Amanda Knight laid in the hospital bed, the monitors she was connected to indicated her condition was currently stable.
Her husband Benton Knight stood by her side, holding her hand and wishing she'd wake up.
On the opposite side of the bed was their daughter Frieda, holding her mother's other hand but making the same wish.
Sitting in the corner staring at the scene was Lance Knight, Benton's younger brother and Frieda's uncle, musing silently about what a dysfunctional family he was a part of.
It was almost a declaration of war whenever the Knight brothers got together, although Benton was the instigator 99 times out of 100. Amanda, while always siding with her husband, was usually the more quiet of the two, despite being just as much of a snob as he was.
Frieda... now there was the question.
His niece was definitely the more down to earth of the trio. Like her uncle in a lot of ways, which is why Benton always considered his brother "the black sheep" of the family.
But during his brief chat with her friends Eric Anderson and Spencer Lawson, Lance was discovering that Frieda was blossoming into quite an... interesting lady.
How long they all remained in their current states, no one was sure. But the other Knights sprang into action as Amanda's doctor walked into the room.
"You!" protested Benton, instantly recognizing Doctor Tora Tachibana, even if his grandmother Akane wasn't standing behind him. "I want another physician to take over Amanda's case immediately!" he demanded.
"Shut up and let's hear what he has to say first," said Lance, as much a voice of reason in the Knight family as he was the new (but temporary) werepanther representative on the Were Elders' Council.
"A wise decision. Benton, hear my grandson out first. You will find what he has to say most interesting."
Benton was about to reply when his daughter stood between him and the Tachibanas. "How's my mother?" asked Frieda, pleading for a good diagnosis.
"First and foremost, your wife's blood alcohol level is zero point zero," announced Tora.
"But everyone thought she was drunk," said a puzzled Benton, for he feared that too.
"The Sheriff's department sent this to us," said Doctor Tachibana, while holding up a silver drinking flask with the initials BK on it, sealed in a plastic evidence bag. "Her fingerprints are nowhere on the flask, only yours."
"But how..." began Benton.
"Your prints are apparently on file someplace because you're prominent in the were community," explained Tora.
"As are those of a lot of other important weres in Moon Lake, but let's move on," requested Akane.
"Their theory is that when your wife lost consciousness and crashed your car, the contents of this spilled out on her, giving your wife the outward appearance of drinking while driving," said the doctor.
"Okay," said Benton, relieved that they would not be facing any more problems with the Sheriff's office, "but then why did Amanda pass out to begin with?"
"That's where trying to make a diagnosis becomes more difficult," admitted Tora. "She's running a low grade fever and we've found evidence of a parasite within your wife's blood. Something that apparently is much stronger than a were's immune system. We're starting her on a strong antibiotic treatment now, but we'd be able to proceed much better if we could identify what the parasite is. Have you been outside the continental United States within the last six months?" he asked, starting to read off a checklist.
"No," answered Benton.
"Eaten any exotic/imported foods?" asked the doctor.
"Yes," replied Benton.
"Okay. Now, think carefully before answering this one. Considering the current strength of the parasite in your wife's body, have you eaten anything exotic, consistently for at least two weeks or longer?"
"No, we..." then Benton paused, remembering this morning. "Civet coffee!" he exclaimed. "Amanda loves the stuff. It's her favorite blend and she has at least a cup a day, or so she told me over what passed for breakfast this morning."
Doctor Tachibana grabbed his cellphone out of his pocket, accessed the Internet, and hastily started pressing buttons. A moment later, he read out loud, "Made from the droppings of the Civet cat, found in Southern China and Southeast Asia. Have you had any?"
"Just a cup this morning with her," replied Benton, now wondering about his own health.
"Well, don't be surprised if you get nauseous or have a queasy stomach by morning, but obviously you're wife has gotten a bad batch somewhere of late," realized Tora. "Prolonged and continuous exposure has made her case much worse than yours will ever be, and stressful situations would just aggravate her condition quicker."
"There have certainly been plenty of those lately," muttered Frieda under her breath.
"If you have any left, bring it in for testing immediately," requested Doctor Tachibana.
"I'll call..." and then Benton had to stop himself, remembering that all the household staff had resigned, and that there was no one at the manor to bring the coffee to the hospital. "I'll go home and bring it back here as fast as I can."
Then he looked at Akane Tachibana and his brother and added, "Within the legal speed limits, of course," before leaving the hospital.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
Sorry folks, after giving the subject some serious thought, I just could not agree with a drunk Amanda Knight. However, while we already have one pregnant character (Melissa Stovall) on Earth-2 and another on Earth-3 (that world's Martha Anderson), that wasn't the answer to Amanda's medical problems, and giving her any kind of an aneurysm like the Julie Stovall on Earth-3 is currently recovering from seemed like a cop out too.
Ruling out all the other cliches like it's a dream/nightmare, etc; I went back over previous chapters and tip my hat to Franknfurter69 and his recent episode "Expensive Coffee and Grand Plans", posted on July 4, 2016.—tmw.