half. The amount of energy and spunk that Emma had amazed Joan, even when Emma threw up, she would go right back to playing. The Child Life Specialist in the playroom explained to Joan that the chemo made Emma throw up. After playing for a long while, Emma finally tired and curled up in Joan's lap.

"Looks like this little one is ready for a rest." Sarah said walking into the playroom.

Joan nodded and stood carefully; Emma stirred, but placed her head on Joan's shoulder and went to sleep.

"Are you okay to carry her?"

"Oh yeah, sure, it's not a problem."

"I'll show you where her room is." Sarah said picking up the child's stuffed pig.

When they reached Emma's room, Joan carefully placed the sleeping child on the bed, covered her up, and removed her mask.

"You're a natural." Sarah said smiling.

"Really?" Sarah nodded.

"Should I stay with her?"

"Oh no, she'll be fine, her parents will be back by the time she wakes up." Sarah said as she untangled some IV lines.

Once Emma was settled and Joan and Sarah went out in the hall Sarah turned to Joan, "She's a real heartbreaker huh?"

Joan nodded, "Oh yeah, she's seems special..I can't really put my finger on it."

"Oh, they're all like that. They're old souls in little bodies with many a lesson to teach."

"How long has Emma been sick?"

"Nearly three years, I'm afraid we may be approaching the end of the journey with that little one. There's not too much more modern medicine can do for her."

"So..she's going to die soon?"

"I don't know, there's always the exception, the one who does make it, the one who gets a miracle."

Joan nodded and contemplated Sarah's words to her as she headed back to the playroom to help with other children.

"So why are you here?" A girl about 12 asked Joan as she watched her clean up the art table.

"Excuse me?" Joan said turning to the girl. She was bald and thin.

"You know...volunteer points, school project, want to feel like you're doing something "good", or the ever popular you just want to help."

"I guess I just want to help." Joan said, knowing full well that if God had not asked her, she would not be there.

"So why the oncology floor? Dying usually scares people, especially dying children."

"Dying? Are you all dying."

"Oh, everyone in the WORLD is dying, me and the kids on this floor are just doing it a little sooner than everyone else."

Joan was shocked, those were almost the exact words Rocky had spoken to her a few weeks earlier.

"Officially though, I've been dying for 5 years."

"5 years?"

"Yep, I've been fighting this monster for 5 years."

"So actually, you've been living for 5 years."

The girl shrugged, "You can't escape the inevitable." Sensing Joan was uncomfortable, she changed the subject, "So what's your name?"

"Joan."

"Hi Joan, I'm Kait."

"Hey Kait."

"Come with me," Kait said, dragging her pole with one hand, and taking Joan's hand with her free one, "I want to show you something."

Kait lead Joan out into the hall and stopped in front of two big bulletin boards, covered with pictures of children. Above one the word "Angels" was printed, and above the other the word "Survivor was printed."

"This was my best friend Hannah." Kait said pointing to a picture of a beautiful girl on the Angels board. "She died sixth months ago of the same cancer I'm fighting now."

Joan choked back tears as she looked at each of the bulletins. "But..almost as many die as live."

Kait nodded, "Yep, that's Payton. She was two" She said pointing to another face on the board.

"And that's her twin sister Elizabeth, she survived."

"They both got cancer?"

Kait nodded again, "That's Eric, he was also mine and Hannah's friend, he died a few weeks after Hannah."

Joan was overwhelmed by all the information she was being given, Kait sensed this and took her hand, "It's okay..it happens, they don't hurt anymore. I just wanted to show you what we're up against."

Joan forced a smile, she appreciated Kait's honesty.

"Come on, you wanna watch a movie with me?" Kait said leading her away.

"Sure." Joan said following, but the faces of the children lost were forever etched in her mind.

chapter three

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