Kashi had just recently been discharged from the hospital, but she was back again. This time she was the one sittinng in one of the ugly green chairs using the other chair as a table while her dad laid in the bed. He was sleeping, his chest rising and falling, monitors beeping steadily. A sullen Carr and shocked Sierra brought Felix. He'd been so full of nervous energy that she'd sent him to the gift shop with thirty dollars to get something for their dad. One of the nurses, an old friend of her stepmom's had brought them both a tray of food from the cafeteria.
"Hey Kashi." She said, taking a seat in the chair Felix had been occupying. "It's good to see you again, though I wish it was under better circumstances."
Kashi nodded grimly. It was good to see her. Henrietta Clough. She was a very tall woman, over six feet if Kashi's estimation was any good. Piggy back rides on Henrietta's shoulders back when her stepmom had been alive were the best, even the time she bumped her head on the ceiling. "I was just looking into some old photos I stumbled across and one thing led to another… There's some shady mystery going on and a full police investigation." Kashi fiddled with the plastic fork in her hand before she shoved it out of the plastic, the fork squeaking against the ripping plastic wrap. "Thanks for the um, food by the way. Felix has been complaining about being hungry."
Henrietta smiled. "He's gotten a lot bigger since I saw him last. He was only just toddling around the house."
"Well he still toddles around the house." Kashi joked half-heartedly. "He's turned into a full teenager. Voice cracks, growth spurts, messiness, laziness… all the stereotypical attributes of a teenage boy. Makes me glad I moved in with my uncle."
Concern flooded Henrietta's brown eyes, "Are you and your dad fighting?" She looked over to her dad, laying in a hospital bed with a gunshot wound.
"We have our differences, but I think we're okay now." Kashi sighed. She and her dad were probably on the best terms they'd been for years now. All it took was Kashi moving out it seemed. There had been no more blown up arguments and fights. He'd started to treat her like an adult now. "Before I moved to my Uncle's things weren't great. I was out until four in the morning partying and drinking and whatever. It's no secret that we aren't struggling financially. Sure we aren't as wealthy as uncle Hudson, but we have plenty. I'd spend dad's money on whatever I wanted and apparently he was sick of it despite the abundance. He made me choose to go to college or to get a job. So to spite him, I got a job as a ranch hand for Uncle Hudson. But it worked out well. Moving out gave me space and helped me to remember that he was my dad and that he still loved me despite his yelling and griping." Kashi shrugged, blinking back tears. "Carr said my dad jumped in front of a bullet to save him. Guess that kind of makes him a hero, doesn't it?"
Henrietta smiled, about to say something before her pager went off. "Duty calls." she said, standing up and putting Felix's tray on the chair. "I'll come back when I can to check on you guys. Hang in there, your dad will be fine."
Despite how unappetizing the food on the foam tray looked, Kashi ate it anyway. She hadn't eaten since lunch. And even then she'd had a banana and half a bowl of bran cereal. So she downed the tasteless carrots and peas, the mashed potatoes that were as stiff as cardboard, and what she thought may have been beef in a sickly sweet gravy.
Felix came back halfway through Kashi's meal with a blue teddy bear wearing a farmer's hat and a snowglobe. "Lame, I know, but it was these or baby gifts." His attention snapped to Kashi's food. "Oh sweet, I'm totally starving."
Kashi used her fork to point to Felix's own tray, miraculously still piping hot.
Felix wasted no time in setting down the gifts and shoveling the vegetables into his mashed potatoes, then scooping them onto his beef. "What?" he asked when Kashi made a disgusted noise. "They taste better when they're smashed up." In emphasis, he squashed the food into a motley casserole.
Kashi wrinkled her nose. "As if it wasn't bad enough to begin with?" She took one last bite of beef before opening her cookie. Oatmeal raisin. It almost wasn't worth it. "Hey, how'd you get a chocolate chip?" Kashi asked Felix as she saw the red wrapper on his tray, indicating the goodie inside.
"If you were smart you would have switched them before I got back!" he said triumphantly, his mouth full. "Sucks to suck!"
Kashi sighed. "We should probably call the others to let them know dad is in the hospital." Kashi said in reference to her two older brothers. She hadn't heard from them in years. Scott, the oldest, had come to stay with them after college for a year and a half when he graduated, but she'd only seen him once since then. Nathan she hadn't seen since his graduation. He moved in with Scott after he got into a fight with their dad and to Kashi's knowledge, they'd never made up.
Felix shrugged. Scott and Nathan were always sore topics with Felix.
Kashi called Scott's number. He'd be the easiest to talk to. He'd always been the more rational of the two brothers. Nathan might hang up at the very mention of their dad.
Scott picked up on the third ring. "Hey Kashi!" She smiled at the sound of his voice. He should've been a radio announcer or something. The deep timbre of his voice would make him a prime candidate. Instead he was a computer programmer or something. "You know, we should call more often. I haven't talked to you since you graduated. Sorry I wasn't there, you know how things are."
"No, I get it Scott. I'm glad you're happy to hear from me." Kashi said, "I actually have bad news. Um dad is in the hospital because someone shot him."
"Someone finally got fed up with the old geezer?"
"Scott this isn't a joke!" Kashi said perhaps more angrily than was fair. "He could have died. Felix and I have been here in the hospital for hours now. He got shot because I looked too deep into some shady history between dad, Uncle Hudson, and some business man—"
"Jeremy Hughes. Damnit Kashi, that guy is bad news. Why would you look into something like that?"
"Wait, what do you know about Jeremy?" Kashi demanded.
"Look, Kashi, if he's willing to shoot someone over it, you need to step back and let the cops handle this one. He's a shrewd businessman who views everything from a numbers standpoint. People don't matter to him Kashi, results do. You're poking at a hornet's nest and I need you to put the stick down sis, trust me." Scott said, his voice still calm and even. "Are you and Felix okay? I can always purchase bus tickets and you two can come stay with me until dad gets out of the hospital."
"Or you could come back."
"Kashi, you know why I don't want to come back home. Don't push me on this." Scott sighed. "Do you want the bus tickets or not?"
"No, we'll go stay with uncle Hudson. I moved to his ranch a month or two ago anyway. I'm sure they'll be happy to have Felix. I just wanted to let you and Nathan know that dad is in the hospital."
There was a long pause from Scott. "I appreciate it, Kashi. And you'll have to tell Nathan yourself. He moved out of the apartment a while ago after I confronted him about some of his um, problems. Maybe it's best if we leave him out of this okay? Just… just call me when dad gets out of the hospital. Or call me whenever, okay? Sorry Kashi." He hung up with a short goodbye.
She grimaced and Felix gave her a knowing look. "I told you they're not worth it."
"Maybe you're right." Kashi sighed, slouching in her chair as Felix started eating his chocolate chip cookie. But her stomach was churning. There was a lot more to the mystery than she'd originally thought.