Tragedy of the Rainforest: Pt. 2 Later on that day, the very man who destroyed that part of the rainforest drove his truck back to PlanCo. Industries to the parking garage. After that, he went into the main office to sign off for the day. "Hey Carl." said one of his co-workers to him. "Hey." Carl said back. In the main office he saw his boss there at his desk. "Afternoon sir." said Carl. His boss looked up."Good day Mr. Daniels. How was the work out there?" he asked. "Pretty good. These two ladies tried to stop me from clearin' that part of the forest, but I had to do my job." said Mr. Carl Daniels. "Very good. Those dang rainforest activists don't know a thing about industry. Good work. So I guess you're signing off for the day." said his boss. "Yes sir I am." said Mr. Daniels. "All right, see you tomorrow then." said his boss returning to the papers at his desk. Carl went over to a paper at the side of the room, signed off, and then left the office. He went out to the employees parking lot and got into his pick-up truck, then he headed up to his home. Mr. Carl Daniels lived in a very nice home in Northeastern Brazil. He drove into his driveway, and went into his house. Inside, he went into the kitchen where his wife, Mrs. Daniels was cooking. She was a little shorter than him, and had short red hair and blue eyes. "Hey honey, how was work?" she asked as she came over to him. They gave each other a quick kiss before Carl answered. "Well, it was just another day at work, what can I say? Where's Samantha?" asked Carl. "She's doin' her homework in her room. She should be done soon." said Mrs. Daniels as she returned to her cooking. "What's for dinner?" he asked as he sat down at a kitchen table. "Beef stew. Mrs. Lanster from across the street gave me her recipe and I just had to try it out here. That woman can cook up a storm." said Mrs. Daniels. "I guess she should be able to, with all 5 of them kids that she got." said Carl. "I guess she should." said Mrs. Daneils with a little laugh. Just then, Carl heard a "Hi Daddy!" come from behind him. He turned around to see his 8-year-old daughter Samantha, come into the room. She had long brown hair, and bright gray eyes. "Well hello there pumpkin." he said. Then he gave his daughter a hug. "How was school today?" he asked. Samantha sat on his lap. "Well, my teacher, Mrs. Patterson had to take Billy Forger out to the principal's office cos he put glue on her seat, and in some girl's hair. Then everyone liked the cookies that I brought from home for snack time, and they all said that mommy bakes good." said Samantha. "Well, no arguments there." smiled Carl. "Are you coming to my ballet recital tomorrow night?" asked Samantha. "Why of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world." said Carl with a smile. "Thanks daddy." said Samantha. A white miniature poodle then ran into the room and up to Samantha. It began barking and jumping up and down. "Samantha, did you forget to walk Biscuit?" asked Carl. "Uh oh! I did!" said Samantha. "Well I suggest you go and walk him now." said Carl. "Okay." said Samantha, and she off of her dad's lap. She then grabbed the leash from the key rack. "Come on Biscuit." said Samantha. "Ah, ah, ah young lady, you know that you can't walk Biscuit by yourself." said Mrs. Daniels. "I'm not, Mrs. Lanster's daughters from across the street are coming over to our side of the street to walk their dog now, see?" said Samantha as she pointed out the window. Mrs. Daniels looked and saw a girl of about Samantha's age walking with another girl of about 17, and a dog. "Okay, go ahead. As long as the oldest girl stays with you two all the way." said Mrs. Daniels. "Okay mom. Bye." she said, and walked out of the door. Mr. and Mrs. Daniels looked at each other, smiled, then turned away. They had a nice life, beautiful home, cute daughter, nice dog, what could possibly go wrong? One day, when Mr. Daniels came home from work and went into his home, he saw his wife sitting on the couch solemnly looking through a magazine as she waited for him to come home.. "Lilian? What's the matter?" he asked as he came over to her. She put the magazine down and sat back on the couch. "It's Samantha, she's sick again." said Mrs. Daniels. "Did she go to the doctor yet?" asked Carl. "No, she's got an appointment for next week." said Mrs. Daniels. Carl looked towards the back of the house where he heard coughing, and was about to go back there. Mrs. Daniels stood up and stopped him. "She's just a little girl, she doesn't understand why she's sick again. Don't mention anything that'll upset her." said Mrs. Daniels as she stood in front of her husband. "What am I supposed to tell her?" asked Carl. "That she's probably just got a bad cold, at least I hope that's all it is." said Mrs. Daniels. Carl glanced at his wife, then went to his daughter's room. She was there on her bed coughing while holding her favorite teddy bear. Carl walked in and stood next to her bed. "Hey pumpkin." he said as he came in. Samantha looked up. "Hey daddy." she said in a raspy voice. Her brown hair was a bit stringy now from perspiration, as it took a lot out of her from all of that coughing. "Is it time for me to get the cough medicine again?" asked Samantha. "Well, I don't know. Your mama is the one who's gonna decide that." said Carl. Samantha then turned over in bed facing her dad. "Why am I sick again?" asked Samantha. "It's probably just a bad cold hon. Nothin' more." said Carl. He sat on the bed next to her and stroked her forehead, which was warm. "You just rest here, okay? I'll get mama for your cough medicine." said Carl. "Ok daddy." said Samantha. Carl then got up and went out to the living room. Carl went up to his wife who looked very worried. He gave her a hug. "Don't worry honey, it'll be all right. The doctor will take good care of her when we see him." said Carl. Biscuit was sitting on the couch as he saw this. Then he got up and ran into Samantha's room. He jumped up onto the bed and laid next to Samantha. "Hey Biscuit." she said with a small smile. Biscuit sniffed her arm that was near him, as if something about it interested him. Mrs. Daniels then came in to give Samantha her cough medicine, and saw this. "What is it Biscuit?" asked Mrs. Daniels. Biscuit just stopped sniffing the arm and turned around to face Mrs. Daniels. He let out a small, "Brrf." as a bark. Mrs. Daniels knew that if something was wrong with Samantha, that Biscuit could tell. She could tell that Biscuit knew something. The next week, Mr. and Mrs. Daniels took Samantha to the doctor. The doctor examined her and did blood tests. He then left Samantha in the exam room for a moment whle he and the parents went into his office right next door to talk. "So, how is she?" asked Mr. Daniels. "She seems to have a respiratory problem. Her lungs don't sound too well, but it could just be certain respiratory infection that could easily be treated with antibiotics. Other than that, she seems to be all right. She's just weak from all of the coughing. The blood tests should give us any definite results within a week." said the doctor. "Well thank you doctor." said Mr. Daniels. "Wait, before we go. I've noticed that our little dog, Biscuit, has been sniffing one of Samantha's arms, as if he didn't like something about it. I was wondering if you had to do an X-ray or anything like that." said Mrs. Daniels. "Oh Lilian, it's only a dog. What could it know? It probably just smells some perfume on her arm, you know dogs hate perfume." said Mr. Carl Daniels. "Well I don't know about that Mr. Daniels. Dogs are very intelligent animals that can detect certain ailments with just their noses. After all, their noses are many times more powerful than a human nose." said the doctor. "What are you suggesting?" asked Mr. Daniels. "That we take Mrs. Daniels' suggestion, just to be on the safe side, and we do X-rays. They couldn't hurt, they can only help." said the doctor. "Well, if you insist. But I really don't think it's necessary." said Mr. Daniels. "Well I do. You go right on ahead and do them doctor." said Mrs. Daniels. "Very well then." said the doctor, and he left the room. "Lilian, this really doesn't make sense." said Carl. "If it means getting our daugher healthy again, it makes all the sense in the world." said Mrs. Daniels, and she left the room. Carl then left too. X-rays were done on Samantha's arms and chest. Then the doctor called them back to the small office about an hour later. The doctor put the X-rays on that X-ray thing on the wall, and put the light on behind it. "It seems as if, Biscuit, was onto something." said the doctor. "What do you mean?" asked Mr. Daniels, looking very intrigued by now. |
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