SATURDAY STORY, EMMALEE AND PENNY - LAST CHAPTER!!!

 EMMALEE AND PENNY SATURDAY STORY APRIL 30

I’ve been writing fiction on Saturdays.

This is the last in the story of Emmalee Smith and Penny Krause - teachers at Mount Hood Community College (where I taught from 1980 to 1982)

*****

Last week.  A group went apple picking in Hood River Oregon.  Penny, a biologist, found a pond that was having some problems and took water samples.  But, coming home she was nauseous and sick.  She called her friend Emmalee at 6:00 a.m. and passed out in the car going to the hospital.

*****

Emmalee had dozed off in her chair in the waiting room at Legacy Mount Hood Hospital in Gresham Oregon.  What woke her was that she was being paged.  “Emmalee Smith, please come to the emergency room reception window”.

She jumped up and ran to the window.  

She said, “I’m Emmalee Smith, you paged me?”

The clerk smiled, “Yes, you can go see your friend now.  She’s in room 325.  Go through the double doors and take the elevators on the left to the third floor.”

Emmalee quickly answered “Thank you”, ran back to her chair, grabbed her sketch pad, and headed to the elevator.

*****

Penny Krause remembered little of her past ten hours.  She was sick.  She called Emmalee to take her to the hospital.  And from there there was nothing.

And, now she was in a hospital bed with a tray of food in front of her.  She did remember waking up in the hospital bed with an IV in her arm and an IV pole next to her.  A nurse had greeted her warmly.  

The Nurse said “You are looking pretty good.  How are you feeling?”

Penny smiled “I’m hungry!  But, first a couple of questions.  Where am I, how did I get here, who are you, what’s wrong with me, and can I have eggs and bacon for breakfast?”

The nurse laughed, “My aren't you the inquisitive one!!  Let’s see.  You are in Legacy Mount Hood Hospital in Gresham Oregon”.

Penny broke in, “I teach about a mile from there at Mount Hood Community College”.

Another laugh by the nurse.  “You were brought here early this morning, I think a friend brought you.”

Penny again broke in exuberantly “That must have been Emmalee”.

The nurse continued, “I’ll let the physician assistant, Megan Pieper, tell you about what was wrong (and now seems to be fixed).  It’s three in the afternoon, but I think I can get you a special order of bacon and eggs.  Oh, I’m Helen Osman, and years ago, I started college at Mount Hood Community College and finished my nursing degree at Portland State University and I’ve been working here for five years.  What else can I answer this morning?”  

Nurse Helen Osman had a twinkle in her eye as Penny was recovering quickly.  

Helen picked up the phone next to Penny’s bed and called 4221, the number to the cafeteria.

Penny could only hear Nurse Helen’s side of the conversation.

“Yes, I have a patient who would love to have breakfast.  Is that possible?” (she waited a second), “That’s great - how about two eggs - just a second.”

Helen covered the phone and asked Penny how she wanted her eggs - and Penny said ‘over medium hard’.  

Helen continued on the phone to the cafeteria, “Yes, she wants her eggs over medium-hard, and - just a second.”

Helen asked “How much bacon and do you want it crispy or chewy.”

Penny had the answers “chewy” and “lots”.  

Helen passed that information on.

Next, she asked Penny about something to drink?  

Penny had been trying to cut out sugar to help lose some weight, but today was different.

Penny answered “A super large Dr. Pepper with some ice and a cinnamon roll with extra frosting for dessert”.

Helen finished passing that information on as Emmalee entered the room.  

Seeing Penny sitting up and happy, Emmalee said “Penny you look radiant”.

Penny gleamed.  “That’s because I have an awesome friend who, so I heard, brought me to the hospital early in the morning”.

Emmalee panned, “That sounds like one great friend.  I hope to meet her some day.”

Penny, Emmalee, and Nurse Helen all laughed at that.  Emmalee slid around the IV pole and gave her friend a big hug.  “It's great to see you alive!” she said.

Nurse Helen took Penny’s blood pressure and checked the rest of her vital signs. “You are healthy - and once the PA comes by, I’m thinking you’ll be dismissed.”

Emmalee suddenly blurted, “I have to show you this.”  She grabbed the Oregonian Newspaper out of her purse and showed Penny and Helen the picture taken yesterday when Emmalee, Izaak, and others saved the boy at Multnomah falls.

Helen asked them what happened.  Emmalee and Penny were more than happy to explain about the boy who slipped off the ledge and into the Multnomah Falls gorge and was slipping almost into the falls where he would be smashed against the rocks hundreds of feet below.  Emmalee talked of their friend Izaak making a rope out of belts and how Emmalee climbed over the ledge and rescued the boy with the belt rope.

They talked about Apple Picking.  

Penny sat up all of a sudden “That was it.  That pond had some poison, some toxin.  I got hit hard because I took the water samples.”

Helen nodded but wanted the PA to give the analysis.  Emmalee also was hit with the poison theory and said “I bet that is what is wrong with Roger Johannsen.” 

Helen asked, “So which apple orchard was this?”

Penny answered: “The Farm Place just outside Hood River.  We had a group of seven people picking apples.  And, I thought the pond was dying and smelly so I decided to take water samples.  I have the samples back in my lab on campus.  I started the analysis last night after we got home.

Helen said “I’ve been to the Farm Place in the past.  My kids love the petting zoo.”  She added a bit sheepishly, “and I like the great baked goods and foods at their shop!”.

And, as the three were talking, the physician assistant, Megan Pieper came in.  Fortunately, the floor was fairly empty so Helen didn’t have to rush down the hall to check on others.

The PA explained, “Yes, Penny, you are right on.  You had arsenic poison.  We hit it hard with antibodies and you already are much, much better.  And, yes, you could have died.  When settlers moved into the region one hundred, and fifty years ago, some thought that maybe there would be gold on Mount Hood and other mountains.  At that time, arsenic was used to wash and purify the ore at the mining site to see if it was worth mining.  My guess is that somehow one of those old mining sites has been leaching arsenic into a stream.”

Megan looked at Penny’s fingernails. They were polished, but Megan grabbed a scalpel and scraped off the paint on one of her nails.  She apologized as she scraped, “I hope you have this color at home.  I hate to wreck your latest nail coloring”.

Megan said “Umm - just as I expected.  You do have some poisoning and probably arsenic poisoning.  Normal colors under the fingernails have fine lines that stretch across the nails, but arsenic and a few other toxics change those lines into circles or blobs of white.  See here the blogs under your nail.”

She held up her hand and her nails were not painted and pointed out the fine white lines under her nails.  

The PA went on. “If others have been in the water they may be contaminated, and as that water eventually runs into the Columbia River, that isn’t good.  And, if the water comes off Mount Hood, there might be an old mine or excavation that is leaching arsenic into the streams. We’ll need to contact the Oregon Department of Public Lands to check that out.”

Emmalee immediately got on her phone and searched for ‘The Farm Place’ in Hood River.  Finding the phone number she called it.  It was a busy Sunday afternoon and it took a while before Emmalee got connected with Frieda.

“Hello, Frieda”, started Emmalee.  “This is Emmalee Smith.  I was with Izaak Cortez’s group yesterday.  My friend Penny took water samples from the pond and she got arsenic poisoning.  I’m thinking that might be the problem with your husband Roger.  Penny almost died but did quickly recover.  Please check it out, now.  And put up ‘no trespassing or ‘toxic water’ signs to keep people away from that pool.’

There were a few questions from Frieda about Penny and the poison and the situation, and then Frieda thanked her and promised to get back to her.

And, just then, a lady from the cafeteria came into Penny’s room with a plate of eggs and bacon.  

PA Megan finished with Penny and said “Penny, you can go home.  If you have any symptoms, even minor ones, call the hospital and get checked out, but I think we’ve negated the poison.”

Megan continued, “The hospital will inform the Oregon Department of Public Lands and even though it is Sunday, we have an emergency contact number.  They will get on this probably the first thing tomorrow.  This is definitely a public health crisis if it is on a pick your own orchard that thousands of people could visit.

Penny grinned and asked, “Can I eat my breakfast first?”

They laughed, and Emmalee said, “Hmm - it looks like they gave you extra bacon just for me”.

Another laugh.

Megan and Helen left the room while Penny ate her breakfast and proclaimed, “That just might be the best breakfast I’ve even had”.  

Helen was back in about five minutes with Penny’s robe and things.  “You are dismissed.  I’ll wheel you to the lobby and you can go home.  I’ll be back in ten minutes after you get dressed and take you downstairs”.  

Penny mocked in surprise, “You mean, I can’t keep this awesome hospital gown to wear to class tomorrow?”

Helen deadpanned, “We’d have to charge you an extra thousand dollars if you take the wonderful designer gown from us”.

They laughed.

Helen helped Penny get into the wheelchair, and pushed her to the elevator and down to the first floor. Emmalee ran to get her car while Helen waited with Penny.

They all said ‘goodbye’ as Penny climbed into Emmalee’s car.

“Wow”, said Penny - “that was a scare”. Then it was like a ton of bricks fell on her.  “And, I have water samples in a lab on campus.  And, Raymond was complaining of itching, I think he got into the water too.”

Emmalee said “I’ll call Izaak and he can pass the information on to Raymond and the rest of the group.

*****

Raymond hadn’t been able to eat much.  He was still nauseous and his feet still itched.  He figured he would take time off from work tomorrow and get it checked out.  

He was surprised when Izaak called him and heard about Penny’s bout with arsenic.  He too had been in the water, but not as much as Penny.  He went to an emergency room at Providence Medical Center and said he has arsenic poison.  Of course, the clerk said how he knew, and he relayed Penny’s situation.  They took his word as to the diagnosis and gave him a urine test and inspected his fingernails, both of which indicated arsenic poisoning.  His case was not serious.  They treated him with some antibiotics and soon he was on his way.  

*****

Roger Johannsen on the other hand had a serious case of arsenic poisoning and Frieda left one of their sons (Erick) in charge of the Farm Place and took Roger to Providence Hospital in Hood River.  Because of his longer-term exposure, they put him on antibiotics and hospitalized him overnight and by Monday morning he was much better, but still very weak.  

*****

The Oregon Department of Natural Resources flew drones over Mount Hood.  The drone controller flew over The Farm Place, found the contaminated stream, and followed it up on the mountain.  Along the stream where there normally were grasses and trees, it was bare.  Soon, the drone found the source of arsenic.  Later that week helicopters dropped a team in hazmat suits at the source and they neutralized the toxic, and also neutralized the various streams that came off the mountain (including the one that went through Johannsen’s orchard).

Emmalee and Penny were hailed as heroes on campus because of their rescue of the boy.  Penny was also recognized for her stellar work on the water samples.

All’s well that ends well.

*****

Over the past nine weeks, I have written 59 pages on Emmalee Smith and Penny Krause.  Maybe not a novel, maybe not so good, but a nice long tale!!!

I’ll try something new next week.  (If you want the entire 57 pages, let me know!!!  karenwhite06517@gmail.com) 

Okay, I’ll try a new story next week.

Pollyanna Karen

April 30, 2022