“White Bear’s Big Adventure [Excerpt]” by Marie Cheine

“Ok, Angel. It’s time to bring you down to the operating room. Are you ready?” asked the tall man with the funny mustache. His partner, the lady with the sparkly blue Converse sneakers nodded.

“Yes, I’m ready,” said Angel. She hugged White Bear close to her chest as they wheeled her bed out into the hallway. Angel waved at all the nurses who were sitting at the nurse’s station.

The nurses waved back and said, “Good luck, Angel. We’ll see you in a few hours!”

Nurse Joellen came out from behind the desk and gave Angel a big hug as she was moved out of the Pediatric Ward and down to the big doors that opened all by themselves with Mother, Father, and the whole family walking behind them.

Once they went through the double doors and into corridor that led to the operating room, they saw lots of people standing in the hallway. The nutritionist, the social workers, the pharmacist, the cooks, the housekeepers and the dialysis nurses were all waiting for Angel to cheer her on.

At the end of the line was Mr. Larry, the Head Housekeeper at the hospital, and one of Angel’s very best friends. Angel sat up in the bed the whole way to the operating room, cuddling with White Bear who was sitting in her lap. Everyone was clapping as the bed was rolled down to the operating room.

At the doors to the operating room, one of the nurses told Mother, Father, and the rest of the family that they had to wait in a special room while Angel was in surgery. It was going to take at least three to four hours, she explained. The nurse carefully lifted Angel and transferred her to another bed and she was wheeled out of sight.

Angel’s hospital room bed was left in the hallway. One of the housekeepers came by and picked the sheets and pillow up off of the bed and threw them down the laundry chute. No one noticed that White Bear had gotten caught in the sheets.

The family continued on their way to the waiting room.

Meanwhile, White Bear went bumpity bump all the way to the bottom of the laundry chute. When he got to the bottom, the bin was so full that he and the sheets were put onto a conveyor belt and taken to another laundry bin right outside the hospital.

That bin was turned over and dumped into the back of a really big laundry truck. The truck took White Bear all the way to Central Laundry in a city almost an hour away. Poor White Bear!

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Note From the Author

White Bear’s Big Adventure is the story of three multi-racial siblings and a stuffed bear. The youngest sibling has a rare medical condition called VATER Syndrome. When she is admitted to the hospital for a kidney transplant, her best friend, White Bear accidentally gets left on a hospital bed is tossed down the laundry chute. Follow Angel’s family and friends as they try to track down White Bear before Angel realizes he is gone.

Note from black CATastrophy

A book we highly recommend to young children unfairly confronted with mortality, and the parents struggling to provide them with the courage to pull through. We love the diversity of the characters, and the tale of the first true love we experience as children: the love of our bear.

About the Author

Marie has a Master’s Degree in English from WNMU. She lives in Florida with three cats, one dog, seven fish and she writes, always.