“Bette! Oh god, please. Bette!”

I ran back to the room. Bette was pulling herself up out of bed.

“Tina, why are you screaming?” she sighed.

She looked up at me coming through the door with Evan in my arms.

“Evan?”

“Something’s wrong, Bette. She won’t wake up.”

I laid her on the bed and watched as Bette tried to shake her awake.

“Baby, wake up. Wake up.”

“What should we do?” I asked standing over the two of them, “What should we do?”

“911, dial 911!”

I grabbed the phone off the night stand and dialed 911.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“My daughter is unconscious.”

“Is she breathing. Ma’am?”

“Yes, she’s breathing.”

“Did she hit her head, Ma’am?”

“No… I don’t think so.”

“Is she taking any drugs, Ma’am?”

“She’s seven years old!”

“Calm down, Ma’am. What is your address?”

I told the operator the address begging her to hurry.

“A unit is on the way, Ma’am.”

*****

I disconnected the call relying the message to Bette.

“They’re on their way, Babe.”

“She feels so hot.”

Bette cradled Evan in her lap.

*****

Bette cradled Evan in her lap as we sat behind “curtain 5″, as the nurse called it. We had been waiting for five minutes to be seen by a doctor. The paramedics had revived Evan on the way to the hospital. She woke up scared and crying, clinging to Bette.

“Where the ***** is the doctor?” Bette screamed.

“Calm down, babe. I’m sure the doctor is coming.”

“Hello, I’m Dr. Kher.”

“Hi, I’m Tina. This is my wife Bette and our daughter Evan.”

“Such a pretty little girl.”

“Cut the bullshit, okay. We’ve been waiting to see you not flirt with you. So please just examine her.”

“Bette!,” I chastised.

“We’re just really worried about her,” I told the doctor.

“I understand that you’re scared and that she’s scared so let’s just calm down. The temperature the nurse recorded last was 103… does anything hurt, Evan?”

Evan hid her face in Bette’s shoulder.

“I found her in the bathroom throwing up. Then she passed out,” I said to the doctor.

“Did something make you sick, sweetie?”

Again she hid her face. I looked at Bette for help.

“Baby, the doctor is not going to hurt you. He is only trying to help you. You have to tell him if you’re not feeling well,” Bette finally said.

“Please, Evan,” I said.

She looked up at Bette and then at me.

“I feel achy all over.”

*****