Quickly Meemaw and I reached my family inside the house.
With hugs, Mom and Mrs. Cooper were loudly greeting each other, while Mr. Cooper and Bob exchanged a friendly handshake.
"There he is, my quarterback and now my hero," Mr. Cooper said as he approached my side and offered his hand in a firm handshake. "Hello, Mr. Cooper, how are you?" I asked politely as I shook his hand.
"Well, son, I'm better now" Mr. Cooper replied cheerfully, patting my shoulder lightly. "Thanks to you and your parents," Mr. Cooper continued with a big smile on his face, turning again to Bob and Mom. "I don't know how to thank you enough, Amy, Bob, really," Mr. Cooper continued to Bob and Mom.
"You don't have to thank us, George, I'm sure you would do the same," Bob replied after greeting Mrs. Cooper and placing the beers on the Cooper's table.
"Yes, George, you and Mary are our first friends here in Texas, it's only natural that if you need help, we'll help you," Mom affirmed with false modesty.
"And thank God for that, or I don't know what would have happened," Mrs. Cooper said cheerfully.
"Well, enough of thanks, the dinner is getting cold," Meemaw interrupted, who hadn't said anything throughout the exchange.
"Thank you," Gabe exclaimed, raising his arms, causing Teddy to give him a light tap on the back of his head.
"You're right, Mom," Mrs. Cooper said quickly, remembering. "Missy, Shelly, Georgie, come to dinner!" she shouted from one side of the dining table, heading to the kitchen, presumably to bring out dinner.
"Please, take a seat," Mr. Cooper said quickly, noticing that we were still standing, and he took his seat as well.
Bob quickly sat across from Mr. Cooper, opened a beer, and passed one to Mr. Cooper.
The first of the Cooper kids to arrive was Sheldon. "Greetings, Mr. and Mrs. Duncan, thank you for helping my dad after his heart attack," he said elegantly, strangely smiling at my parents. "Hi PJ, thanks to you too for your help," he continued more naturally as he approached the same spot at the table as last time.
"You're welcome, Sheldon," Mom replied cheerfully as she also took a seat at the table.
"Where's your sister?" Meemaw asked Sheldon as she took a seat beside him.
"She was behind me," Sheldon said, looking puzzled and searching the corridor behind me.
"PJ!" I heard my name being called as two arms squeezed me from behind. "Thanks for saving Dad," I discovered was Missy, still clinging tightly to my body in a big hug.
Patting her head calmly, I said, "You're welcome, Missy," managing to make her let go of me to greet my parents with a smile before approaching Teddy, who had already taken a seat beside Mom.
"Hi, Missy," Gabe cheerfully said from the kids' table.
"Hello," she replied superficially, then ignored him and talked to Teddy.
Seeing how this answer had surprised my brother, with a bit of pity for him, I took a seat next to Meemaw and Bob.
"Hello," Georgie said, entering the same hallway his siblings had a few moments ago.
"Hey," I greeted back as we fist-bumped.
"Mr. and Mrs. Duncan, thank you for helping my dad," Georgie quickly said.
It seemed the Cooper kids were instructed to thank Mom and Bob.
"You're welcome," Bob said, patting Georgie on the shoulder.
Mrs. Cooper returned from the kitchen, carrying a large pot in her arms, and placed it in the center of the table before taking a seat with a big smile.
Georgie, who now had no place at the table, stood to the side.
Mrs. Cooper, seeing her eldest son standing, quickly turned to Sheldon. "Shelly, please give your seat to Meemaw so Georgie can sit next to PJ," she said calmly with a smile on her face.
"But this is my seat," Sheldon said offended at the idea of giving up his place at the table.
"Listen to your mother," Mr. Cooper said with a forced smile, trying to hide his exasperation.
"But," Sheldon was saying but was interrupted.
"I can sit at that table," Teddy quickly said, getting up from his seat.
"Oh no, honey, that's not necessary," Mrs. Cooper said quickly, giving quick annoyed glances at her younger son.
"It's okay, I'm talking to Missy anyway," Teddy said, trying to reassure Mrs. Cooper.
"Yes, Teddy can sit with me," Missy said cheerfully, taking Teddy's arm.
"Okay," Mrs. Cooper conceded defeat, allowing Georgie to take a seat next to Mom across from me.
Once again, as the last time we were with the Coopers, Mrs. Cooper instructed her youngest daughter to come closer to pray. Mom, to avoid appearing strange in the neighbors' house, called her two younger sons as well. Teddy sat right next to Mom, with Gabe followed by Georgie. While the Coopers, along with Meemaw, gave thanks for the food, the Duncans sat silently with open eyes, waiting for their ritual to end.
"We also want to thank you, God, for placing the Duncans as our neighbors. We thank you for the peace that Amy's experience in her work brings, Bob's kindness and excellent driving skills, and also for PJ's quick thinking and medical knowledge," Mrs. Cooper continued with closed eyes and bowed head. "Amen," she concluded, making her family repeat immediately.
The children, along with Teddy, served themselves food before returning to the smaller table. Dinner continued with the adults discussing their jobs, especially Bob, who, for some reason, piqued Meemaw's interest with tales of infested places. Georgie, eating defensively as if protecting his food from imaginary threats, occasionally commented on the interesting insects that Bob mentioned.
Unable to tolerate the conversation about pests any longer, Mrs. Cooper quickly asked, "And at the hospital, Amy, has anything interesting happened?"
"Oh, not really, well, ever since PJ has been going there, all the nurses seem to adore him," Mom said with a mocking smile.
"PJ has been going to the hospital, why?" Mrs. Cooper asked, concerned.
"I didn't tell you?" Mom asked with obviously false surprise. "It's not much, just that PJ caught the attention of one of the best doctors at the hospital, and they offered him some free tutoring before starting medical school," Mom continued with a hint of humility that only Bob and I recognized as fake.
Surprised, Mrs. Cooper smiled and congratulated me.
"That's impressive, as long as it doesn't affect your practices, of course," Mr. Cooper said with a beer in his hand.
"Yes, one of the conditions was that," Bob agreed with Mr. Cooper, cutting another piece of his meat.
"Yes, that is good, PJ have you already decided which university you want to attend?" Mr. Cooper asked, intrigued.
"I'm not entirely sure yet, but I thought, why not aim high, you know?" I lied, putting on a embarrassed face. "Maybe Harvard," I continued, now feeling more embarrassed as everyone except Sheldon at the table stopped their movements to stare at me in surprise.
"I suppose it's a good school for studying medicine," Sheldon said with a hint of modesty in his voice
"Harvard?" Bob asked in surprise.
"Yeah, I mean, I'm not really sure yet," I lied again, "studying with House ahead of time might look good on my application," I continued, "besides, my grades are very good," I finished.
"That's true, after all, PJ is definitely the best student in the school," Sheldon confirmed with pride "after me of course".
"PJ, a Harvard student," Mom said with an incredulous laugh.
"Harvard is expensive; you'll definitely need that sports scholarship," Bob said, taking a nervous sip of his beer.
"I heard that Harvard's team is really good in the Ivy League; getting a sports scholarship might not be so easy," Mr. Cooper said seriously.
"That's true, you'll have to practice more and study; if you maintain your grades, you might not even need a sports scholarship," Mom said with concern.
Seeing how worried Bob and Mom were getting made me feel bad. I couldn't tell them that if my plans went well, by the time I got to medical school, I'd have enough money not only to pay my tuition but also Teddy's, Gabe's, and the upcoming baby's.
"There's still time, don't worry about it," I said quickly, trying to reassure my parents, and it made them smile appreciatively.
Noticing that the overall mood at the table had dropped a bit, I quickly said, "Today at the clinic with House, we actually saw a very interesting patient, a seven-month-old baby who hadn't received her vaccines," I commented to the table in general.
"Oh my God, really?" Mrs. Cooper said, shocked.
"Yes, the mother didn't seem to believe in vaccines, well, actually in the companies that make them," I continued, involuntarily laughing and shaking my head.
"That happens a lot, especially nowadays, for some reason, parents are losing faith in vaccines," Mom commented, annoyed.*
"Did you know that the word 'vaccine' was coined by Louis Pasteur in eighteen eighty-one?" Sheldon said arrogantly, trying to get everyone's attention.
"And what happened to the baby?" Georgie asked ignoring Sheldon, surprisingly concerned.
"Doctor House convinced the mother to vaccinate the baby," I said, making the majority of people at the table sigh with relief.
Happy to have changed the mood at the table, we all continued with a peaceful dinner.
Late into the night, after finishing dinner, Bob and Mr. Cooper talked with Georgie about football, while Mom and Mrs. Cooper chatted about something else that I couldn't hear.
"Aces, I was wondering, what would have happened if the baby wasn't vaccinated?" Meemaw suddenly asked, apparently recalling the previous conversation and making everyone at the table stop talking.
Surprised by the sudden question, I saw everyone at the table staring at me, including Sheldon. When I exchanged glances with Mom silently, she encouraged me to respond.
"Well, for starters, not having the necessary defenses would put her at greater risk of contracting the disease and, of course, its more severe or fatal forms. She could die from a simple cold, or since her body doesn't have the necessary defenses, it could become a breeding ground, which could be harmful to the people around her," I easily explained, making Mom swell with pride.
"So it's possible she might not have been able to grow up," Meemaw asked sadly.
"Well, there's a possibility, yes, but there could be cases where an unvaccinated person leads a relatively normal life, has fun like everyone else, starts a family, and dies of natural causes," I continued. "The good thing is that House managed to convince the mother to vaccinate the baby," I finished with a small sense of achievement.
"Yes, thank God for Dr. House," Mrs. Cooper said. "Not vaccinating your children," Mrs. Cooper continued, shaking her head in offense, "it's all part of God's plan, which is why He sends us doctors who research vaccines," she affirmed to everyone at the table.
"Having a child without being vaccinated," Meemaw said, also offended. "That's not why children are born, you know," she continued, lowering her voice, "retarded," she whispered.*
I couldn't help it, and a small laugh escaped my lips. "No, Meemaw, that's not why. While having children without being vaccinated could potentially lead to mutated diseases in the baby, but—" I was saying without thinking until my own words hit me.
Could it be? No, He's already been diagnosed with MS, but maybe.
"What's going on?" Mom asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.
Noticing that everyone was staring at me intently, I felt a little embarrassed. "Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts. What was I saying?" I asked the people at the table.
"You were explaining to Meemaw why her theory was wrong," Sheldon quickly responded.
"Oh, yeah, sorry, there could be mutated diseases, but it's very unlikely to cause neurological damage," I finished explaining to Meemaw, still keeping the thought in my head. I'll definitely have to read more about it.
---
Author Thoughts:
As always, I'm not American and certainly not a doctor.
Here ends another chapter. Despite not feeling uncomfortable while writing this chapter, I can say with regret that it's one of the ones I liked the least (the finished result). This chapter won't be edited (I mean, I am not going to change what is written in the for the story, if there is an error I will correct it), but I might post another one during the week to make up for my own feeling of lack of quality. If anyone else feels the same way, I apologize (if I don't post another one during the week, it's because I'll be posting a long one next Sunday; I'll see).
A couple of things I want to clarify: As you can see in this chapter, there's no glossary, but there are some paragraphs with asterisks "*".
1. Today I discovered that the actress who plays Amy Duncan in "Good Luck Charlie" is anti-vaccine and anti-mask during the COVID times (if you're one of those people, I have no respect for you). Let's try to ignore this fact together and continue pretending that the original actress is not that kind of person.
2. I apologize for using the "R" word. Let's understand the historical and situational context in which it was used. The Coopers are a conservative family from Texas, and Connie (Meemaw) is an elderly woman. Obviously, I used the word without the intention of offending anyone, and I hope it stays that way. If the use of the word offends anyone, I sincerely apologize.
This week, I won't set a goal since the last two haven't been met. So, for now, I've decided to give up on that (if I see that this can change for some reason, I'll set a goal again next week).
I think that's it. As always, if you find any errors, please let me know, and I'll correct them immediately.
Leave a comment and a review if you haven't already.
Thank you for reading! :D