Gates.”
Horrified, Tarc said, “Why?! We can’t do anything!”
“I know,” Eva said in a sad monotone, “but you need to learn about cancer.” She looked him in the eye, “I’ll go talk to her. You sit beside me and use your talent to search through her body. You’ll find lumps of… stuff inside of her that isn’t like the tissue around it. Especially in her lungs, so look there first and you’ll feel what it’s like. I’m not going to tell you where else you’ll find it, you can learn that for yourself.”
Eva turned for the door, but Tarc grabbed her arm. “I, I, don’t want to go out there! If I can’t do any good, why should I have to?”
Eva sighed, “You’re not going to be able to help everyone. You need to learn which people you can help and which ones you can’t. And, the ones you can’t help…” Eva blinked a couple of times, “at least deserve your sympathy and some medicine to ease the pain. Come on!” She waved him ahead of her into the great room.
Mrs. Gates sat at the table where Eva usually saw her patients . She looked even more emaciated than she had the last time Tarc had seen her. Eva sat down and then motioned Tarc onto the bench next to her. Reaching out she took Mrs. Gates’ hands and said, “This is my son, Tarc. I’m teaching him how to help people. I hope you won’t mind him sitting in while we talk?”
Gates didn’t respond to this query. Instead she grumbled, “I don’t know why you’d have him sit in while we’re talking. You won’t do anything to help me. You never do!”
Eva said, “I’m so sorry Mrs. Gates. Like I’ve told you before I don’t know of anything I can do to help you other than giving you some teas for the pain. I don’t think anybody can cure you. Even in the ancient days they weren’t very good at curing cancer and they had much more powerful medicines than we do now.”
“I don’t think I have cancer ! I think you don’t even know what’s wrong with me! And even if you did know what was wrong, I don’t think you’d treat me.” Tears started to run down Gates’ cheek and she whispered, “ Why do you hate me?”
Eva sighed, “ I don’t hate you… Here, let me think a moment,” she said closing her eyes.
Terribly uncomfortable with Mrs. Gates bitter and accusatory tone, Tarc tried to ignore it by sending his ghost into her chest to see what was present there. He found several large lumps of tissue that were solid instead of airy like normal lung. There were other smaller ones too. Exploring her heart, he found it to be much like other hearts he had touched with his ghost sense. There weren’t any lumps in it. However, her liver and spleen also had lumps of tissue in them that were different than the rest of the tissue. Her stomach and bowels seemed untouched, but one of her kidneys had a lump in it.
Tarc sat back, surprised. It seemed bizarre that he had been able to find all these lumps so quickly. He had thought that he would have to carefully search through each organ and structure, but there was something about the tissue of the lumps that seem to attract his ghost senses. It seemed a little bit warmer to him and had a kind of bitterness about it. “Bitter,” a word for a taste, seemed weird to be using for something he obviously wasn’t tasting, but he didn’t know how else to describe it.
He thought about it for a moment and realized that people’s stomachs also produced bitter flavors when he touched them with his ghost sense. Not knowing that cancerous tissue is often somewhat acidic, he wondered what this meant.
He focused his mind back on Mrs. Gates, quickly exploring her legs and arms without finding anything. However, when he looked in her head he found another lump of unusual tissue in her brain. As he swept down her neck he suddenly realized that there was something different about the marrow in one of the bones of her spine at the base of her neck. He went on down the spine and found lumps in
Horrified, Tarc said, “Why?! We can’t do anything!”
“I know,” Eva said in a sad monotone, “but you need to learn about cancer.” She looked him in the eye, “I’ll go talk to her. You sit beside me and use your talent to search through her body. You’ll find lumps of… stuff inside of her that isn’t like the tissue around it. Especially in her lungs, so look there first and you’ll feel what it’s like. I’m not going to tell you where else you’ll find it, you can learn that for yourself.”
Eva turned for the door, but Tarc grabbed her arm. “I, I, don’t want to go out there! If I can’t do any good, why should I have to?”
Eva sighed, “You’re not going to be able to help everyone. You need to learn which people you can help and which ones you can’t. And, the ones you can’t help…” Eva blinked a couple of times, “at least deserve your sympathy and some medicine to ease the pain. Come on!” She waved him ahead of her into the great room.
Mrs. Gates sat at the table where Eva usually saw her patients . She looked even more emaciated than she had the last time Tarc had seen her. Eva sat down and then motioned Tarc onto the bench next to her. Reaching out she took Mrs. Gates’ hands and said, “This is my son, Tarc. I’m teaching him how to help people. I hope you won’t mind him sitting in while we talk?”
Gates didn’t respond to this query. Instead she grumbled, “I don’t know why you’d have him sit in while we’re talking. You won’t do anything to help me. You never do!”
Eva said, “I’m so sorry Mrs. Gates. Like I’ve told you before I don’t know of anything I can do to help you other than giving you some teas for the pain. I don’t think anybody can cure you. Even in the ancient days they weren’t very good at curing cancer and they had much more powerful medicines than we do now.”
“I don’t think I have cancer ! I think you don’t even know what’s wrong with me! And even if you did know what was wrong, I don’t think you’d treat me.” Tears started to run down Gates’ cheek and she whispered, “ Why do you hate me?”
Eva sighed, “ I don’t hate you… Here, let me think a moment,” she said closing her eyes.
Terribly uncomfortable with Mrs. Gates bitter and accusatory tone, Tarc tried to ignore it by sending his ghost into her chest to see what was present there. He found several large lumps of tissue that were solid instead of airy like normal lung. There were other smaller ones too. Exploring her heart, he found it to be much like other hearts he had touched with his ghost sense. There weren’t any lumps in it. However, her liver and spleen also had lumps of tissue in them that were different than the rest of the tissue. Her stomach and bowels seemed untouched, but one of her kidneys had a lump in it.
Tarc sat back, surprised. It seemed bizarre that he had been able to find all these lumps so quickly. He had thought that he would have to carefully search through each organ and structure, but there was something about the tissue of the lumps that seem to attract his ghost senses. It seemed a little bit warmer to him and had a kind of bitterness about it. “Bitter,” a word for a taste, seemed weird to be using for something he obviously wasn’t tasting, but he didn’t know how else to describe it.
He thought about it for a moment and realized that people’s stomachs also produced bitter flavors when he touched them with his ghost sense. Not knowing that cancerous tissue is often somewhat acidic, he wondered what this meant.
He focused his mind back on Mrs. Gates, quickly exploring her legs and arms without finding anything. However, when he looked in her head he found another lump of unusual tissue in her brain. As he swept down her neck he suddenly realized that there was something different about the marrow in one of the bones of her spine at the base of her neck. He went on down the spine and found lumps in
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