Mary Lou

Mary Lou Weston is an easy going, perky, lively, well liked, smart, athletic and funny middle schooler.

She is of average size for her age, dirty blonde hair she likes to wear in a ponytail. She reads and is never seen without a book close by. Lovs telling jokes, hates wearing a dress for any reason, adores both her parents but has mixed feelings for her older brother.

This could be because she is a better athelete than him and he always seems threatened. She swims like a dolphin, plays volleyball and soccar. But she really loves to play baseball.

She has taught herself to play the piano and the guitar and has actually been able to write several origional songs and keeps thinking about putting them on youtube.

Animals always seem to be drawn to her yet she has no pet of her own. Her very favorite animal is the Australian Koala bear. She thinks they are so cute and cuddly.

Billy Ray is her older brother. In his eyes she has always been a pain in the rear.

When she was born he found he was no longer the center of attention. It became Mary Lou and deep inside he really hated that.

He hated that she liked dressing like a bou, got along better with other boys and other people in general. Since he was never good at sports he resented that she was good at anything.

His parents had tried to get him into piano lessons but he always thought it was too sissy and they soon quit wasting money on lessons for him. Now he hated when she asked him to listen to one of her songs.

And worst of all he hated when his parents asked him to be a good big brother and look after his little sister.

Garrett Adams thought Mary Lou was one of the least attractive girls he had ever met. In his eyes she was ugly.

He did not like it when she beat him out of his starting third base position on their little league team. And he hated that she was the smartest kid in his class at achool. The one time they had been paired together for a science project he resented that she had done most of the work.

She annoyed the mess out of him when he and Billy Ray were on the x-box and she came and wanted them to hear a new song she had written.

A third pair of eyes saw her in a totally different light.

To Jack Porter she was a dream angel, the hottest, prettiest girl he had ever met.

To Jack she could do no wrong. Every minute he spent close to her he treasured. In his mind he wanted to marry her one day.

One day she told him she wanted to be a doctor. He believed she could do anything she set her mind to doing. He knew of nobody smarter.

When she wanted to practice soccar or baseball he was only too happy to practice with her.

Even though she hated whenever she had to wear a dress, Jack loved it. Although in his eyes she was just as beautiful in her little league uniform.

He never could understand why her older brother treated her so badly. All the other older brothers he knew adored their little sisters.

She rocked when it came to her music. He especially loved the song she said she had written with him in mind. If she ever made it a record he knew it would hit the top of the charts.

But the most cherished in his mind and heart was their drama class at school. When the teacher chose him to play Romeo and then chose Mary Lou to play Juliet his stomach did flip flops.

At his first boy/girl overnight they had played a game called 'seven minutes in heaven.' Two were paired for seven minutes alone in a closet. Mary Lou was there and it was the fastest seven minutes of his young life.

There you have it, the story of young Doctor Mary Lou Porter, a total pest in the eyes of her older brother, totally annoying in the eyes of her middle school rival and third his future wife and the love of his life in the eyes of me, Jack Porter.

Today, however, she has been presented with the most challenging day of her career. To her it was bigger than her pre-med college days, bigger than med school, bigger than her board exams and bigger than any of her first patients dramas.

Today she was called down to the emergency room. Three young men had just been brought in, victims of a violent automobile accident. One had already been pronounced deceased. Another, a Garrett Adams was in a coma and barely hanging on. The third young man was a Billy Ray Weston and he had been asking for her.

All those memories of how he had treated her during their childhood flooded her mind as she rushed to the ER.

"Over here, Doctor Porter."

She was shocked when she saw her brother already hooked up to lifesaving fluids.

"I am so sorry, Mary Lou. But you gotta help us. It was not our fault."

"What happened, Billy Ray?"

"Me, Garrett and Randy were just stopped for a stoplight when a dump truck tried getting through on a yellow. He was going too fast and hit us on the driver's side. I don;t remember anything after that. When they told me I was in the ER all I could think of was asking for you."

"It's gonna be okay. I'm here."

"I'm sorry I was such a bad big brother."

"Not to worry. I will help you get through this."

"How bad is Randy and Garrett?"

"I'm sorry. Randy did not make it. Garrett is in a coma but his vitals I am told are good. You are pretty lucky in comparison."

"No! No! I should have been driving."

"Why you?"

"It was my car. Randy just wanted to try it because he was thinking about buying one like it for himself. He insisted on stopping on yellow. I would have gone on through. I should have been driving."

"It wasn't your faule but I am glad it looks like you are going to be okay."

"What about Garrett? I know when we were kids he treated you like crap too."

"That was a long time ago. I am long past all of that thanks to Jack."

"You know Garrett is about the only friend I have ever had. You gotta help his, sis."

"Wow. That's the first time you have ever called me that."

"Probably, but in my head I have loved you so bad but had no idea how to show it."

"I understand. But me and Jack have done just fine. You still at home or got your own place?"

Billy Ray is still in apologising mode.

"Sorry I have been such a lousy big brother."

"I did miss having you at our wedding. You gotta come by the house sometime and meet your nephews. Raymond William turns four in two weeks and Jimmy Mack or James McKenzie is three going on ten."

"You bet I will. Got a lot of lost time to make up. Raymond William?"

"Of course. Kind of named him after my big brother Billy Ray."