“Hello kitty” Erin cooed, petting her new kitten’s head. The small black kitten purred quietly. Erin giggled childishly. Erin was sixteen, short for her age, and had a learning disability. She was sitting on the floor of her bedroom, surrounded by bright pink walls covered in purple and yellow flowers.
The back door slammed and Erin jumped up.
“Mommy!” she yelled, racing down the hall. Her curious kitten, Boots, followed her.
“Calm down, Erin.” Erin’s mom said, hugging her. “I’ve only been outside for ten minutes.”
Erin ignored her mom’s protest and giggled again. Erin’s mom pulled away and guided Erin to a kitchen chair. Erin obediently sat down.
“You hungry?” Her mom asked.
“Hungry!” Erin repeated.
“Alright, how about a ham and cheese sandwich?”
Erin nodded happily.
“Cheeeese” she sang.
Erin’s mom made the sandwich and set it on the table in front of Erin.
Erin had eaten half of it when the front door opened.
“Daddy!” Erin screamed, dropping the rest of her sandwich and sprinting to the front door and into her dad’s waiting arms.
“Hey Erin” he greeted her.
“Hi Driscoll” Erin’s mother called from the kitchen. “How was your day?”
“Hey Cathy” Driscoll replied “It was pretty good, how about yours?”
“Good” Cathlene said, coming out of the kitchen.
Erin turned and walked back to her room.
“I’m gonna color!” she yelled to her parents.
“Alright honey” Cathlene called back.
Erin laid down on the floor, her multiple coloring books spread out in front of her. Boots walked into the room and curled up on Erin’s back. Erin giggled.
“Silly kitty” she said affectionately.
Erin turned back to her coloring books, selecting one that was filled with pictures of small animals. She flipped to a page with two puppies playing with a Frisbee and started coloring.
Cathlene and Driscoll walked back into the kitchen, talking in hushed voices.
“Driscoll, what are we going to do?” Cathlene asked “She will be seventeen soon.”
“I know, and then eighteen isn’t too far away”
Cathlene sighed.
“We aren’t going to live forever. Who will take care of her when we’re gone?”
“I don’t know, Cathy. We’ll figure something out”
“When Driscoll? We’re running out of time to plan!”
“Well I saw an ad in the paper today” Driscoll began hesitantly.
“And?” Cathlene asked impatiently.
“Green!” Erin yelled excitedly from her room.
“Well it’s about some new tests that can be run. Maybe we can figure out how to cure Erin. But as I said, they’re new. They could be dangerous.” Driscoll answered, ignoring Erin.
Cathlene rubbed her temple.
“We don’t have any other options. We’ll have to try”
“Where are we going?” Erin asked. She wiggled in the backseat, trying to reach her favorite doll that had fallen onto the floor of the car. Cathlene reached back and handed it to her.
“We’re going to go talk to a doctor.”
Erin made a face.
“It’s going to be a nice doctor. It’ll be fun” Cathlene reassured Erin.
“Fun” Erin repeated, swinging her doll through the air, while she made whooshing noises.
Cathlene, Erin, and Driscoll walked into the reception area and waited until the doctor called them into the examination room.
“Now how old is she?” she doctor asked.
“I’m this many!” Erin cut in, staring at her fingers with a confused look on her face.
“She’s sixteen” Cathlene answered.
After about an hour of more questions from the doctor, he led them into another room which only contained a table, a few chairs, and a quite large machine. The doctor strapped Erin to the table and asked her parents to step out. After they were gone, the doctor began talking to Erin.
“Okay, Erin, this will feel a bit funny, but it won’t hurt a bit. I promise.”
“Funny” Erin replied.
The doctor slid the table under the machine and turned it on.
