/090. Home.
Summer falls into fall falls into winter and they are bringing Dib home, with a scar on his cheek and his ribs showing. He sits at the kitchen table and wolfs Thai food, Styrofoam carton after Styrofoam carton, with blue veins gushing up at his wrists like the fountain of youth or like hope.
"I'm glad to see you," Gaz doesn't say. She comes back down to find her brother flopped out huge on the couch, and her heart nearly stops at how still he is.
Seventeen months in the hospital hooked up to a respirator and a heart monitor and another monitor tracking who-knows-what, and there's nothing left. It's like he's been stripped down and boiled away into a shadow. She can hardly believe he's back, but this might be what happiness feels like.
On the couch, he's only sleeping, and that's perfectly normal. It really is this time. When he gets up three hours later Gaz gives him a hard punch on the shoulder and feels reassured when he yelps indignantly and pushes her back lightly. They order pizza and feast. Before:
"What do you want for dinner?" she asked him.
"Anything is good," he says, stretching his arms out on the table. "I'm hungry, hurry up and order."
"Fine, we'll have pizza," she sniffs, and dials Bloaty's for pepperoni and Canadian bacon.
"It's all good to me," Dib tells her, and puts his head down and smiles.
End Home
12/18/05
I thought I'd have a try at letting them be happy.