“I believe in those kinds of families.However, I’ve never experienced one.My grannie is all right, a little off her noodle at times, but I love her.She’s in a state-run nursing home, and they treat her fairly well.I go and see her when I can.She no longer remembers who I am, and that’s sad, but I know her, so that’s all right.”He asked if she was happy.“Am I happy?I don’t know that I ever thought about that before.I have a place where I live.It’s not great, but it’s a roof over my head.I have food when I want it and am glad that my landlord is so forgiving at times.But other than that, it’s fine.”
“I want to see about making you happy.”She told him that she was just fine, and that bothered him somewhat.She seemed resigned to the fact that she had the essentials and that was all that she needed.Perhaps it was, he thought with a smile.She might have the right way to go about life, like she was.
He’d been like that a few hundred years ago.Bored with life, he’d gone through the motions of the day and did nothing else.Not even to interact with his family.His mother had told him that he needed a hobby of some sort, and that was when he became a doctor for the first time.Since working in the hospital at the time, it was easy enough for him to get his degree as a doctor and help those around him.He thought, too, that his brother Yanick was suffering from that now and needed something to shake up his life.He’d have to get on him about that before he became too set in his ways.
Today, he had a full day of seeing patients.His first one was an elderly woman who had been around as a child while he’d been living here.She was forever telling him how he’d babysat her as a child, and he told her she’d been a naughty child.They had fun, the two of them, and he thought that was the hardest part of being around forever.You saw people who were children grow up and get old.It was hard on the heart, he told her.
“What brings you in today, Mary?”She said that her blood pressure medicine had expired and that she needed to see him in order to get her new prescription.“I can do that.When will you run out of it?”
After taking her blood pressure and telling her that she was doing well, he took some blood to make sure that her counts were still reading all right.She was just telling him about her garden and how she had the biggest carrots this year when his nurse came in to find him.After excusing himself, he went out to see what she wanted.
“There is the little Allen boy back to see you.He said that his rash isn’t getting any better.I’m thinking that he’s getting into it daily and doesn’t know any better.I heard that his momma was having the vines taken off their house.Could be that it’s poison ivy.”He asked if she’d make sure that his chartwas up to date.“I can do that.But you should see this boy.He’s a mess.I’d say he’s taking a shower in the vines if I didn’t know any better.”
After doing a quick exam of Jason, he went back to Mary.She was concerned about the little fella and told him so.After assuring her that he was going to take care of them both.He renewed her prescription and sent her on her way.But not before he had a large bag of carrots that he was going to be taking to his mom’s house tonight.
By lunchtime, he’d had Jason taken care of and sent him home with something stronger and a stern warning about what poison ivy looked like.He was nursing a few places that were raw, and he was concerned about them.If they continued to be raw like they were, he was going to have to put him in the hospital for a couple of days on something stronger to get him taken care of.He had a bad reaction.
Eating his lunch of cold pizza, which he’d brought from home, he messaged Sharon about his day so far.He didn’t want to call her and disturb her work, and knew that she’d answer him when she got a few minutes.He didn’t want to distract her while using the slicer either.That was a dangerous piece of equipment.Since she’d been cut so badly and had already healed, she had to continue to wear the bandage so that no one freaked out.But since she didn’t hurt anymore, it was easier for her to go back to work.
By the time he’d been ready to go home, he’d seen another three children with bad cases of poison ivy.He was going to have to have his brother check to see where the epidemic was coming from and see if he could put a stop to it.If they were to burn the vines, he’d have even more trouble with infections, and he’d just as soon stop it if he could.He had a feeling that they were ‘helping’ and getting the ivy all over their skin.
He thought about driving up to see Sharon again, but she had left him a message that she was coming to see him.Kendrick was excited about that.Most of his house was in flux because he was moving again, but he thought that if she had time, they could look at houses together.
Kendrick and his brothers moved to a different house every ten to fifteen years just so they’d not be too set in their ways.It was a good way to stave off boredom as well.He’d been looking at houses for the past month and had narrowed it down to three of them.Sharon knew that was one of the things that he wanted to do with her, and also to meet his family.She was nervous about meeting them.Especially his mom and older brother.
Conri was the alpha of the pack, and she’d never met one before.He’d tried telling her that he was like a big cuddly dog, but she wasn’t having it.Just the idea that he could have the pack kill her by his word scared her to death.He’d never thought about it before and was glad that he’d told his brother not to go too overboard in meeting her.He didn’t want her scared of him.
By the time she arrived, he’d cleaned his place up as best he could and made and discarded two different lists of homes she might want to see.He wanted to live near his family, but she might want to be closer to her job.Whatever she wanted, he was going to be there for her.Stretching when she pulled into the driveway, he watched her pull into one of the spaces in front of the garage and get out.
Rushing out to help her in, he was surprised that she had brought a bag with her of clothing.He didn’t want to read too much into it, so he said nothing when he took it from her and into the house.Kendrick explained how he was in the process of moving, and the things that he was taking with him were packed up.The rest would be sold with the house, or he’d have an auction to get rid of the things he was starting fresh with.
“We’ll get to start fresh in a new place if we find one you like.”She told him she’d never lived in a house before.“I’ve always lived in a house.I’m assuming you mean apartments when you say that.”
“Grannie had a trailer that was as old as dirt when I moved in with her.My parents both barely afforded an apartment when they were getting a divorce.I have a one-bedroom, as you’ve seen, that isn’t all that much.”He told her he thought it was cozy.“It is.Too cozy.But I think I’d like to look at houses with you.Just don’t expect me to have much of an opinion about them.I know very little about living in a one-family structure.”
After having something to tie them over until dinner time, she sat in his living room and looked around.He tried to see what she was seeing, and all he could see was a few boxes and things that he’d been living in for the last fifteen years.
“You’re very wealthy, aren’t you?”He sat down before answering.“I’ve looked you up.Not just you, but your family.There is a lot out there on the things that you’ve done for your area.”
“We’re very generous with our money, yes.”She nodded, then looked around the room again.“I feel like you’re building up to something, and I don’t know what it is.If you could help me out, I’d not feel so out of my depth.”
“Daff, my boss, you met her the other day, she said that she knows of you guys as well, and said that you have stupid money.I wasn’t sure what she meant by that until she explained it.It means that you can be stupid with your money, and it wouldn’t put a dent in what you have.Is that true?”He told her that he’d not do anything stupid with money, but he supposed that it was true.“I thought you’d say that.I’ve left my job.Daff said I’d be stupid to keep working at a shit job when you could take care of me.Besides, she said that it wasn’t fair of me to have that kind of stupid money and work for her too.She gives jobs to people who are down on their luck, like I was.”
“So she fired you.”Sharon nodded but still wouldn’t look at him.“There’s more, right?More you’re working up to telling me.”
“In addition to losing my job, I lost my place to stay as well.That was more straightforward than me just losing my job.He found out that I was going to be married to you and jacked up my rent to about four times what I was paying.I got into an argument with him, and without the help of Daff, I wouldn’t have left with what I have.Just my clothing.The place was furnished anyway.”
“Do you want me to take care of him for you?”She eyed him then, and he didn’t so much as blink at her.“I can.You just tell me where he lives, and I’ll get whatever else you want from the place within the hour.”
“Would you kill him if I told you that he hurt me?Not physically but mentally?”He just stared at her, telling her that he’d do what he felt was necessary.“I see.He just hurt my feelings, nothing more.I didn’t expect to be treated the way that I had over someone else’s money.”
“What I have now belongs to you.Everything that I have, or will have in the future, is now yours.”She told him that she didn’t want that.“It’s done.I called the bank this morning and had your name put on all my credit.”
“What if I have a terrible credit score?Aren’t you afraid that it will bring down your number, too?”He said that he had enough cash lying around that it wouldn’t matter to him one way or the other.“You’re nuts.”
“Thank you.But I will take care of your landlord, and no one will ever find his body.”She looked frightened, and he told her that he’d never harm her.“I swear to you that he’ll be all right so long as he doesn’t piss me off too.”
“You’re scary when you’re all macho.”She took his hand into her much smaller one.“I don’t have a place to live.May I help you find a place for us to live and stay here with you?I promise not to be a bother.I need a job too.”
