Mountain Rampage Read Free

looked far too young to be a physician, in the same way Janelle, slender and girlish at twenty-eight, looked far too young to be the mother of a pair of girls six and eight years old.
    Unlike the doctor’s thick, blond locks, Chuck’s sandy-brown hair was thin and sparse, with more than a hint of gray. Crows’ feet cut deep into the sides of Chuck’s blue-gray eyes, the resultof more than two decades of work outdoors on archaeological digs across the Southwest. His lean build contrasted sharply with the linebacker-like physique of the doctor.
    As he crossed the tile floor in his slip-on clogs, the M.D. gave Janelle, in her fitted blouse and form-hugging jeans, a full once-over. Chuck’s eyes went to Janelle as well.
    His young wife was Carmelita all grown up, olive-skinned and slender, dark, lustrous hair framing hazel eyes flecked with gold, a petite, upturned nose, and full lips.
    The doctor stumbled and came to a stop, staring at Janelle.
    Color rose in Chuck’s cheeks as the doctor finally turned his attention to Rosie. “Well, hello there,” he said, bending over the gurney, his voice warm and upbeat.
    Rosie beamed up at him. “Are you a real doctor?”
    â€œWhy, yes. Yes, I am.”
    â€œDo you know how to ski?”
    The doctor cocked his head. “As a matter of fact, I do.”
    Rosie’s words fell over one another. “I knew it. It’s because you live here, isn’t it? Chuck says everybody who lives in the mountains knows how to ski. I get to learn how this winter. My name’s Rosie. My sister learned how last year, but I didn’t because I didn’t want to. But now I want to because we live in the mountains, just like you. In Durango. We don’t live in New Mexico anymore. Do you know where that is?”
    The doctor nodded, providing all the encouragement Rosie needed.
    â€œWe’re living at Y of the Rockies for the summer,” she said. “All summer. It’s a resort. It’s fancy. Chuck says it isn’t, but I think it is. I got to ride a horse. It’s fun. We live in a cabin in the woods. But sometimes it’s boring. But mostly it’s fun.”
    The doctor grinned and put a hand on Rosie’s shoulder to quiet her. He straightened. “I’m Dr. Akers,” he said to Janelle. “What brings you here this evening?”
    â€œRosie—my daughter—” Janelle paused for no more than a millisecond, “ our daughter—got sick. She had a fever. Then, in the middle of the night, she had a seizure of some kind.”
    â€œCan you describe it for me?”
    The doctor looked down at Rosie, his hands on the gurney rails, as Janelle related the scene in the cabin. He turned back to Janelle when she finished.
    â€œThe good news,” he said to her, “is that whatever was troubling Rosie clearly has passed, at least for now, and most likely for good. Your instincts were sound—your description is classic for a pediatric febrile seizure.” He reached into the gurney and stroked Rosie’s upper arm while keeping his eyes on Janelle. “Odds are she picked up a virus and seized when the fever peaked.”
    Chuck glanced away, his thoughts on how much Rosie’s hospital visit—looking increasingly unnecessary—would cost.
    The doctor shone a bright light in Rosie’s eyes, listened to her heartbeat, palpated her abdomen, and ran his hand down the fading patches of red on her arm before turning back toward Janelle. “It’s good you brought her in. Seizures can be dangerous things. At this point, I’d suggest we observe her for a bit before we do any expensive tests. We’ll keep her comfortable, make sure she’s headed in the right direction. That way, if it happens that we’ve got a zebra here, she’ll be where she needs to be.”
    Chuck leaned in to catch the young doctor’s eye. “A zebra?”
    The doctor looked at