Trying again.
Sarah was already home when I got there. I have a neighbor that likes to give me a lot of flack for letting her stay home alone, but what else am I supposed to do? There are days where Sarah gets done with school before I finish work. She's a responsible kid. She knows to lock the door and not open it for anyone, she knows to not talk to strangers during her walk from the bus stop to the apartment. She's turning twelve in a couple of weeks, I think she's old enough to be home alone. I was staying home alone a lot earlier than that, I think.
"Hey kiddo," I said, locking the door behind me and dropping my bag to the floor. I'd stopped by the visit Madsen after finishing up with work, but he was asleep when I got there. I was kind of surprised by how dissappointed I was, honestly, but it was okay. Injured people sleep. Besides, my work and most of my classes are at the hospital these days, so it's not like there won't be plenty of opportunities to drop in later on.
"Hey. Aunt Liz called, she wants you to call her after dinner." Sarah didn't even bat an eye at my coming home. Her eyes were glued to the television. I glanced over on my way through to the kitchen to see just what was so interesting. As far as I could tell, it was just some random sitcom.
"Cool, thanks. Homework done?" I asked, grabbing a clean glass for myself from the cupboard and going to fill it with water.
"Yep."
"Better be. I'm gonna check it later."
"'Kay." If I didn't know her, I'd say she was turning into a television zombie, but she hasn't been feeling well lately. That flu from a couple of weeks ago was still hanging on a little bit. She was well enough to go to school and all, but when she got home there wasn't much room for anything but vegging.
Well. With Sarah occupied and no homework to help her with, that left me free to take care of some of my own business. I'd been thinking about calling Carly all day. I didn't really know what to expect... she hadn't answered my calls all week. Why should this call be any different? Well, Sam was home now, for one. That might help a little. At the very least, I could try. She and I really needed to talk. Really, really needed to talk.
"I'm going to make a phonecall and then we can talk about dinner, okay?" I called out to the living room. Sarah turned around a little and nodded at me before lying down on the couch and going back to her show. Taking the portable phone off the hook, I took my glass of water with me and headed into the bedroom, shutting the door behind me as I went. Chances were there would be shouting, or at least some scolding. Sarah didn't need to hear that right now.
Dialing, I sat down on the edge of my bed and waited for someone to pick up.
((Open to Sam and Carly when they're ready.))
"Hey kiddo," I said, locking the door behind me and dropping my bag to the floor. I'd stopped by the visit Madsen after finishing up with work, but he was asleep when I got there. I was kind of surprised by how dissappointed I was, honestly, but it was okay. Injured people sleep. Besides, my work and most of my classes are at the hospital these days, so it's not like there won't be plenty of opportunities to drop in later on.
"Hey. Aunt Liz called, she wants you to call her after dinner." Sarah didn't even bat an eye at my coming home. Her eyes were glued to the television. I glanced over on my way through to the kitchen to see just what was so interesting. As far as I could tell, it was just some random sitcom.
"Cool, thanks. Homework done?" I asked, grabbing a clean glass for myself from the cupboard and going to fill it with water.
"Yep."
"Better be. I'm gonna check it later."
"'Kay." If I didn't know her, I'd say she was turning into a television zombie, but she hasn't been feeling well lately. That flu from a couple of weeks ago was still hanging on a little bit. She was well enough to go to school and all, but when she got home there wasn't much room for anything but vegging.
Well. With Sarah occupied and no homework to help her with, that left me free to take care of some of my own business. I'd been thinking about calling Carly all day. I didn't really know what to expect... she hadn't answered my calls all week. Why should this call be any different? Well, Sam was home now, for one. That might help a little. At the very least, I could try. She and I really needed to talk. Really, really needed to talk.
"I'm going to make a phonecall and then we can talk about dinner, okay?" I called out to the living room. Sarah turned around a little and nodded at me before lying down on the couch and going back to her show. Taking the portable phone off the hook, I took my glass of water with me and headed into the bedroom, shutting the door behind me as I went. Chances were there would be shouting, or at least some scolding. Sarah didn't need to hear that right now.
Dialing, I sat down on the edge of my bed and waited for someone to pick up.
((Open to Sam and Carly when they're ready.))