I wish the confusion had just ended there, but no. Life's more complicated than that.
The first person I thought to call was Brian. Having been my friend for so many years, and being such a caring person, I thought it was a pretty adequate choice for the first person to know.
"Hello?" he said.
"Hey, Brian." I said, doing my best to sound a little happy, though that's difficult if you're sitting on a recliner watching your tired son sleep on a hospital bed with an IV going into him. I didn't want to scare Brian directly.
Of course, it didn't work.
"What's the matter?" he asked. "Are you feeling badly about Julia again, Nick?"
"I wish it was just that, Frick." I answered.
"No? Then what's wrong? Something with your kids?" He knows about these things, on account of his seventeen-year-old kid, Baylee, and his thirteen-year-old daughter, Christina Anne.
"Yeah." I tiredly answered. "Josh's really sick."
"What do you mean? Since when? Have you been to the doctor?"
"Well, he'd been feeling badly for a week or so, and on Wednesday, well, yesterday, he called me to pick him up at school. His side was hurting so badly-"
"Does he have appendicitis?" Brian interrupted.
"No. So then I asked him if he felt bad enough to go to the doctor, and he said he did."
"You did, didn't you? I mean, take him to the doctor."
"Yeah, of course." I told Brian. Sometimes I think he's sure I'm totally clueless on parenting, but that wouldn't be so surprising since when Ryan was born, I WAS clueless.
"So what did he say?" Brian asked.
"If you would stop interrupting, maybe you'd find out!" I exclaimed crossly.
"Dad?" I heard. It was Josh.
"Now I just woke my son up, thanks a lot!" I shouted into the phone, then turned to Josh. "I'm sorry, honey, go back to sleep."
Josh closed his eyes obediently.
"I'm sorry, Brian, I'm just... I feel so..."
"I understand."
"So, as I was saying, the doctor did a couple tests and said it all seemed fine and it was probably just a collapsed lung, and that we should return home and come back if it got worse, which it did, so at two o'clock we were back at the hospital, and as it turns out, Josh has a small lymphoma in his lung, which is what was bothering him-" This time I wasn't interrupted, but saying it made it seem more real. "-and he has leukemia."
"Leukemia?" Brian said, sounding very sorry. "Oh, my, Nick, you must be feeling so bad..."
"No, actually, I'm feeling pretty much numb now..." I said. "It just doesn't seem real... you know?"
"Yeah, I bet. That's how I felt when I was told I had to have open-heart surgery... But then, you can't compare the surgery with the leukemia. Oh, dear, Nick, it's a long road ahead of you."
"Yeah, I know that." I said sadly.
Josh's breathing was even now, so I could tell he was asleep, but it still both amazed and saddened me how quickly he had done that.
"He's sleeping again." I commented.
"That's good, sleeping is what's going to help the most, you know. You get healed the most when you're sleeping."
"I didn't know that." I muttered.
"You want me to call the other guys? 'Cause I can understand if you don't really feel up to it."
"Would you do that?"
"Yes, of course I would." said Brian solemnly.
"Thanks, Brian. You're a real good friend." I said. "I'll call home now, I left Ryan with the little kids."
Author's Chapter Notes:
Okay, I think this is going to be all for today. But don't worry, the summer's coming up and I'll have plenty of time to update! ;)
