it would show up in his other muscles. The doctor checked over each needle, making sure of its placement.
Landon looked like a human pincushion. But his eyes told her he was no longer afraid … he wasn’t anything but hers. Hers and His. Here we go … Ashley held her breath. The next minute would determine Landon’s health from this point on, for the rest of their days. Please, God … be with us…. Thank You for being with us.
“Alright, looks like we’re ready.” The doctor stepped back and crossed the room to the machine. He pushed a series of buttons and then flicked a small lever.
Ashley had no idea what to listen for. Her dad had explained that the series of beats in a diseased muscle would be different depending on the disease. She only knew that after a minute of listening, the doctor would have the final diagnosis. But for some strange reason the room was silent.
She slid to the edge of her chair, her eyes on the machine and then the doctor and back again. What’s going on? she wanted to ask. But she couldn’t speak or breathe or move or do anything but wait. Please, God … please … not Landon.
“Funny,” the doctor adjusted his glasses and squinted down at the machine. “It’s working.” He checked his paperwork again, and once more looked over the needles sticking out from all over Landon’s body. “Let’s try it again.” He ran through the series of buttons once more, and again flipped the switch.
They all waited, but again the only sound in the room was silence. Ashley exhaled.
Was it possible that this …
Was the silence proof that he might be …
She couldn’t finish her questions, couldn’t ask them or imagine them. The doctor tried a third time, running through the routine exactly as he had before. Again the room screamed with silence. Finally he flipped off the machine and extracted each needle from Landon’s arms and legs.
A minute passed, a minute that felt like an hour or a week, even. But finally when he’d removed every last needle, the doctor shook his head. “Your muscles are absolutely fine.” He smiled big, the thrill of this diagnosis both sincere and complete. “That sound you heard … that beautiful sound of silence? It means you don’t have polymyositis, Mr. Blake. Absolutely not.”
Shouts of joy went off inside Ashley, and she wondered if she could hold herself together on the chair. Thank You, God! It’s a miracle. You gave us a miracle! Landon isn’t going to die from this … he has more to do here still. Thank You, Father.
The doctor was going on about how rare it was for a person to have polymyositis in the lungs, but that the diagnosis would’ve been grim indeed. “I’d say you dodged a bullet.” He gave Landon a hand and helped him sit up.
“It’s a miracle.” Ashley couldn’t stop herself. She hated the idea of chalking this moment up to some random gift of fate. “We prayed, doctor. Every other test showed he might have the disease.”
“Very well,” the man smiled at her — not quite believing the idea, but not wanting to come against it either. “A miracle it is.”
Landon’s expression was frozen, as if he still couldn’t believe what the doctor had said. “If I don’t have it, then … does that … does it mean I’m going to be fine? That … that I can return to work?”
Ashley felt her elation take a dive. Did he have to ask about that now, when they had so much to celebrate? Her dad had already told her that even if Landon didn’t have polymyositis, he had something wrong with his lungs. She wondered if this doctor was aware of that.
The man looked at Landon’s chart, at the notes that had obviously been handed to him from Landon’s other doctors. “From what I can tell, you’re on a permanent disability from fighting fires.” He looked up. “Is that what you’ve been told?”
Ashley closed her eyes and felt her stomach drop to her knees. Dear God,… not now. Please … it’s so much for him to deal with. Help him, Lord.
Of all the verses that might flash in her mind, Ashley was certain this was the only one that could’ve breathed hope into her once again:
I know the plans I have for Landon, daughter … plans to give him a hope and a future.
God still had plans for Landon here on earth — definitely. But