The Marvelous Adventures of Molly and Charles

By Chris Welsh-Charrier

From the author of Janie Smallwood and the Mystery of the Man in the Woods, comes an moving and inspirational tale of friendship born of tragedy, and nourished by neighborly relationships, that brings lasting change to Washington D.C.'s political scene, culminating in an epic crusade for DC statehood. Join Molly and Charles on an amazing series of adventures!!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Crescent Press
• Release date: Mar 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9781977273291

Chris Welsh-Charrier

Chris Welsh-Charrier is the author of Janie Smallwood and the Mystery of the Man in the Woods. He currently lives in Washington D.C. Chris has a BA degree in history from the University of Maryland. His varied interests include: volcanoes, dachshunds, and video games. He is a big fan of the Star Wars movies and the Harry Potter books. 

Book preview

Story # 1:

A Friendship Born of Tragedy

1

THE GRIEF COUNSELOR

Mr. and Mrs. Grace were exhausted as they reflected on their endless and dizzying week—the end of June 2002 had been terrible and overwhelming. They had sometimes been almost incapacitated by grief over the June 9th death of their daughter’s best friend, Eric Peterson, a former Harbour School graduate and the former President of the League of Schools. The League of Schools is a national student government, with the sole purpose of uniting students across America and using strength in numbers to advocate and influence national and local education policy. After the 9/11 attacks, the League jettisoned into an international organization, as foreign governments became interested in creating League programs in their countries.

However, Molly felt as though her life was incomplete and less meaningful without her best friend, Eric. At the pinnacle of his life, Eric’s life came to a tragic end, leaving Molly alone, and vulnerable. Along with their daughter, Molly, Mr. and Mrs. Grace missed many things about Eric—especially his smile, courage, and compassion. However, the Graces’ grief had turned into pride during the state funeral that the American president, President Clemenston, had arranged for him—it made them remember that they had helped him achieve his dreams.

Molly had served as Eric’s Vice President during his presidency for the League of Schools, and Mr. and Mrs. Grace fondly remembered her talking about meeting Eric during his first visit to The Harbour School, from which Molly had just graduated. The Harbour School was a special school designed to meet the needs of students with various disabilities. In her youth, Molly had to cope with a debilitating case of excessive shyness and social withdrawal. The Harbour School changed all that, and thanks to Molly’s support of Dr. Jacobs—the school director—and Eric, the school became one of the world’s most famous schools.

Now, a week after Eric’s state funeral, Molly was sinking into a deep depression. Thankfully, her job was still giving her a little structure to hold onto. Molly worked in the Central Supply Department at the Children’s Health Center in Washington DC, which was where the hospital stored all its surgical and medical equipment and supplies. She volunteered in the department between her senior and super-senior years in high school and performed so well that the manager, Mr. Macomb, offered her a part-time paid job.

Now, though, working in the hospital was bittersweet. The hospital had not been able to save Eric’s life after he was fatally wounded in a car crash two weeks ago. She knew the doctors had done everything they could to save Eric. She knew sometimes kids died—even in a hospital as wonderful as Children’s. But she still felt strange working where Eric had drawn his last breath.

Molly knew she was lucky to have secured a job so soon after graduation, so she suppressed her discomfort and continued to work at Children’s. Mr. Macomb knew Molly was grieving Eric and offered to help her with her duties. But Molly was still able to meet the department’s production expectations every day, just like always. Although Mr. Macomb was impressed with Molly’s performance in the wake of Eric’s death, he noticed that she had a sad, passive quality about her and that, while she was still meeting the production standards, she was not exceeding them as she had in the past. Still, Mr. Macomb was very pleased with Molly’s work and wanted to keep her around as much as possible.

After the Fourth of July, in 2002, Molly still seemed very withdrawn and appeared to be only putting a minimum amount of effort into her life. Mr. and Mrs. Grace became a little concerned. They felt their daughter may benefit from seeing a grief counselor. They hoped that after a few counseling sessions, Molly might be better motivated to engage more deeply in life. They felt that, at the very least, a grief counselor might give them a better understanding of what was going through Molly’s mind and how to better help her. Her parents spent the next couple of weeks looking through various doctors’ magazines and asking around for recommendations.

Finally, Eric’s parents recommended Ms. Annie Sherridan, a former educational psychologist and counselor who had first documented Eric’s extensive math disability and enormous reading abilities. Ms. Sherridan was now a certified grief counselor and split her time between educational counseling, including diagnosing special educational conditions, such as learning disabilities, and counseling children and young adults experiencing extensive periods of grief. Molly’s parents called Ms. Sherridan, who said she would love to meet Molly. They made an appointment for the first week of September 2002. Even though Ms. Sherridan’s office was accessible by metro, Molly’s parents decided to drive her to her first couple of appointments so that they could also meet with Ms. Sherridan. Once Molly became more familiar with the area, they would let her take the metro alone.

Molly had always loved being in the wealthy Friendship Heights neighborhood of upper Northwest DC. Smiling at people who were milling around the area, Molly took time to admire the gorgeous and elaborate houses. When Molly and her parents arrived at Ms. Sherridan’s office, they casually walked into the office, signed in at the front desk, and waited. The office was furnished with comfortable lounge chairs with plush borders and an elegant couch with a leather covering. A few minutes later, Ms. Sherridan came out and asked, Are you Mrs. and Mr. Grace? Molly’s parents nodded. Ms. Sherridan said, It is so good to see you. She then looked into Molly’s brilliant emerald eyes and added, And you must be Molly.

Molly confirmed, and Ms. Sherridan asked, Did you have a hard time finding my office? Molly’s parents replied that they had not. Good to hear that, said Ms. Sherridan. I would like to meet with Molly for a few minutes and then I would like to meet with both of you. Then we can all meet together, okay? Molly’s parents nodded.

Ms. Sherridan ushered Molly into her office.

Annie’s office was small yet spacious and had a comfy couch and a lounge chair. Upon entering the office, Molly felt instantly at ease and more relaxed. Welcome, Molly. It is so good to see you. It’s not every day that I get to visit with the Vice-President of the League of Schools.

Well, Ms. Sherridan, said Molly, it was amazing to work with Eric. I have met so many people and visited so many places and done so much.

I bet you had a wonderful time. By the way—please call me Annie. You’re no longer in school. You are an adult woman. It is more than okay to call me by my first name.

Molly managed to smile. Oh—well…okay, Annie.

Annie grinned at Molly and said, I know this may be hard, but can you tell me about some of your favorite things that you did with Eric?

Molly told Annie about their amazing and treacherous campaign against Harrison and Gregory. She reminisced about the proms Eric had taken her to. She reflected on graduation.

Annie avoided asking Molly when she had learned that Eric had died. She felt she needed to build a rapport with her before bringing up his death and helping her work through her feelings about it.

Annie’s first visit with Molly was pleasant, and after meeting her, she asked to meet with her parents. The meeting with Molly’s parents also went well and Annie looked forward to continuing to work with the Graces.

The week after her first visit with Annie, Molly received a call from Charles Peterson, Eric’s younger brother. Like Molly and Eric, Charles also had a learning disability that affected his reading skills. At the age of eighteen years, Charles was one year younger than Eric and Molly. When she picked up the phone, Charles asked, Is this Molly?

Yes, she replied.

Charles paused. Molly could hear his breath quickening.

I was just wondering if you wanted to see a movie with me? he asked, Things have been kind of quiet over here. I’m a little lonely.

Of course, I would like to see a movie with you, Charles. Things are kind of lonely over here as well. What movie were you thinking about seeing?

Well, I was wondering if you wanted to see the new Austin Powers movie. But it has a lot of gross jokes in it, so I understand if it doesn’t appeal to you.

Sure, she said, I saw the other two Austin Powers movies.

Charles’ parents, Dr. and Detective Peterson, also wanted to see the movie, so the four of them went together. Charles’ parents were glad that Charles had invited Molly to the movie. It was the first real normal thing the families had done together since Eric had died, and both sets of parents were glad that their teenagers were once again going out in public and socializing with each other.

The movie theater was packed with teenagers who had come to see the final movie in the raunchy and popular Austin Powers series. The movie was funny. There were so many gross and funny jokes. When the movie was over, Dr. Peterson, who worked at Children’s Health Center in DC, said, I cannot believe I actually saw that, before bursting into laughter.

"I haven’t laughed that much in a movie since I saw Rat Race last year," Detective Peterson said.

During the car ride home, Molly asked Charles what he was going to do during his super senior year in high school. Charles replied that he was going to apply to both College Park University and the nearby Fenton Street Community College, known as FSCC.

Charles asked Molly what she wanted to do. Molly said she was also going to visit FSCC and see what kinds of disability support the college offered and what kinds of programs they had.

Charles said that Eric had been offered a scholarship to participate in the philosophy program at Fenton Street Community College and was making plans to go to the college before his fatal accident. Molly mentioned Eric’s senior research paper for his English class, which was on philosophy, and how everything Eric wrote about made sense.

Charles suggested they see The Matrix over the next few weeks, which had inspired Eric to write his paper on philosophy. Molly agreed since she had never seen it. She said goodbye to Charles when the Petersons dropped her off at her house. She was looking forward to keeping in touch with Charles and visiting Fenton Street Community College.

When Molly got into her house, she called the main number for FSCC and arranged to take a tour of the Takoma Park campus. She was told that she had to submit a full psychoeducational assessment to receive disability support services, so she met once again with Annie, who conducted the necessary tests and submitted them to FSCC.

Molly looked forward to touring the college campus and possibly opening yet another chapter in her life that she had never thought she would get to do. Over the next week, Molly and her family watched the Conservative and Democratic presidential conventions. Molly’s parents said they wanted to vote for Gary Walters, the Conservative candidate. Molly was undecided but felt a strong urge to support Howard Lyman, President Clemenston’s Vice President.

Molly was a little nervous on the day of her tour of FSCC. Her parents drove her to Takoma Park and said they would pick her up again at the end of the day.

The tour turned out to be awesome. Molly was amazed. The Fenton Street Community College campus consisted of two rows of Quonset-style buildings up and down in two neat rows, parted by a two-lane street. Molly soaked up scenes of bustling activity as students went to and from their classes, socializing with friends. Molly met a lot of professors, including the head of the philosophy department, who was especially interested in her and even asked if she had read Eric’s senior paper. Molly said that she had and that while she understood it, she had not seen The Matrix." The director told her she should watch the movie, re-read Eric’s paper, and then call him to talk about it. Molly really liked this department head and looked forward to possibly taking an Introduction to Philosophy course with him during the spring.

But Molly’s favorite person from the tour was the head of Disability Support Services, Dr. Katrina Wallace. Dr. Wallace said that college for a student with disabilities was a huge challenge and that the role of disability support was to ensure that students who had the proper documentation were given accommodations so that they had the opportunity to achieve the same success as students without disabilities through hard work. Dr. Wallace said that FSCC was nationally renowned for its comprehensive disability support services, which included academic advising for students with disabilities.

Molly’s day didn’t end until almost six o’clock. She was exhausted. She called her parents to pick her up, but they said their car had a flat tire. Molly said she would take the metro home. Wary after a bustling day, Molly walked about a mile and a half to the Silver Spring Metro Station, but the train was not scheduled to arrive for close to half an hour due to track repairs. So, she took a bus all the way from Silver Spring to Columbia Heights in Downtown DC. When Molly got off the bus, she realized she was on the wrong side of the street and needed to cross to catch the bus to the Brookland Metro Station near her house. Tired, Molly stepped into the street without looking.

2

THE CELEBRITY PATIENT

Molly opened her eyes to a blur of motion. She wondered why she was not on the bus going home. Where are the flashing lights coming from? she wondered. Molly tried to move her head, but something was preventing her. When she tried to move her left leg, she felt a sharp pain. Surrounded by several unfamiliar faces, Molly wondered, "What is happening to me?

Confusion and curiosity became panic, as Molly realized she was being loaded into an ambulance.

Where am I? she asked, What happened?

One of the faces that belonged to a medic on Molly’s right replied, Honey, you’ve been hit by a car. We’re taking you to the hospital to get checked out.

Molly’s emerald-green eyes widened in terror. Where are you taking me?

We’re taking you to Children’s, okay?

Knowing that she was going to Children’s and that Eric’s mom would be overseeing her care, Molly relaxed considerably. She thought it was cool that she would get to go into the ABC room and that one of the best pediatric trauma teams in the country would be taking care of her. But then she remembered that Eric had died in the ABC room. This tempered her enthusiasm. She asked one of the medics, Am I hurt really bad?

The medic on her left answered, We don’t think you’re hurt too badly, Molly. But your left leg is broken. They will have to do X-rays at the hospital.

Did you put me in MAST trousers? Molly asked. MAST—military anti-shock trousers—are inflatable pants. When they inflate, they squeeze the legs and force blood into the torso to prevent or delay shock.

The medic on her left smiled. Well Molly, we’re probably not going to need to do that because your blood pressure is excellent, and you can breathe for us fine. We think you are very lucky.

Molly smiled back at the medic.

The medic on her right side said, Molly, I’m starting an IV in your arm. This may sting for a second, okay?

After a few moments, Molly asked, Are you done putting in your IV?

Yes, honey, I am all done.

Wow. I didn’t feel anything.

That’s great, the medic replied enthusiastically.

The driver of the ambulance grabbed his radio. In Children’sthe Radio Room links the Trauma Team with the outside world, notifying it of incoming trauma cases. On this night, the radio operator was reading a book, waiting for his shift to end. Suddenly, the speaker console in the cramped quarters of the room came to life.

Medic 17 to Children’s.

The operator answered, This is Children’s Medic 17. Go ahead.

Children’s—we’re en route with V-POTLOS. ETA three minutes.

Copy. Medic 17, we’ll be ready.

As the operator released the button for the microphone, he picked up the phone and repeated the message to the hospital page operator, Trauma Stat. V-POTLOS. Three minutes.

The page operator pushed a red button on her console to sound the special trauma stat alert. The nineteen members of the Children’s Trauma Team immediately stopped what they were doing and headed for the ABC room.

The two rooms that comprise the Trauma Center at Children’s are called the ABC rooms. This name refers to the ABCs of trauma: airway, breathing, and circulation.

As Dr. Peterson headed to the ABC room to critically evaluate the trauma team’s performance in her capacity as a trauma service coordinator, she said a brief prayer that Molly would not be seriously injured. As she approached the ABC rooms… the assistant director of nursing called out to her.

Tammy, your husband called. He heard about Molly. He’s on his way over now.

Thanks, she replied. I’ll meet with him once we know how Molly is doing.

When the ambulance arrived at Children’s, one of the medics stayed with Molly as her gurney was rolled into the ABC room. On the short trip from the ambulance to the trauma bay, Molly was fascinated by the green textured walls of the hospital. When her gurney entered the ABC room, the medic told the residents and nurses on the trauma team, This is Vice-President Molly Grace. She is a 19-year-old female pedestrian who has been struck by an automobile. She lost consciousness for four or five minutes. She has a fractured left tibia but can still move her other extremities. Her blood pressure is 110/70, her respiration is 20+, and her pulse is steady at 160. She is very lucky.

The residents and nurses on the trauma team realized that Molly was alert, oriented, and engaged and broke into wide grins. They thanked the medic. The medic wished Molly luck and left the ABC room.

The surgical resident on Molly’s right saluted her. He had bright copper hair and a kind smile. He was beside himself with glee. Ms. Vice-President, he said, Welcome to Children’s. We’ve got to do a few quick procedures, then we’ll take you upstairs for some X-rays to check out your leg, head, and some other things.

Molly smiled back at the resident. Are you going to have to draw arterial blood? She was thinking about a very painful type of blood test she had read about in a book about the Children’s Trauma Center that Dr. Peterson had given her the year before. She did not want to have to undergo this procedure.

The nurse in charge chuckled.

The resident on Molly’s left grinned. Oh, Molly—we only do that if a patient is having trouble breathing. As long as we know you can breathe for us, we probably won’t have to do that. Okay? Now, that being said, I am going to draw a quick blood sample from your arm. Not from your wrist, which is where we usually draw arterial blood.

A nurse standing beside the resident began to wrap a blood pressure cuff around Molly’s arm. As the cuff tightened, she called out, 110/70.

Molly, The resident on Molly’s left began, I’m sorry, but I need to put one more IV in your left arm. With two IV lines in place, we will be able to help you even if you are bleeding internally.

Awesome, Molly replied, you all are great.

Molly had heard legendary stories about the compassionate and soothing care the Children’s trauma team administered to critical trauma cases. Now she felt completely calm and relaxed as the residents and nurses chatted with her and explained things to her.

The kind-faced resident on Molly’s right took out a stethoscope and slid the disc back and forth across her chest. Molly’s breathing was distinct and clear, with no jerky, unrhythmic, gurgling, congested, or other worrisome sounds. Molly, the resident said, your breathing is absolutely fantastic. We’ll continue to check it before we take you up for X-rays, but if you can continue to breathe as well as you are now, I wager we won’t have to draw arterial blood.

The resident advised the assistant director of nursing that Molly was ready for X-rays and noted the time on the wall clock. Molly had only been admitted three minutes ago. The nurse in charge, who was overseeing the paperwork, noted on her chronological event sheet that both IVs were in place and that Molly was alert, oriented, and stable. The X-ray technician rolled her machine into the ABC room and slid an X-ray plate under the backboard Molly was strapped to. The X-ray tech took scans of Molly’s neck, chest, and pelvis.

Once the X-rays were ready, the residents examined the scans of Molly’s neck. It was fine. All seven of her vertebrates were visible—they only worried when one or more vertebrates were missing. C-spine’s clear, the resident on Molly’s right announced. The nurse on Molly’s left removed her neck brace.

Now it was time to take Molly for X-rays of her legs and CAT scans of her head and abdomen—the trauma team was worried about a big gash over her spleen. As they were preparing to take her up to the second floor for X-rays, the nurse on her left said, Honey, we are going to call your mom and dad now. They can come and stay with you, okay? Molly told the nurse her parents’ phone number, and she promptly called the Graces.

Molly’s admission to Children’s caused quite a stir of excitement among the doctors and nurses. Being a children’s hospital, the faculty at Children’s would never be charged with treating the President or Vice-President of the United States. So, treating the President or Vice-President of the League of Schools—the massive national student government started by the recently deceased Eric Peterson—was a thrill. Molly had served under Eric as the first Vice-President of the League of Schools.

Back at home, Mr. and Mrs. Grace were wondering why Molly was taking so long to get home. I am really concerned about Molly, Mrs. Grace said, looking into her husband’s yellow eyes, she hasn’t called us for over an hour. You’d think if she was delayed, she would call us.

Just then, a news reporter’s voice sounded from the Graces’ television.

We interrupt this program with breaking news. We have confirmed that the former Vice-President of the League of Schools has been struck by a car. We will bring you more details shortly.

Molly’s parents cringed but refused to acknowledge that the reporter was talking about their daughter.

Then the phone rang.

As Mr. Grace grabbed the receiver,