Quickly Meemaw and I reached my family ihe house.

  With hugs, Mom and Mrs. Cooper were loudly greeting each other, while Mr. Cooper and Bob exged a friendly handshake.

  "There he is, my quarterbad now my hero," Mr. Cooper said as he approached my side and offered his hand in a firm handshake. "Hello, Mr. Cooper, how are you?" I asked politely as I shook his hand.

  "Well, son, I'm better now" Mr. Cooper replied cheerfully, patting my shoulder lightly. "Thanks to you and your parents," Mr. Cooper tinued with a big smile on his face, turning again to Bob and Mom. "I don't know how to thank you enough, Amy, Bob, really," Mr. Cooper tio Bob and Mom.

  "You don't have to thank us, Gee, I'm sure you would do the same," Bob replied after greeting Mrs. Cooper and pg the beers on the Cooper's table.

  "Yes, Gee, you and Mary are our first friends here in Texas, it's only natural that if you need help, we'll help you," Mom affirmed with false modesty.

  "And thank God for that, or I don't know what would have happened," Mrs. Cooper said cheerfully.

  "Well, enough of thanks, the dinner is getting cold," Meemaw interrupted, who hadn't said anything throughout the exge.

  "Thank you," Gabe excimed, raising his arms, causing Teddy to give him a light tap on the back of his head.

  "You're right, Mom," Mrs. Cooper said quickly, remembering. "Missy, Shelly, Geie, e to dinner!" she shouted from one side of the dining table, heading to the kit, presumably t out dinner.

  "Please, take a seat," Mr. Cooper said quickly, notig that we were still standing, aook his seat as well.

  Bob quickly sat across from Mr. Cooper, opened a beer, and passed oo Mr. Cooper.

  The first of the Cooper kids to arrive was Sheldon. "Greetings, Mr. and Mrs. Dun, thank you for helping my dad after his heart attack," he said elegantly, strangely smiling at my parents. "Hi PJ, thanks to you too for your help," he tinued more naturally as he approached the same spot at the table as st time.

  "You're wele, Sheldon," Mom replied cheerfully as she also took a seat at the table.

  "Where's your sister?" Meemaw asked Sheldon as she took a seat beside him.

  "She was behind me," Sheldon said, looking puzzled and searg the corridor behind me.

  "PJ!" I heard my name being called as two arms squeezed me from behind. "Thanks for saving Dad," I discovered was Missy, still ging tightly to my body in a big hug.

  Patting her head calmly, I said, "You're wele, Missy," managing to make her let go of me to greet my parents with a smile before approag Teddy, who had already taken a seat beside Mom.

  "Hi, Missy," Gabe cheerfully said from the kids' table.

  "Hello," she replied superficially, then ignored him and talked to Teddy.

  Seeing how this answer had surprised my brother, with a bit of pity for him, I took a seat o Meemaw and Bob.

  "Hello," Geie said, entering the same hallway his siblings had a few moments ago.

  "Hey," I greeted back as we fist-bumped.

  "Mr. and Mrs. Dun, thank you for helping my dad," Geie quickly said.

  It seemed the Cooper kids were instructed to thank Mom and Bob.

  "You're wele," Bob said, patting Geie on the shoulder.

  Mrs. Cooper returned from the kit, carrying a rge pot in her arms, and pced it in the ter of the table before taking a seat with a big smile.

  Geie, who now had no pce at the table, stood to the side.

  Mrs. Cooper, seeing her eldest son standing, quickly turo Sheldon. "Shelly, please give your seat to Meemaw so Geie sit o PJ," she said calmly with a smile on her face.

  "But this is my seat," Sheldon said offe the idea of giving up his pce at the table.

  "Listen to your mother," Mr. Cooper said with a forced smile, trying to hide his exasperation.

  "But," Sheldon was saying but was interrupted.

  "I sit at that table," Teddy quickly said, getting up from his seat.

  "Oh no, hohat's not necessary," Mrs. Cooper said quickly, giving quinoyed g her younger son.

  "It's okay, I'm talking to Missy anyway," Teddy said, trying to reassure Mrs. Cooper.

  "Yes, Teddy sit with me," Missy said cheerfully, taking Teddy's arm.

  "Okay," Mrs. Cooper ceded defeat, allowing Geie to take a seat o Mom across from me.

  Once again, as the st time we were with the Coopers, Mrs. Cooper instructed her you daughter to e closer to pray. Mom, to avoid appearing strange in the neighbors' house, called her two younger sons as well. Teddy sat right o Mom, with Gabe followed by Geie. While the Coopers, along with Meemaw, gave thanks for the food, the Duns sat silently with open eyes, waiting for their ritual to end.

  "We also want to thank you, God, for pg the Duns as our neighbors. We thank you for the peace that Amy's experien her work brings, Bob's kindness and excellent driving skills, and also for PJ's quick thinking and medical knowledge," Mrs. Cooper tinued with closed eyes and bowed head. "Amen," she cluded, making her family repeat immediately.

  The children, along with Teddy, served themselves food before returning to the smaller table. Dinner tinued with the adults discussing their jobs, especially Bob, who, for some reason, piqued Meemaw's i with tales of ied pces. Geie, eating defensively as if proteg his food from imaginary threats, occasionally ented oeresting is that Bob mentioned.

  Uo tolerate the versation about pests any longer, Mrs. Cooper quickly asked, "And at the hospital, Amy, has anything iing happened?"

  "Oh, not really, well, ever since PJ has been going there, all the nurses seem to adore him," Mom said with a mog smile.

  "PJ has been going to the hospital, why?" Mrs. Cooper asked, ed.

  "I didn't tell you?" Mom asked with obviously false surprise. "It's not much, just that PJ caught the attention of one of the best doctors at the hospital, and they offered him some free tut before starting medical school," Mom tinued with a hint of humility that only Bob and I reized as fake.

  Surprised, Mrs. Cooper smiled and gratuted me.

  "That's impressive, as long as it doesn't affect your practices, of course," Mr. Cooper said with a beer in his hand.

  "Yes, one of the ditions was that," Bob agreed with Mr. Cooper, cutting another piece of his meat.

  "Yes, that is good, PJ have you already decided whiiversity you want to attend?" Mr. Cooper asked, intrigued.

  "I'm irely sure yet, but I thought, why not aim high, you know?" I lied, putting on a embarrassed face. "Maybe Harvard," I tinued, now feeling more embarrassed as everyone except Sheldon at the table stopped their movements to stare at me in surprise.

  "I suppose it's a good school for studying medie," Sheldon said with a hint of modesty in his voice

  "Harvard?" Bob asked in surprise.

  "Yeah, I mean, I'm not really sure yet," I lied again, "studying with House ahead of time might look good on my application," I tinued, "besides, my grades are very good," I finished.

  "That's true, after all, PJ is defihe best student in the school," Sheldon firmed with pride "after me of course".

  "PJ, a Harvard student," Mom said with an incredulous ugh.

  "Harvard is expensive; you'll definitely hat sports schorship," Bob said, taking a nervous sip of his beer.

  "I heard that Harvard's team is really good in the Ivy League; getting a sports schorship might not be so easy," Mr. Cooper said seriously.

  "That's true, you'll have to practice more and study; if you maintain yrades, you might not even need a sports schorship," Mom said with .

  Seeing how worried Bob and Mom were getting made me feel bad. I couldn't tell them that if my p well, by the time I got to medical school, I'd have enough money not only to pay my tuition but also Teddy's, Gabe's, and the uping baby's.

  "There's still time, don't worry about it," I said quickly, trying to reassure my parents, and it made them smile appreciatively.

  Notig that the overall mood at the table had dropped a bit, I quickly said, "Today at the ic with House, we actually saw a very iing patient, a seven-month-old baby who hadn't received her vaes," I eo the table in general.

  "Oh my God, really?" Mrs. Cooper said, shocked.

  "Yes, the mother didn't seem to believe in vaes, well, actually in the pahat make them," I tinued, involuntarily ughing and shaking my head.

  "That happens a lot, especially nowadays, for some reason, parents are losing faith in vaes," Mom ented, annoyed.*

  "Did you know that the word 'vae' was ed by Louis Pasteur ieey-one?" Sheldon said arrogantly, trying to get everyone's attention.

  "And what happeo the baby?" Geie asked ign Sheldon, surprisingly ed.

  "Doctor House vihe mother to vaate the baby," I said, making the majority of people at the table sigh with relief.

  Happy to have ged the mood at the table, we all tinued with a peaceful dinner.

  Late into the night, after finishing dinner, Bob and Mr. Cooper talked with Geie about football, while Mom and Mrs. Cooper chatted about something else that I couldn't hear.

  "Aces, I was w, what would have happened if the baby wasn't vaated?" Meemaw suddenly asked, apparently recalling the previous versation and making everyo the table stop talking.

  Surprised by the suddeion, I saw everyo the table staring at me, including Sheldon. When I exged gnces with Mom silently, she enced me to respond.

  "Well, for starters, not having the necessary defenses would put her at greater risk of trag the disease and, of course, its more severe or fatal forms. She could die from a simple cold, or since her body doesn't have the necessary defenses, it could bee a breeding ground, which could be harmful to the people around her," I easily expined, making Mom swell with pride.

  "So it's possible she might not have been able to grow up," Meemaw asked sadly.

  "Well, there's a possibility, yes, but there could be cases where an unvaated person leads a retively normal life, has fun like everyone else, starts a family, and dies of natural causes," I tinued. "The good thing is that House mao vihe mother to vaate the baby," I finished with a small sense of achievement.

  "Yes, thank God for Dr. House," Mrs. Cooper said. "Not vaating your children," Mrs. Cooper tinued, shaking her head in offense, "it's all part of God's pn, which is why He sends us doctors who research vaes," she affirmed to everyo the table.

  "Having a child without being vaated," Meemaw said, also offended. "That's not why children are born, you know," she tinued, l her voice, "retarded," she whispered.*

  I couldn't help it, and a small ugh escaped my lips. "No, Meemaw, that's not why. While having children without being vaated could potentially lead to mutated diseases in the baby, but—" I was saying without thinking until my own words hit me.

  Could it be? No, He's already been diagnosed with MS, but maybe.

  "What's going on?" Mom asked, pulli of my thoughts.

  Notig that everyone was staring at me ily, I felt a little embarrassed. "Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts. What was I saying?" I asked the people at the table.

  "You were expining to Meemaw why her theory was wrong," Sheldon quickly responded.

  "Oh, yeah, sorry, there could be mutated diseases, but it's very uo cause neurological damage," I finished expining to Meemaw, still keeping the thought in my head. I'll definitely have to read more about it.

  ---

  Author Thoughts:

  As always, I'm not Ameri aainly not a doctor.

  Here ends another chapter. Despite not feeling unfortable while writing this chapter, I say with regret that it's one of the ones I liked the least (the finished result). This chapter won't be edited (I mean, I am not going to ge what is written in the for the story, if there is an error I will correct it), but I might post another one during the week to make up for my own feeling of ck of quality. If anyone else feels the same way, I apologize (if I don't post another one during the week, it's because I'll be posting a long o Sunday; I'll see).

  A couple of things I want to crify: As you see in this chapter, there's no glossary, but there are some paragraphs with asterisks "*".

  1. Today I discovered that the actress who pys Amy Dun in "Good Luck Charlie" is anti-vae and anti-mask during the COVID times (if you're one of those people, I have no respect for you). Let's try to ighis fact together and tinue pretending that the inal actress is not that kind of person.2. I apologize for using the "R" word. Let's uand the historical and situational text in which it was used. The Coopers are a servative family from Texas, and ie (Meemaw) is an elderly woman. Obviously, I used the word without the iion of offending anyone, and I hope it stays that way. If the use of the word offends anyone, I sincerely apologize.

  This week, I won't set a goal sihe st two haven't bee. So, for now, I've decided to give up on that (if I see that this ge for some reason, I'll set a goal agai week).

  I think that's it. As always, if you find any errors, please let me know, and I'll correct them immediately.

  Leave a ent and a review if you haven't already.

  Thank you for reading! :D