Maria Helena Kolb slowly searched the line of trees. Somewhere, hidden in the shadows, she was sure Benji Matheny was hiding in ambush. Time to send in the cannon fodder. "Daisy, Regina: when I give you the word, I want you to run around that tree over there and, if you find Benji, throw your snowballs at him." Maria Helena smiled at the younger girls. "Do you understand?"
Both girls held up their hands, each holding a carefully crafted snowball, and nodded.
"Right, then wait a moment for me to make some more snowballs."
Daisy and Regina waited impatiently while Maria Helena finished shaping some snowballs. "Are you ready yet, Maria?" Daisy asked.
Maria Helena checked her access to her ammunition, then, taking a snowball in each hand, nodded.
Daisy and Regina burst out from behind cover and ran for the tree Maria Helena had indicated.
Benji stood up and opened fire on them. Maria Helena, still behind cover, was presented with Benji's back as a target. She, quite naturally, took full advantage of the exposed target, and opened fire.
It was a massacre. Three to one odds, even if two of the three were barely four years old, were enough to completely trounce eight year old Benji.
Totally outgunned, and short of ammunition, Benji took to his heels, the girls in pursuit.
"Where do you think you're going, young man?"
Benji threw a look over his shoulder. The girls were close now. He ran up to his Great Grandma Aggie and took shelter behind her. Peeking round from behind her he could see Maria Helena idly tossing a snowball in her right hand. It wasn't right that a girl should be able to throw as well as she could. "They ganged up on me, Granny Aggie. It's not fair." Benji noted that Maria Helena was patiently waiting for him to make a break for the house. "Granny, tell Maria Helena to drop that snow ball."
Aggie Beckworth smiled at Maria Helena. "Okay, girls, you've had your fun. You can drop that snowball you're tossing, Maria Helena."
Maria Helena looked from the snowball in her right hand to Benji, who was making faces at her from the protection of Granny Aggie. With a sigh she gave it one last toss and let it fall to the ground.
Benji slid out from behind Granny Aggie and . . .
Thwak!
The snowball Maria Helena had been hiding behind her back was in flight almost before Benji stepped clear of Aggie. It hit him flush in the face. The snowball Benji had been in the act of throwing went wide.
Aggie Beckworth struggled for breath as she laughed at the shock and surprise on Benji's face. She hastily grabbed a handkerchief from a cuff and coughed into it. It took a few minutes for the coughing spasm to come to an end. Short of breath, Aggie looked down at the anxious faces. "It's all right, children. Just a bad cough. Now get inside where it's warm. We don't want you catching a cold."
Benji, Daisy and Regina ran up to the house, shaking the snow from their clothes before going indoors. Maria Helena gave Aggie a searching look before walking back to the house. Every few steps she looked back to make sure Aggie was following.
* * *
Lora Matheny looked from the blouse in her hands to her daughter. "Look at this blouse, it's filthy. How did you get it so dirty?"
Scuffing her feet, Daisy looked up at Lora through her eyelashes. "Me, Regina and Maria Helena had a snowball fight with Benji."
Lora sighed. She had a pile of washing to do, and she was sure her washing machine was on its last legs. The weather was lousy for drying clothes, so she had washing draped all around the house drying. The laundry door was sticking, and with her husband Jeff still working in Nürnberg, she'd asked her father if he could fix it. He'd promised to come in after work, and that meant she'd probably have an extra for dinner. Two, if he brought Uncle Stu along to help.
"Go and play with Regina and Maria Helena then, and try to stay clean."
"Yes, Mommy." Daisy slipped away.
Lora walked over to her favorite chair and slumped into it. She was exhausted. It wasn't that the kids were a real problem. They could be trouble, but that, as Jeff always said, was in the design specifications. It was everything that was getting her down. Yesterday she'd visited her mother at the assisted living center. If you could call what her mother was doing living. Her half-sister Karrie was just as bad. The rental income from Mom's home was contributing to their care, but things were tight, so tight that Grandma Aggie had moved in so that her place could be rented out. It made for a crowded household, but she wouldn't have it any other way. Family was important. If only the sun would shine so she could get the washing dry.
Dell Beckworth lowered his pack to the ground. Then, rifle in hand, he joined his brother at the edge of the ring wall. Together they looked out at the scene below. "Any idea why our bit of hunting ground is suddenly worth twenty percent more than last year?"
"Nope." Stu kicked away a bit more of the unstable cliff edge. The brothers watched the loose soil and rocks fall to the ground a couple of hundred feet below. "The way we're losing bits of it over the ring wall, I'm surprised anybody wants to buy it."
"Yeah, but the letter came from someone." Dell reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the offending letter and reread it. "Yep. It still says Joachim Schmidt wants to buy our bit of dirt. Any idea who Joachim Schmidt is?"
Stu shook his head. "Nope, and Mrs. G. doesn't know who he is either."
Dell raised his eyebrows at that little tidbit. In his admittedly limited experience, Mrs. Gundelfinger knew everybody and everything that was happening in Grantville. "What? Something the marvelous Mrs. G. doesn't know? That's a first."
"Hey, don't knock her information network, Dell. It saved us a hell of an embarrassing interview when you dropped that letter of credit from the Mehlis City Council right under her feet."
Dell shuddered. That had been a bad moment. "Don't remind me. The way she picked it up. Looked at it, then smiled up at us, and casually asked if we'd bought a bridge recently still gives me the heebie-jeebies."
"Yeah, that was a nasty moment. But things got better when she asked us into her office. Hell, she even paid us something for the information the Mehlis City Council had Derek Modi designing their new bridge. I'd say having Mrs. G. accepting us as clients is the first bit of good luck we've had in years."
Dell folded up the letter and put it away. "Yeah, lucky. From the latest financial report she gave us, we could be out of debt inside ten years." He spat over the edge of the ring wall. "Shit, I'm fifty-five this year. I want to be more than just out of debt in ten years' time."
"Ain't that the truth? Still, if we accept that offer for our bit of hunting ground we could give it to Mrs. G. to invest."
Dell paused to survey what he could see of their land. It was typical West Virginia hill country. Wooded hills that looked like inverted ice-cream cones. "Yeah, except she gave us a 'don't sell' warning even before that letter arrived."
"Makes you wonder what she knows that we don't? But I bet Mr. Too Big For His Britches has the same information."
Dell grinned at the name they had for one of the more successful opportunists in Grantville. Both of them hoped to one day see Mr. Too Big have a Too Big fall. "Yeah, as an ex-county commissioner he'll have the contacts. You think Joachim Schmidt's a front for him?"
"Yeah, I'd bet money, if I had any. It's unusual for the bastard to offer over the odds though. That means he must be in a hurry to close the deal." He cast a curious gaze over their acreage. "I can't think what could raise the value though. You can't build on it. You can't really harvest the timber. It's too much trouble to selectively log, and if you did any clear felling, the hill would slide out from under you." He looked down the slope, towards a rocky outcrop. "The only thing I can think of is that that seam of coal."
Both of them looked in the direction of the dog-hole mine where they'd harvested coal to heat the hunting hut that was now lost up-time. Stu shook his head. "But Mrs. G. says we don't own the coal. The mineral rights on most of our land were owned by the coal company, and they escheated to the government."
"Most of the mineral rights?"
Stu sighed. "Yeah, most. Great-grandfather John Beckworth didn't sell the rights on the piece he bought way back when he first settled in the area."
"Don't tell me. That bit was left up-time."
Stu nodded. "An accurate survey might show some of the bit left behind still holds its mineral rights, but I wouldn't bet on it."
"Shit, our luck stinks," Dell said. "Come on. We've seen all there is to see. We might as well head home. Just keep an eye out for dinner."
"Hurry up and finish your breakfast, Daisy. You don't want to be late."
Daisy struggled to swallow. She shook her head. "No, Mommy." Toddler Haven was a fun place to go, but Mom only let her go one morning a week. She wished it could be more often since most of her friends went there. Daisy rubbed her jaw. It hurt. She looked at the remains of her breakfast. She didn't think she could eat any more, so she slipped from her chair and ran over to give her mother a hug.
Lora hugged her back. Then she helped Daisy and her adopted sister, Regina, into their winter jackets and helped them put on their mittens. Once the girls were dressed for the elements, Lora put on her heavy coat and they set out for Toddler Haven.
* * *
"Mrs. Matheny, Gaby McPherson calling from Toddler Haven . . ."
"Hi, Gaby. I hope Daisy and Regina are behaving themselves."
"Actually, it's about Daisy that I'm calling, Mrs. Matheny. Mrs. Beckworth has taken Daisy to the hospital. She said to tell you to get there as soon as you can. Regina is still here at Toddler Haven, but Mary Moran says she'll take her home with her."
Lora gulped for air. "Can you give me any idea of what's wrong with Daisy, Gaby?"
"Not really, Mrs. Matheny. Daisy complained of neck pains and a sore jaw. And she's wet herself. She was awfully embarrassed about that and the fuss Mrs. Linder and Mary were making. It might just be a bug that's going around, Mrs. Matheny, but Mrs. Linder insisted Daisy should see a doctor."
"Right. Thank you for calling, Gaby, and thank Mary for me. Bye."
Lora hung up the phone and stood staring into the distance.
Aggie placed a hand on her shoulder. "Is something the matter, Lora?"
"They've sent Daisy to the hospital, Gran."
"Come on, we'll have to pack a bag for Daisy in case they want to keep her overnight, and something for you. You'll want to stay with Daisy. Don't worry about Tommy, I'll take care of him." Aggie hesitated. "I'll give your father a call. You don't want to be alone at a time like this."
Dr. Susannah Shipley was nearing the end of her shift in the emergency room when Daisy Matheny was brought in by a panicky Heather Beckworth. By the time Heather finished her description of Daisy's symptoms she was already fearful of the probable diagnosis. Susannah tried to put Daisy at ease while she did a quick examination. She paid special attention to the jaw and abdomen. Next, she asked Daisy whether she had hurt herself recently. Daisy showed Susannah the sore finger she had scraped while picking up snow during a snowball fight. It had happened three days ago. Susannah made a quick mental calculation and came to a shocking conclusion. This little girl was probably going to die. But she wasn't going to give up without a fight.
"Nurse, find me a critical care bed for Daisy Matheny and admit her immediately. I need to call the pharmacy."
Nurse Annette Salerno grabbed a phone and started to make arrangements to admit Daisy.
Susannah used another phone to call the pharmacy. "Raymond? I've got an emergency. Do we have any plasma in stock from someone we know had a tetanus booster shot? The more recent the better."
"What sort of emergency, Susannah?" Raymond Little asked.
"A four-year-old girl with acute tetanus poisoning. I know the patient. She hasn't had any vaccinations against tetanus. She should have had her first DTaP shot just before the Ring of Fire, but she was ill."
"Oh shit! Right. Just a moment and I'll check."
Susannah waited impatiently for Raymond to come back to the phone.
"We've running low, but I can send you a couple of units. The antibody counts might not be very high though. It's been almost four years since the donors had their booster shots."
"That's better than I expected, Raymond. It'll have to do, since it's all we've got."
Dell Beckworth left Lora at Daisy's bedside and made his way to Dr. Shipley's office. "Can you tell me what's wrong with Daisy, Doctor?"
Dr. Susannah Shipley was tired. She tried to sit up straight in her chair. "I'd rather talk to Daisy's mother or father, Mr. Beckworth."
"Well, that'll be a trick. Lora's in there crying over Daisy, and her father's miles away down in Nürnberg."
Susannah slumped a little. "Can you get a message to her father?"
"Oh, shit! It's that bad?"
"We think Daisy has tetanus."
"Tetanus? But surely you can treat that. There're vaccines . . . aren't there?"
Susannah shook her head slowly. "Up-time, there were vaccines and antitoxins and we could always get more. I'm sorry, Dell, but we've run out. We've used what we brought back with us on neonatal cases. We're doing the best we can using plasma taken from some of the last people to get a tetanus shot up-time, but I don't think it'll make much difference in Daisy's case."
"What the hell do you mean you don't think it'll make much difference in Daisy's case?" Dell yelled.
"Everything is happening too fast, Mr. Beckworth. Even if we had the antitoxin, I don't think we could do anything for Daisy. Even up-time, when someone wasn't immunized, tetanus was a very dangerous disease. It's caused by a toxin that kills in extremely low doses. Daisy, from what we can tell, has had more than a lethal amount." Susannah rested her hands on her desk. "I'm sorry, Mr. Beckworth, but I think you should prepare yourself for the fact Daisy isn't going to get better."
"Not get better?" Dell shot to his feet, the chair went flying backwards. "You mean she's going to die? She's too young to die. Daisy's only fucking four years old."
"I'm sorry Mr. Beckworth, but we've doing everything we can. In Daisy's case, I don't think it's going to be enough."
"How much time, Doctor?"
"The speed it's been working, a couple of days, if that."
"Shit!" Dell buried his head in his hands. He sniffed, and pulled out a handkerchief, blew his nose and mopped his eyes. "I better see about getting a message to Lora's husband."
Susannah remained seated. She grabbed a handkerchief and blotted her eyes. Sometimes she really hated her job.
"Hi, Mary. I've come to take Regina home. How is she?"
Mary Moran opened the door to let Stu inside. "She's sleeping just now. But what's happening with Daisy? We were all worried about her at work."
Stu stared blankly at Mary and shook his head.
"Oh, how's Lora coping?"
Stu sighed. "Not very well. Look, I'm sorry, but could you just get Regina, please. Mom's home alone with Lora's kids, and she's not very well herself."
Stu started to worry as he turned to walk up the drive. Lora's house was dark. There should have been lights on. It wasn't that late, and anyway, surely his mother would stay up until she got news of Daisy.
When he arrived at the door he became even more worried. The sound of a child crying could be heard. It sounded as if Tommy had been crying for a long time. It wasn't like his mother to let a child cry like that. He rushed inside.
The sight before him made him jerk. For a moment, in the first flash of light, he'd mistaken the blanket-covered toys on the floor for a body.
Tommy had never been able to settle without his blanket as long as Stu had known him. He picked up the blanket to give it to the baby, but the odor made Stu back off. It smelled as though Tommy hadn't been changed for a while.
Stu was worried about his mother now. There was no way she would let a baby stay wet. He headed for his mother's room, but she wasn't there, either.
Stu paused. The sleeping weight of Regina was somehow comforting, but she was starting to feel heavy. Best to put her to bed before searching for Mom. He headed for the girls' bedroom, then froze. His mother lay curled up on Daisy's bed, some of Daisy's favorite toys gathered in her arms. Beside her, holding her hand, sat Maria Helena.
Maria Helena carefully slipped her hand out of Aggie's and walked over to Regina's bed. She opened the bed covers and gestured to Stu.
The look of calm acceptance in Maria Helena's eyes almost caused him to throw up. He placed Regina on her bed and left her in Maria Helena's capable hands. Then he moved to check his mother. She looked peaceful, too peaceful. He touched her hand. It felt cold. He felt for a pulse. He couldn't find one. Finally, he took her spectacles and held them close to her mouth. No sign of water vapor.
Stu swallowed and turned to check on Maria Helena and Regina. Regina appeared to be sound asleep. Maria Helena met his gaze. Blinking and breaking eye contact he looked around the room before returning to look at Maria Helena. "Benji?" he asked.
Maria Helena pointed up the hall.
"Will you be all right, Maria Helena?"
She nodded.
Feeling guilty for leaving her in the room with a dead body, Stu walked over to Benji's room. Benji was curled up in bed and Stu had to make sure that Benji was just sleeping. He was.
Quietly Stu slipped out of Benji's room, closing the door behind him. He looked at the bed where Maria Helena sat beside her sister. He couldn't leave the two girls in the same room as a dead body. It just didn't seem right, but first things first. He had to get Tommy cleaned up and properly settled.
Jeff Matheny looked at the radiogram with dread. The look Tom Johnson, the radio operator, had given him when he passed it over promised bad news. The fact that the radiogram was folded and sealed suggested the worst of bad news. With great trepidation he broke the seal. He looked to the bottom first, to see who it was from. "Dell." Shit, the only Dell he knew was his father-in-law. Why was his father-in-law sending him a radiogram. He moved his eyes to the main text.
DAISY DYING STOP
TETANUS STOP
GET HERE ASAP STOP
Jeff swallowed. His daughter was sick, and he hadn't known. He looked at the header of the radiogram to see when it had come in. Oh, shit. It's two days old. My daughter may have died without me at her side. And hell, Lora. My family needs me. Jeff set off to tell his boss he was heading for Grantville.
Stu Beckworth stopped walking to turn and look back at his niece's home where friends and family were still gathered to comfort the family. He spat at the ground. "The sooner that bastard goes back to Nürnberg the better."
Dell nodded his agreement. Lora's husband had arrived in Grantville barely in time for the funeral. There might have been some excuse for that, but there was no excuse for the way he ignored the two girls in favor of his sons. "Yeah! The sooner the better. For a moment there, I thought you were going to thump him."
"Believe me, Dell, if you hadn't dragged me away from there I would have done more than thump the bastard. Maria Helena went from excited and animated that her 'father' was coming home to totally lifeless as he walked right past her, and her sister was reduced to tears. I could have killed him there and then."
"Yeah, well, then it was a good thing I dragged you away. There's been enough death in the family for now."
Stu shoved his hands in his jacket pocket and started walking again. Dell fell in beside him. They walked another half mile before Dell broke the silence.
"Why the hell isn't the government doing something to protect the children, Stu? Okay, so they got that smallpox immunization program up and running, but what about tetanus?" Dell stared at the setting sun. "I asked Dr. Shipley after Daisy died. She said she hadn't heard anything. You got any idea what it takes to make a vaccine?"
"No. Do you?"
"No. Dr. Shipley suggested I talk to Dr. Ellis. He was part of the team responsible for the smallpox vaccination. I think I'll drop in after work tomorrow and ask him. You want to come along?"
Stu looked torn. He hesitated, and then shook his head. "I think I'd better hang around Maria Helena and her sister. Maybe the bastard will spend a bit of time with them before he goes back, but just in case he doesn't, I want to be around to let the girls know that they're important."
"Sorry about what happened to Daisy. A real shame that." Dr. Ellis shook his head.
"It's Daisy I wanted to talk to you about."
Dr. Ellis stepped back from the door. "Come on in, Dell. But I have to tell you, I've spoken with Dr. Shipley about Daisy's case, and there was nothing more she could have done."
"Yeah, that's what she told me. But that's not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what it takes to make a vaccine."
Dr. Ellis guided him to a seat before sitting down himself. "I guess you really want to know about a tetanus vaccine, don't you? Well, generally speaking, once you can reproduce the bacteria in the laboratory, making a tetanus vaccine becomes a possibility. The trouble is, the bacteria are anaerobic, meaning that they live under conditions without oxygen. It's damn near impossible to culture the bacteria without developing some special equipment first. I hear Les Blocker is trying to do that, but he's not making a lot of progress."
"The vet? Any idea why he's not making much progress?"
Dr. Ellis shook his head. "Yes, the vet. Veterinarians actually know a lot about vaccines, Dell. The big problem is the lack of trained staff. There just aren't enough trained laboratory technicians. Come into the study and I'll show you what I have on vaccines and vaccinations."
"Hi, Dell. Dr. Blocker's fallen a bit behind. If you'll just wait in the waiting room, he'll see you as soon as he's free."
Dell glanced over towards the waiting area. The first thing he saw was the young girl. He froze for a moment. She looked so much like little Daisy. Backing away from the waiting area he turned to June. "If you don't mind, I'd prefer to wait outside."
Outside the surgery Dell leaned against the wall. The sight of the girl had brought back memories of that night spent beside Daisy's bed praying for a miracle that didn't come. When his breathing returned to normal, he pushed off from the wall and started to look around. The animals in the paddock beside the surgery attracted his attention. He'd always had a bit of a soft spot for the llamas. Or were they alpacas? He'd never really been sure of the difference.
He lean against the fence and he watched one of the animals approach. It didn't appear threatening, so he stood his ground until the llama started to gently butt its head against his chest.
"He wants you to scratch under the halter."
"Dr. Blocker?" Dell asked.
Les leaned forward and scratched the llama. "Call me Les. You're Dell, aren't you? Dr. Ellis told me you might come around asking about vaccines."
"Yeah, I'm Dell. Dr. Ellis told me you were working on a tetanus vaccine. Can I ask how far you've got?"
Les shook his head. "Not very far at all. In fact, we've basically shelved it as too difficult. We just don't have the trained staff. I'm spending half my days trying to train some new veterinarians and the other half tending to animals."
"What will it take to get you back working on a tetanus vaccine?"
The vet pushed away the llama and gave Dell a wry grin. "More than twenty-four hours in every day would be a great place to start. Come on, let's go for a walk. If I hang around the surgery, I'm bound to be called away."
Mrs. G. looked across her desk at the two up-timers who had asked for an urgent appointment. "Herr Beckworth, Herr Beckworth, how may I help you?"
"We want to sell everything we have. We need to raise as much money as we can."
Helene gently tapped a pencil on her desk. "I can't recommend that. Can you tell me why you need the money? There are a number of investments I've recently made that should make a fine return in time."
"We don't have time. Hell, too much time has already been wasted."
"Easy, Dell. Mrs. Gundelfinger deserves to know why we want the money." Stu turned to Helene. "I'm sorry about Dell, Mrs. Gundelfinger. My grandniece, Dell's granddaughter, died last week. She shouldn't have. If she'd been vaccinated, she wouldn't have died. We want to underwrite a research program to produce vaccines like they had up-time."
"Children die, Herr Beckworth, are you sure your research program will do any good?"
"Yeah, I know children die, Mrs. Gundelfinger, but not my grandkids, and not from such a fucking lousy way as tetanus. Not when a simple vaccination can prevent it," Dell answered.
"Tetanus?"
"You probably know it better as lockjaw."
Helene thought a moment. She had seen people die of lockjaw. It wasn't a pretty way to die. She glanced up at the ceiling. Above her office her daughter was taking her nap. She would do anything to prevent her daughter suffering that fate. "You might not need to sell all of your investments, Herr Beckworth. If you can gather people capable of developing such a vaccine, I will help raise the money. Would I be correct in assuming you want the vaccine to be available to the greatest number of people and not just the well-to-do?"
Dell nodded. "Especially the children."
Dr. Emery Ellis surveyed his domain. He had come out of retirement to serve as the first director of research at Daisy Matheny BioLab, the company named after the first up-timer to die of tetanus. Whereas most new businesses struggled to raise capital, Daisy Matheny Biolab hadn't even had a true public offering. Shares had been offered only to selected individuals. People who would rather see affordable health care for all, instead of more money in the bank. There had been a few rumbles from people who hadn't been invited to participate. Emery grinned when he considered the possible social implications of not being a shareholder in Daisy Matheny Biolab. He and his wife were safe. They held a hundred shares.
Lora stood with Tommy in her arms watching the nurse give the children their shots. It wasn't the tetanus vaccine. They weren't even thinking of human trials of that vaccine yet. Maybe next year. Instead, she and the children were being vaccinated against typhoid. It was a double vaccine, a needle and an oral vaccine embedded in a sugar cube.
Maria Helena volunteered to go first. There was no sign of emotion on her young face as she sat quietly waiting for the nurse to finish. Then she stood up and walked over to Stu. Lora bit her lips when their hands met. She was sure money changed hands. She'd have to have words with Uncle Stu about the evils of bribing the children.
Then she watched Benji approach the nurse. Lora braced herself for a repeat of the fuss he'd made for the smallpox vaccination. But Benji surprised her. He couldn't carry "stoic" like Maria Helena, but the expected fuss failed to materialize.
The smile that passed between Uncle Stu and Maria Helena caught her attention. Then she grinned. Of course, that was why Maria Helena had gone first. There was no way Benji was going to appear less brave than a girl.
His dose administered, Benji retreated as far away from the nurse as he could get. He slowly sucked on his sugar cube while he rubbed his arm. That left Regina next in line. Maria Helena moved closer to her sister and held her hand. Regina didn't cry out, but she did give the nurse an accusing "that hurt" look.
That left just Tommy to go. Sucking on his sugar cube, a rare treat given the price of sugar, he kept his face buried in Lora's shoulder through the whole operation.
Benji and Regina ran on ahead, but Uncle Stu was dragged along by Maria Helena pulling at his hand. Lora smiled at the happy picture they made. There had been a special closeness between the two since the night Grandmother Aggie died. These days Maria Helena was almost a typical happy-go-lucky nine-year-old.
Lora had worried about her father. He had felt badly about his inability to do anything to help Daisy and had been the real driving force behind the Daisy Matheny Biolab. Once the biolab was up and running he'd been lost. In the end, he'd taken advantage of some of the contacts he'd developed lobbying for the biolab and gone into business with a gun maker in distant Melis. He was finally showing signs of being over his guilt at not being able to save Daisy. Reading between the lines in his latest letter, Lora was sure he'd found a new woman friend. Well, good luck to him.
Dr. Ellis caught her standing under Prudentia Gentileschi's magnificent portrait of Daisy.
"The artist did an incredible job, Lora. But how did she know what Daisy looked like?"
"Jeff was missing the kids, so we shot some videos and sent them to him in Nürnberg. When Prudentia asked about any pictures we might have of Daisy, Dad sent Jeff a radiogram asking for the tapes. She really caught Daisy."
Dr. Ellis nodded. "Yes. A marvelous memorial for a life lost so young." He gently made to lead Lora away from the painting. "Come, I'm sure your family is wondering what happened to you."
Lora gave the painting one last look before letting Dr. Ellis lead her away.