CHAPTER 10 – NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED
Nancy Dows, wondering about the vagaries of human life.
03:09 (Washington Time)
Friday, December 20, 1996 ‘C’
Bethesda Naval Hospital, Maryland
U.S.A.
Lieutenant (Navy) Denise Warren, a senior nurse at the Bethesda Naval Hospital, was doing a night round of the wards of the hospital, making sure that the patients were asleep and not in pain. Due to the war that had recently been fought against Russia, the hospital was full, with over 1,600 patients being cared for, many of them in critical conditions or having been amputated of at least one limb. The ones that made Denise most sorrowful were however the burn victims, whose suffering was both atrocious and relentless. Denise was in fact heading towards the burns section, where the nurses of that department had been swamped for weeks now and desperately needed help.
Leaving the main hallway and entering the burns unit, Denise abruptly stopped, while indignation filled her: the nurse at the duty station was apparently asleep, slouched over her reception desk. Walking quickly to the duty station, Denise then shook the nurse none too gently but restrained the level of her voice, in order not to wake the patients.
‘’Come on, Wierman, wake up! I said wake up!’’
When she got no reaction from the nurse, Denise started to get suspicious and checked her pulse and breathing. Thankfully, Ensign Wierman proved to be alive but unconscious. Denise’s first thought was to call the security section but she decided to wait before doing that: the raucous that would create would surely wake all the patients in this department and maybe in the rest of the hospital. Grabbing one of the flashlights resting on the duty desk, Denise firmly held it while starting to inspect the various patients’ rooms of the burns section. Apart from providing her with an extra source of light if needed, the flashlight was both long and of sturdy construction, thus could be used as a bludgeon if she ever faced an intruder.
As Denise was about to enter a large ward reserved for female patients, she saw a white silhouette standing inside the ward. Her heart accelerating and becoming ready to use her pocket radio, she cautiously and silently approached the glass door of the ward and looked at the person standing in the alley running between the two opposite rows of beds. That was when the intruder slowly turned around and looked calmly at Denise. That intruder was definitely a woman, and a tall one, but her accoutrement surprised and confused Denise: the intruder wore a white and gold full-face mask, a long white gown and a pair of white gloves. Furthermore, the mask appeared to be a rather fancy one, with golden engravings of the kind Denise had seen once at a carnival party in Venice, Italy. Then, the intruder spoke in a soft voice.
‘’Don’t worry, Nurse: I came to help.’’
Before Denise could reply to that, the intruder raised both hands high in the air and her body started shining brightly from the inside. Within a couple of seconds, the intruder had become so bright that Denise could not look at her directly. Then, a silent explosion of white light erupted from the intruder’s body, going through the walls without causing any damage or noise. The brightness went on for nearly twenty seconds before it diminished in intensity, finally allowing an utterly confuse Denise to look again at the intruder. The masked woman was still looking calmly at her and spoke for the second time.
‘’All is well here now. Those brave men and women will now be able again to enjoy life free of pain and disabilities.’’
Before Denise could ask her what she meant by that, the intruder simply vanished from where she stood, like a ghost would. Entering at last the ward, Denise Warren cautiously approached the spot where the intruder had been, her flashlight switched on. Movement to her left then made Denise swiftly pivot on her heels, her heart accelerating. What she saw in the light cone of her flashlight was one of the female patients, a sailor she had helped care for yesterday, sitting in her bed and swinging out her legs. That patient, apparently blinded by Denise’s flashlight, raised one arm to shield her eyes and spoke, some irritation in her voice.
‘’Hey, could you lower that damn flashlight? You are blinding me!’’
‘’But, but you were supposed to be under heavy sedation because of your burns, miss. You should stay in bed.’’
‘’Why? I feel perfectly fine right now.’’
Walking quickly to the sailor’s bed, Denise did a cursory examination of her body, which had been burned on over forty percent of its surface. Her eyes bulged when she found that there were no traces left of those burns on the female sailor. More movement around her then made her look around the ward. What she saw made her hair stand on her head: all the patients were now awake and coming out of their beds, apparently feeling fine. That was when Denise grabbed her radio microphone and nearly shouted in it.
‘’SECURITY, THIS IS LIEUTENANT WARREN! SOMETHING INCREDIBLE JUST HAPPENED IN THE BURNS SECTION. I ALSO SAW A FEMALE INTRUDER, MASKED AND DRESSED IN A WHITE ROBE. SHE IS NOW GONE! SEND HELP HERE ON THE DOUBLE!’’
03:56 (Washington Time)
Hospital security section
Bethesda Naval Hospital
Major Frank Kelso, the head of the Marine security detachment of the hospital, looked up from the notepad in which he had been writing down the answers from Denise Warren to his questions, incredulity showing on his face.
‘’That’s a rather fantastic story, Lieutenant Warren. Are you sure that’s what you saw?’’
‘’Yes!’’ shot back Denise, exasperated at having to repeat herself constantly. ‘’You saw like me what happened in that ward…and in the rest of the hospital. We now have over 1,600 patients who have been miraculously healed of their wounds in an instant, most probably by that explosion of silent white light from that female intruder. Hell, those who had been amputated even regrew their missing limbs! What else but a pure miracle could this be?’’
‘’I’m sorry, Lieutenant, but I don’t work on the basis of miracles.’’
‘’Maybe you should, Major Kelso.’’ interjected Rear Admiral Charles Latimer, Chief-Surgeon of the Bethesda Naval Hospital, who was watching Denise’s interview. Kelso looked at Latimer as if he was crazy.
‘’I should, sir? Why?’’
‘’For two reasons, Major: first, only a true miracle could explain the instant and complete healing of all of our patients. Second, such a miracle has happened in the past. Don’t you remember what happened in September of last year, when a woman appeared in the Mount Sinai West Hospital, in New York, and generated a silent burst of white light that covered the whole of New York City, instantly healing every disease and wounds in a radius of many miles?’’
‘’I remember that too, sir!’’ said excitedly Denise. ‘’So, that woman I saw was the same angel who did the mass healing in New York?’’
‘’I believe so, Lieutenant.’’
‘’An angel, sir?’’ said Kelso. ‘’And how the hell are we to find her?’’
‘’Oh, I believe that finding her should be simple enough, Major: a simple phone call to the Pentagon should do the trick.’’
‘’We have an angel in the Pentagon, Admiral?’’ asked Kelso, completely confused by now. Latimer threw an annoyed look at him, becoming exasperated by his obtuseness.
‘’No, but her mother works there. Right now, I will ask you to close your inquiry on this and classify it as a closed case. I will deal with it from here on. Come with me, Lieutenant Warren.’’
Denise was too happy to get away from Major Kelso and followed her rear admiral out of the security section. As they walked together, Latimer spoke to her in a low voice.
‘’Lieutenant, the intruder you saw earlier this morning was the daughter of General of the Army Ingrid Dows. That girl is actually half-Human, half-Angel, something she publicly revealed during a televised interview on CNN made in New York last March, after she flew down by herself in Chinatown and pushed back by her mental powers a large crowd of racist rioters who were attacking the Chinese residents there.’’
‘’I remember that, now. Wow! That young Dows deserves our eternal gratitude for what she did here this morning.’’
‘’She indeed does. She also did us another big favor at the same time.’’
‘’Oh? What would that be, sir?’’
‘’Well, our staff has been working day and night without relief for nearly five weeks now and was despairing about being able to go spend at least Christmas with their families. Now, with all our patients fully healed, I will finally be able to send our staff on some well-deserved leave.’’
08:14 (New York Time)
Thursday, December 26, 1996 ‘C’
Pediatric Department, Hudson County Hospital
Bayonne, New Jersey
Harold Miller, the CEO of the Hudson County Hospital Board of Administration, became more and more furious as he toured the now empty wards and private rooms of his hospital. In contrast, the doctors and nurses in his employ all looked happy or even ecstatic, something that only made Miller angrier. His hospital was now the ninth one in the past six days along the East Coast to have been visited by the now celebrated ‘White Angel’ and, while that female angel was being praised by about everybody in the country, he saw things in a much different way…the financial way. Empty wards and patients’ rooms meant zero revenues for his establishment, something he was most unhappy about. Charging back to his luxurious office in the hospital’s administrative wing, he grabbed his telephone receiver and composed the number of the leading lawyer representing the hospital, Paul Magnuson. Magnuson was very good at deflecting or shooting down the numerous lawsuits raised against the hospital for grossly overpriced medical bills during the last couple of years. The lawyer, still at his home at this hour on the day after Christmas, answered after three rings.
‘’Hello?’’
‘’Paul, this is Harold Miller. I am at my office in the Hudson County Hospital and I need your legal services, badly!’’
Miller then took a minute to explain to Magnuson what had happened at the hospital during the previous night. The lawyer sounded a bit hesitant when he spoke after Miller’s explanation.
‘’And how do I fit into all this, Harold?’’
‘’Don’t you see? That ‘White Angel’ bitch just emptied my wards and robbed us of millions of dollars in revenues we were expecting from the patients we were treating. If we let that bitch free to do it again, it could bankrupt us. You know how unstable our financial situation is. I want you to launch a civil suit against that ‘White Angel’ that will convince that bitch to stay away from my hospital. What? You don’t sound too hot about that.’’
‘’Uh, have you considered the bad press such a lawsuit could create against us, Harold?’’
Miller, already in a bad mood, then exploded.
‘’Look, Harold! We pay you big bucks to work for us, so we expect you to do your work to the best of your abilities. I am sure that you can find articles of law that could be used to put down that young bitch. And don’t pretend not to know who she is: the whole East Coast knows about her these days.’’
There was a moment of silence at the other end of the line before Magnuson replied to Miller, clearly sounding reluctant.
‘’Alright, I will do it but don’t be surprised if this ends up blowing in our faces.’’
The lawyer then hung up, letting Miller put down his own receiver, a mean smile on his face.
‘’There is nothing like a big lawsuit to cool down misguided activists. I wonder if some leftist movement is funding her.’’
19:22 (New York Time)
Wednesday, January 8, 1997 ‘C’
Apartment # 4, 607 West 51st Street
Hell’s Kitchen District, Manhattan, New York City
Nancy was finishing her supper with Lucy and Erika when the main entrance door’s buzzer was heard. Nancy frowned on hearing it, as paparazzi and press reporters had become a true pest lately, thanks to her nightly visits and mass healings in various hospitals, which had been her way to spread Christmas cheer around. Sighing to herself, she got up and walked to her apartment’s intercom box, which had a small camera screen. Looking in the screen, she saw a young man wearing a business suit and waiting patiently for an answer.
‘’Hum, doesn’t look like a paparazzi to me.’’
She then pressed the ‘speak’ button of the intercom.
‘’Yes? What could I do for you, mister?’’
‘’Am I speaking with Miss Nancy Dows?’’
‘’Yes!’’
‘’Miss Dows, I came to personally deliver into your hands a letter in your name.’’
‘’A letter? What kind of letter?’’
‘’A legal letter. May I come up to your door, miss?’’
‘’Uh, of course! Come in!’’ replied Nancy while pressing the ‘opening’ button of her intercom panel. Once she saw that the man was in, she went to her entrance door and unlocked it, cracking it open a bit to be able to see the staircase. The man, who was in his late twenties and appeared to be in good physical shape, soon showed up at her door after running up the stairs. Still a bit suspicious, Nancy opened wide her door but stayed alert and ready in case this was an attempt at killing her. The man however stayed polite and simply presented her a white envelope he took out of an inner pocket of his suit’s jacket.
‘’Miss Nancy Dows?’’
‘’That’s me!’’
‘’Miss, I am now presenting you this legal summon in your name.’’
Nancy took the envelope and briefly examined it before looking back at the young man.
‘’A legal summon? For what?’’
The man, who didn’t seem to enjoy the least his job, answered her in a sober tone.
‘’The Hudson County Hospital Board of Administration is suing you for illegal practice of medicine, illegal entry into its hospital and interfering with legal medical treatment. Please don’t think that I am enjoying this, but I am simply doing my job. Could you sign this receipt, please?’’
Quite flabbergasted by this, Nancy signed the receipt form presented to her along with a pen. The man then bowed his head to her.
‘’Have a good evening, miss.’’
The man then left, with Nancy still in her entrance door and looking at the envelope in her hands. She finally closed and locked her door and slowly returned to her dining table, where Lucy looked questioningly at her.
‘’What was this all about, Nancy?’’
‘’I am being sued by a hospital.’’ replied Nancy before opening the envelope and extracting from it a folded two-page document. Its reading brought a bitter expression on her face.
‘’I am sued for ten million dollars by the Hudson County Hospital Administration Board, for illegal practice of medicine, illegal entry and interfering with legal medical treatment.’’
‘’TEN MILLION DOLLARS!? AFTER YOU HEALED ALL THESE POOR PEOPLE?’’ nearly shouted Erika Lang, outraged by this. Nancy slowly nodded her head at that.
‘’Apparently, that hospital cares more about its revenues than about its patients. This summon actually gives me a date to appear in court in New Jersey, to present a plea in front of a judge.’’
‘’Give me that piece of trash!’’ said Lucy, who took the document from Nancy and then read it. At the end of her reading, Lucy rolled her eyes and swore to herself.
‘’Fuck! Do people have any sense of charity and care left in them? They are suing an angel, you, for healing babies and young children? Their lawsuit is bound to be rejected outright by the courts.’’
‘’I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Lucy.’’ Replied Erika. ‘’I heard about many previous lawsuits which were about as outrageous as this one and which succeeded in court. Nancy better take this thing seriously and get a lawyer to defend herself.’’
‘’But I don’t want to spend my money on lawyers! I want to spend what I have to support the band and also support my charitable projects, like the Windermere Community Home Project.’’
‘’I know.’’ said softly Lucy while patting her sister-by-adoption’s hand. ‘’Why don’t we call Mother and get her opinion about this?’’
‘’A good idea! Let’s call her right now!’’
The three young women then moved to the main sofa of their living room, with Nancy using the telephone there to call her mother in Arlington. To her relief, Ingrid was at home and took the call on the second ring.
‘’Ingrid Dows speaking!’’
‘’Mom, something awful just happened. A legal summon has just been delivered to me: the Hudson County Hospital is suing me for ten million dollars for having healed its patients overnight.’’
Nancy then spoke for a couple of minutes, reading portions of her summon and describing what she had done at that hospital. At the end, Ingrid stayed silent for a few seconds while weighing that information.
‘’Look, don’t worry about this for the moment and concentrate on your studies and on your charitable work. I will take care of finding a good lawyer to defend you.’’
‘’But lawyers are very costly, Mom, and I don’t have tons of money for that.’’
‘’You won’t need to pay a dime yourself, Nancy. Like I said, I will take care of this. Once I find a suitable lawyer, I will put him or her in contact with you. In the meantime, don’t worry about this. Do you understand me, Nancy?’’
‘’Yes, I do! Thank you so much for this, Mom: I may be a half-angel but I am a big zero when it comes to this law stuff.’’
‘’I know: law is a very tricky business these days. Now, relax and have a good evening, my sweet Nancy.’’
Ingrid then hung up, leaving Nancy to also slowly hang up before looking at Lucy and Erika.
‘’Ingrid is going to take care of finding a lawyer for me and promised me that I won’t have to spend a dime on this.’’
‘’That’s what good parents are for, Nancy.’’ said Lucy in an approving tone.
09:50 (New York Time)
Tuesday, March 17, 1997 ‘C’
Civil cases courtroom, Superior Court Division
William Brennan Courthouse
583 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey
‘’No need to be nervous, Miss Dows: we are here today to simply register a plea.’’ said in a reassuring tone Joshua Stein, the attorney whom Ingrid had found to defend Nancy. The latter nodded her head but didn’t seem much reassured by his words.
‘’I know, Mister Stein, but this is my first time in a court of law and any possible criminal record could really hurt my future as an artist.’’
‘’First off, this is a civilian lawsuit case, not a criminal case, miss. Second, your reputation is in no way in danger, on the contrary. It is the Hudson County Hospital that is looking bad here, not you. In fact, I believe that the whole country is yearning for you right now.’’
‘’You really believe that, Mister Stein?’’
‘’Of course I do, Miss Dows! You are an angel and you were simply performing a miracle and an act of compassion, the way only angels can.’’
‘’Oh, okay!’’
Stein gently smiled to this young, most beautiful but also most modest girl he was defending. Even more than for his young client, Stein considered this court case a truly important one. Nancy Dows had never proclaimed to be an angel sent by Yahweh, the God of the Hebraic faith, but any angel holding divine powers of the kind his client had repeatedly demonstrated in the past and who had performed numerous mass healings would and did get the total admiration and respect of Joshua, who was a practicing Jew. As both sat at the defendant’s table, Joshua gave Nancy a few last-minute instructions.
‘’Remember, miss: you are to speak only if asked to by either the judge, the court clerk, the prosecuting attorney or me. Also, when talking to the judge, call her ‘Your Honor’ and not ‘Miss’ or Misses’.’’
‘’Got it! About the judge, do you know what kind of person she is?’’
‘’Judge Emma Kitzinger is a very experienced and fair judge with a good heart. We couldn’t get much better than her to judge our case.’’
More reassured now, Nancy looked around the courtroom, in which only a dozen spectators sat, including two reporters.
‘’I was expecting more people to be present here today, Mister Stein. How come there are so few spectators?’’
‘’Because your case has not been publicized…yet. I did not want to see you getting harassed by an army of paparazzi, while the lawyer for the Hudson County Hospital had equal reasons to avoid publicity: this lawsuit was in my opinion a very bad decision by the hospital’s board and is liable to cause tremendous damage to the hospital’s reputation, which is already not very good and is stained by many stories about grossly inflated medical bills given to its patients.’’
The duo then stayed silent for the next minutes, awaiting the arrival of the presiding judge. The court clerk finally got up from her chair as the judge, a slightly overweight woman in her fifties wearing glasses, entered the courtroom via a back door.
‘’ALL RISE FOR THE HONORABLE EMMA KITZINGER, JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY.’’
Nancy, like Stein and the other persons present in the courtroom, got up at once and watched Judged Kitzinger as she took her seat behind the court’s bench. After laying down and organizing the files she had brought with her, Kitzinger looked around the courtroom, paying special attention to Nancy before speaking.
‘’The court clerk will now announce the case at hand.’’
The said clerk, a tall but thin woman in her forties, then read from a file in her hands.
‘’The court is now in session for Case Number 255871, the Hudson County Hospital versus Miss Nancy Dows. Miss Dows, please answer by a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ the following questions, meant to verify your identity. Is your name ‘Nancy Dows’?’’
‘’Yes!’’
‘’Is your mother named Ingrid Dows?’’
‘’Yes!’’
‘’Is your date of birth November fourth of 19…’’
The court clerk hesitated, then went to whisper to the judge, who in turn looked at Nancy.
‘’Miss Dows, the case file states your date of birth as being November fourth of 1982, which would mean that you are presently fourteen years old, thus are a minor. Is that date correct?’’
‘’Yes, Your Honor! I was indeed born on that date, aboard the spaceship U.S.S. PROMETHEUS, which was at the time between Jupiter and Saturn. My mother was commanding that spaceship.’’
‘’But you look to be about eighteen, miss.’’
‘’I know, Your Honor, but that is due to what I am, a half-Human, half-Celestial being. As for being a minor, that is not really correct, Your Honor. While I am biologically fourteen years old, my mind harbors the souvenirs and experiences of past lives dating back over 2,000 years. When I started a charitable work project involving the buying of a building in New York, I applied and obtained from the New York City family affairs court a special status declaring me to be legally considered as a mature adult citizen. I have a copy of that ruling with me if you need to see it, Your Honor.’’
‘’Please provide that copy to the court clerk, Miss Dows.’’
It was actually Joshua Stein who brought that copy to the court clerk, who in turn brought it to Judge Kitzinger so that she could read it. After reading carefully that document, the judge gave it back to the court clerk.
‘’That ruling indeed seems to be a legal one, albeit unusual. The court clerk will enter it as part of the court file. You will thus be treated as an adult for this case, Miss Dows.’’
‘’Thank you, Your Honor.’’
‘’You’re welcome, Miss Dows. The court clerk will now read the accusations brought against you by the board of the Hudson County Hospital.’’
Getting up again, the female court clerk read from a document in her hands.
‘’The board of the Hudson County Hospital is seeking reparations for a sum of ten million dollars against Miss Nancy Dows, for illegal practice of medicine, illegal entry in the hospital and interfering with the work of the hospital’s staff.’’
‘’How do you plea to these charges, Miss Dows?’’ asked the judge.
‘’Not guilty to all charges, Your Honor.’’
‘’The court will thus enter your plea of ‘not guilty’ to these charges. I am setting the date of July 28 of this year, a Monday, as the trial date. The trial will start at nine in the morning. Is this trial date and time agreeable to both the defense and the prosecution?’’
‘’Yes, Your Honor!’’ replied Joshua Stein, imitated a few seconds later by Paul Magnuson. Judge Kitzinger then banged her gavel once.
‘’Then, the trial for this case will start at nine in the morning of July 28 of this year. This court is now adjourned!’’
As the spectators left the court after the departure of the judge, Joshua Stein went to speak with Paul Magnuson, whom he knew personally, while Nancy stayed a few steps back.
‘’Paul, I believe that your clients are making a dreadful mistake by suing my client: they risk badly staining the reputation of their hospital. You should tell them to back off while they still can. I must warn you that I will be filing a countersuit for attempt at damaging the reputation of my client.’’
Magnuson let out a sigh of frustration before replying to Stein.
‘’I already tried to convince my clients to drop this lawsuit, Joshua, but they refused. They want blood.’’
‘’Well, they may get blood but it won’t be from my client, Paul. See you in July!’’
Nancy and her lawyer then walked out of the courtroom, encountering in the hallway a few press photographers who took multiple pictures of Nancy while shouting questions. Stein answered for Nancy with ‘no comments’ before accompanying her out of the justice building.
08:46 (New York Time)
Monday, July 28, 1997 ‘C’
William Brennan Courthouse, 583 Newark Avenue
Jersey City, New Jersey
The atmosphere in the courtroom this morning was vastly different from the one in March, when Nancy had pleaded ‘not guilty’. For one, the room was packed, with an electrified atmosphere inside it. Also, an army of reporters, press photographers and paparazzi were besieging the courthouse, giving headaches to the municipal policemen guarding it. The court’s master at arms had also been obliged to select who could attend the trial, so great was the number of people who wanted to be in the courtroom. Joshua Stein watched who was led in as they waited for Judge Kitzinger to arrive. One man attracted his attention, making him whisper to Nancy, who was trying her best to hide her nervousness.
‘’See that older man in a blue-gray suit and blue tie, Nancy? That’s Saul Stefanick, a billionaire known for his charitable works. That he deemed important enough to watch this trial in person tells a lot about the publicity impact of this case.’’
‘’Is that a positive thing for us, Mister Stein?’’
‘’Indeed! Even if we lose, something I strongly doubt, Stefanick would be the kind of man to offer to pay the claimed damages for you.’’
‘’Oh!’’ simply said Nancy, registering the billionaire’s face in her memory. She then saw another man enter the courtroom, a tall, impossibly handsome man in his thirties whose appearance made her suck air in, attracting the curiosity of her lawyer.
‘’What? Who is that man you are looking at with such an incredulous expression?’’
‘’He is my father, Mister Stein.’’
‘’So?’’ replied Joshua, not getting it.
‘’So? My father is Michael the Archangel. He is a full-fledged Celestial who represents ‘The One’, the spiritual entity from whom I hold my powers.’’