CURSED WITH A THIRST (Part 2)
by Brick Walters, 10/29/99

A special DCR investigation:

DC: Bob and Carmen Callowell were faced with every new parent's worst nightmare ... the sudden realization that their baby was a vampire.
They got little comfort from the traditional medical establishment, but that didn't keep them from reaching out ... trying to find a cure.
Brick Walters' report continues.

Carmen: What we found out was that there isn't very much out there about vampire babies. People usually get to be vampires as adults, being romanced by one or stumbling into a bat cave or something.

Bob: Being a vampire baby from a non-vampire mom ... it isn't typical, which isolated us even more.

Carmen: We heard a lot about a stake through the heart.

Bob: Everybody said we had to drive a stake through her heart. Boy did I get tired of hearing that.

Carmen: We started saying "look, we're not going to do it, so don't even ask. Some treatments are worse than the disease, you know?"

Brick: The Callowells felt they were getting nowhere fast. Their pediatrician kept inventing excuses not to see the child. "I'm at a conference." "I'm going to be in surgery that day ..." (even though the doctor was NOT a surgeon.) "I'll be defending myself in a malpractice case that day ..." Bob and Carmen got the idea their pediatrician did not want Riceann as a patient.

Carmen: Then one day we were in the grocery store and I went up to the meat counter to get some steak for a cookout. There was quite a line, but I waited my turn and ordered the cuts I needed. When the butcher showed me the steak, there was a certain amount of blood on the paper.
Well ... Riceann, was just six months old and hadn't walked yet ... but she climbed out of the shopping cart, scrambled up on to my shoulder and hurled herself at the butcher and sunk her two tiny fangs into the raw cuts of meat. I was stunned. The butcher ... he couldn't speak for an hour afterwards. But the produce manager ... he was intrigued. He gave me his card and said I should give him a call.

Brick: It turned out the "produce manager" was also a Doctor. Dr. Larry Kyle is the founder of Genway, a supermarket the features it's own line of genetically engineered foods.

(music in bg: Bali Hai)

Kyle: I found the child remarkable. We did a genetic profile on her and saw many, many interesting things. I told the Callowells that I would like to work with them to our mutual benefit. They were reluctant at first ... mostly due to the advice they were getting from the traditional medical establishment.

Melissa: When I found out they were seriously considering advice from a supermarket produce manager ... who called himself "Doctor," I contacted the state board of medical examiners and I asked the Callowells to come in for a consultation with our top people.

Brick: Why the change? You admit that earlier you had been indifferent!

Melissa: Not indifferent. We were hoping they would go away. So really, we were very, very clandestinely interested.
If we had to do something, we wanted to do the right thing.
But our first choice was to ignore the situation, constructively.
With Dr. Kyle involved, that was no longer possible.

Brick: The consultation with MegaMed's top doctors was a disaster. Carmen Callowell had a tape recorder hidden in her purse.

Carmen: I always wanted to wear a wire in a sting operation. With my life totally upended, I figured this might be the last chance I'd get.
Besides, I watch a lot of law enforcement shows and I know how they talk.

Brick: Listen to the section of the tape where Bob and Carmen push for a plan of action to deal with Riceann's condition.

(the following section is played a bit off mic)

Carmen: What are we going to do? Isn't that what this is really about? Face it, Doc ...

Doctor 2: I'm a doctor too!

Carmen: I wasn't talking to you.

Doctor 3: We're all doctors.

Carmen: I don't care if you're exotic dancers, got it? Well?

Doctors: (mumbled yess's)

Carmen: Here's the whole ball o' wax, pal. How do you treat a baby who happens to be a vampire?

Doctor 1: I would recommend a battery of tests.

Carmen: She's already had every test in the book.

Doctor 1: I'm talking about you. We need to get to the bottom of your vampire fixation.

Carmen: Are you callin' me crazy?

Doctors: (group denial)

Doctor 2: Nobody said that.

Carmen: Nobody has to say it.

Doctor 1: Then let's talk about something else. What do you think when you look at ... this!

Carmen: Oh no. Ink blots!

Doctor 2: You're feeling threatened. Tell me about that.

Carmen: Tell me how to deal with my Vampire Baby!

Both Doctors: Stake through the heart!

Carmen: Never!

Doctor 1: That's what my medical dictionary says to do.

Doctor 2: Maybe there'd be a pill if the market were bigger. But ... baby vampirism ... there isn't enough to make it a profitable line.

Doctor 1: All the drug companies I deal with would go broke!

Doctor 2: Mine too. Unless it becomes the next big thing.

Doctor 1: Have you tried garlic? They say it works wonders!

Brick: Discouraged and disheartened, Bob and Carmen felt they had little choice but to go with Dr. Kyle and his ideas for treating Riceann through the same kind of genetic manipulation he was using on vegetables at Genway. But how would that work? No one knew, for sure. But they were about to find out.

(music: Bridge)

Dc: In a moment, we'll hear the daring plan that Bob and Carmen hoped would make their little Riceann a normal, healthy baby ... as we continue this Medical Special- Cursed with a Thirst - Our Baby is a Vampire! On Dale Connelly Reporting ... news that is not to be believed.

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