Rocky Road by Rose Kent

Author:Rose Kent [Kent, Rose]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-375-89528-9
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2010-06-08T04:00:00+00:00

Operation Homebound took Chief and me longer than usual on Wednesday. The flu was going around Building One, so we had twice as many drugstore packages to deliver. And word was someone took a fall in the Assisted Living building, because EMT vehicles blocked the front and the aides wouldn’t let us in right away with our cart.

But even with delays, Chief and I got the mission accomplished.

“We’re a lean, mean, efficient team,” he told me when we finished. Then he gave me my “chow pay” for the week: a Freihofer’s marble pound cake.

“Pound cake with ice cream is a family favorite!” I called, waving goodbye as I skipped toward Building One to get my brother.

No one answered when I knocked on Winnie’s door, so I took the elevator up to our apartment.

Inside, Jordan was stretched out on the futon looking pale, with Winnie standing beside him.

“What’s wrong?” I asked and signed.

Winnie crossed her arms over her sweater and gestured toward Jordan. “Diagnosis: chicken pox.”

“Where?” I didn’t see any red spots on his face. But then he pushed his shirt up. His belly had four red button-like mounds, each with a skin blister in the middle.

“Give it twenty-four hours and your brother will be covered in polka dots,” Winnie said. “About then they’ll get itchy too. Our job is to keep him from scratching.”

“Does my ma know?”

She nodded. “I bumped into her in the elevator this morning after she picked Jordan up from the school nurse. Poor thing was beside herself, wondering how she would care for your brother and handle her business. And it didn’t help that Jordan was fussing up a storm.”

I looked down at Jordan with a sad face, then drew a circle with an S hand on my chest. “Sorry.”

But Winnie told me not to fret. “Us old nurses never retire, we just walk the floor for our friends. I’ll care for Jordan and help out with dinners here for a while so your ma can tend to her business and you can keep up your schoolwork.”

Hearing her words, I slyly reached over to the basket behind the sewing machine and covered up my quilting materials. No sense spoiling her surprise.

I glanced at Jordan. He was looking at photos of tropical fish from a photo album of Winnie’s. I couldn’t remember the last time he seemed so captured by anything besides cartoons.

I exaggerated sniffing and signed to Jordan, “What’s that good smell?”

He grinned and pointed to Winnie.

“I heard a rumor that the Dobson kids love macaroni and cheese, so I whipped up some Winnie Mac. Along with ham, mixed veggies, and fruit cocktail.”

“And I brought dessert!” I added, holding up the pound cake.

I sat beside Jordan on the futon. He was rubbing his palm against the spots on his belly.

I shook my head, snapped my fingers, and clawed at the air. “No scratching,” I signed.

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