Shades of Simon Gray by Joyce McDonald

Author:Joyce McDonald [McDonald, Joyce]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-81978-9
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2012-05-15T16:00:00+00:00

The smell of bleach coming from the isolation room next to the one her grandmother was in made Devin gag. The nurses were disinfecting the room next door where a woman with a highly contagious, rare skin ailment had spent the past week.

Devin’s grandmother was also in an isolation room and would remain there until the doctors could figure out what was wrong. Whatever she had could be contagious. Until they knew what they were dealing with, they weren’t about to put her in with another patient. Devin had to wear a white mask that looped over her ears and covered her nose and mouth whenever she was in the room.

The day before, she had overheard two of the nurses whispering about West Nile virus, but as soon as they realized Devin was listening, they changed the subject. Devin had since checked out information on the virus on several Web sites. She knew if the virus developed into encephalitis people could die from it. Usually old people or those with weak immune systems. She was terrified for her grandmother.

That was why she was there. That, and because her mother, doing the fifty-yard dash around the kitchen table, stuffing Pop-Tarts into the toaster, plunking down cereal bowls in front of the six younger kids and getting everyone out the door to school, was feeling too shaky to drive that morning and had asked Devin if she’d mind missing school to take her to the hospital. It was on the tip of Devin’s tongue to tell her mother she wouldn’t mind missing school for the rest of the year, but all she’d said was “Sure. No problem.”

Her grandmother moaned softly. Devin came to the side of the bed and stroked the woman’s arm. Her grandmother had hair the color of Devin’s, with only a few light streaks of gray. Her face and hands were freckled from gardening without a hat and gloves. During the heat wave, when anyone with any sense at all stayed indoors with the air conditioner running full blast, her grandmother had been outside raking soggy decayed leaves, turning soil, and mixing in mulch to prepare her flower beds.

Devin was suddenly reminded of the previous summer when she was a volunteer for Meals-On-Wheels. At first she hadn’t thought it was in her nature to do that kind of volunteer work. Being around sick or extremely old people made her uncomfortable. But Kyle kept pushing her, saying volunteer work was just what colleges wanted to see on her application. To her surprise, she found she enjoyed bringing meals to people who were recovering from surgery or serious illness and to the elderly who had difficulty getting around. They were always so happy to see her, always begging her to stay for a cup of tea or oatmeal cookies.

Sometimes Simon rode along and helped her set up the meals. After a while, he didn’t even have to look at Devin’s list to know who was who. He remembered everyone’s name.

As she stared at her grandmother’s freckled hands, Devin thought of Mrs.

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