storypt3

                                                                                                   Part 3

          "Well, if you look at this X-ray of Samantha's arm, there is some odd-looking tissue there. The same thing in her lungs." said the doctor.
          "Which means?" asked Mrs. Daniels.
           The doctor sighed. "The tissue is cancerous. I've seen this many times before, and it's also proved to be cancer." said the doctor.
           Mrs. Daniels gasped and held her hands to her mouth while looking like she was about about to cry.
          "Samantha has . . . cancer?" asked Mr. Daniels.
          "I'm afraid so. Now it hasn't spread too much for treatment yet, but it still needs to be treated before it gets any worst. I suggest starting chemotherapy as soon as possible." said the doctor.
          "Yes, of course." said Mr. Daniels.
           "How in the world did she get cancer? Can she live like this? How is she going to be in terms of all that coughing?" asked Mrs. Daniels.
           "Well, cancer can come from a lot of things. If she doesn't put on sunscreen enough, her skin could get cancer from the ultraviolet sun rays. If she's breathed in any harmful fumes either at home or in school, she could get cancer from that too. She's going to be coughing a lot, but I'll give you medication for that. I'm sorry I had this bad news for you, but it's good that you watched the dog carefully. There's no telling how much worst it would've gotten if you hadn't found it this early." said the doctor.
          Mrs. Daniels walked out of the room and over to Samantha.
         The doctor wrote a prescription for some cough medicine and handed it to Mr. Daniels.
         "Thank you doctor." said Mr. Daniels as he shook the doctor's hand.
         "No problem. I'll call you with the blood test results next week." said the doctor.
         "All right." said Mr. Daniels, then he left the office. Mr. Daniels then took his family home, and Samantha went straight to bed.

         That evening, as Mr. Daniels sat up late, he saw Biscuit going over to his bowl to drink water.
          "Biscuit, here boy, come 'ere." he said to the dog.
          Biscuit finished drinking water and looked over at Mr. Daniels. The dog then growled and barked at him.
          Mr. Daniels stopped calling him and just looked at the dog in surprise. He was always so good-natured before. "What's the matter, boy?" asked Mr. Daniels to the dog.
          Biscuit just growled very low, and walked away.
          "That dog." said Mr. Daniels, then he sat back on the couch.

          The next week, the doctor called with the results. Mrs. Daniels picked up the phone.
           While she was listening, Mr. Daniels stood nearby. He saw his wife's serious expression.
           "Okay, I understand doctor, thank you." she said, then hung up the phone.
            "Hon?" asked Mr. Daniels as he walked over to Mrs. Daniels.
             Then she broke down into tears. "Samantha has Leukemia!" she cried.
             Mr. Daniels came over and held her while she cried. "Our baby has cancer!" she cried.
            Then they heard someone else cry out. They both looked over towards the hallway to the bedrooms and saw Samantha standing there.
            "I have cancer?!" she exclaimed, and began crying loudly.
            "Samantha, baby." said her father, but she ran into her room crying as loud as ever.
             Biscuit ran in there with her.
        She sat on the bed coughing and crying while Biscuit snuggled up next to her. Samantha hugged him and cried on the loving dog as it sat next to her. Poor Samantha was devastated.

         For the next month, Mr. Daniels stayed home from work and watched his daughter suffer with lung cancer, and get bald from her chemotherapy that wasn't helping much at all.

        Then one day he went to the doctor's office. The doctor sat in there as his desk wondering why Mr. Daniels was there.
         "Can I help you Mr. Daniels?" asked the doctor.
          "I hope you can doctor. Samantha is suffering so much; I can't stand it anymore. I need help. I need someone who's just testing a cure for this. I don't care who, just give me a phone number, an address, just something. I can't stand seeing my little girl like this." said Mr. Daniels desperately.
         The doctor sat back in his chair for a moment and thought. "I think I may know someone. These two doctors were working on this cure; I spoke to them a few months ago, so I don't know what's happening now. I only have the addresss, and you'll have to go there." said the doctor.
         "I don't care, as long as it's hope." said Mr. Daniels.
         "Very well then." said the doctor. Then he pulled out a paper from a drawer in his desk and handed it to Mr. Daniels, who looked at it carefully.
          "This place is up north further, huh?" asked Mr. Daniels.
          "Yes it is. It should take you about 2 hours by plane." said the doctor.
          "Thanks doctor, I really appreciate this." said Mr. Daniels, and he left.
           The doctor just looked at him leave, and went back to his deskwork with a heavy sigh.

          At home, Mr. Daniels burst into his house and into his room.
         Mrs. Daniels saw him running and followed him in there. "What's the matter?" she asked.
         "I went to the doctor, and he gave me this paper of these two doctors who are working on a cure for cancer. It's in Northwest Brazil, and I'm goin." said Mr. Daniels.
          "On such short notice?" asked Mrs. Daniels.
          "I have to, it's Samantha's only hope." said Mr. Daniels as he packed a bag. Then he took his bag and rushed out the front door. He gave his wife a quick kiss before he left, and then ran out to the pick-up truck. "Take care of Samantha, I'll be back soon!" said Mr. Daniels, then he drove off to the airport.

       At the airport, he bought a ticket for the next flight out, and took it.
      When he got to his destination, he got into a taxi, and went straight for Veniquia Labs.

        When he got there, it was late afternoon, and he rushed up to the 4th floor where it was said he could find the two doctors he was looking for. Mr. Daniels stopped at a desk where a man was.
        "Can I help you sir?" asked the man.
        "Yes, I'm lookin' for Dr. Crawford and Dr. Neilly." said Mr. Daniels.
        The man looked down at a paper he had in front of him. "All right, second door to the right is Dr. Crawford's office." said the man.
         "Thank you." said Mr. Daniels, and he rushed off.

          Inside Dr. Crawford's office, she and Dr. Neilly were talking.
          Just then, a knock came to the door.
           "Come in." said Dr. Crawford.
           Mr. Daniels then opened the door and came in.
           Dr. Crawford and Dr. Neilly immediately recognized him as the man who wouldn't stop his truck from destroying that very important part of the rainforest.
          Mr. Daniels immediately recognized them as the two people who tried to stop him that day. they all stood in silence for a while.
          "Please, close the door and have a seat, sir." said Dr. Crawford.
           Dr. Neilly folded her arms.
          Mr. Daniels closed the door behind him, and sat in front of Dr. Crawford's desk.
          "Can I help you?" Dr. Crawford courteously asked him.
          "Yes, my name is Mr. Carl Daniels and I really need help. It's my daughter; she's got cancer. I know you two were workin' on a cure, and I'm sure you found that plant somewhere else, and I know that it's just in testin' stages, but my little girl really needs help, please." begged Mr. Daniels.
          Dr. Crawford sat back in her chair. "I'm sorry sir, but we can't help you." she said.
          Mr. Daniels looked confused and distraught at the same time.
          "You see, Mr. Daniels, that plant you destroyed was quite rare, and only grew in that particular part of the forest." said Dr. Neilly.
          "We went that day to collect more of the plant to do further testing in our labs, and to duplicate the chemical agent in the plant that helped reduce the amount of cancer cells. But you wouldn't stop your truck, you couldn't even wait for us to collect the plants." said Dr. Crawford.
          Dr. Neilly then went over to a file cabinet, and pulled out a file. She then dumped the manila folder in front of Mr. Daniels. A big red stamp that read "INCOMPLETE" ran across the middle of it.
          "So you see Mr. Daniels, there is, no cure, anymore." said Dr. Crawford.
          "But my little girl, how am I gonna save her?" Mr. Daniels asked.
          "You should've thought of that before you went on your destructive rampage." said Dr. Neilly.
          "But she didn't have cancer then, or then I didn't know about it." said Mr. Daniels.
          "You should've then thought about all the children in the world who needed that cure, that very special cure. You should've thought about all the mothers, the fathers, and grandparents, and all family members who needed that cure." said Dr. Crawford.
          "I almost had a cure to save my younger brother who had cancer. But because of your ignorance, he died! He died when he was only 16, one more year and he would've graduated from high school. Just one more year." cried Dr. Neilly.
           Dr. Crawford found this to be the reason why Dr. Neilly cried so much that day. "There's nothing more I can do for you Mr. Daniels, now please leave my office." said Dr. Crawford.
           "But . . ."
            "Now." said Dr. Crawford sternly.
             Then Mr. Daniels got up, and walked to the door. He turned around to see Dr. Crawford comforting Dr. Neilly, then he turned back to the door, and left.
           That night, when he got hme, he walked past his daughter's room where Mrs. Daniels was sleeping while holding Samantha in her arms. Tears fell from his face while he went to the back of the house, to the back door.
     Outside, he sat on the back porch chair sadly. If it weren't for his ignorance, he would've had a cure to save his daughter.
      Suddenly, his nice life, wasn't so nice, anymore.

                                                                                     THE END.

turn for a very special dedication