Lula

Translucent, soft as a spider's web, the tiny speck fell against Molly's cheek. It was an accident that she heard the tiny heart beating against her swollen face. The child opened her eyes for the first time in three days. Her Grandmother grabbed her chest when she saw the miracle, the first sign of life since the accident.

"Please be okay my little one." She leaned over her. The soft cooing blew the silvery fleck into her hair landing it even closer to her ear.

Molly tried to move when she heard the soft flutter of wings. She rolled her blue eyes as far as she could hoping to glimpse the being making the most wonderful symphony for her. A tear drop from her grandmother splashed across her neck distracting her momentarily. She smiled weakly up at the beloved figure, but she couldn't help it, she wished she would sit back down quietly beside her like she had for the entire time she had been in the hospital. It was comforting to feel her the long fingers tangled up in her own, but now, there was magic just outside of her view and she worried the sobbing woman might frighten the creature away from her when she had only just discovered the tiny fluff ball.

There was a flurry of activity. Nurses streamed in around her. A call was placed to her mother who had stepped out and was showering down the hall. Finally a doctor rushed to her bedside and began carefully touching her extremities one at a time.

"Oh, yes dear" she heard a small voice sing to her, "answer their questions. They are all quite distressed."

Molly made an O with her mouth and tried exhaling. Her starchy throat wouldn't work.

"She needs a drink." One of the nurses declared.

All of them turned in circles until finally a paper cup emerged with a bent straw in it. It was pressed to her lips.
As difficult as it had been trying to speak it seemed impossible to suck in even one drop of water. After a minute or two the blinking eyes around her produced a swab with a small wet sponge that tickled all around the inside of Molly's mouth.

"Oh that's better!" She heard the small sing-songy voice again.

"Hello." Molly's voice cracked and everyone smiled and patted each other furiously.

Molly was determined to let the dove like thing know that she was talking to her. She thought though that it might make the doctors nervous if she addressed the bird. They might think she had lost her mind or worse yet, that she was seeing things. She wanted them to know she was quite in her right senses. The bundle of bodies parted and her mother appeared. Her wet hair slapped across Molly and she felt her mother's shoulders shuddering against her chest.

"Mommy." She said managing to somehow put her hand on her mother's back.

It was a full hour before the room settled again. She was propped up with pillows and the television was booming in her head. Looking at the screen made Molly's eyes water. Of course it was mistaken for tears and started another flurry of activity. Molly was too tired to argue and closed her eyes drifting off for the rest of the day. It turned out it was just what she needed. She woke to the smell of chicken soup. It was really just broth, but the salty spoonfuls leaked into the side of her cheeks went down quite smoothly.

"Are you better, then?" Molly was delighted when the bird perched on her eyelash spoke to her.

"Oh my, yes." Her tongue seemed to cooperate.

Her mother sat up beside her. Molly was horrified when she saw that she was attempting to brush the object away. Molly coughed violently, turning a horrifying shade of purple. Grandmother was crying again. Molly sucked the air between her teeth until her throat opened. After what seemed like an hour the doctor finally reassured her mother it was merely patiki eye making the pink blotches and that she was fine.

Molly finally decided that before disaster struck she was going to have to be truthful about her new companion. When her mother left the room she pushed her elbows against the sheets and whispered for her grandmother to come close.

It took some doing, but she finally managed to get the whole thing out. It was exhausting, but when the little thing tickled her grandmother's freckled nose she saw for herself that whole thing was true.

The story circulated like a raging fire. Television crews tried to get into the room. It turned the ward into a circus. The hospital was all too happy when Molly was finally fit to go home. Her mother was worried that if Lula, as she was so named, came home with them, that life would never be the same.

"Well," her grandmother argued steadfastly, "it certainly does not need to be the same." She puffed up her chest declaring, "We may owe our lives to this tiny creature, after all when Lula arrived," it was evident she took great pleasure in saying her name, "that our darling Molly came back to us."

That was the end of the discussion. The four of them made their way past the flashing cameras and microphones. They smiled all the way to the station wagon. They found that they liked being celebrities. With that came new found wealth. They bought tons of things like rubber boots and pogo sticks. It was glorious, more than grandmother could have dreamed of when she prayed for her little one. More than she could have ever dreamed of, but not more than her sweet one deserved.