Medical Kidnap Files 1-6, page 12
While she went over to the juice bar, Gabriel leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, looking at baby Alex. She babbled and moved around, but he wasn’t sure how much she could see through those big, thick lenses. He stuck a finger into her hand, and she grasped it tightly.
Heather was a few minutes and came back with a wrap and some sort of chocolate square. “I’m not sure what it will be like,” she said. “It’s raw food cuisine, so I don’t even know what everything is made of. But it looked all right. If you don’t like it, we’ll stop somewhere else on the way home.”
“Sure.” Gabriel took the food. Heather took the baby, and they headed back to the car. Gabriel unwrapped his food while Heather got Alex settled in the back seat, and then they were on their way.
Heather looked over at Gabriel after he’d taken a couple of bites of the wrap. “Well, how is it?”
“A bit dry. But it’s okay.”
“Good. How did things go with Dr. De Klerk? Did he explain everything to you?”
Gabriel looked away from her, pretending to be interested in something outside the window. “Yeah. He explained everything.”
Gabriel woke up with his face against the car window and a crick in his neck. He opened his eyes and straightened up, wiping a trail of drool from the side of his face. He used his sleeve to mop it all up. The back car door slammed, and he saw Heather taking the baby carrier up the front walk to the house.
His wrap was still in his lap, only half-eaten and drying out even more. It didn’t look appetizing at all. And the chocolate square was on the floor somewhere. He moved his feet looking for it, trying not to step on it and make a big mess.
After Heather had put Alex in the house, she came back to the car. She opened Gabriel’s door and smiled. “Have a nice nap?”
Gabriel cleared his throat. “Yeah, sure,” he agreed, rubbing his eyes.
She offered him a hand out of the car and Gabriel accepted. He started up the sidewalk with her at his side. Not touching, just close by to help him if he needed it. About halfway up the walk, he needed to rub his legs and then to steady himself on her shoulder as he pressed onward. By the time they got to the house, he was leaning on her pretty heavily, but she didn’t complain. At least he didn’t have to crawl over the last step and into the house. He leaned against the house and managed to get in on his own two feet.
Heather was looking at her watch as he settled into the couch to rest up again. The baby was starting to fuss in the other room. “They said to give these to you around seven, so I guess it’s time for your first dose. Do you want some milk—some juice?”
“Just water.”
“You need to get more calories in you if we’re going to get your energy up. Those little mitochondria need to be fed!”
Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Okay. Juice.”
“Okay. Wait just a minute. Here, take this.” She handed him the bag of pills. While she was getting the juice, Gabriel took the three bottles out of the bag. The bottles were marked with the letters and numbers that were on the protocol sheet. Two of each, he remembered. He expected all of the pills to be white and nondescript like generic painkillers, but one bottle held pink pills, one blue, and one yellow. A nice balanced approach. Gabriel took out two of each and was ready when Heather returned with the juice. He downed them all in one handful, chased with a few gulps of the juice.
“Okay? Need any more?” Heather questioned when he handed the cup back to her.
“No. I’m good.”
They both looked at each other for a minute. Gabriel couldn’t help feeling a little stir of excitement over having taken the first dose of the pills. Dr. De Klerk hadn’t given him any indication of how long it might take before he started noticing any changes. A few hours? A few days? A few weeks? It might be months before the pills reached full efficacy. No one had bothered to say.
Heather raised her eyebrows and gave a crooked little grin. “Now, I guess we wait!” She put a light, slim hand on his shoulder. “I hope it helps.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
The answer was, not even an hour. In about twenty minutes, Gabriel was way past ‘possible nausea’ and hanging over the toilet regurgitating the raw wrap from the juice bar. He was thankful that he hadn’t had a burger and fries, although the bits would probably have been softer and not hurt as much if they got caught in his nasal passages.
“The inserts say you should take them with food if they cause nausea,” Matt said, standing in the bathroom doorway reading the information from the clinic.
“This is more than nausea!” Gabriel pointed out.
“Well… yes… How are you holding out there, bud?”
Gabriel groaned, resting his head on the toilet seat. His body felt like a wet rag. Damp, and limp, and cold.
“Sorry… if you think you’re done, I’ll help you back to your room. You can have a bucket, in case it starts again.”
Gabriel considered. There was nothing left in his stomach, so he hoped that the retching would stop, and he wouldn’t be dry heaving and throwing up mucousy strings of acidic yellow bile for the rest of the night. It would feel better if he could lie down on his bed instead of sitting on the cold tile. And his head was steadying a little.
“Yeah. I think so.”
“Okay.” Matt put the papers on a knick-knack table in the hallway and returned to the bathroom. He gave Gabriel a hand up. Gabriel leaned heavily on his arm, and Matt walked him slowly to the bed. Gabriel stretched out with a sigh.
“You’ll get a bucket?” he reminded.
“You bet. Be right back.”
Gabriel closed his eyes and waited for sleep to come. Matt was shaking him awake what seemed like only seconds later. Gabriel opened his eyes, blinking and trying to figure out why Matt would wake him up. Matt was looking at his face intently.
“You’d better sit up for a few minutes,” he said. “Your nose is bleeding.”
Gabriel pushed himself up to sitting and held the tissue that Matt handed him up to his face. It came away stained with blood.
“Pinch and hold tight. It should stop in a couple of minutes. You probably just ruptured a membrane throwing up.”
Gabriel held the tissue pinched over his nose, leaning on his other hand for support. He really wanted just to lie down and go back to sleep. Heather stood in the door of the bedroom, watching with worried eyes.
“Oh, poor Gabriel. I hope you feel better soon. If you’re going to sleep now, we’d better fill out this log before you do.”
“Okay.”
She read the questions to him and transcribed his answers. “Side effects vomiting and nosebleed—anything else?”
“Nuh.”
“Okay. I’ll give the clinic a call in the morning before you take another dose. See if there’s something we can do to keep you from getting sick. Or if there’s one of the pills that you should stop taking.”
Gabriel nodded. He pulled the tissue away from his nose and waited to see if it was going to drip more. He could feel a clot in his nose like a giant booger and wanted to blow it out, but didn’t dare in case it would start bleeding again. He dabbed at his nose gently. “Think id stopped.”
Matt scrutinized his face and nodded. “Looks like it. Maybe lay on your side so that it doesn’t drain down your throat if there is any more bleeding. We’ll check on you again before going to bed.”
Gabriel lowered himself back to the bed and lay on his side.
Matt patted him on the shoulder. “Bucket’s beside you if you need it. Holler if there’s anything else.”
Gabriel awoke when Collin went to bed. The light went on and Collin swore. “I keep forgetting about you.” He turned on the lamp and turned off the overhead light. He began to undress for bed. “Sheesh, you stink. You oughtta take a shower or brush your teeth or something. Phew. Uggh.”
“Sorry,” Gabriel murmured. He didn’t get up to go clean himself up. If he had to put up with Collin’s football stink, Collin could put up with his sickness. Gabriel didn’t have the energy to wash up.
Collin kicked the bed, making Gabriel jump wildly. “I’m talking to you,” Collin growled. “Are you listening?”
“I said sorry. I’m sick.”
Collin kicked the bed again. Gabriel put his arm up over his face to protect himself. But Collin wasn’t hitting him, just the bed. Collin grunted and went back to undressing. He climbed into bed and turned off the lamp. Gabriel lay in the dark, his heart still thumping hard in his chest.
CHAPTER TEN
When Gabriel got up and made his way to the kitchen for some breakfast, he figured that Heather would tell him that he didn’t have to take one of the pills anymore. But she laid them beside his plate: pink, blue, and yellow. And she got out his other pills. Gabriel eyed the rainbow pills while he ate a piece of toast.
“I have to take them all?”
“The clinic said that your body would adjust. Make sure you have enough to eat, and at least two glasses of water, and you should do better this time.”
Gabriel ate the piece of toast and had a glass of water. His stomach was protesting about being too full. He couldn’t get another glass or piece of toast down. Reluctantly, he picked up the pills and swallowed them.
“Okay?” Heather questioned. “You don’t want anything else?”
“No.”
Collin had already gone to school for an early football practice, and Luce sat across the table from Gabriel playing with some cereal and cut-up fruit on her plate. Gabriel had tuned out Josiah’s chatter, but looked at him now, focusing on what he was saying.
“Are you going to school today?” Josiah asked. “Do you have a day off again? When are you going to school?”
“I don’t know,” Gabriel told him. “I’m doing school at home right now. I’ll go to school… when I’m feeling better.”
“When will you feel better? I don’t like being sick. When I was sick at my mom’s house, they had to call an ’bulance. Have you ever been in an ’bulance?”
Gabriel nodded. He put his hand over his stomach, which was starting to gurgle and writhe. “Yes, a couple times.”
“Were you scared? I was scared. I thought I was going to fall off the bed,” Josiah declared.
Gabriel smiled at him. “They didn’t strap you down?”
“No, an’ I thought I was gonna fall off!” Josiah reiterated.
“Yeah,” Gabriel agreed. He stood up, leaning on the table.
Heather caught his eye. “You okay?”
Gabriel shook his head. He took a couple of steps to get to the wall for extra support and moved his feet as quickly as he could, pushing his lips together and willing his stomach not to revolt before he could get to the bathroom. He was hardly aware of covering the distance that would normally have taken him several minutes.
Between heaves, he could hear Heather trying to keep Josiah distracted and out of the way. The curious boy obviously wanted to come and watch the fun. After she got him on his bus, she came to see how Gabriel was managing.
“Settling down again?”
Gabriel wiped his mouth. “Don’t know how they’re going to do any good if I can’t keep them down.”
“Well, the clinic said just to keep trying. Try to eat a little bit more next time.”
“Eating more just means I’m going to throw up more.”
“I know it can’t be much fun for you, but let’s keep it up for a while. They know what they’re doing, and they said that your body would adjust.”
Gabriel shook his head and sat back against the wall, closing his eyes.
“I have good news for you,” Heather offered.
“What, another pill to add to the cocktail?”
“No, something that you wanted.”
There was only one thing that Gabriel wanted. He opened his eyes again and looked at Heather. Her eyes were dancing, and her mouth curled up in a smile.
“My mom?” Gabriel gasped.
She nodded.
Gabriel sat up. Leaning on the wall, he forced himself to his feet, so that he was looking down at Mrs. Foegel instead of up at her. “When? When do I get to see her?”
“This afternoon. Mrs. Scott will be taking you to a neutral meeting place to see her. It will be a supervised visit.”
“I don’t care. I just want to see her.”
The meeting with Keisha had luckily been scheduled long enough after Gabriel’s lunchtime meds that his stomach had settled down again so he could travel. But his gut was tied in knots with anxiety and excitement over seeing her again. He sat on the couch looking out the window, waiting for Carol Scott’s little aqua blue sports car to pull up. Heather walked by once or twice while he waited and smiled knowingly at him. She kept busy and out of the way with housework and taking care of Alex. Luce was home too, as her school apparently had the day off, but she didn’t pay any attention to Gabriel or anyone else. She drifted from one activity to another like a ghost, as if there were no one else in the house. Heather redirected her once or twice, but Luce was quiet and didn’t seem to get into much trouble.
The car pulled up, and Gabriel pushed himself off of the couch to his feet. He already had on his shoes and jacket. “She’s here. I’m going.”
“Okay, see you later,” Heather called back.
Gabriel was careful not to trip on the steps going out the door and shuffled down the sidewalk as fast as his shaky legs would let him. He leaned on the car for a moment before opening the door, steadying himself and trying to catch his breath again. He opened the door and got into the car, trying not to show how excited he was to the social worker.
“How are you doing today, Gabriel?” she asked, pulling out into the street just as he pulled his door closed.
“Umm… well, okay right now.”
“Oh? What’s wrong?”
“The new pills from the clinic make me sick. But I’m okay for now.”
“Oh, well that’s annoying, isn’t it? What did the doctor say?”
“They said just keep taking them; my body will adjust.”
“Good.” She turned the radio down a bit, so they didn’t have to raise their voices over it. “Are you excited to see your mom?”
“Yes!”
She smiled. “I thought you would be. Mrs. Foegel’s really been pushing to get you visitation. I hope she hasn’t stepped on any toes getting it set up.”
“Stepped on toes? Whose toes?”
Mrs. Scott shook her head. “Foster parents just have to be careful. They aren’t in charge. Foster parents who get red-flagged for being difficult… well…”
“With DCFS? Or who?”
She waved a hand at him, indicating to drop it. “I shouldn’t have said anything to you. Forget about it. The Foegels are a good home. I just wouldn’t want them to end up in any difficulties. Maybe you can back off a little on the demands to see your mom so that she’ll back off of us.”
Gabriel looked out the window, biting his lip. It didn’t matter much to him if the Foegels got themselves in trouble with DCFS. He wasn’t about to tell Heather that he didn’t care about seeing his mother anymore. And she would know better even if he tried to tell her that.
“Okay, Gabriel?” Carol persisted. “Would you do that? Tell her to just ease up a bit?”
“Yeah. Sure.”
“Good.”
They were quiet for the rest of the drive, and Carol turned up the radio again to minimize the silence between them. Gabriel wasn’t sure where they were meeting, and didn’t know his way around that part of town very well, so he had no idea how close or far away they were. When Carol pulled the car into a parking lot, he sat up straight and looked around, trying to see where they were meeting or if he could see Keisha or her car. Carol pulled into a handicap space close to the big professional building. Gabriel opened the door and started toward the building ahead of her. He was slow, so it didn’t take her long to catch up and take the lead. Gabriel could see the DCFS logo on the outside of one of the doors and headed for it.
He stumbled over the slight ridge of the doorframe and looked around the reception area. Keisha was sitting in one of the chairs, a magazine open on her lap, but her eyes on the door. She jumped to her feet and ran to Gabriel.
He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly, tears running down his face. “Mom, I missed you so much! I wanted you to come see me so bad!”
Keisha’s words were jumbled together between his. “I wanted to come—Are you okay?—Have they treated you all right?”
Gabriel pressed his face into her hair, breathing in her sweet scent and holding her as close as he possibly could. “Mom. Oh, Mom, don’t ever go. Don’t ever let go.”
“I know, sweetie. I never wanted them to take you. I would have stopped them if I could.” She looked over at Carol Scott, who had entered the reception area and was watching them with a sad-looking smile. “Even the investigator knew I would never abuse you. She was crying when she took you, but she said she had to.”
Carol didn’t confirm or deny this. She looked away as if she was embarrassed about the whole thing. “Let’s grab a meeting room for you guys. This wasn’t meant to be a lobby meeting.”
Keisha held tightly to Gabriel, but they separated enough to walk, following Mrs. Scott through a security door with an electronic lock, down a short hall to a little meeting room. There were a table and three mismatched tubular chairs, a worn rust-colored couch on the wall, and a toy bin with ratty looking plushies and Duplo building blocks.
Keisha looked at the table and chairs and decided against them. She motioned to the couch, and she and Gabriel settled into it, cuddled close together. Keisha held Gabriel’s hand, weaving their fingers together.
“How are you, baby? Are you okay?” She touched his cheek.
“You’re not to talk about his health,” Carol Scott said.
They both looked at her.
“I’m not allowed to ask how he is?”
“No,” Carol said flatly.
They looked at each other.
