The dust drifted to the ground through the dim yellow light inside the hospital room. Polly stood at the window, staring into the night. Amanda sighed and rolled over in her sleep. Polly pulled the blanket up to Amanda's chin and walked to the door. Taking one last look behind her, Polly slipped quietly out of the room and into the bright lights of the hall. Ed Reardon stood up as she approached.
"I talked to the doctors here. They say that Amanda should be allowed to leave tomorrow at 9:00," Ed said.
"Thanks," replied Polly tiredly. She had stayed at Amanda's side for a week, waiting for her daughter to be well enough to go home.
Ivan came around the corner with three Styrofoam cups of coffee. He gave one to Polly and one to Ed. Taking a sip from his coffee, Ivan spoke, "How is she?"
Polly told him," Amanda can leave at 9:00 and I think I'm going to sleep here tonight."
"Are you sure?" Ivan articulated with concern," You haven't gone home in a week except to get clothes."
Polly quickly answered, " I'm fine. If I need something, I'll call you."
"Okay," Ivan replied dubiously. "I'll see you tomorrow, then." Turning, he walked slowly out of sight.
As soon as Ivan had rounded the corner, Ed pulled Polly into a hug.
"You should tell him," he whispered into her hair. "I think he suspects something already.'
Polly whispered back, "I'll tell him after this whole Amanda thing is over." The two shared a deep kiss and Ed left to go home. Polly turned around and walked back into Amanda's hospital room. Amanda once again rolled over in her sleep.
***
The early morning sun shone down on Amanda's smiling face as she skipped up the path to the house. Charlie ran out and gave her a big hug. No one had bothered to tell him what was happening so he was relieved to see his sister alive.
Charlie pulled back and said,"Hi!"
Amanda replied cleverly,"Hi."
"Um...well...Laurel is here to see you!"
Just then, Laurel stepped out of the house and walked over to where the duo was standing, her long French braid swinging behind her.
"Amanda!"she exclaimed,"How are you?"
Amanda answered with a quick,"Fine, thank you."
The three moved towards the house. As soon as they had stepped in the door, Amanda's grandmother was fussing over her. The two kids rolled their eyes at their grandmother's over protectiveness. They started moving towards Amanda's room with Laurel following. When they got there, they managed to fend the overbearing matron off with a request for peanuts. None of them really liked peanuts, but they wanted to get rid of her.
When they entered Amanda's room, they decided to play cards. Charlie and Amanda's grandmother game in with the peanuts while they were in the middle of a game of war. She left quietly.
The trio spent the morning playing cards and eating peanuts. They were playing poker when Amanda came across a green peanut.
"What's this?" she queried.
"It looks like a green peanut to me," responded Charlie. "I wouldn't eat it if I was you .I mean, if you get sick, you might die. Then we would all be sad."
"Hmm…" hmmed Amanda." I wonder what it would taste like." She hadn't really been listening to Charlie, so she popped the grass green peanut in her mouth.
"No!" shouted Charlie.
Suddenly Amanda keeled over dead. Her body had reacted negatively to the green growth on the peanut and had killed her almost immediately.
Ivan and Polly rushed into the room when he heard Charlie's shout.
"Oh my God!" he shouted. His heart decided to give out just then and he dropped dead in the doorway. Polly saw two dead bodies and ran all the way to Ed's house and they got married and moved to the Bahamas. Charlie committed suicide because his whole family was gone. His grandparents buried the bodies and left. Laurel just left and lived happily ever after.
