Chapter 11
Well, Friday had come. We were picking Mom up from the hospital right after school. Pop told us to wait for him in front of the school building. He didn’t say anything more about Terell, which worried me. I didn’t know what to do: run, hide at Grandma’s, what? My head burned searching for answers.
I didn’t want to bury any more secrets; they never stayed buried anyway. Everybody eventually found out about everything. I just wanted this shot thing to be over with, so the pain and confusion could be gone and forgotten.
I shook my head. Suddenly, bad thoughts started to pound down on me, trying to take over all the good thoughts. I was suffocating.
How could our parents forget his vaccination shots? What if they made a mistake like that with me? Did they have so much to deal with that the important things began to slip away? What would they forget next?
“Justine,” Cheri called, running out the school’s front door. “You forgot your composition.”
“Oh yeah,” I mumbled as she handed me the folded paper.
“Here he comes,” Kriston said.
Pop pulled the van up to the curb and I slipped the paper into my backpack’s side pocket.
“I’ll see you later, okay?” Cheri whispered, patting my shoulder.
I nodded.
“Hi!” Austin hollered, waving from his car seat.
“Hey Austin,” I said, climbing aboard.
The rest quietly climbed in behind me and shut the door.
Riding up the avenue, Pop kept glimpsing through the rearview mirror at Terell beside me. My brother had his spring jacket zipped all the way to his neck, even though it was hot outside. I guessed he felt better covering up as much of his skin as he could.
I sighed at Terence; he shrugged. I stared at the bright blue sky out the window, hoping it would make me feel better. But it felt like report card night all over again.
“Terell,” Pop called, catching everyone’s attention. “You’ve been worrying about this thing since Monday. Now you know the only way to deal with a problem is to face it head on. Besides, what if you catch the chicken pox or measles or something worse at a later age?”
Terell lowered his head.
“Nothing’s as bad as we make it seem,” Pop said. “You stop worrying about a thing, and it’s over before you know it.”
Terell whimpered and leaned against my shoulder.
“You all remember your Uncle Darrick?” Pop asked.
“Yeah,” we mumbled. We remembered him well.
“And I bet you never had a complaint about him, did you?”
“No,” we mumbled again. What good was it complaining to his brother?
“There, now, you see?” he asked Terell. “Your brothers and sister approve. You trust them, don’t you?”
No answer.
He drove into the hospital’s parking lot and a thought just popped into my head. I didn’t remember him ever taking us to the doctor before; Mom always did. If Uncle Darrick was Pop’s brother, how did the burden fall on Mom?
An empty space was right beside the entrance to the medical center, and I groaned. Again, when we wanted a delay, it never came
Pop parked the van, shifted the gear handle, and sat there, staring straight ahead at the medical building. Through the rearview mirror, I could see the lines form on his forehead and his eyebrows crinkle. What was he thinking now?
Kriston leaned forward. “Aren’t we going to pick Mom up first?”
“Later,” Pop said, and hopped out the van.
We looked at each other and crawled out behind him. Terell walked as far away from Pop as he could get.
We passed through the entrance doors where the scent of alcohol and sight of doctors and nurses running around in white sent chills up my back.
Pop directed us to the pediatrician’s lounge and then headed toward the main desk. The lounge was completely empty. The four walls, three doors, six pictures, two sofas, two chairs, and a magazine rack surrounded us.
Just then a door swung open and we braced against each other.
“He-ey!” Doctor Uncle Darrick said, coming over and giving everybody a kiss. He had the exact same features as Pop, but Uncle Darrick was younger.
“How’s everybody doing? Your pop checking you in?” he asked Terell.
“Yes,” I told him, wrapping my arms around Terell.
“How’s your mom?”
“Fine,” I said.
“When is she coming home?” he asked.
“After we leave here,” I answered.
“Mmm hmm,” he mumbled. “Your father arranged this, didn’t he?”
We looked at each other. “I guess so,” I told him.
“Hmmm,” he hummed, rubbing his chin the same way Pop did. “Take Terell inside and sit him down. I’ll be right back.” He vanished out the door.
We looked at each other again. The time was no more perfect than now to get up and run like crazy.
I held Terell’s hand and opened the door to a miniature hallway containing more doors. I pushed one to an examination room.
A papered couch stretched out on our right. A cabinet filled with jars and bottles loaded with cotton balls, thermometers, and other funny looking instruments extended across the opposite wall.
I clung tightly to Terell. The needles were in there somewhere, I knew it!
The door pushed open and we jumped, ready to fly out the window.
“Hey,” Pop said, searching around. “Where is he?”
“Out . . . somewhere,” I explained.
Pop shut the door and unzipped Terell’s jacket and handed me his backpack. “Go wait outside with your brothers,” he instructed me.
What? Desert Terell?
Slowly, I walked to the door, watching Terell’s eyes beg me not to go. How could I leave him like this? Alone with a parent to face the lowest form of medication known to childhood: a shot in the rear.
Pop hoisted my poor baby brother onto the papered couch as Doctor Uncle Darrick’s (D.U.D.) voice echoed across the hall.
I stepped out and closed the door.
“Where’s your father?” he asked me.
“In there.” I pointed.
He shut his eyes, sighed, and reopened the door.
I got the feeling that something wasn’t quite right. I slipped into the waiting room. “Psst, hey, come on,” I whispered to my brothers.
We tiptoed over and put our ears to the door of the examination room. Tiny clinks, clothes shuffling, and light footsteps didn’t give us a clue about what was happening.
Then there was silence.
“Wait a minute!” Pop suddenly exploded. “Where’s the gas mask?”
“What gas mask?” D.U.D. asked.
“The thing you use to put him to sleep with!”
“He’s not a dog, Justin. We don’t put him to sleep.”
“You’re giving him a shot just like that, with him looking at you?” Pop asked.
It was quiet again.
“Wait, wait, wait a minute!” Pop thundered. “Put him to sleep first, I can’t stand him screaming like that!”
“He’s not the one screaming,” D.U.D. pointed out.
My brothers and I gaped at each other. I opened the door an inch.
Pop’s bulging eyes didn’t even blink as he watched his brother unbutton Terell’s shirt. His mouth hung wide open. “Don’t you have a TV set or something to distract his attention? He’s sitting there looking right at you.”
“No, he’s looking at you.”
Pop glared hard at his brother.
D.U.D. pulled Terell’s shirt off. I noticed how gentle he was.
“Why do you have to do all that?” Pop asked, waving his arm. “Don’t you have enough skin after you roll his sleeve up?”
D.U.D. wouldn’t say anything.
“He might catch a draft like that, man, why can’t you pull up one sleeve?”
“Justin, if this is going to bother you, why don’t you wait in the lounge?” D.U.D. s
uggested.
“No!” Pop shook his head. “No! I’m staying!”
D.U.D. tipped a bottle of alcohol onto a cotton ball and rubbed it against Terell’s left arm.
“Just like that!” Pop snapped, staring into his face.
“Just like what?” D.U.D. asked.
“Just like that, you’re going to inject him? No distractions, nothing to turn his attention away?”
“Well, what do you suggest?”
“I don’t know. You’re the doctor!” he said. “Why can’t you find something to distract his attention?”
“He’s looking at his daddy,” D.U.D. remarked.
Pop’s eyes glared again, his lips shut tight.
D.U.D. reached for the needle, removed the cap, and—
“Hold it, man! I’m not going to stand here and watch you shove some needle up my kid! Give it to him in a pill or something!”
“Justin, he’s my nephew and I love him as much as you do. I’m not doing this to hurt him, I’m doing it for his benefit.” D.U.D. stepped to the side, blocking our view of Terell.
“You think I enjoy seeing kids get sick when it could have been prevented? You think I enjoy watching them suffer? You think it’s a thrill to inject needles into their arms?” He backed away from the couch. “No, let me rephrase that. Do you think?”
Tyrone snorted. I nearly choked.
“How’s that?” D.U.D. asked Terell. “You’re all vaccinated. How do you feel?”
“Fine,” Terell remarked in surprise, examining his bandaged arm.
“Fine?” Pop exclaimed. “Fine? What do you mean fine? Tell him the truth!”
“It didn’t hurt,” Terell said.
“Don’t lie to your father, boy!” Pop advised.
D.U.D. glanced at us, and I shut the door fast. “Justine come in here,” he called.
I held my breath and pushed the door open.
“Take your father home, please,” he told me.
“Come on, Pop,” I said, creeping in. “It’s time to go now.” I patted his stomach. “Let’s go, Pop.”
“You had this boy terrified all week!” he continued. “You think I’d let—”
I pushed him out the door before he could finish. My brothers kept him occupied while I dressed Terell. “Is that why Mom always brings us?” I asked.
D.U.D. smiled at me. “Your dad loves you very much and would stop at nothing if he knew something was wrong.”
“He didn’t sound like that in the van,” I said.
“Everything he said was to convince himself that he could pull through this. He has fears just like everybody else, Justine, and taking his kids to the doctor is a very trying experience for him.” He rolled off a length of paper sheet from the couch.
“Your dad felt very guilty for not bringing Terell in for his vaccination shot when he was a baby. It was no big mistake, he just lost track. He could’ve brought Terell in later. But it bothered him.”
Uncle Darrick rolled the crumpled sheet up and dropped it into the trash can. “He wouldn’t let his steam off on his kids; he saved it all for me.” He smiled and winked at me. “He wants the best for you.”
Terell was dressed and ready. I grabbed the door handle. “When are you coming over again?” I asked. “See Doreen? Stay over a couple of nights?”
“When I get my time off I’ll come,” he said.
“Okay?”
“Make it soon,” I said, meaning it. “Bye Uncle Darrick.”
“Bye Uncle Darrick,” Terell echoed.
Maybe everything wasn’t supposed to go right all the time, I thought as we walked out to the lounge. Maybe nobody could be 100 percent confident, and maybe the ones who thought they were couldn’t see what was really going on, or maybe they just didn’t want to admit that they got scared too. You couldn’t get A’s in everything.
I guess there was no one right answer for everything. Bad things happened, like spraining your ankle, dropping keys down an elevator shaft, flooding your house, forgetting vaccination shots, flunking almost every subject. Well, that one could have been avoided.
But even so, accidents happen. Things go wrong. Still, it helped to be a little prepared. And if having good grades could help Pop stop worrying a little, then I think the hard work would all be worth it.
We exited out the main doors and stepped into the bright clear sunshine. Red, yellow, purple, and blue flowers helped the tall green plants color the side of the building. Thick, white, puffy clouds floated above and I wanted to fly up there with them and greet the coming summer air.
Our family was waiting by the entrance to the hospital for Pop to pull the van up.
“Hey Mom!” I yelled as we walked over.
“Hi Mommy!” Terell called, racing into her arm.
“Hey baby,” Mom planted a kiss on his forehead.
“How’d it go with Uncle Darrick?” she asked him.
“Pop was terrible,” he said. “It must’ve really hurt.”
Pop’s look of pain lingered even as he took Doreen from Mom and it showed that Terell was speaking the truth. Pop helped Mom out of the wheelchair and into the front seat.
Well, I thought, now it was official. We had a new baby sister. She couldn’t have come at a better time. I watched Terell’s face beam. What more could we ask for? Wait a minute! My composition! I ravaged my backpack for the paper. I pulled out the sheet and unfolded it. In the top left hand corner the letter A was in bold red ink next to a plus sign.
No English for the summer!
I beamed at Pop. This would really make up for everything he had to go through on report card night and today. It would be the perfect Father’s Day gift.
But for now, at least a little while, I wanted to keep it to myself.
Pop placed Doreen back in Mom’s arms after she adjusted the bassinet into a second car seat, I got ready to close the door.
“Well,” Mom called out to me. “How about this for something different? What do you think of your new sister?” Her brown eyes sparkled as she waited for my answer.
I braced against the door and watched her unwrap the blanket to a tiny, drooling, wrinkled up, exact replica of my brothers, so tiny and helpless. I wondered how long it would take for her to get used to us. Would she be scared and confused? Maybe she would feel abandoned when everybody went to sleep. I’d have to make sure that nothing happened to her and that no danger came near her.
I leaned in a little closer and smiled. One crinkly eyelid lifted and then the other, and I could swear her brown eyes were staring right at me when she spread her tiny arm out and stretched her mouth wide open to release an earsplitting yell.
I cupped my ears and exclaimed, “Does she have to stay in my room?”
The End
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