Page 47 of The Baby Dragon Bakery
“I’ll take him in,” Beena said, after Garrett had deposited Theo onto a hospital bed. “Stay with Lavinia.”
“No!” Lavinia shouted. “I’m coming, too.” She didn’t let go of Theo’s hand and gave her parents her absolute scariest face, so they wouldn’t dream of refusing her.
“Okay, gudiya, okay,” Beena said. “We’ll all go together. Okay?”
Lavinia’s face softened. “Okay.” Her voice was small.
They all went, but Lavinia wasn’t focusing much on what the grown-ups were saying or what was going on. She was holding Theo’s hand with both of hers. Soon, a doctor came in to stitch his wound, and she saw how scared Theo was.
He moved his face all the way to the side so he wouldn’t see, and she put a hand over his eyes just for good measure, then squeezed her own eyes shut.
Her parents were there, holding on, too, but Lavinia hardly noticed, until Beena said, “It’s done. You can open your eyes.”
She released a sigh, opening her eyes, but she didn’t move her hand from Theo’s just yet. She looked at his leg, which wascovered with a massive bandage, no longer gruesome. Then, she moved her hand from Theo’s face. His hair was matted down with sweat.
“You’re almost there, sweetie,” Beena said, brushing Theo’s hair aside. “They just need to put a cast on, and then they’ll be done.”
Theo nodded, barely moving his head. Lavinia had never been more unhappy in her entire life.
Eventually, another doctor came and put on the cast, and Lavinia tried to think of games to distract Theo while the doctor did so.
“What number am I thinking of?” she asked. He didn’t respond, and she said, “Come on, guess.”
“Sixteen,” he replied in a whisper.
She gasped dramatically. Her mouth fell open in amazement. “How did you know that?”
Finally, a very small and very tired smile appeared on his lips. “I can read your mind.”
The truth was, she had been thinking of the number three, but she wanted him to smile, so she had pretended. Finally, the doctors finished, and Theo was looped up on pain medications by then, so he had a dazed look on his face.
Until his parents came in. When they entered the room, they saw Theo, and Lavinia heard her parents telling his what happened, since Lavinia had told them everything, and she’d never forget—Theo’s parents sighed.
“Come on, pumpkin, let’s let Theo rest,” Garrett said, prying Lavinia away from Theo’s side, even though she didn’t want to go, and Theo didn’t want her to, either. He tightened his grip on her hand, but her fingers slipped through his.
“Come on, gudiya. His mom and dad are here, right?” Beena rubbed Lavinia’s shoulders. “They’ll take care of him.”
But Lavinia wasn’t so sure. She didn’t think anyone could take care of him, no one except for her. Theo was quiet, his eyes downcast. He didn’t outright ask her to stay, so she went.
The next day, she went to visit him at his house, running straight upstairs to his room once his mom let her in. When she entered his room, he was asleep, and he looked terrible.
“Theo,” she whispered, not sure if she should be waking him. He roused, and his eyes were sosad.
She thought he was mad at her for a second, since she was the one who said to get the apples. “Do you want me to go?” she asked, voice breaking.
He shook his head. “Please don’t.” So she stayed, crawling onto his bed. She had brought cards and she dealt them out. They played, and she stayed the whole day, but he was still so down. And she saw that his parents weren’t doing much to make him happy.
Whenever Lavinia was sick, she got the most special princess treatment ever: Beena made her favorite foods, and Garrett would bring her a stuffed animal or new toy, and she was allowed twice as many sweets. Her parents even let her sleep in their bed with them! Which she wasn’t allowed to do since she was bigger now, but when she was sick, they did anything to make her feel better.
Theo’s parents were not doing that. When Lavinia went home after visiting him for the second day, she begged her parents to have him stay at her place.
Beena and Garrett shared a long look before Garrett sighed.“Pumpkin, he has to be at his own home,” he said. “With his parents.”
“They won’t like it if he stays with us,” Beena added. Lavinia couldn’t believe her parents were saying no.
“They don’t care about him!” Lavinia yelled. “You don’t care either.” She started crying, and Beena hugged her close.
“Of course, we care, gudiya,” Beena said, stroking her hair. Lavinia felt awful, and yelling at her parents only made her feel worse. “He has to be in his own home, but you can visit again tomorrow. Visit as much as you’d like. I’ll bake cookies and you can bring them for him, how does that sound?”
