“Them being here, I thought... well, I want you and your sister to have a better relationship with them than I did.”
To be honest, I wasn’t sure Dad’s plan was working.
But I couldn’t say that to him.
I yawned.
Dad chuckled.
“Okay.” He kissed my head again. “You need to get to bed.”
“I’m awake,” I said, though my eyes were closed.
“All right.”
I let Dad hold me. And I held on to him too.
“Don’t worry about me,” he whispered. “I’m going to be okay.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
“Darius, can you take the trash out?” Polli asked.
“Yeah.”
Most of our trash actually went into the compost—we gave it to a farm-to-table restaurant down the street to use in their garden—but I had to sort it first, because sometimes people threw outside trash in our cans: plastic wrappers, empty glass bottles, used Red Bull cans.
I didn’t understand the point and purpose of Red Bull.
Once I’d gotten everything sorted and dumped into the big compost bin, I ran to the bathroom to wash my hands and make sure I hadn’t spilled anything on myself.
“Excuse me?” a twenty-something in a beanie with huge gauges in their ears said as soon as I stepped out front.
“Hey. Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for a gift for my partner.”
“Oh. Do you know what they like to drink?”
“She doesn’t like caffeine,” they said.
So I led them over to our herbal selection. I talked about rooibos and fruit-based and butterfly-pea flower, letting them smell sample tins as we went.
From the counter, Kerry hollered at me. “Darius, we need more nitro!”
The back of my neck burned.
“Um. Sorry. Will you be okay? I have to...”
“Sure,” Beanie Person said.
“You can ask up front if you need more help.”
“Thanks.”
