"Mathias!" Alia was pounding on the door and making Mathias wonder why she did not come in. "Mathias!" she shouted again.

He opened the door and saw her standing there, wearing a mask and exam gloves and holding a pair and another mask in her hand.

"Here, put these on and go in the bedroom and grab some sweats for me." He opened his mouth but she cut him off. "I'll explain, please just do as I ask."

He returned with the pair of sweats. "I'm going to change my clothes here, yes I know the neighbors might see but it can't be helped. When I give you my clothes, put them in the washer and add the detergent and start the washer immediately."

She entered the house after she drew off her clothes and put on the sweats. "Don't take off your gloves and mask until you get these in the washer. Did Janet fix dinner? I'm starving."

He dumped the clothes in the washing machine and added the detergent. He started the washer and came out to the living room and joined her on the sofa.

He took off the gloves and mask. "What's wrong?"

"I had a kid come in today with measles! I'm vaccinated and I'm hoping you are. It's so contagious, the virus hangs even clings to clothes, so I didn't want to come in until I changed. Baby's too young to be immunized yet and I don't want to risk giving it to him."

"Are you sure it's measles?"

"Oh yeah, I'm sure. I know measles when I see them. God, I was so stupid not to consider the fact that there might be unimmunized kids on the rez. I don't blame them for being suspicious of vaccines but people have got to realize how dangerous measles are. I'm afraid I'm going to see a lot more cases."

"What did you do with the kid?"

"Tried to convince his mother that she should take him to the hospital. That it could get very serious and her child might die if she doesn't. I also asked her who her son had been playing with and if any of them had symptoms. I want you and Janet to come to the clinic and I'm going to give you a booster, or the vaccine if you're not immunized. I've seen measles go through the refugee camps, we just couldn't get ahead of the virus. Sometimes we'd run out of vaccine. No matter how hard we tried we always lost people."

"Well, I've been vaccinated, but it's been a while. I think Mom has, too," said Mathias, "Tell you what, Mom, Sis, and I will get boosters, just so Baby will be safe." He smiled, attempting to reassure her.

"I've got to talk to the tribal council. We've got to get as many people vaccinated as possible. I'm afraid some people will resist because they see it as white man's medicine and they will depend on the traditional medicine to treat this. I don't blame them but, I've got to explain that it won't cure measles. This is going to be hard, in the camps they trusted Dad because he was Lebanese so they accepted what he told them. I don't have that luxury, a lot of people don't trust me because I'm not Cheyenne."

"We can talk to the Elders," Janet said, "They'll remember the stories of how measles ravaged the tribe. If you can get their blessing maybe more people will go along."

"I'm hoping that if they see my staff get vaccinated they won't be scared. You know what's funny, it's hard for people in the camps to get medical care and here medical care's available and some people take advantage of it. I became a doctor because I wanted to help people. Now I'm afraid they won't let me help them and it's scary. Mathias, I know what measles can do and it's not pretty."

"Can you set up clinics in the schools?" he asked.

"Maybe, but I need parents' permission. I'll have my brother email me a template. I know some parents are going to withhold it on the grounds it might cause autism or cause other problems. It is safe enough that I feel confident telling people they should be immunized. I don't want a parent losing an unvaccinated child."

She pulled out her phone and dialed his number, then began speaking rapid-fire Lebanese. Mathias wondered if he would ever make sense of language she seemed to speak with ease.

"What do you think when I hear you speaking Cheyenne?" she had told him, "That doesn't make much sense to me, either."

She hung up the phone. "He's mailed me a template and I'll edit it. I'm going to make this free to get more people to come—and I've got to order more vaccine because we don't have much on hand. I'm going to pay for this out of pocket and then try to get reimbursed. This is more important than going through channels and dealing with red tape. What's scary is I don't know how many more cases are out there."

"What should be scaring you," he answered, "Is how you are going to push this past the tribal council. Without their cooperation, no one will participate and it won't matter how much vaccine you have on hand."

"You mean I'm going to have to deal with 'anti-vaxers'? Wouldn't be the first time, but I'm smart enough to know anything I say won't change their minds. When can you get a meeting set up? When can I talk to the elders? This is important, Mathias, I just can't let it go."

Janet worked a miracle and two nights later she was able to meet with the elders. As she had hoped, they remembered what measles had done to the tribe and how there had been no cure. Like the Hawaiians, in those days they had no natural resistance to the white man's diseases. For diseases like there would be no natural immunity, the only hope was vaccination.

To her great relief, the elders relented and agreed to be vaccinated. She'd brought along a bottle and syringes and vaccinated each of the elders in turn.

Janet and Mathias were next and soon everyone was rubbing sore arms and remarking that they did not think the needles would be so big. The Elders promised they one of them would contact the council tomorrow and ask them to call a meeting about setting up a program for universal inoculations. The fact that no money would come out of tribal funds might possibly ease the way.

Alia made arrangements to meet with the council in a week. They had an urgent need to meet sooner, but the council was not in an indulgent mood. While most of the tribe were happy for them Mathias now found himself on the outs as it was plain that he was not going to leave Alia for a member of the tribe. News of their marriage impending marriage had not improved things. "I guess we were lucky they aged to meet with us at all," thought Alia

In the meantime, she saw three more cases at the clinic. Fortunately, they weren't so sick that they would have to be hospitalized. She put up a sign on the door that measles were going around and patients would have to wear masks. She also advised them that unless the matter was serious, it would be best to wait.

She was in the middle of a deep, exhausted sleep when the phone ring. "It's probably for me," Mathias mumbled but she said, "No, it's mine," and picked up the cell phone lying on the table next to her bed.

"Hello?" she said sleepily, then sat straight up. "How high is his fever? That high? No, stay where you are and I'm going to come to you, Mathias will drive me." She shook him by the shoulder, "Mathias, wake up, you have to drive me to the Longwalker's. Their little boy is running a fever of 102 and has a sore throat. I bet he has the measles. I don't want them to move him until I examine him. Get dressed, please. I'm going to call the hospital while we're on our way and set up an isolation unit. I have a feeling this is the first serious case, but it won't be the last."

She shook him again, "Wake up, Mathias, we've got to get going."

"What time is it?" he said sleepily.

"Two a.m. I'm sorry, but we've got to go."

"Okay," he got out of bed and got dressed. "Did I hear you say the Longwalkers?" He pulled on his boots and grabbed his keys. "They've got four kids, is only one sick?"

"Yes, so far. I'm going to inoculate the ones who aren't sick, and the parents, if they'll let me. I hope they will. If the kids aren't sick yet, the vaccine will help make the measles less severe. I don't think I've ever seen them at the clinic."

She grabbed her medical bag and they got in the car. "Wish I had some coffee," moaned Mathias, "This is going to be a long night."

"Well, this can be one of the rare times you abuse your power as chief and not make it into work. What do you know about this family?"

"They're poor, they're traditional, they're proud, and they are very close-knit. They must be worried if they called you so that's a good sign. They won't have money for the hospital, though, and that may be a problem."

"I'll tell them not to worry, that the government will take care of it," she said and Mathias gave her a skeptical look. "I'll only pay for it if there's no other way, you'd be surprised at how you can deal with hospital bills if you only know how to do it. I've helped a lot of patients cheat."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Mathias patted her leg, "Tell me, are you very worried?"

"Yes," she replied, "Very worried. If this little boy is as sick as they said he is going to have a tough time of it. I wish this was a disease you could cure, but it's not and now you tell me there's three more children. This is not going to be an easy night."