The Family We Choose by Sherryl Hancock

Author:Sherryl Hancock [Hancock, Sherryl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vulpine Press
Published: 2023-12-21T16:00:00+00:00

“Are you sure it’s not Covid?” Kayden asked, watching her mom breathing heavily after the coughing fit she’d just had.

Kimberly rolled her eyes. “Everyone is so freaked out by this frigging virus! It’s a cold, I probably got it at work.”

“You mean where the manager tells you that wearing masks is just going to freak out customers?” Kayden asked darkly.

“Kay, it’s fine,” her mom assured her. “I’m just going to go to bed and sleep—that’ll probably help.”

Two days later, things were worse, not better.

“You need to go to the hospital,” Kayden insisted.

Kimberly shook her head, doing her best to hide how worried she was. She was having trouble catching her breath at that point. She told Kayden it was because of all the coughing she’d been doing, and she hoped that it really was just that. But she’d been seeing people on the news who were being put on ventilators and that definitely scared her.

“I’ll give it a couple more days,” Kimberly told her daughter.

Two days later, Kimberly had to admit that she did need to go to a doctor. “I’m just gonna go down to the free clinic.”

“Just go to the hospital!” Kayden told her. “We could sit down at the clinic for hours before they see you!”

Kimberly shook her head again. “We nothing, you stay here and do your homework.”

“No way!” Kayden protested.

“Just…do what…I say,” Kimberly gasped out between heavy breaths, her look stern. “Please!” She took Kayden’s hands in hers. “I don’t want you where you can catch it from other people, okay?”

Kayden wanted to snap that if she was going to catch it, she probably already had it, but she knew her mom didn’t need any more hassle. In truth she had already been feeling a scratchy throat start. She didn’t tell her mother that, not wanting to worry her more. Finally she nodded. “Okay, but you call me and let me know what happens.”

“I will.”

Early the next morning, Kayden finally got a call from her mother. “They put me in a bed,” Kimberly told her. “It’s definitely Covid, but I’ll be okay.”

Kayden blew her breath out. “When can I come see you?”

“No, I don’t want you down here,” Kimberly insisted. “And if you call here looking for me, ask for Jane Smith.”

“What?! Why?” Kayden exclaimed.

“Because I don’t have the money to pay this bill, and if they know I have a job, they’ll take everything I make. We can’t afford that.”

“I thought it was a free clinic.”

“It is, unless they find out you have the means to pay. I told them I don’t. Just listen to me, Kayden. You just keep going to school and acting like I’m home, okay? We don’t need the nosey people in the neighborhood to start talking. I don’t want you to worry. Okay?”

“Okay. Call me tonight and let me know you’re okay,” Kayden said fretfully.

“I will,” Kimberly told her.

It was another three days when the phone calls stopped. Kayden worried all day, finally calling the clinic that night, asking for Jane Smith’s bed.

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