"You aren't supposed to be on your phone at work," Malynda, one of the nurses, commented as she went past.
Cheryl scowled and put the phone back in her pocket.
"Ignore her," Kelly said with a nod. "She spends half her shift in the nurse's station on her phone and then wants to cop an attitude because the aides are on theirs." Kelly was a medication aide and somewhere between a nurse and a nurse's aide in the nursing home's hierarchy of things.
"She's right though. I have plenty to do. Has Bernie had his meds? He wants to go to bed."
"You being on your phone . . . well, it's one of those special circumstances," Kelly said. "Any word?"
Cheryl shook her head. "A quick text last night. Said he was okay and not to worry. Where could he be?" She hadn't seen her son Jake for more than forty-eight hours now. If it hadn't been for his text, she would have gone to the police. She'd sent an increasingly desperate string of texts but received no responses.
"Did you check with Martha or Terry?" Kelly asked.
"Yeah, neither have seen him. Martha had her son ask around. None of his friends have seen him."
"But he said he was okay?"
"Yeah, that's the strangest part. Where could he have gone?"
Kelly gave her a hesitant look, like she wasn't sure she wanted to suggest it. "His dad's?"
"We've not even heard from him in months." Malynda went past them again, giving another look of disapproval. "I'd better get to Bernie."
"I'm sure he'll turn up soon," Kelly said and pushed her med cart down the hall. Cheryl sighed and headed down the hall to find her resident and take him to his room.
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Shoshone Station: The Galactic Consortium season 2
Science FictionLess than a year ago, they arrived over earth's sky. They call themselves the Galactic Consortium and they are human, or at least, simian - from the same genetic line as humans. They claim to have terraformed this planet centuries ago to serve as a...
