The Joining Tree by Claire Fogel

Author:Claire Fogel [Fogel, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780990892373
Publisher: Claire Fogel
Published: 2017-10-12T04:00:00+00:00

I didn’t wake up until Tuesday. After another large cup of herbal tea, I began to feel more like myself.

I was still in bed because Mom insisted I stay off my feet and rest. I wasn’t going to argue with her, especially after she told me the doctor had wanted to keep me in the hospital for another week. I hadn’t been aware that it was against doctor’s orders that they took me home.

My father explained that Elves don’t usually do well in hospitals. He’d already told me that he felt I was more Elf than human, and Mom agreed. Kathleen was on call if I needed her.

So I stayed in bed and watched movies on my laptop—when I could stay awake. Ralph spent part of every day, and all night, of course, at the foot of my bed.

Sean came over every day to sit with me. We talked about college, how we felt about leaving home, how different our lives would be, and how much we’d miss each other. We both knew we were running out of time.

Kevin stopped in whenever he had a few minutes. He brought me a sample of his latest game, “Return of the Alien,” and asked me to test it for him. Since I wasn’t a gamer, he felt I’d be a good person to find any flaws. I played it at night when I couldn’t sleep. Since Kevin had designed it, I never found any flaws.

The Strauss Bakery had its grand opening without me. Mom and Dad went over to the bakery for an hour and said the whole establishment was impressive. Mom was sure Amy’s catering department would draw in a lot of new customers. She brought me some of the free samples. Amy had made little sandwiches of all kinds, just like the ones everyone enjoyed at Mom and Dad’s wedding. They were delicious.

Dad’s friend, Dr. Costello, who was also a Halfling, came to the house twice that week to check on me.

He pronounced me healing well, but said I needed at least another week of rest. That cut into the time I’d planned to spend in Syracuse getting acclimated to my new home. I was disappointed about the delay, but I knew the doctor was right. I had very little energy, and my parents refused to let me make the move until I was completely well.

Kevin would be leaving for NYU in another week, and Sean would be leaving for Penn State on Friday. Amy would still be in Thornewood and promised to make a pastry run to our house whenever I needed a sugar lift.

Our group was finally breaking up, maybe permanently, and that was sad. Sure, we’d get together during holidays and school vacations, but it would never be the same again.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.