Morgan woke up early. The aroma of the fresh coffee seemed stronger than usual, but there was not even a whiff of sizzling bacon as he headed downstairs.Well, that's probably because they're not tickling Skye.
Morgan gets some coffee and tells Maya that he's off to Athens. Tammy's still sleeping, and he tells Maya to tell her where he's gone. (Because, again, it's not like he needs to do administrative work. He can just sneak off to Athens in the morning without telling his wife anything about this plan.)
“Tell her... tell her I need to fulfill a dream.”
“A dream... umm, that sounds exciting. Can I be part of it?”...?! That sure sounds to me like Maya is hitting on Morgan. That might not go too well, though, considering that it took him meeting her twice to remember she worked for the Leontious. He's probably still a little confused as to why this woman in his house who makes him coffee wants to be part of his dream. But he cheerfully tells her he can, without telling her what the dream is, and shoots out the door to the chopper.
Then we get this really sudden scene:
While he was gone, Skye joined Tammy on her usual rounds to a few of the girl’s rooms.
In Becca’s room, Skye was chatting non-stop with her friend. Suddenly she stopped talking and turned to Tammy, “Mom, I feel funny.” Skye collapsed.Well, BAM. We are just moving this story along, aren't we? One second, Morgan's promising Maya she can help him fulfill a dream and enjoying his coffee, the next Skye has collapsed. And then, in the next paragraph, Morgan flies home immediately and Penni tells him the meds aren't working anymore. That entire fulfilling-a-dream-by-going-to-Athens bit seemed like it was going to be important, but there is NO TIME FOR THAT in this story anymore.
Not only is the story progressing fast, but so is Skye's disease. Like... to the point where she was fine this morning, but when she wakes up from being unconscious she'll probably be blind and with dementia. Because I guess if you've been staving off the symptoms for years, when it stops working, they just all attack you at once. So I'm pretty sure they now have to find a cure by like... the afternoon.
Tammy went to her office to get some needed rest, while Morgan spent the entire night in a chair next to Skye, waiting.Was Tammy in her office all night resting? Surely you would think her bed would be a better option...
Then Morgan prays, which he says is "something he hadn’t done in years," but I am almost certain that isn't true. Yup! A little research confirms he prayed at the end of chapter 19, and they made a big deal of it then too. And it hasn't been years since chapter 19. Maybe he just forgot that prayer, although he really shouldn't, because it was answered with an audible voice. I don't know about you, but I think I'd remember that one.
Lord, I plead with You, please let her live a while longer. I have a dream to fulfill, a promise to keep.He didn't even get to stay in Athens as long as he needed to, so he probably couldn't fulfill his dream!
Tammy then shows up next to Morgan, and he calmly tells her:
“Honey, I just figured out why we can’t have children.” His voice was strong, decisive.His answer is that if they hadn't had a miscarriage, they wouldn't have gone on the cruise and met Doctor L. L.
Sigh.
Here's the deal.
I believe that God can and does turn bad, awful, horrible circumstances into opportunities. I believe he can take us from very dark places and use that experience to make us better people, to help heal others, to make a difference in ourselves and the people around us. But that is not the same thing as saying, "God caused us this pain SO THAT we could help others."
Even if I believed that was something God did regularly, it certainly wouldn't be comforting to hear it. It feels terrible when someone tells you that God not only hurt you on purpose, but that they, logically and rationally, have figured out why God hurt you on purpose. You just couldn't see it because you were too busy feeling things or whatever.
At first, Tammy reacts to this news with what I'd consider a completely appropriate response: sarcasm and frustration. But then Morgan logics her around to it by talking about all the good they're doing here and how, by sacrificing their own kids, they can give life to others around them (ignoring the fact that the Hamiltons haven't actually helped anybody yet -- these kids are all still just surviving on leftover meds from before the Hamiltons got there).
The book affirms that, yes, this must be God's reason, because suddenly Skye wakes up, miraculously coherent, and asks for chocolate.
Tammy added, “And Dr. Rozak, have Victoria call the team together. We have work to do. We have lives to save!”Once again, Skye's near-death experience apparently reminds everyone they're supposed to be doing work. What if she's just faking all these seizures to get them to do their job because she knows they'll just slack off otherwise? Skye also tells Morgan that she comes back bearing a message from Jesus: that He heard Morgan's prayer and has a plan.
Zoom ahead to three days later, and Skye is not only not blind and not demented, but she seems to be completely healthy again. Morgan goes to Dr. Rozak and asks her if he could fly Skye around to do a bunch of bucket list things, and Dr. Rozak lectures him a little bit on not avoiding the fact that Skye will die soon. I can only assume he follows that up with, "Oh, right! She's dying! I guess we should work on finding a cure, huh?"
Dr. Rozak finally says Morgan can take Skye, but it's unpredictable:
“Her symptoms are not the same as a usual Batten patient because of the injections. She could test tomorrow and be completely cured, or the disease could be put into advance mode.”Huh. So a sudden recovery wouldn't be all that miraculous, I guess.
Dr. Rozak wants to help Morgan fulfill his/Skye's dream too, so Morgan invites him out for coffee. I hope Maya goes too. She's probably been waiting for three days to find out what this dream is she's supposed to help Morgan fulfill.
Five chapters left. 35 pages. I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
(Chapter 34.)
Wait. Athens? Like, the capital of Greece, where Morgan has enemies? That seems like a brilliant place to go, and to take Skye. Moron.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you entirely about the interpretation of God hurting people to set them up for something else. Though I do also understand as someone who has been hurt in personal ways the temptation to want to believe that there was some purpose behind it. It can be just as upsetting to think God has all this power and allegedly loves you, but sat back and let you go through something awful without it being part of His "plan". That line of thinking can make you feel entirely marginalized and question the point of even having an omniscient, omnipotent God.
So, yeah, this conflict over interpretation has merit but once again, Rothdiener makes sure to quash anything potentially interesting by handing down a ruling of his own. I doubt it would have even occurred to him to articulate what I just did, because that would require having some perspective on life other than one of the privilege that he has shown so often throughout this tripe.