Twice Bitten, Once Shy: Confessions of a Fake Psychic Detective #5

Chapter 3

A Pound of Cure

Grigori, dressed in Star Wars pajamas, is too absorbed in a game on his handheld Nintendo to react to Zandra's presence. That spares him a look at the shock on Zandra's face.

"Is that...?" Zandra says.

"Yes," Ivy says.

While blankets cover most of Grigori's body, his bare right foot dangles off the side of the bed. It less resembles a foot than a swollen grape of flesh with five toes sprouting from one end.

Damn. I've never seen stretch marks on a foot before.

"Is the other one like that, too?" Zandra says over the hum of essential oil diffusers.

"No. Just the one. Been like that for 10 days. Came out of nowhere," Ivy says. She sits down on the bed and runs her hand through her son's hair. Grigori stays focused on his game. "Grigori, this person is here to help you. Can you tell her about this?"

Grigori doesn't respond.

Ivy pulls his head close and kisses his temple. "That's OK," she says.

I don't know if this kid needs a podiatrist, a surgeon, or a bone saw. Sure as hell doesn't need me, though.

"Can I talk to you in the hallway?" Zandra says to Ivy. They leave, and Zandra makes sure to latch the door behind them.

"Don't tell me you can't help him," Ivy says. That gets Jade to join them from the kitchen.

"You can't help him?" Jade says as she approaches, beer in hand.

I should've stayed at that bus stop. There are better ways to make money than amateur pediatrics.

"He needs a doctor," Zandra says.

"But the spirits said you could help," Jade says.

Yeah, but the spirits aren't doctors, either.

"Me telling you he needs a doctor is the spirits helping," Zandra says.

Ivy looks at the door to Grigori's room. "Let's not do this here. Not where he can hear."

They switch to the kitchen instead, where Zandra puts herself between the couple and the knife block by the sink.

Old habit.

"A doctor is out of the question," Ivy says.

"You were just at the hospital," Zandra says.

"Paperwork. It never ends. It doesn't matter what the law says. If someone doesn't like you, they can keep you in limbo forever with the paperwork," Ivy says. "We are who we are, and Grigori is adopted. Plus, we only moved to Stevens Point six months ago."

Zero trust for institutions, and with good reason. Sounds familiar.

"Only six months ago?" Zandra says.

"We moved for work, at the big insurance company out here. It was a good job, good benefits. Then, out of nowhere, everything changed. Layoffs. Restructuring. I got notice I'm done in 30 days. Now the health insurance is all screwed up, on top of everything else," Ivy says.

Also familiar.

Zandra fakes a cough into her sleeve.

"So you're trying to treat whatever this is yourself," Zandra says.

"Ivy always tries to make it sound nice," Jade says. She tips the beer bottle toward Zandra. "Fuck doctors. Doctors are bought and paid for by the pharmaceutical companies. Healthy people don't make them any money. Same with the health insurance companies. Fuck them, too. There are cures all around us, in nature, that they try to suppress. You just have to know where to look."