Montana Hearts by Charlotte Carter Page B

me about?”
    Thoroughly puzzled, his gazed darted around the room in confusion. “I’m the only kid here.”
    â€œWell, let me think.” She placed her fingertip on her chin. “They said he was about six or seven years old and bald as a cucumber.”
    He nodded slowly. “I’m bald.”
    She intentionally waggled her head, making her orange curls bobble back and forth. “Hmm, so you are. I hadn’t noticed. How old are you?”
    â€œSix-and-a-half.”
    â€œWhat a coincidence! Maybe Dr. Zoom can help us out.” She dug into her tote and pulled out the dummy, holding him on the security rail of the boy’s bed.
    â€œVhat are you doing, waking me up from my nap?” Dr. Zoom complained in his fake German voice. “Vhat is this place?” His head spun around, and the little boy giggled.
    â€œIt’s a hospital,” Sarah said.
    â€œVhat? Am I sick? Nobody told me I vas sick.” He grabbed his stethoscope and put it to his chest. “Oh, my, this is very serious.”
    â€œWhat’s serious, Dr. Zoom?”
    He looked up at Sarah, then dropped his head. “I haf no heartbeat.”
    â€œOf course not. You’re a dummy.”
    â€œI’m a vhat?”
    â€œA dummy, but we need your help. We’re looking for a little boy but I don’t know his name.”
    â€œSo?” He leaned over toward the boy. “Vhat’s your name, kid?”
    The child giggled again. “Shane.”
    â€œHe’s Shane! Dr. Zoom, you’ve found him.” She feigned amazement. “Shane’s the cute kid I was looking for.”
    Shane grinned, a smile broad enough that it reached his big blue eyes and made them twinkle. The spark of delight she saw was more reward than most people got from a lifetime of work.
    â€œDat is good. Now I can go back to taking my nap, ya?”
    â€œIf you insist, Dr. Zoom. And thank you so much for your help.”
    She slid the dummy back into her tote. Shane peered over the edge of his bed to watch Dr. Zoom vanish.
    â€œHe’s silly,” the boy said.
    â€œYes, he is. Look what I brought you.” From her tote she pulled out a CUTE KID sticker. “Where do you want this. On your gown? Or right in the middle of your forehead where everyone can see it.”
    â€œI dunno.”
    â€œTell you what. I’ll put the sticker on your gown and paint a pretty flower on your face.”
    His forehead furrowed above what should have been pale eyebrows but were now as hairless as his head. His bloodless lips turned upside down. “A flower?”
    â€œWhat? You don’t like flowers? Hmm…” She did her little jig and twirled around. “Ahoy there, matey! How ’bout a pirate flag instead? Hardy-har-har,” she sang in her best pirate voice, twirling a make-believe mustache.
    â€œYeah.” He grinned, a positively wicked little-boy smile that made Sarah want to pump her fist in the air and cheer. “A pirate flag instead,” he echoed.
    â€œYou got it, cute kid.”
    For the next half hour, Sarah used face paint to create two pirate flags, one on each of his pale cheeks. She talked as she worked, telling him how she’d had chemo, too, and look at her now.
    â€œWill my hair come in orange like yours?” A giggle escaped and he rubbed his bald head as though making a wish on a Yoda doll.
    Laughing along with him, her heart did its own little dance of joy. She gave the boy a quick hug before calling it a day and heading home.
    Home to Kurt and the Rocking R.
    Â 
    Later that afternoon as dinnertime approached, Beth stood at the kitchen counter dressed in shorts and a tanktop. She stared at her grandmother’s fried chicken recipe that she’d written on lined notebook paper.
    â€œIt says to dredge the chicken in flour. What does that mean?” she asked.
    â€œYou roll the chicken pieces in flour.” Not that Sarah thought she was a