6 – Chowder Surprise (Pt. 1)

 

It had only been a couple weeks since Skye moved in, and not much had changed. She still rarely said more than a few words a day, and often ignored Luke and Clay. The only foods she’d eat were bread, crackers, jelly sandwiches, dry cereal, plain noodles, cookies, and candy. Luke and Clay pushed her to try more foods, but she wouldn’t. And Luke refused to force her to eat something she claimed not to like. From his own experience, he knew doing such a thing would make everything worse. Best to expose her to other foods, and see if she’d naturally take an interest in trying it. Thank God for children’s vitamins, and thank God she liked those.

Skye continued having nightmares most nights. Luke ended up moving back into his old room with her. She slept on the air mattress, he slept in his bed. Allison didn’t need to know.

“Have you looked into getting Skye vaccinated?” Clay asked Luke one morning, on his day off.

It was something Luke kept forgetting to do. “No. I’ll look into it now.”

Clay left Luke alone in the family room to do just that. Luke tapped at his watch and said, “child vaccines near me.”

There wasn’t a single location in Gilran. The nearest one was called “Pharm-Aid” in Redding. There were about six other places in Jefferson, but they were all over two hours away.

“Pharm-Aid, Redding, Jefferson contact information,” Luke said into his watch.

“No contact information found.”

“Seriously?” Luke ran his fingers through his hair. “What about an official website?”

“You can download the official app.”

“Not official app. Official website.”

“No website found. Download the Pharm-Aid app.”

“Fine. Download the Pharm-Aid app.”

The watch downloaded and installed it. “Open Pharm-Aid,” Luke said into his watch.

A small, blank page appeared on the screen of his watch. Luke tapped on it, but nothing happened. He tried saying, “make an appointment.” But that didn’t do anything. Did it not work on his watch? What app didn’t work on a watch? Luke sighed, and searched the house for his phone.

He found it on the kitchen table. He walked back to the family room with it, and successfully opened the app. It lagged, then froze. Luke restarted the app to be met with the same problem. He tried one more time, and managed to get to a “make an appointment” page.

He entered Skye’s name. His name. Their address. It asked for insurance information. Luke selected Medi-Son, hoping the place would accept the low-income insurance he and Skye had. Not knowing what he’d do if they didn’t.

The last page asked him to enter a doctor’s referral number. “What doctor’s referral number?” Luke asked out loud, right as his father sat on the couch next to him.

“Sounds like they require a referral. I’m not surprised.”

“So I have to take her to a doctor first?”

“Yeah. It’s probably a good idea anyway. Get her set up with one before she actually needs one.”

Luke agreed with his father, and set to work finding an available doctor for Skye.

It turned out that Luke, being on low-income insurance, had limited options when it came to finding a doctor for Skye. At least there was one in Redding that accepted Medi-Son. But only one. They also required him to download an app to make an appointment. It wasn’t any better than the Pharm-Aid one.

On the day of the appointment, Luke arrived with Skye fifteen minutes early, as suggested. People filled the waiting room, despite being 10 in the morning. Instead of a proper front desk, there was a handful of kiosks. Luke entered his name and appointment time into one of them. The screen confirmed it with an ETA of 1 hour.

Luke rubbed his forehead, then looked down at Skye, who clutched the leg of his jeans. “We’re gonna be waiting here for awhile.”

Thankfully the light wasn’t bothersome, and Luke had brought an old tablet for Skye to play on. Hopefully that would keep her entertained. He handed it to her, and pulled out his phone. But not before noticing a rather judgmental stare from the woman next to him.

“You know, those are bad for developing children,” the woman said.

“I don’t usually-”

“Kids get hooked on them. It lowers their attention-span. They get all sorts of behavioral problems.”

“It’s only-”

“I used to let my oldest play on it whenever he wanted. You wouldn't believe all the behavioral problems he had. Now I don’t give my kids any screen time. They can get a phone when they’re 12. They’re much better behaved now.”

“That’s great,” Luke said flatly. “I’m only giving it to her because it’s an hour wait.”

“Only an hour? You should’ve brought her a book instead.”

Did Skye know how to read? She hadn’t brought any books with her from her previous homes. Luke never thought to buy any either. He’d never been much for reading. He never got the impression Skye was either.

The woman dug through her obscenely large purse, and handed a small chapter book to a boy not much older than Skye, before pulling a thicker one out. Luke leaned over to Skye and whispered, “Do you know how to read?”

Skye tapped at a bird on the screen, oblivious to his question. With a sigh, Luke returned to his phone.

What felt like two hours later, a doctor came out and called Skye’s name. Skye didn’t look up, earning Luke an “I told you so” smirk from the woman. Luke picked Skye up, and followed the doctor through a door, down a hallway, and into a room. He set her down on the examination table. Her eyes hadn’t left the tablet.

“You really shouldn’t give her that,” the doctor said.

“It’s only for today.” Luke tugged at the tablet. “Come on, Skye. I’ll buy you ice cream later.”

Skye released her grip on it, and Luke put it aside, unsure if Skye even liked ice cream.

The doctor introduced himself as Doctor Clemens. He sat in a stool, a tablet of his own in hand. “What seems to be the trouble?”

“We’re just here for a check-up,” Luke said. “And I wanted to get a referral for all the vaccines she needs.”

“Vaccines?”

“Yes. Measles. Polio. Everything else recommended. She hasn’t had any.”

“Recommended?” Doctor Clemens let out a laugh. “This isn’t the ESA.”

“You don’t think she should be vaccinated?” Luke asked.

“I didn’t vaccinate any of my children. I know some people get paranoid these days, but the risks of getting the diseases outweigh vaccine side effects.”

Luke had heard of the side effects, but he hadn’t experienced any of them. His father often complained about how awful his experience with measles was. How awful polio was. How he wished his parents had vaccinated him. “My dad had some of those diseases. He vaccinated me because of it. He said you can die from-”

“And one of the side effects of these vaccines is death.”

Luke hadn’t heard that. “Really?”

“There was a study done recently. They found out that 100% of people who get vaccinated die.”

That didn’t make sense. “If everyone dies from it, how am I still alive?”

“Give it time. You’ll die eventually.”

Luke scratched his head. “But we all die eventually?”

“Exactly.”

“I think this is one of those ‘correlation does not equal causation’ situations.”

“That may be. But there are other risks. Sickle cell anemia. Down's Syndrome. Turf toe. Sleep apnea. Autism.” Clemens shook his head. “Trust me, you do not want autism. Horrifying disease.”

Luke knew next to nothing about autism, other than autistic people needed someone to take care of them all the time. That they couldn’t talk or dress themselves. That some of them could talk, but only about an obsession. That not a single one had empathy. Luke looked at Skye, who studied the bare wall next to her. She already barely talked, but at least she was somewhat normal, despite her strange fascination with dingy walls.

“My cousin got her son vaccinated when he was a baby,” Clemens continued. “He was diagnosed with autism two years later. He’s always screaming and crying over nothing.”

Luke recalled the accusations of Skye “screaming and crying over nothing.” But it turned out being something. “Have they tried asking him why?”

“You think that kid can talk?” Clemens slumped his shoulders. “It’s sad. I don’t want my kids like that. I’ll write you a referral, but I strongly recommend researching those side effects first before making a decision.”

“Of course.” Luke would talk it over with his dad. He knew his father meant well, but if a doctor thought it was too risky, maybe he shouldn’t.

“If Skye was a sickly child already, I’d recommend it,” Doctor Clemens said after the actual check-up. “But she’s in perfect health. A girl like her will have no problem fighting off measles and diphtheria.”