Page 11 of Ayden

“Yes, that’s good. Do I have to press charges?” It was Ivan who told him that he’d have to get with the police when he was home to do that, but since she’d hurt him, Caroline was going to be spending the night in jail. And that her husband was none too thrilled that they were jailing her. “Too bad. She’s off her noodle. I didn’t even know that they had little kids that needed diapers.”

“They don’t. She was telling the police that she was going to resell them and that someone should be making some moneyoff of what we were doing. People are crazier all the time if you ask me.” Everyone agreed with his brother, and he asked for something to eat. “They don’t want you to eat either, buddy. Sorry. But like I said, I’d pick you up in the morning, and then I’ll make sure you have plenty to eat before I take you back to my house. The girls want to pamper you because you were so brave.”

He made it sound as if he didn’t think it was so brave, but he didn’t care. The meds were kicking in, and he was feeling better by the minute. Closing his eyes, he realized that the light was bothering him, and he just wanted them all to go away. It was too much for him to listen to them making fun of him for being hit by a girl.

Waking in the middle of the night, he tried to figure out what time it was on his phone. His eyesight was blurry, and he was a little sick to his stomach. Finding the nurse call button, he had to calm himself when he started begging for help. He needed more for the pain, and he wanted them to bring him something that he could throw up in. Christ, he really was sick.

The next time he woke up, Ayden was in the chair beside the bed. Saying his name, he was startled by the worried look on his face. Telling him what had happened when the nurse came in, he was glad now that he’d spent the night in the hospital instead of being at home with Ayden and his daughters.

“They said you called out for them, then passed out, puking in the bed.” He told his brother that he’d not remembered that. “Yeah, I kinda got that feeling too. Anyway, they were worried and did another x-ray of your noodle and found a small crack in your skull. The doctors said that had you been home, you might well have died because of how much you were throwing up without being conscious. Christ, you scared the hell out of all of us.”

It scared him, too, and he wondered if he could have anything for pain now. He was told that he could have whatever he wantedso long as he didn’t get sick again. Closing his eyes again when the meds kicked in, Guy was thrilled when his brother took his hand into his. It was something that he’d not felt in decades, the thought of being alone and someone trying to hurt him.

It was late afternoon when his brothers showed up again. This time, there wasn’t any joking around, only concern that he’d been so sick. He was teary-eyed when the girls had made him a card with glitter all over it and had to take a few deep breaths when they told him that they loved him. Christ, he loved his family.

Being on clear liquids didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would. He wasn’t really all that hungry, but he was glad for the things that came with his diet. Selma, he knew that she’d seen ghosts, was telling him about a man that she’d been helping, and then Harley told him about the presents she’d been putting under the tree.

“There are so many under the tree, Uncle Guy, that we look like one of those Christmas commercials on television. Mom didn’t have the money to get us very much when she was working all the time, so it’s really neat to see them there. One of them has your name on it.” He asked her if she’d shake it for him. “Nah, you’ll have to wait like the rest of us do. But I know that it’s bigger than Uncle Lica’s.”

That made him laugh. As he was resting, something that he thought he wasn’t all that good at, he got some more information on Caroline. The woman had been terrorizing her employees for weeks, and the police were about ready to send her home she was cursing so much.

“She’s not normally like this, I guess.” Guy asked Devlin what he meant. “Nothing. I mean, she’s usually this cool and collected type of woman, and in the last few weeks, she’s been off the rail. I suggested that there was something wrong with her, and I got made fun of. But humans don’t just change their ways like thatovernight.”

“Did you tell the doctor?” He said that he mentioned it, but no one was taking him seriously. “I’d make them listen to you. She might have something really wrong with her, and you know how humans can be.”

When the doctor came in, Devlin told them about the woman and what he’d heard about her changing her behavior. The man wasn’t listening, telling him that it would be up to her family to see what was going on. It wasn’t until Lica told the man that he needed to listen before he took them at their word. This just didn’t sound right.

It was nearly midnight when he heard from the staff that Mrs. Hathaway had suffered a stroke and had died. It hurt his heart to know that she might well have been saved if someone had listened to her earlier when she told her own doctor that she wasn’t feeling right. According to the staff, she’d been coming out of the store a few weeks ago when she’d had an episode. Telling them that she didn’t feel right, whatever that meant to the woman, she was sent on her way home with a pat on her head. She’d been getting sicker as the weeks went on, and by the time that someone had listened to her, it had been too late to save her. Guy almost felt sorry for her husband, but he should have listened to her as well. The poor woman.

“They said that she’d been in the hospital several times in the last few days. She complained of chest pains, headaches, and dizziness. Since they didn’t find anything on the EKG they ran, they sent her home with some pain pills and even had the nerve to tease her a little about coming into the emergency department so many times when she’d not been coming in before.” Guy asked if there was going to be a lawsuit. “More than likely, but we won’t hear anything about it for a while. Mr. Hathaway is trying to get his house in order because of her being arrested when you wouldn’t have been hurt either had someone done somethingsooner.”

He was going to stay out of it. There was enough going around that he’d not have to get involved about it with humans. Guy didn’t care all that much for humans anyway. His sisters-in-law were all right, but he didn’t find himself hanging around them all that much.

“I have a question for you.”He smiled when he thought of Brandy getting in touch with him.“You told me when you were doing the inventory the last time that things weren’t getting used fast enough. Did you mean everything or just the water that you reported?”

“What else was in there that would have expired?”She told him. “I didn’t think about that. But what kind of best if bought by date would water have if they’re not being used.”

“I don’t know. But if they do and we use them beyond that point, are we going to be in trouble if something happens?”He told her again that he didn’t know.“I don’t either. I’m going to get with an attorney to see what I can find out. We’ll only buy them if we need them if it’s going to be a problem.”

“There are other things that we need to talk about. Like there should be people at the building at all times. It might not be a big deal with us starting out, but I’m fearful for anyone who wants to come around again, and someone might be hurt. There is no telling how long I would have been out there without the cameras.”Brandy said she’d not thought of that.“I’ve been thinking about a great many things since I was hurt. Like I think that we need to have security out there all the time. It might save us a bit of trouble in the long run. People will get into their heads that they can come out at any time and cause trouble.”

“You might be right about that. I’m not used to people wanting to get into my stuff. It’s not like I had any before you guys came along.”He told her that he was sorry.“Don’t be.You’ve made me a better person, and I love you guys.”

It took him another hour to figure out when he was going to go home. He wasn’t keen on the idea of staying with his brother, but he knew too that he’d been lucky to have been here where people could watch him, and he didn’t want that to happen again. He found that he was nervous about a lot of things of late.

He didn’t mind being alone, but not for long periods of time. He didn’t enjoy going out to eat on his own, but he would do it so that he’d not be afraid all the time. Guy needed to get his shit together so that he wasn’t going to be a recluse like his grandpa had become in his later years.

~*~

Ayden looked over the paperwork that Brandy had given him about the charity house. He didn’t know what they were going to call it yet, but he sort of liked Charity House. As the contract was going to have someone there all the time, he wondered at the idea of having someone living in the house that they used so that if there was an emergency, they could get things gathered up before the person or persons came around and that would be one less thing that they had to worry about.

“There are seven pallets of water that have a best by date on them of next year. If we don’t use them all by then, then I think we need to rethink having water around all the time for emergencies.” He asked Summer what sort of things they might use the water for. “I was thinking about that too, and I’ve come up with a couple of ideas. They’re not mine, but things that I’ve seen on the news. A house fire comes to mind. To have for the victims and the firefighters.”

“Yes, that would be better than using them to put the fire out.” She laughed with him. “I’ve spoken to a couple of people about living in the place. I don’t know that we’d want just anyone in there. I have this feeling that they’d be giving shit away to their friends. I’m not very trusting nowadays. Not since Guy washurt.”

“I find myself looking at people like I’m waiting for them to pull out a gun. I don’t care for feeling that way.” He said that he didn’t either. “By the way, the mayor is suing the hospital and the staff. I think he’s going to win, but I don’t know. Can you sue a hospital? I’m going to look it up.”

“I don’t know that either. I know that you can sue doctors for malpractice or negligence if they do something wrong. And I think you can sue surgeons, too. But I’d have to have a look into it. Are you planning something?” She laughed and told him that with Brandy having a baby, she’s worried about everything lately. “I guess I can understand that. Guy has never been trusting. When he was a kid, he was taken advantage of by some humans. That’s what he calls them, humans. And he’s never been trusting of them since. I don’t remember the details, but I remember Dad and Mom both beating him nearly to death when he was caught.”

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