AN ANGEL IN THE HEARTLAND (private for Puerilis)

[likes to be babysat]

Our story begins in the little town, of Haven Kansas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haven,_Kansas), in early June of 1966. The current setting, is a private room on the pediatric ward of the town's small, local, general hospital. The time is approximately eleven A.M.

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Four year old, Neil Polisson (Polisson means naughty child in french) was in his hospital bed, and all alone. He knew that he was in a hospital in Kansas, after having been in a car crash while on a cross country trip with his mommy and daddy. Although the small child lived in Manhattan, he had heard of Kansas from having seen THE WIZARD OF OZ on TV. It was where Dorothy, and Toto lived. The movie had terrified him, and it was still causing him occasional nightmares. He wished his mommy would have remained firm, and had never allowed him to watch it in the first place!

Cold and wet, the sad little boy felt miserable, worried, and frustrated. He had neither seen, nor spoken to either of his parents since his admission, and had grown quite concerned. As a matter of fact, whenever he would ask for them, adults would either remain silent, appear uncomfortable and shake their heads, or say, "Don't worry sweetie, it'll be okay...."

Desperately, Neil clutched the old, and worn Teddy Bear that pretty Nurse "Angewa" (Angela in grownup speech) had been kind enough to give him. He lay far over on one side of his bed, while doing his best to avoid the wettest areas of his urine stained sheets. Now close to tears, the small child peered anxiously at the door to his room in hopes that anybody, but especially his parents might walk in, and come to his rescue....

After about one minute, the little boy's prayers were answered as he saw the backside of a womans head pop through the doorway. The head was framed by long, shining, silky, and golden blonde hair. Neil thought the beautiful locks had to belong to Miss "Angewa" who had kind of taken charge of him since his admission, and was his favorite nurse. Mistakenly, he said, "Miss Angewa, I need you.... Can you help me?" A second, or two later however, he became aware of his error when he glanced fully at the very pretty woman that had entered his room. Neil recognized her, and thought that her name was "Awexy", or "Wexy" (Alexia, or Lexy in grownup speech). The little boy thought that she closely resembled Miss "Angewa", except that she seemed younger, and was not nearly as nice. He also remembered that "Angewa" had told him that Miss "Awexy" worked at the hospital as a candystriper. He recalled being told that a candystriper was kind of like a "nurse's helper".

Neil hoped that the candystriper would help him, but trying to be friendly and polite, he said, "Miss Awexy, my name Neil, an' I four.... You know where Miss Angewa be? 'Cause I need her...."

He listened to her reponse, and was surprised when she said, "Young man, Angel is very busy right now. As a matter of fact, she is in the middle of an important meeting with some fancy attorney from New York, and they are talking about you!"

When "Wexy" offered nothing further, and didn't even bother to ask if she could help him herself, Neil found himself feeling disappointed, angry, and hurt. As a large tear rolled from the corner of one of his eyes, the little boy decided to take a risk and said, "I wanna see mama, an' dada, but no one tell me where dey are.... Do you know?" Then, before giving her a chance to respond, the little boy whispered guiltily, "Miss Awexy, I done someting bad, but it accident, an' I not do it on pupose. I pwomise.... Wexy, I wetted de bed.... I sowwy. You mad?"

[Puerilis]

Alex sighed.
Oh my, Angel is going to kill!
“Ehh... sorry... I .... bedwetting?” she stuttered, not knowing how to react to the tears.
Damn scholarship! Instead of enjoying my summer, I need to work at a hospital!
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“Nelson... I mean Neil, well we need to get you out of the bed first.” she said rather grumpy than friendly and lifted him out of the bed to inspect the boy. Yeah, he was wet... very wet! How could that little kid produce that much urine!
“Well, looks like someone needs a bath and new jim-jams.” she said and took him by his hand.

Meanwhile in a small office:
Do you know that feeling that you just can’t stand a person, although you don’t know him or her and just met that guy for the first time?
Well, Angela felt that way when she met the notary of Neil’s parents, a lawyer named John R. Smith. The lawyer, a fat and bald man in a far too tight suit, who had a nose which looked like a potato, was giving her forms, forms and even more forms.
“Well, then sign those two, please, ma’am!” he said. “Those are the last, Mrs Eriksson.”
”It is Miss Eriksson.” said Angel “I never have been married.”
“Oh, but your daughter.”, began the lawyer. That question made this guy even more hateable.
“She is my niece. I take care of her.”, she explained.
“Well, you seem to like children, to get an second one. I mean without a husband and with this small income.”
“My mother was able to raise me, my sister and Alex all alone, depending on a small annuity. I am pretty sure that I can manage that.” she said quit stern and signed the last paper.
“Well, I am sure that you wont have money problems.” said Smith and handed her a paper concerning the money that Neil’s parents had left him.
“Oh my god!” gasped Angel.

[likes to be babysat]

Normally Neil enjoyed bathtime, and he was certainly glad to be free of the cold, wet, and stinky sheets, yet despite being led into a bathroom with a tub he began to grow even more upset. Always insightful, and intelligent he sensed "Awexy's" frustration, disinterest, and irritability. He felt frightened as she started to fill the tub, and then started fumbling, inexpertly with his pajama buttons. Hardly knowing her at all, he felt terribly ashamed at the prospect of her seeing him undressed. Fear, and anxiety got the best of him, and unintentionally, he spoke quite impertinently. He said, "How come you wook wike Miss Angela, but not ack wike her? I no want you see me wifout my jammies.... I embawassed...." Now starting to really cry, Neil yelled, "I want my mommy, I want my daddy, I want Miss Angewa!!!"

[Puerilis]

And then this kid started screaming.
What did I do to deserve this?
“I am Angel’s niece! And now shut up!” she said in a quite harsh tone. “You will get a bath and that is it! Now, get out off your clothes!”
That may have been a little too harsh, but Alex wasn’t really good at handling children. Actually, she was always pretty nervous around them. They were small and vulnerable and she did not know how to act around them.

Meanwhile, Angel said goodbye to that terrible lawyer and walked to the pediatric ward to look after Neil. She did not found him and asked one of the other nurses, who told her that Alex had brought him to the bathroom.
There she knocked on the door and walked in to witness the terrible scenario.
“Alex, could you come out, please.” she said in a strict tone.

Alex turned around.
“Oh, Angel... I ...”, she started.

“Just come out to me.” she said but looked at Neil. “Good morning, sweetie. Can you wait a moment, we will be right back. Just for a few moments, I know you can do that. You are a big boy.” She said smiling.

[likes to be babysat]

For a brief moment as "Awexy" spoke to him harshly, and told him to "SHUT UP!" Neil contemplated running away from her, and right out of the bathroom. He thought, "I fine mama, an' dada myself!" Luckily, just as he was preparing to pull away and bolt, Miss "Angewa" entered the bathroom. Immediately, and with an air of quiet confidence, she firmly but kindly deescalated the situation. Neil's full fledged hysterics quickly subsided to softer sniffles, as he heard her say, “Good morning, sweetie. Can you wait a moment, we will be right back. Just for a few moments, I know you can do that. You are a big boy.”

The little boy nodded his head "YES" in response to "Angewa's" question, and starting to suck his thumb, watched as the two women left the bathroom. Unsure of what to do next, he remembered that Miss "Wexy" had said that he was going to have a bath no matter what, and that he had to get undressed. He wanted to impress his sweet nurse, and he felt badly for having frustrated the candystriper, so despite not yet being able to get his clothes on and off by himself, he decided to try anyway. Unfortuanately, the attempt ended somewhat disastrously. Initially unsuccessful in unbuttoning his pajama shirt, Neil turned his attention to the matching pants. He quickly got tangled up, and tripping landed in a loud, and painful "WHUMP!!" upon the cold tile of the bathroom floor. Feeling physically hurt, frustrated, and ashamed, the little boy hollered, "OWIEEE!!!", and once again began to cry....

[Puerilis]

Angel pulled Alex out and carefully closed the door behind her.
“What do you think you are doing?” she asked her niece in an angry tone. “How shall that boy get used to you, when you act like that?”
“It was not my idea to adopt him.”, Alex answered, she tried to sound hard and strong.
“If your grandmother could hear you, Alex, she would be disappointed. And I am it, too.” she said.
Alex looked down. “Sorry, Angel... you know that I am not calm around children.”, she said.
“This is one of the reasons why I had enlisted you for the children’s ward.”
Then she heard the boy fall down and cry. Angel sighed.
“Well, go to Christine and ask her for work, when you are finished, go home and prepare dinner for us. I will bring the boy, too, if Dr. Slater allows that.”
Alex nodded and sighed.

Angel walked in and saw the crying boy. She bend down.
“Oh, poor Neil, have you fallen down?” she asked him and helped him up. She took a self knitted handkerchief out of her uniform and whipped away the tears. “Come on, stop crying. You are a big boy, eh? And big boys don’t cry.” she said as she lifted him up and smiled at him.

[likes to be babysat]

Somberly nodding his head "YES", Neil said, "I was twying mine Miss Awexy wike she tell me, so she not mad at me no more.... I do what she say, an' I twied take my jammies off, but I can't do de buttons, den I falled down.... Where she go? When I firse seed her today I tought she was you.... She your sista? I no got no bwothas er sistas. Mama say I an' onwy chile...." Then, the little boy tried to muster a smile, and said, "I wike you miss Angewa.... you nice."

[Puerilis]

Angel smiled at Neil. She undid the buttons of his pyjama shirt and helped him out. Then she pulled down his pants and underwear.
“She is my niece. That means she is the daughter of my sister.” she said. “But she looks a lot like me.”
She took her right and dipped it in the soapy water. It was hot but not too hot for the boy.
“Well, she can be nice, but this is all new for her.” she stated and lifted Neil up. “So, here were go. A nice and warm bath for you, honey.” She carefully put him down in the tube. She grabbed a big, white bar of soap and a washcloth. She dipped the cloth into water and started to rub it against the surface of the soap.
“Close your eyes, Neil.” she said and started to clean his face and shoulders.

[likes to be babysat]

Neil did not struggle and stood passively, as Angel with nimble fingers and a practiced hand, easily and quickly stripped him to the bare. Feeling bashful and shy, the little boy blushed, and averted his gaze by looking down and away. Then, making the sweetest, and most adorable attempt to protect his modesty, the child ever so hesitantly placed one hand over his tiny little penis.

The little boy felt himself lifted gently, but securely into the air, before being placed into the wonderfully warm water of the bath. Doing as Miss "Angewa" said, Neil closed his eyes, and then after lettting out a great big sigh, the little four year old, for the first time since the accident, actually allowed himself to finally relax....

He enjoyed letting Angela bathe him as somewhat guiltily he thought to himself, "Wow! She even do it nicer dan mommy!" Sadly, the pleasant moment was ruined, as just the thought of his Mama was once again enough to cause his tears to begin to slowly drip from the corners of each of his mournful and sad, brown, little eyes. Drawing a deep breath, he then nervously turned a woeful and lost, puppy dog like face towards his nurse, and whispered, "Miss Angewa I tink de accident musta been my fault.... I tink mommy an' daddy mad at me, an' dats why dey not seein' me.... I weally sowwy.... Do you tink dey eber gonna fohgive me?" Neil paused, and now overcome with his own sobbing, chokingly said, "M-M-M-Miss Angel, I-I-I ain't n-n-n-neber gonna see 'em again is I...."

[Puerilis]

When Neil started crying, Angel was deeply touched. And old memories came up, the questions about her own father, who passed away before she could not really get to know him. Who never returned from Germany as so many good men did.

Angel bent down to look into Neil’s eyes and gently stroke his face and hair.
“Neil, that is not true. Your parents always will love you and even though they want to be with you, they can’t. I know that is hard... you know, I never knew my daddy, but I am still sure that he love me.” she said to him. “Now stop crying, bunny. You mommy would not like that.”