Note: This was actually the first story I did with the 2nd Generation. I hope you all enjoy it. The McCareys can be seen with their own series at fictionpress so I hope you like them. I've decided to add more to this chapter. Enjoy the add.
Kylie called Fred in Washington at that moment and he answered the phone. He was reading the morning newspaper. He wasn't expecting a phone call anytime soon, so this was unexpected. He got up and walked over to the kitchen phone and did just that.
"Hi, Kylie," Fred said.
"Hi, Uncle Fred," she said, and broke into tears.
He could tell she was worried. Whatever the news was, he wasn't going to like what he was going to hear. Whatever the message Kylie was sharing with him, he better find out now. He hoped it wouldn't be too big of a deal, but he was wrong.
"Kylie, sweetheart, what's wrong? Why the call?" he wanted to know, not understanding what was wrong.
She was crying even harder and could not answer Fred's questions.
"What happened to my brother? Is that why you're calling me?" Fred asked, sensing something happened to Fred.
"Yes, something happened to him," Kylie said, still crying hard tears.
He was having trouble understanding her words on the phone, but his doorbell rang. He put the phone down and it turned out to be the McCareys. They invited him to breakfast that morning. Don and Shirley McCarey were his neighbors, so they were able to help him whenever they can, and this telephone conversation was one of them. Yes, some of the people knew how close he and his twin brother were, but if anyone of them heard about it before he did, they understood how close the two brothers were.
Before Fred left for Don and Shirley's apartment, he told Kylie he would be back soon. She did not mind the wait, but all Kylie could do was tap a pen in front of her to wait for Fred's return. She was alone in the kitchen, so she didn't talk with anybody. Her husband, Danny was out, so there won't be any conversation with him anytime soon. He was a landlord and she was a lawyer so it was understandable both of them were busy with their jobs, but they were able to make some time alone with one another whenever they could.
"I'll be over soon, Mrs. McCarey. I am on the phone with my niece. I cannot understand a word she is saying. Will you help me understand what her words are? She's crying so hard," Fred told his neighbor.
"What is your niece's name?" Mrs. McCarey asked.
"Kylie Jones. She's my brother's daughter," he told her.
"I'll do my best to make the words out," she said and she followed him into the kitchen.
Fred and Mrs. McCarey were on the phone again. Kylie was still in tears. Fred told her he had a neighbor over and he couldn't hear a word she was saying because of her tear drops.
"My neighbor is Shirley McCarey, Kylie, sweetheart, and she's going to help me understand what you're saying, because I can't understand one word you're saying," Fred told his niece.
Kylie was okay with that, but still in tears. Mrs. McCarey had no trouble understanding Kylie's words at all, but took her time telling Fred what she was saying. There was a knock at the door when Kylie was going to spread word about Fred's being in a coma. Kylie wasn't so sure how much longer she would have to be in tears. While on hold for a while longer, Kylie put the telephone down for a minute or two so she could blow her nose since it was starting to run fast. It was understandable when news travels like this.
Fred told Mrs. McCarey he was going to answer the door. It was Don McCarey, wanting to know why they weren't at the apartment eating breakfast with him.
"Hello, Fred," Shirley greeted him when she opened the door.
"Hi."
"Would you like some pancakes?" Don offered.
"Not now, thank you. I have some information to share so you better hear that first if I could join you for breakfast. My niece is on the phone, and I'm having trouble with her words, Mr. McCarey, so that's why your wife is on the phone, telling me what my niece is saying," Fred said.
Mr. McCarey told Fred to take his time with the call from his niece and the meal could wait a little while longer. Mrs. McCarey was having no problem with the words Kylie was saying. Fred joined Mrs. McCarey again and asked what she had made of his niece's words.
"She's saying something about your brother's being in a coma," Mrs. McCarey said, "and so there is more news."
"What!" Kylie heard him scream at the top of his lungs, then added, "why does this have to happen around the holidays?"
He took the phone from Mrs. McCarey and started to talk to Kylie, who calmed down a little from all the crying she was doing. Shirley didn't know how to answer Fred's question, so all she could do was shrug her shoulders. Shirley and Don didn't know Fred's brother well enough to receive news like this. When some urgent like this happens, it was good they know so Fred could understand what happened with his brother in the coma. Sometimes Shirley and Don were better listening to this kind of news, so he was thankful to have them around when he needed them.
"Did Freddy really go into a coma, sweetheart?" Fred asked her.
"Yes, Uncle Fred. That is why I am having a hard time telling you. I know you go through a hard time with this kind of news and dealing with Grandma Jones's death at the same time," Kylie said.
"I'm not over that yet. We haven't even set up a funeral date yet," Fred said.
"Let me take care of that now. We do not know if Dad will come out of a coma or not yet. That answer will come later," Kylie said.
"Should I fly out and be with you and Freddy?" Fred asked.
"I'd like that," was her answer.
"I will fly out right after I am done eating breakfast," Fred told her.
"Okay. Sounds fine with me," she said, her nose sniffling a little.
"Your father is the only brother I've ever had and I don't want him to die. If he dies, I die," Fred told Kylie.
"I know how close you two are, Uncle Fred, but one of these days Dad won't be around you anymore and you have to start looking after yourself," Kylie said.
"Who will I talk to when I when I have a problem? Whom?"
Flashback:
Fred went to his brother's room and saw that Fred had left a lot of candy in there for himself to eat, but Fred couldn't help it, so he got a hold of it and ate three Snickers bars, three bags of M&M's, and a Hershey's bar. He didn't go to bed at nine 'clock that evening because he was feeling a little sick. Fred heard his brother walk into the apartment ten minutes later. He knocked on his brother's bedroom door.
"You don't look so good, bro. What happened when I was gone?" Fred asked his twin.
"You won't like what happened if I told you," Freddy said.
"I'm all ears," Fred said.
Freddy told his brother what happened a couple of hours earlier.
"You know you're not supposed to eat that stuff, Freddy. That's why you got so sick. Now your blood sugar is high. Did you test it?"
"No. It's too high anyway to test it."
"Do it anyway. I could put you in the emergency room any minute now because of all that candy," Fred heard his brother say.
Fred watched his brother test his blood sugar and they saw the number was really high because of the chocolate he had gotten into not long ago that evening.
"That's why it was in your room, Fred. I could get into it if you're not there," Freddy told his brother.
"It's been so long since I had my last bite of chocolate," Freddy told his twin brother.
"We know, but still you can't have it. Not even today," Fred told him, dialing the emergency room number.
Fred drove his brother to the emergency room just then. He told the doctor in charge that Freddy was diabetic and what had happened. The doctor didn't like to hear that, so he told Fred that he would keep Freddy there a while until they do something about the candy Freddy had gotten into.
End Flashback
Kylie did not have an answer to his question, so she let him cry his heart out a bit longer. Fred thought he would skip breakfast and that morning and fly straight out to Milwaukee and be with his family because of Fred's condition. He and Kylie said good – bye and hung up. The McCareys were still there, trying to cheer him up, but nothing worked. Mr. McCarey got the word from his wife that Fred's brother was in a coma.
"Fred, come here," Mr. McCarey said.
He was still in tears and went up to Mr. McCarey and he gave Fred a big hug.
"I don't want to eat breakfast this morning," Fred told the elderly couple.
"That's all right, Fred. We know how you feel about your brother," Mrs. McCarey said.
"I want to catch a flight to Milwaukee when you're done eating," he said to the couple.
"Right. We'll drive you to the airport when we're finished," Mr. McCarey told Fred and headed to their apartment.
"Poor Fred, Don. Now his mother has died. Do we know if his brother is going to make it or die?" Mrs. McCarey asked while they ate their pancakes.
"I don't know, Shirley. We will find out from Fred. It's only three weeks away from Christmas," Mr. McCarey said, pouring syrup on his pancakes.
When his pancake was gone, Mr. McCarey took Fred's plate and finished them. Fred finished packing his suitcase and decided to wait to make a phone call to his brother's friends while in Milwaukee to tell Daphne and Shaggy about his brother. He had enough clothes for three weeks.