Beggars, Choosers, Finders & Keepers

Shania knocked three times on the window of Mrs. Winnbush’s front door. The curtains over the other side of the glass vibrated a tiny bit. Only a few seconds went by before she saw a light brown eye peak through the curtain. Sophia Teal opened the door with a bright smile on her face. Green and blue braces adorned the top and bottom rows of her teeth. It couldn’t be helped by Shania, but to smile back at the young girl.

“Hey Sophie,” Shania smiled. “Is your gram here?” she asked. Sophia stepped aside and let her in and shook her head.

“Yea. She’s in the kitchen watching The Bold and The Beautiful,” she rolled her eyes playfully and Shania chuckled while lightly shoving the ten-year-old.

“You know you watch it, too.”

“Only because it’s what she’s watching when I get home from practice.”

Both females shook their heads as they made their way into the kitchen. Miss Cynthia Winnbush held a spoon to her mouth absentmindedly for she was completely entranced by Steffy pushing Liam away, but being pulled back into the blonde hunk of a man with pink, ready lips. An amused expression passed over Shania’s face when Mrs. Winnbush made a huge intake of breath when the young couple embraced each other for a hot, searing kiss. Sophia shook her head and sighed dramatically, drawing her grandmother’s attention over to her and Shania.

“Gram, Shania’s here to see you,” she huffed while picking up the beat-up skateboard leaning up against the kitchen’s island. “Can I go outside and skate with Justin and Aaron?” The previous look of embarrassment was replaced with a toothy smile. Mrs. Winnbush rolled her eyes and put her plastic spoon into her pudding cup sitting on the island.

“I don’t know, can you?” she asked with her arms folded across her chest. Sophia huffed and pouted before “fixing” her question.

“May I go outside with Justin and Aaron?”

“I guess you can go and skate around on that safety repellent,” she permitted with a wave of her hand. Shania tried to hold in her laugh at the banter of the old woman and her granddaughter. Sophia stuck her tongue out jokingly and ran through the hallway and out the door. Miss Cynthia greeted Shania after shaking her head at Sophia. “Hello beautiful lady. How are you today? You want some pound cake? I made it this morning,” Miss Cynthia put on a great big smile while pulling the cake from the corner of the counter with the sink and dishwasher. Shania's mouth almost watered at the sight of the moist looking cake. The white frosting was drizzled perfectly about the entire pastry.

“Thanks Miss Cynthia. It’s been a long day. Sorry I didn’t come by yesterday,” she took a seat at a bar stool at the wrap around island. “I got home a little bit later than usual and other events ensued,” she sighed while plopping her face in her hands; held up with her elbows sitting on the granite countertop.

“Oh, that’s fine darlin’,” Miss Cynthia excused, cutting two pieces of the cake and placing them on two saucers. “I saw you speaking to the doctor outside of his house this morning.” She wore a sly grin as she gave Shania her piece and sat down with hers. Shania, however, didn’t miss the sneaky glance Miss Cynthia gave her. The sixty-five year old woman wasn’t a gossip like the other retired people of the neighborhood, but she observed more than the average person it seemed.

“About that…” Shania trailed off. She tried to figure out how to word the situation to her favorite neighbor; more like her best friend. Nothing like this had ever happened before in this town. Even if the infrastructure was fairly new and it was building itself, the event at hand was unusual. “Zain and I found… we found… a boy in the grassland outside of the gates.”

Miss Cynthia furrowed her eyebrows and stopped chewing her food. She put her fork down before responding, “What do you mean you found a boy in the grassland? How did you and Zain just stumble across him?” her voice was disbelieving and almost frenetic.

“Well, it wasn’t completely an accident,” she tried to explain. “On my way home, a dog jumped out in front of my car. I mean I almost hit her!” her voice was now frenzied. “But I got out of the car to check on her and it was like she wanted to show me something because she was practically pulling me towards the tall grass,” she took a pause to breathe.

“So where does Dr. Malik come in?” Miss Cynthia asked innocently. But calling Zain Dr. Malik was just odd to Shania. That was not something he so easily showcased and he didn’t fit in the stereotype; except maybe the “McDreamy” kind.

“Ummm… I left the dog out front and came home to see if I could get someone’s help in finding out what was wrong with her. So since it was after 9o’clock at night and it was a school night, I decided not to bother you and Sophie. Zain was the next best thing,” she shrugged slightly and then put her face into her hands with a grave sigh. “We weren’t expecting to find the little boy lying there covered in blood and bruises. It was just…” she didn’t know what to say so she stopped. Let her make of it what she will.

“What? Where did he come from?” Miss Cynthia probed. The fingers of her left hand ghosted across her lips before taking ahold of an empty mug next to the cookie jar. She had never heard anything so devastating happening in her own backyard. “Have y’all called the police?” Shania quickly shook her head after Miss Cynthia asked.

“No. Zain said we should find out more about him first. I think he’s afraid of them taking him away.”

“And you’re not?”

“Of course I am!” Shania yelled suddenly. Her nerves and emotions were getting the best of her. This was so out of the ordinary. “I just cannot help, but wonder what happened to him. What if something horrible is going on that none of us can even imagine?” Her twang shined with her distress and she had the sudden urge to pee. Whenever Shania was nervous or under pressure her bladder played tricks on her.

“Well, honey; it’s natural to have those feelings. All we can do is pray that something can be done and will be done,” Miss Cynthia pursed her lips as Shania suddenly got up from her stool.

“He's been on my mind ever since I left for work this mornin," she had a far off look in her eye while she said this. Miss Cynthia waited for what was next. "I have to go check on them. Something doesn’t feel right,” she excused herself, and then dashed for the front door with Miss Cynthia not too far behind her.

“Wait just a minute, now!” she yelled with the jolting of her jogging steps. “Calm down and let me come with you. Let’s just see what we can do about this.” When they both stopped just a foot outside of the Winnbush house, Miss Cynthia wrapped her right arm around Shania’s shoulders, and then proceeded to push her hair out of her face along with giving her a loving kiss on the cheek to calm her down.

Shania took a deep breath, but did not understand why she was feeling this way. There was so much there was to know about Nathan and she had no idea on most of the information. The situation was almost completely out of her hands. She wasn’t a control freak, but some things just seemed easier to handle when she had them under control. But as soon as Shania and Miss Cynthia stepped from in between Miss Cynthia’s garden, they both saw Zain pull into his driveway with all four windows of the vehicle rolled down. When Zain stopped and put the car in park, he rolled the windows up two at a time, then turned the car off. He then got out and opened the passenger door behind him. Shania watched as he grabbed something and carefully pulled it out and placed it lightly over his shoulder.

Soon, Miss Cynthia and Shania alike realized that the something he got out of the car was not an it, but he was a person; a child. At once, Shania broke off into a light sprint towards the two males; one of them being unconscious. Miss Cynthia just walked briskly after her, worry etching her facial features. Everything was just so bizarre when events such as this didn’t just fall out of the sky. Even though they identified each other as best friends, Miss Cynthia and Shania treated each other like close family members. Shania was like a daughter to Miss Cynthia. Since Anna died, Miss Cynthia had gained solace in helping Shania with her problems and even giving her advice with her social life; or lack thereof.

Zain turned around from his walkway when he heard quick footsteps approaching Nathan and him. Slowly, his teeth bit into his bottom lip nervously. The look in Shania’s eyes was wary and scared. She placed her hand on the boy’s back as he lied over Zain’s left shoulder; breathing softly. Blood spatters were on both males clothing. What the hell did they do while I was at work, she thought while rubbing his back soothingly. Up and down, up and down. There was not an easy way to give the news that Zain had.

As soon as he saw the blood spewing from Nathan’s mouth more so than his nose, he knew exactly what was going on. No one would expect this of a kid who seems so much healthier in appearance. But that’s so common; it’s just saddening, Zain thought while bobbing his head in the direction of his house. Shania shook her head and followed closely behind him, watching Nathan’s sleeping face. Miss Cynthia quickly went to join them even though she wasn’t invited. She just knew something wasn’t right and she wanted to support Shania. Everyone made their way into the doctor’s house as Zain placed Nathan on the familiar spot on the couch.

“I’ve got some bad news,” Right to the chase, Zain figured. But Shania and Miss Cynthia didn’t see it that way. This vague sentence just worried them both more.

“What’s going on?” Shania almost frantically asked. “Did Nate tell you what happened to him?” She wrung her fingers together nervously. All she could think was the worst possible abuse bestowed upon a child, but what Zain said was so much worse. Like she imagined it would be.

“He has cancer.” The statement was so definite, but so fragile. Miss Cynthia gasped and her hands shot to her chest and mouth. No one had expected such dire news. The senior of the room reached for Shania’s hand and squeezed tightly.

“Wha—” her words stopped short. “How did you diagnose this, honey?” Zain rubbed the back of his neck. He never got used to telling people tragic things, even if they weren’t family of the afflicted or deceased.

“I had just finished feeding the dogs and was heading upstairs to shower when I saw little spots of blood on the floor. Nathan was sitting on the toilet bleeding into one of my hand cloths,” he inhaled and then continued. “When you just spontaneously bleed from both the nose and the gingiva, it usually means one thing. But I’ve never seen anyone bleed from them at the same time. It’s disconcerting to say the least.”

Neither of the women knew what to say. Nathan had not been in their lives long enough for them to feel obligated to do something, but southern hospitality always came through for most that deserved it. They both turned their heads towards him. His chest moved up and down with his breath with his right arm resting over his stomach and his left at his side. There was nothing physically alluding to his sickness.

“What stage of what cancer?” Shania finally questioned. That was the only question she could put together at that moment.

“Umm… I ran a blood test and it seems that he has Acute Myeloid Leukemia. It doesn’t occur in stages, but it spreads through the bloodstream and sometimes takes over an internal organ,” he explained as best as he could.

“O-ok,” she stuttered slightly. “So what happens now? You think we should call the police, now?” It was the thing that made the most sense to her. This child was unspoken for and they had done and found nothing except for the fact that he was terminally ill.

“I suppose that would be best.”

“You suppose?” Shania responded distraughtly. She then let go of Miss Cynthia’s hand — who had been silent since Zain’s explanation of Nathan’s disease. After staring at Zain for a few more seconds, Shania looked away from him as she walked to sit at Nathan’s side on the couch. Lightly, the woman shook him awake. “Nate… Nate… Wake up.”

A groan left his lips along with a crack of bones as he stretched. Foggy green orbs stared back at Shania before the fog was replaced with joy. Nathan’s big smile was shown on his face when he saw her. He’d missed her the entire day. Zain had given him some medicine that made him drowsy and he felt like the medication still had not worn off. He watched closely for Shania’s smile, but hers wasn’t as bright as his. He took notice and his mood was dampened just a little bit.

“Hey, Miss Shani. How was work?” he asked politely.

“It was fine, but I’m tired,” she smiled at him. “I missed you though.” This made the boy’s huge smile return.

“I missed you, too!” His excitement radiated throughout the room. Miss Cynthia almost cooed audibly at the happily, sweet boy. “Zain took me to the doctor’s even when I said not to,” he frowned. “I hate the doctor’s, but I didn’t know Zain was a doctor. He’s ok,” the smile was back, but what he said caused Zain to chuckle lightly and Miss Cynthia to awww shortly. “He gave me medicine that tasted like puke. It made me sleepy, and I still feel tired.”

“You could’ve fooled me there,” both Shania and Zain agreed. Their voices were so contrasting, but they worked together. “How are you feeling?” Shania asked while placing the palm of her hand over his forehead.

“I’m fine. I had a nosebleed today, but it’s nothin’. I get those all the time,” he lightly pinched his nose in between his thumb and index finger. Miss Cynthia and Shania smiled sadly at him while his eyes remained bright and he stayed lying on the sofa. Then Shania looked to Zain not knowing what she wanted him to do in that moment, but wanting him to do something.

“Umm Nathan, I want to introduce you to our neighbor, Mrs. Cynthia Winnbush,” Zain cleared his throat.

“Hi, honey,” Miss Cynthia walked over to Shania and the boy’s side surprised Zain had mentioned her at all. “You can call me Miss Cynthia; I live on the other side of Shania,” she told him with a delighted smile.

“Hi, Miss Cynthia!” Nathan greeted excitedly. But the excitement would not last long because the next question he would be asked Zain was sure would not be to Nathan’s liking.

“Mate?” Nathan looked up to him. “Now would be a reasonable time to tell us what happened to you before we found you,” he trailed off and the room was suddenly silent.

Nathan sat up and looked at Shania and Zain and then turned his head to the new person in the room. It had been a long day. He had told both Shania and Zain earlier that he didn’t want to talk about anything for a while. But it seemed his trip to Zain’s office sped up the process. He figured that it was because of his bleeding earlier. The bleeding was frequent and nothing bad ever came of it, so Nathan didn’t understand why it was such a big deal. The look on his face finally made Shania understand the negation of “ignorance is bliss.”

“You promised!” Nathan yelled abruptly. All at once, he had curled his legs into his chest and folded his arms across his knees with an abysmal expression over his face.

“Nathan, this is a very serious issue. You are sick and we need to know as much as we can before we call the authorities,” Zain’s voice was very firm and commanding.

“I’m not sick. It was just a bleeding fit that I get all the time!” Tears sprang to the little boy’s eyes as he shouted again at Zain. Suddenly, knots formed in Shania’s throat as she began to reflect. Breathing became hard for both Shania and Nathan as the boy’s chest began to expand and collapse in quick sprouts of apprehension and fear.

“When you bleed like that Nathan; it’s a very serious condition taking over your underdeveloped body,” Zain explained. His face was devoid of fear or nervousness like everyone else’s. He succeeded in holding himself together in more ways than one with many different experiences in both his personal life and career. “Instances like this warrant some attention from people like the police and social workers so we can get you all the help you may need.”

“What if they send me away; what if they take Shelley!? I don’t wanna leave! I can’t go back. This isn’t fair!” At the sound of her name, Shelley came around the corner from the kitchen. When she saw Nathan, she ran to him and licked his face, but after feeling the unpleasant atmosphere; Shelley backed away to sit next to Rocko who had come out behind her.

Giant tears started streaming down Nathan’s face at the speed of raindrops in a hurricane. The look of pure heart break and panic broke everyone’s heart. They all showed varied reactions to everything Zain was saying. Shania knew it was inevitable, but her heartstrings pulled and this hit too close to home. Nathan then sobbed and cried like any eleven-year-old would. When he wrapped his arms around himself, Miss Cynthia moved quickly to encompass his body within her own arms. She cooed lightly to him and shushed him while he cried into her chest. Soon, the dam broke. Droplets of salty tears left Shania’s eyes and everything from the year before was rushing back to her. She stood shakily from the couch and asked Zain for the direction of the bathroom. He bit his lip while pointing up the stairs.

The woman excused herself before moving swiftly up the steps without making a sound. Her breathing had become shallow along with her vision. Wet, blurred lines took up her almond shaped eyes. She finally found the first door on the right of the second floor. She walked inside and stood in front of the mirror with an escaped gasp and moan of despair. Composing her emotions was getting harder and harder and Shania’s cool and calm exterior had slipped right between her fingertips.


February 13, 2012 was the third day that Cecilia Chaves had been admitted into the St. Francis Medical Center in Monroe, Louisiana. It was about 47 miles northeast of their home of Jonesboro. The entire family took their minivan up to the hospital that was going to perform the bone marrow transplant procedure for Sra. Chaves. Both Sr. Chaves, Shania’s father, and Shania had taken off work and the youngest; Frida had been excused from school. Each night she stayed in the hospital, a different family member stayed with her. Shania was meant to stay with her the day after her transplant.

Cecilia had been diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia when she was thirteen in 1979. She had been to the doctor’s recently to receive a physical so she could try-out for the freshman cheerleading squad. It was only a few weeks before she received the news of her disease and condition. Thankfully at that time, treatment for blood cancers had been progressing fairly well throughout the seventies. It was also helpful that the cancer was early on and there weren’t any real threats to her life. Cecilia was given the traditional Arsenic trioxide to treat the disease.

Like a miracle, Cecilia went into remission and was able to live a healthy life including joining her high school cheerleading squad. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Her parents and even her doctors’ had assumed the cancer was cured because she had accomplished complete remission throughout high school and her first year of college. In her sophomore year, her white blood cells had failed her and she was once again plagued with life-threatening news. It had only been four years before her first child was born.

Chemotherapy, radiation, and the old trusty Arsenic; once again, Cecilia had become free from the illness. She was relieved to say the least, if only for a little while. So when the cancerous cells showed up again over twenty years later when she was forty-seven years old and she lived with a teenage daughter with the other living life as an adult, both Cecilia and Martín Chaves were gravely surprised. They decided that a bone marrow transplant would be best for her considering that was where the problem lied.

So the night of February 13th was spent between the mother and her first born. Dr. Miller had advised Sra. Chaves to remain admitted so the doctors’ could monitor the progress and success of the transplant. It was a grueling and tiring process, so she spent most of the day after the transplant in bed with Shania answering to her every beck and call. So after kissing her sleeping eldest daughter on the cheek and wrapping her in her arms, the cancer patient lied her head down on her pillow and went to sleep.

But on February 14, 2012, Shania Ana Maria de La Luz Chaves had woken up to a room of silence and stillness.