Kellen
The doctor’s office is bright and overly clean and Mom sits on the table looking agitated. Her back’s straight and she’s frowning at me like she’s not sure who I am. But when I move my chair closer and take her hand, a small smile cracks her discomfort.
“I remember taking you to the doctor’s office when you were a little boy,” she says, tilting her head and squinting. “You had to get a vaccination shot and you were so upset you took this little stuffed bear they had for children in the waiting room and stole the scarf from around its neck and tied it over your arm. When the doctor came in, you ran out of the room. I was shocked, but the receptionist and the doctor all thought it was hilarious.”
“Did I get the shot?”
“I held your butt down and when it was over you said it wasn’t so bad.”
I laugh and she smiles at me. “I don’t remember that at all,” I admit.
“You wouldn’t, dear. You were so little back then. God, I remember when you were tiny. I’d carry you around the house and sing to you. That was back before the house got so big and before we had so many people on staff and it was always quiet at night. I’d sing and walk you around and bounce you and your father would complain that my singing kept him awake. I told him, Orin, if you want to take over the night feedings, be my guest. Otherwise, zip it.”
“I can’t imagine Dad taking that well.”
“He was too tired back then to get rough with me.” She sighs and shakes her head. “And honestly dear, your father rarely raised his voice at me.”
“It was always just me and Cait, wasn’t it?”
He squeezes my hand and there’s a deep sadness in her eyes. “He wasn’t well.”
I want to tell her not to defend that piece of trash and that we’re all better off now that he’s dead, but the doctor comes into the room. He’s a middle-aged man in his forties named Dr. Kennedy with a thin and fit runner’s frame, gray hair cropped short, wire-rim glasses, and that brusque demeanor all doctors must learn at school. He sits down and goes through Mom’s chart.
“Okay, Mrs. Hayle, thank you for coming back. If you remember, we did a lot of tests on you last time. MRI, X-Ray, bloodwork, everything I could think of. You’ve been scanned and drained and poked enough, right?”
Mom laughs lightly. “I don’t know, Doctor. You’re just doing your job.”
“Sweet of you to say.” He clears his throat. “Your scans came back mostly clean. The MRI showed some oddities that I want to follow up with, but nothing we need to worry about right now.”
“Cancer?” Mom asks, looking surprised.
“No, nothing like that.” He glances at me and keeps going. “There were also some strange values on your bloodwork. I want to take another shot at it just to make sure the lab didn’t screw something up. I’ll be honest with you, Mrs. Hayle, I’m not positive what to make of what we found.”
My heart’s beating fast and sweat beads along my back. “Just tell us what you’re thinking, please.”
He turns toward me and looks uncomfortable. “Well, I want to be clear when I say that I’m not completely sure that this is something we need to be concerned about, but the test found a strange amount of mercury in your mother’s blood. An elevated amount. Dangerous levels, to be honest. Does your mother refurbish old clocks or handle mercury in any way? Perhaps she has antiques? Or maybe she eats a lot of fish? An inordinate amount of fish.”
“Mercury?” Mom laughs, shaking her head. “Lord, no, we don’t have anything like that.”
“She barely leaves her room and I don’t think there’s anything old enough to contain mercury in there.” I frown, staring into the distance and mentally going through every piece of furniture and every bit of art. “I can’t think of anything.”
“Her MRI did show some signs of degradation that could be consistent with mercury poisoning. If that’s the case, it might explain her symptoms. Mercury poisoning, is in small doses and over long periods of time, can show up much like dementia. It’s extremely rare however, and I’ll be honest, I had to consult a few colleagues about this because I’ve never seen anything like it, but if this is mercury then we’ll need to treat it immediately. I’m going to take some more blood, get it to a lab for an expedited test, and we’ll have the results later today. If it comes back still elevated, we’ll bring her into the hospital and get started on chelation.”
“Slow down,” I say, shaking my head. “Chelation? Mercury?”
“I know, it’s a lot. Chelation is the process of removing the pathogen from her system. It’s safe, but we’ll go over all the details if it becomes necessary. Right now, let’s focus on getting the blood, confirming the mercury’s presence in her system, and figuring out how it got there at all.”
I stand slowly, blinking rapidly, head dizzy.
“Kellen?” Mom asks.
“I’ll send in Eunika,” I say, heading to the door. “She’s mother’s nurse. She can handle things from here.”
“Are you okay, Mr. Hayle?” Dr. Kennedy follows me into the hall. “I know this is a shock. Are you sure your mother isn’t ever around something that might contain mercury? An old thermometer perhaps? One that’s leaking? I’ll admit, I find it hard to imagine how she got so much mercury in her blood without licking an old gilded clock or eating tons of fish.”
“No, doc, nothing like that.” I look down at my hands and they’re shaking. “Get her tested. Her nurse will be back shortly.”
I walk away, hurrying, heart racing. I’m aware of the doctor watching me the whole time, and I can only guess what he’s thinking.