Edna and Irv thanked Nina as she placed their lunches in front of them. Irv had the macaroni and cheese and Edna had a sloppy joe. Edna lifted the giant and messy sandwich to her mouth but before she could take a bite of it she heard loud coughing coming from behind her. Aggravated she turned around to find out whom the loud, disruptive noise had originated. She saw what she had been a little over half suspecting. She had recognized her son's cough from where he sat at the counter. He coughed again into a white handkerchief. Edna has been noticing that her son's complexion was turning a bit on the pale side in the recent days. As a child he had been prone to coughs, but like his father never thought anything of it until it became serious. That had been odd, considering they were both doctors. She had never known if it had been out of dedication or stupidity. That was a fine line.
Edna placed her sandwich back on her plate and stood up. She walked over to the counter and slumped onto the stool next to her son. He coughed a little into the white handkerchief and upon noticing her, placed it into his pocket.
"Hello Mother," he said with the false enthusiasm she had gotten used to.
"That's a Hell of a cough you got there, son," she told him, "maybe you should have Doc Brown take a look at it for you."
Dr. Abbott tilted his head and frowned at the idea.
"I can take care of myself, thank you very much…" he told her. She sighed. He never learned, and even if he did his pride would get in the way making what he learned obsolete.
"If you're going to be your own doctor you have a fool for a patient!" she yelled at him before walking back over to her husband and her sandwich.
Delia was a gumdrop. Of all the miserable things to be, she was a gumdrop. At least she didn't have any lines. She was supposed to sing a little but that was in a group so she could just fake it and no one would be able to tell. Besides that she would just have to walk around on stage for a few scenes, sway back and forth a little. It was nothing big and that's how she wanted it. She just wished her costume didn't look so ridiculous. She had it better off than Magilla, though. He was an elf. She hadn't remember there being an elf in Hansel and Gretel, but he was one. His costume included the classic red and white striped tights and green shoes with the bells on them. Her role depressed her, but his role infuriated him.
Amy turned to leave the girl's bathroom. As she approached the door it swung open quickly and missed her face by inches. The body rushing into the bathroom made contact with her shoulder but they both remained standing. Once Amy gathered herself she turned around to see Jig pacing back and forth in front of the mirrors. Amy could tell by the way Jig walked and the look on her face, she had not entered under happy conditions.
"What happened?" Amy asked her knowing Jig wanted to tell someone.
"If I killed him would anyone miss him?" Jig demanded from her. Amy smiled. It wasn't mean spirited to smile; her second cousin's situation was rather funny. This really was one of those "look back on it and laugh," type of situations.
"What has Wendell done now?" Amy asked her. Jig had complained all weekend of incessant calls and e-mails from Wendell, all declaring his unexpected love for her. Throughout the entire weekend he had sent Jig a total of four dozen roses.
"He's been following me in the hallways all morning. I don't just mean 'following,' I mean 'following!' It's like he was chemically bonded to me or something! When I tried to run he'd follow me! That is a little freak of a guy, Amy!" Jig told her.
"I'm sure it'll pass. He's just in awe. You have something he's never seen a girl have before," Amy told her. Jig stared at her a little confused.
"What, a tan?" she asked and Amy laughed a little.
"No, mystery. You're right; Wendell is a little freak. He's been watching the rest of us since we were in grade school. He knows how, why, and when we do everything! But you, he doesn't know," Amy told her. Jig sighed and sat down on the floor, that probably wasn't the smartest thing to do but at that moment she didn't really care.
"I'm really not used to this, Amy. What do you do when there's a guy hopelessly in love with you?" Jig asked her. They both frowned when the question was well thought about. Amy took a few steps closer to her cousin.
"Well, first I suppose I see whether or not I like him back," Amy said. Jig cringed at the idea that she might like Wendell back. That was the thing of nightmares.
"After you give yourself a big 'no,' then what do you do?" Jig asked.
"You find a way to let him down lightly," Amy answered her simply. Jig stood up with a sigh and looked her cousin in the eyes.
"I don't think 'lightly' will cut it with him," Jig said standing up. She started walking toward the door to the hallway when she stopped.
"You're still at that first part, aren't you?" Jig asked her. Amy was silent a few moments before answering.
"I love Colin," Amy told her. Jig nodded, and left.
How does a person break just their small right toe? How is that possible? Just the one toe! The rest were fine; it was just the small one of the right foot of Mr. Missfield that Dr. Brown had to set back into place. Mr. Missfield took it like a man too, he didn't even flinch. Then Dr. Brown had to put a cast on it. He figured Mr. Missfield would prefer if he just put a cast on the entire foot, which might not be as embarrassing to the middle aged, burly man.
After the cast had dried and Mr. Missfield left on his crutches Dr. Brown entered the waiting room with a sigh. Mr. Missfield had been his last patient for the day and it couldn't have come at a better time. If Dr. Brown left now, he'd have just enough time to try that new recipe he had been reading about the night before. It didn't look that hard and the book said it was for ages ten and up. He was sure he could do it. It wasn't brain surgery or anything. He found Edna at her desk laughing to herself as Mr. Missfield hobbled past her. It was a motherly laugh, actually, and she made sure Mr. Missfield heard it. He had pestered her son all through high school. Made his life hell.
"I'm going to head home, Edna, see you tomorrow," Dr. Brown said hanging up his doctor coat and putting on his warm brown one.
"Hey Doc," Edna said standing up, "I got a question to ask you, about raising kids."
"You're asking me?" he said in disbelief but ready to help. She must really need help if he was asking her.
"Yea. There's this boy who has made it quite clear he has an interest in Jig. But he's getting on my nerves, what do I do about him?" she asked him. Dr. Brown thought about it for a few moments.
"How does she feel about him?" he asked her.
"Same way as I do…" she replied with a frown but inwardly quite pleased by her grand niece's good sense.
"I'd let Jig handle him, but I don't know what I'm talking about so I think the best advice I can give is, ask somebody else. Goodnight," Dr. Brown said with a smile, and left the clinic.
Ephram and Delia sat in the living room watching that night's movie while Dr. Brown was in the kitchen cleaning the dishes. Ephram leaned down to Delia.
"Does your stomach hurt too?" he asked her.
"Yea," she responded. He nodded in understanding and sat back up.
"Okay what are we watching?" Dr. Brown said walking into the room and sitting in a chair.
"The Phantom," Ephram answered him.
"The Phantom? Isn't that a little scary for Delia?" Dr. Brown asked worriedly.
"She likes it."
"I like the bad guy," Delia added.
"And she wonders why we worry about her," Ephram said getting a slight hit in the shoulder from Delia. Dr. Brown leaned down to Delia.
"I like the bad guy too," he told her and she smiled. Ephram rolled his eyes. There came a loud knocking on the front door so Ephram got up to answer it.
As soon as he opened the door Jig ran in past him, something she's been doing a lot lately. Ephram sighed and closed the door behind her. He turned around to see her pacing back and forth in front of him angrily.
"What has Wendell done now?" he asked her.
"He's living on my front porch!" she yelled. Ephram stepped forward and covered her mouth with his hand. In that position he dragged her into his room.
"Hi Jig!" Dr. Brown said on their way there. Jig waved in reply, not being able to speak.
Once inside his room Ephram released her and closed the door. Immediately after her release Jig remained silent, just looking around his room.
"Nice poster," she said pointing to the poster on his wall.
"What has Wendell done now?" Ephram repeated. Jig's mood went from interest to anger at the mention of the name.
"He's living on my porch, Ephram! He brought a sleeping bag! He has pillows!" Jig complained. Ephram lowered his eyebrows in worried surprise.
"That's really creepy, Jig…" he told her. She nodded frantically in agreement.
"It was better once he stopped singing," Jig said with a sigh and sat down onto Ephram's bed. Ephram tried not to laugh at the idea of Wendell singing. He could tell by the look on Jig's face it was not a laughing situation.
"How'd you get here?" Ephram decided to ask her instead.
"I snuck out the back. You know we have rose bushes in our backyard…" Jig said picking out a few bits of thorns and leaves from her outer most sweater.
"So what are you going to do?" he asked her. She sighed.
"Edna and Irv are going to try and get rid of him. They'll call here once they do, is that okay?" she asked him. He nodded. They both fell silent for a few moments.
"Can I laugh now?" Ephram asked her. She nodded so he did. Jig rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile seeing Ephram laugh so hard.
"He, he sang!" Ephram asked her.
"He sang 'Only You.' Come the second verse Edna was ready to shoot him," Jig answered and Ephram was renewed in his laughter. Now Jig was almost on the brink of laughter, but she cleared her throat to remove the urge.
"No, but seriously, Ephram… I can't go on like this, what the hell am I going to do?" she asked him. Ephram clamed himself and sat down next to her.
"Okay, um, how do get Wendell off your, well, off your porch… Do we even know why he likes you?" Ephram asked her.
"Amy said it's because he knows everything about all of the other girls. So I have this mysterious thing going against me," Jig explained.
"Well, the easiest thing would be to just tell him everything about you…"
"That's not easy."
"Right… So, get a boyfriend," Ephram told her simply. Jig laughed in surprise.
"Yea, right. Next idea?"
"Well just tell him you have a boyfriend in LA."
"Oh yea, that'll work. Ephram, how did you meet him?" she asked. Ephram frowned.
"Okay, so he doesn't care about the distant boyfriend…" Ephram said and the two fell silent again.
"Maybe I should just let Edna shoot him."
"Sounds like a plan to me."
