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II: Bearing Gifts

Blue light flooded the hallway. In the room, the girl's mother was swiftly being ushered to the side as a crash team hurried in. In quick succession, the scene played out like so many medical dramas, and the whine of a defibrillator pierced the air, followed by a shout of "Clear!"

Francesca Agnelli covered her mouth with her hands and clenched her eyes shut. Another whine. "Clear!"

The darkness closed in around the distressed mother. She was helpless, tucked into the corner as her daughter's body jerked from the currents being sent into her heart. A hand rested on Francesca's shoulder, and she heard the monitors return to life, the single dread tone replaced by frequent, though irregular bleeps. Her sigh joined a chorus of others.

"That was what we were working to prevent," Doctor Gates said, squeezing Francesca's arm. "In her condition, an arrhythmia is one of the big risks."

"We just keep... doing that now?" She couldn't get the sound of the flat-lining monitor and the whining defibrillator out of her head.

"We hope there's a new heart waiting after this storm," Doctor Gates said, facing her and gripping both her arms in his hands.

"Hope someone dies."

"Frankie, everyone dies. Not everyone signs the card. Not everyone lives the right distance away. Not everyone matches." He locked eyes with her. "Hope for the right person to have made this their final wish." He waited for a moment, and when she nodded her head, stood up straight again. "I'll get a status. On everything. Just wait here, and give Gabby all the strength you can. I know you've got it."

He walked away, looking at Mrs. Agnelli, and once out of sight leaned against the wall. "Too close," he breathed, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, he saw Doctor Freddy Bellevue walking towards him, glancing into Gabriella's room. "Freddy, what do you have?"

Almost right on Doctor Bellevue's heels, Francesca's younger sister leaned forward, prompting Freddy to make a less-than-cordial shooing gesture. It did nothing, but he didn't try to pursue it any more. "Littleton radioed in," the other said in a low tone. "The woman just passed away."

His heart sank. "They can't get the heart here now," he said. "They didn't even bother plowing before--"

"You're going to love this," Julia Agnelli remarked.

"Not that I intend for you to come looking for me," I said, "but you know my route. I'm headed straight into town, by way of the fire department. I go straight through Main Street, and into Bethlehem. I pick up 302 and it's a straight shot from there."

"Six hours, Conor," Doctor Lenard said. "Keep repeating that. These papers I'm giving you are just as important as the heart. Lose them, and you better have memorized every bit of information on them."

"My memory's good," I said, tucking the papers into one of my coat pockets and zipping it up tight. "Don't get me wrong. I'm just a little worn out today. So I'll go ahead and make sure I don't lose them." I patted the pocket.

"It's you and them now," he said, nodding to the dogs. "Funny, but I'm not worried."

I lifted the face mask to my nose, and fitted the goggles on my head. "Just keep in mind," I said, "there's probably a bunch of people sitting in front of a radio in North Conway right now who don't share that sentiment." I grinned, though now that I was girded against the elements he didn't see that. I turned and looked out at the dogs. Once the harness was back on, they had been poised, eager. It was as if once again, they knew. I gripped the handles of the sled, and placed my feet on the runners. The dogs had been trained, keeping with the spirit of their names, with commands in Old Norse. I took a deep breath and called out, "Hvata!"

Hearing the command to run, they launched forward. I assisted them with a few kicks to get momentum from the sled, and then the strength of the wheel dogs took over. The red and white plastic cooler strapped firmly to the sled, a laminated picture of Faye from my wallet tucked into the bungee cords holding it on. Her smiling eyes looked up from the photo, reminding me just how important that little red and white container was.

"Christmas Eve," Wesley Gates sighed. "The perfect time for the crazies to come out."

Doctor Bellevue chuckled. "Littleton Hospital's about an hour away on good days. The musher seems to think he can get here in under six. They didn't tell me anything more about what got into this guy's head, but Wes, if he makes it..."

"If he doesn't make it, Freddy," Wesley hissed. "What about if he doesn't?"

Julia shrugged. "The heart's invalid. Just like it would have been if you waited out the storm at this point."

Freddy surprised himself by nodding. "And at this point, our hope is that this guy's as good as the nurse on the radio was assuring me he was. Of course, I'm just as worried as you about his sanity."

"Conor. Snow. Cold. Fireplace. Stove good. Oven good." I glanced down at my cargo, making sure it was not shifting. "Shoot, Faye, should've tried harder to stop me. You could've had them sedate me."

I avoided looking to the vast cemetery flanking me on the right as I passed Dells Road, but then again, that meant gazing to the left. And Ross Funeral Home. "God rest ye merry, gentlemen..." I murmured. "Why did I choose this route?" I opted to just look straight forward and willed mental blinders to both sides of the road. It was this route because it was the quickest way for a dog sled. The highway is only the highway because you can go fast. "...on the highway," I chuckled, finishing my thought out loud.

I was really starting to worry when I passed the Beale House Inn, because after a few minutes with the word sedate swimming around in my head, "Ba-ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba, I wanna be sedated..."

The Ramones. And I hadn't even gotten through Main Street yet.

Doctor Gates grabbed his colleague's arm. "Where are you going?"

"To tell Mrs. Agnelli," Freddy said.

"No!" Wesley hissed. "Freddy, get back here; we can't tell her and then this nut job sleds himself off a cliff in the middle of the storm! This is a hospital, not Six Flags! She's had enough fun on the roller coasters these past two years."

Freddy glanced at Julia, making a confounded gesture. "Hello, Wes! Her spy is hovering right over my blasted shoulder," he huffed. "What do we tell her then? She has to have something to fight for."

"She's got the hope that Gabby can make it through until the roads open to more than the Dog-Man of La Mancha," Wesley replied. "Start prepping for the operation. In six hours, we know whether or not there really are dragons. But for now, normally, all she would have is the hope that her daughter can hold in. She doesn't need to know that Gabby may not need to hold on for quite so long before help arrives. Call it a Christmas surprise."

Julia nodded. "I hate to keep my sister in the dark, but I can handle these roller-coasters better than her. Expect only a penny, and when you get the dollar, it's a hundred times as good."

Snow blanketed the wide open fields of the Bethlehem Country Club as I passed the medieval looking stone club-house. It was still and silent, save for the dogs sounding off to each other, and my soft commands of skynda, or hurry. Every once in a while, though the dogs knew enough when to turn most of the time, I would still call out a turn: hœgri for right, vinstri for left. We continued on, slipping through town with little ceremony. In a few minutes, we were through the center of town and on our way to Twin Mountain.

The town behind us, my thoughts themselves faded for a moment, everything in the background to make way for the name. Bethlehem. The image of the post office, of Faye and I standing there and stamping each Christmas card before placing it in the mailbox to be postmarked from that very simple town with the very special name. I thought of her, looking deeply into the incubator, at a little child. "He warned me." He saved her. David was special, like his namesake. We chose that name long before we were faced with losing him. It meant beloved. And he still was, and now he was a hero like that king.

I started singing it again, this time without irony.

God rest ye merry, gentlemen,

Let nothing you dismay.

Remember Christ our Savior

Was born to us this day,

To save us all from Satan's power

When we were gone astray:

Oh tidings of comfort and joy,

Comfort and joy,

Oh tidings of comfort and joy.

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