“He’s a big kid like Brad, but guess what! Guess what!—He doesn’t think I’m too little and he’s nice and I like him a lot!”       

 

“That’s nice dear,” said Jason’s mother kindly, then she looked at Chris. “Oh my, you’re so cute!” she exclaimed, pinching Chris’ cheek and Chris blushed a little. “Thank you for playing with my Jason, dear. My name is Lois Robinson.” 

 

“You’re welcome,” Chris said, smiling. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Robinson.

 

“Oh you’re such a polite nice boy!” Mrs. Robinson exclaimed, pinching his cheek again, “I was watching you playing with my Jason and I’d have to say, you’re really quite good with him…” Mrs. Robinson paused, looking thoughtful. “You know, I could use a babysitter on weekends if you’re interested.”

 

“That would be great, Mommy!” cried Jason excitedly. “Say yes, Chris, oh please, say yes.” And he gave Chris the real puppy-dog face which was totally irresistible,  

 

“Um, okay…” said Chris hesitantly, not sure whether he should accept the job without asking Baloo or Rebecca first, but still, he couldn’t resist that pout Jason was giving him. “but only if my brother and cousin can come with me.”  Mrs. Robinson agreed to his terms and gave him their address. “Oh, I know where that is, it’s just a few blocks from my cousin’s house. Okay, I’ll see you Saturday.”

 

“Thank you, dear. Say goodbye to Chris, Jason,” said Mrs. Robinson, looking fondly at her precious little boy.

 

Jason launched himself onto Chris and hugged him around the neck. Chris stumbled a little bit from not being very strong himself. He quickly bent down so he wouldn’t drop Jason

 

“Don’t do that,” he told the pup. “You’re pretty heavy.”

 

“Sorry, Chris.” Jason said, grinning sheepishly. He hugged Chris’ neck again. “Bye, Chris, I’ll see you later.”

 

“Bye Jason.” Chris said as they ended the embrace and he stood up.

 

As Jason and Mrs. Robinson left, the swan stepped into the waiting room.

 

“Chris Cloudkicker,” she called. “The doctor will see you now.”

 

Chris gulped, feeling suddenly fearful, and not knowing what to expect, he dashed over to Baloo, who was standing up, and he ducked behind his Daddy Bear.

 

Baloo chuckled as he picked Chris up and cuddled him.

 

“Don’t worry, Lil Buddy,” he said gently, massaging the back of Chris’ head. “They’re just gonna look you over like Aunt Millie did.” It was the understatement of the year and Baloo knew it, but he had to get Chris to see the doctor somehow.

 

“Would you go in with me…please?” Chris asked in a small voice, with his face buried in Baloo’s flight shirt.

 

“Sure kid,” Baloo said and he carried Chris from the waiting room.

 

As they walked into Dr. Bagheera’s office, Baloo was still holding Chris in his arms, trying to comfort him. He then looked over at Bagheera and saw that he was indeed an old school friend, to whom he had referred to as Baggie.

 

“Baggie!” Baloo exclaimed, placing Chris up on the examination table.

 

“Baloo!” said Bagheera, sounding pleasantly surprised. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Oh…well, this here is Chris, my adopted son,” Baloo muttered. “He has an appointment to see you.”

“Ah, yes, Melissa did mention the Cloudkicker boy having a brother.” Bagheera said, surveying Chris with interest.  “Hello, Chris, how are you today?”

 

“I’m…okay…” Chris said shyly, shrinking back a little.

  

“No need to be shy, Chris, I won’t bite.” Bagheera said lightly, putting on a pair of white rubber gloves.

 

And so the examination began, with Bagheera placing a hand on Chris’ back and stomach, feeling his spine and his almost flat belly, frowning slightly all the while.

 

“Chris, I’m going to take your sweater off so I can take a better look at you.” Bagheera told him. And he pulled the sweater up over Chris’ head and laid it aside. Chris sat there, without any clothes on, except for the towel Bagheera laid across his lap. “My word!” Bagheera hissed, staring in horror at Chris’ torso. “He’s malnourished! What have you been feeding him, Baloo?”

“Hey, it wasn’t me, Baggie.” Baloo said indignantly. “The orphanage he grew up in fed him gruel everyday at every meal,” he explained in a growl, his hands curling into fists at his side.

Bagheera scowled at the information Baloo gave him as he continued to feel Chris’ furry chest and back, checking his breathing.

“Okay, now take a deep breath, Chris…” Bagheera instructed him, his hands still on Chris’ chest and back, and Chris inhaled a deep breath. “Good, now let it out,” and Chris exhaled. “Good, again, breathe in….breathe out….breathe in….breathe out….Good, very good, Chris. You are a very good patient.  Now this may feel cold, but I need to listen to your breathing and your heart rate.” He took out his stethoscope and pressed it to Chris’ furry back. Chris shivered a bit at the cold touch. “Okay, let’s do it again, breathe in….breathe out….”

After Bagheera declared his breathings normal, he listened to Chris’ heartbeats, pressing the stethoscope to his chest.

Chris giggled. “What are you doing? Ha, ha, that tickles.”

“I’m listening to your heart.” Bagheera said simply.

“What does a heart sound like?” Chris asked curiously.

Bagheera smiled gently at him. “Would you like to listen to your Daddy’s heart to find out?”

“Yeah!” Chris said eagerly while looking over at Baloo.    

Bagheera chuckled. “Alright, Baloo, come over here please.” And Baloo stepped over toward them. Bagheera then gave the stethoscope to Chris. “Put these in your ears and hold the other end up to your Daddy’s chest.”

Chris did as he was told and listened intensely with the stethoscope in his ears and the other end placed on Baloo’s chest.

Thump, thump… thump, thump… thump, thump….

Chris gasped, his face shining with excitement.

“Daddy Bear, I can hear it! I can hear your heart!” Chris exclaimed excitedly. “It sounds like a slow drum roll! So that’s what a heart sounds like…”

 “Yes, now you know.” Bagheera said, taking back his stethoscope. “Now, I’m going to take your X-ray while you still got your sweater off.”

“What’s an X-ray?” Chris asked curiously.

“It’s where I take a picture of your insides and look at your bones,” said Bagheera in a mysterious voice.

“Oh, when you have it done, can I see it, please? I’ve never seen my insides before!” Chris said excitedly. 

So, Bagheera took a full body X-ray photo of Chris and when it was developed, he returned to the office while Chris was putting his sweater back on. He handed Chris a picture of his own skeletal face. The bony cheekbones were raised up slightly as Chris was smiling in this picture.

“Yikes!” Chris exclaimed, looking slightly creeped out. “Hey, my eyes are gone, what happened to my eyes?! Where are my eyeballs, Dr. ‘Heera?”

“The X-ray only shows us your bones, your lungs and your stomach, it doesn’t show your eyeballs, except for the sockets.”

“Alright, alright, Baggie, enough with the gruesome details, you’re scaring Chris.” Baloo interrupted, looking revolted.

Bagheera frowned at Baloo before turning his attention back to the X-rays.

“My word…” he murmured.

“What?” Baloo asked, looking worried. “What’s wrong?”

Chris was looking back and fort between the two adults, looking half-curious, half-apprehensive.

“Look at this,” Bagheera said, holding up a picture of Chris’ stomach. It was smaller than a chicken egg. “Normally, a person’s stomach is about the same size as their fist, but as you can see, that is not the case with Chris. This is the result of malnutrition. And if the stomach does not expand due to malnutrition from an early age, such as eating gruel three times a day, it does not grow and as a result, the person is very likely to be underweight and small for his age, just like Chris. Well at least the good news is that his bones are all growing just fine.”    

 “Ooh, when I find out who was feeding my boy that awful gruel, they won’t have any teeth left to count!” Baloo snarled, punching his palm with a fist.

“For once, I won’t protest, as I cannot condone malnutrition, especially not in children.” Bagheera said calmly. “Just don’t send them to me when you’re through with them, because I won’t treat them,” he added, his expression was dark and fierce.

“Right,” Baloo agreed. “I’ll just send them to an early grave, or prison. Whichever tortures the person most.”

“Baloo!” Bagheera hissed, covering Chris’ ears.

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