Look but Don't Choke

Chapter 27

    I stayed in bed for two days but didn't sleep one lick of those forty-eight hours. I just lay there thinking and thinking and thinking and thinking...until I made myself sick over it. The only thing I did, was call Pasha to tell her I wouldn't be in.

     "You never get sick," she'd said through the phone. "You haven't missed a day of work since the grand opening."

     "It's just a twenty-four hour bug or something. I'll be back to my old self tomorrow."

     But the twenty-four hour bug turned into a forty-eight hour flu. I couldn't physically place what was wrong with me; my temperature was normal, I wasn't nauseous, or clammy, or cramping...

     ...I just felt wrong.

     The phone had been ringing off the hook, as usual. Everyone called. Mama, Pasha, Jackson, Grandma, Harley, Mrs. Cho, Mama, Harley, Alice, Mama, Manny...

     I ignored them and buried myself under the covers, ready to turn that forty-eight hour flu into a seventy-two hour one. But in the middle of wallowing I got another call. I craned my neck from the fetal position I seemed trapped in and checked the caller I.D.

     Henry.

     I snatched the phone up and held it in my hand, letting it vibrate. A part of me didn't feel like pretending...but a stronger part of me missed him. I took a deep breath before answering, "Hello?"

     "Hey, I'm sure you're busy but I wanted to let you know Harley's leaving today," he stumbled over the words like they were rehearsed. Had it really been so long since we'd talked?

     "Yeah?"

     "You don't want to say goodbye?" There was almost an attitude when he said it, but he tried to cover his dislike for the situation behind pleasantries.

     "It doesn't really matter. I'm sure I'll see him next time he's in town."

     That gave him pause. When he responded his attitude was replaced by concern. "He wants to see you before he goes. He said he called but you didn't pick up."

     "Oh. I must have missed it."

     "...Where are you?"

     "Home."

     "You never--" He cut himself off and changed gears. "You don't sound like yourself. What's wrong? Did my brother do something to you?"

     "What? No. It's nothing. I just didn't feel that good today."

     "Are you feeling well enough to get dressed? I'm in the neighborhood, you can ride with me."

     I wasn't expecting that. "I...I guess I could--"

     "It won't take that long. I promise. Whatever it is, I'll help you."

     "Okay." The thought of doing anything just now sounded torturous, but I just couldn't put up a fight. "Okay, I'll see you in a while."

     When I'd opened the door in my robe and head wrap, he'd said nothing. He only took one look at me before he came charging in like we hadn't been fighting the last couple of weeks. Something about hearing another human's voice--seeing his face, being forced to interact with him--brought me back out of whatever dark place I'd been in for the last two days.

     By the time we made it to the airport I felt better. Though not by much. Henry parked his green SUV in the labyrinth the airport called a parking garage and we made our way inside where we were suddenly adrift in a sea of people.