“What do you think your mom made for breakfast?” he asked in a tired, raspy voice.
“I think I smelled the bacon and toast a little while ago.”
“That sounds good.”
“Are you hungry, my boy?”
“Yes. I feel well rested now too, though my head hurts a little.”
“I’m pleased to hear you feel well rested, but I’m sorry about the headache. I’m going to go downstairs and get you some ibuprofen.”
“I can take it when we go downstairs. You don’t need to make a special trip.”
“I want you to take it as soon as possible so it’ll start working quicker.”
After we made the bed, Ryan started the shower while I went downstairs.
“Good morning, Russell,” Mom said while stirring something in a bowl beside the stove.
“Morning, Mom.”
I went to the cabinet where I thought I saw Advil the other day.
“What are you looking for?” she asked.
“Advil. Ryan has a headache.”
“Your father and I heard him last night,” she said quietly.
“He gets nightmares from time to time.”
“Poor thing. Did he get any sleep?”
“He did. He said he feels rested but has a headache,” I said as I pulled down the bottle and poured two pills into my palm. “I’ll see how he’s doing after we eat something, but I was thinking about going into Indianapolis today to do a little shopping.”
“Ryan will be fine with us. You should do your shopping before the weekend,” Mom suggested.
“The stores will only get more crowded,” Dad added.
“Ryan can help me do some gift wrapping,” Mom offered.
“Mmm.” I smiled as I imagined Ryan taping up every possible edge of paper. “He enjoys wrapping things.”
“See? It’ll be perfect then. And if we have time, we’ll make some more cookies. He had fun doing that.”
“Okay.” I walked by my mom near the stove on my way back upstairs, and I glanced at the bowl. “What are you making?” I asked her.
“I was going to make you and Ryan breakfast this morning. Remember when I used to make you the Santa Claus pancakes? They had the whip cream beard, chocolate chip eyes, and the bacon hat.”
“I could never forget them. They were my favorite at the holidays. Ryan will enjoy these. We’ll be down shortly.”
Ryan was almost done with his shower by the time I got back to our room. As soon as he got out and dried off, I handed him the Advil. I rubbed the pad of my thumb under one of his eyes. Even if he said he wasn’t tired, he certainly looked it.
I took a quick shower and hurried to get ready while Ryan slowly finished getting dressed.
“Ryan, I was thinking about going into Indianapolis today to do some Christmas shopping. Would that be alright with you?”
“Yeah, no problem. I can help your parents with anything they might need help with.”
