Francisco takes a deep breath, when Lynn invited him to her apartment to hang out, he expected a night of watching baseball or chatting, instead she blindsided him by announcing her true intentions for the evening; telling someone about them. It has only been a few days since they rekindled their relationship, and while they agreed to be more open about it, neither one made much effort to tell anyone that they knew personally.
"Why are you freaking out, Francisco? It's not like it'll be a big deal or anything," asks Lynn as she logs into her SpaceChat account.
"I know that, but I haven't talked to her in so long. I mean, what has Margo been up to since I last spoke to her at the airport?" he asks.
"She went to college, got married, and she had a baby; see nothing too crazy," Lynn says as she presses the call button on the laptop.
"Gee Lynn, way to summarize someone's life in eleven words…"
"You make it sound like it's a bad thing. I bet I can do the same for you," Lynn exclaims as she silently tries to come up with a way to summarize his life as briefly as she did Margo's, "I got it! College, baseball team, off team, dropped out, baby, job, us dating. See! And all in eleven words!" Lynn sticks out her tongue.
"About time y'all started dating," Margo says from the screen.
The couple look at the screen, embarrassed to see their friend looking at them. "Hey Margo," they say simultaneously.
"How much of that did you hear?" asks Francisco.
"It started around the time Lynn said, 'I got it', so thank you Lynn for filling me in on Francisco's life…?" she says, not entirely sure if that was an appropriate thing to thank someone for.
"You're welcome. So how are you feeling? Wait, you never told me – did you have a boy or a girl?"
Margo groans, "I'm tired. Nicholas keeps waking up at random hours of the night, which I should have known, especially since Tom kept trying to simulate what it would be like when the baby got here, but I don't think that any of it helped."
"Tom?" he asks Lynn.
"Her husband," she responds. "C'mon Francisco! It's not that hard to figure out."
"Well excuse me, but someone didn't mention it in the summary!"
"Fine, I'll add change the words – College, graduation, work, Tom, engaged, married, honeymoon, baby after three years. Happy?"
"And yet still in eleven words…" complains Francisco.
He sees the spark in Lynn's eye and her balled up fist, and he knows what she is about to do, "Give me a bruise and I'm returning the favor."
She still hit him. She waves her arm in from of him, "Well? I'm waiting."
"How about when there are no witnesses?"
Margo laughs; this was sort of how she pictured the two of them in her imagination. For years, she wanted them to at least try, but neither one was willing to take the plunge and say that they were interested to the other. Now, as the two are playfully bickering to one another on her screen, she wonders what things would have been like had they taken that leap of faith all those years ago when they were in high school.
"Lynn never mentioned dating anyone, so how long have you two been together?"
"A couple of months, but to be honest, I sort of told Lynn to keep it between us."
Margo turns to Lynn, and pretends to be upset, "I'm hurt, you couldn't even tell your best friend that you were dating someone?"
"He kept going on and on about not telling anyone! This is what I get for being thoughtful and listening to my boyfriend," Lynn complains, crossing her arms in a huff.
Francisco and Margo laugh, before Lynn joins in.
Lynn places her hand on her heart, "Alright, alright, no more secrets, unless it's a surprise party or something like that."
"Deal," Margo and Francisco declare.
Lynn is about to spit on her hand to declare it official, but Francisco immediately takes her hand, "I think we've outgrown that tradition, don't you think?"
"I won't believe it, until I see it," Margo declares.
Crying from Margo's son, interrupts the group chat, and they decide to end the call.
"Alright, I guess I'll see you next month, okay Margo?"
She smiles, "I can't wait to see you in person again, and Francisco, it was nice seeing you again."
"It was nice seeing you, too."
Lynn closes the laptop, and turns to Francisco, "There, that was easy."
"Of course it was easy; Margo has wanted us to date since we were kids, and she lives in another state."
"You just can't be happy, can you?" Lynn jokingly complains. "Take a dang victory where you can get one."
"Alright then," he leans in and surprises her with a kiss. "I believe that's a win for me."
Francisco tossed and turned in bed; he is alone, no girlfriend, no daughter, they're both gone. He has his mom and brother in the house, but he couldn't stand the looks they gave him; it isn't anger or sadness, just disappointment.
He grabbed him phone and checked the websites that he had saved over the last couple of months. After hearing Caroline's words and seeing how his family was treating him, he had to get out of the house and start over again. For months, he had searched through websites in hopes of finding a place for himself, girlfriend, and daughter, but recently that search dwindled down to just a place for him and hopefully his daughter.
He wanted to find something comfortable that could accommodate him and Elena, a room for both for each of them, a guest room, and a large backyard or something out of the typical suburban dream. Unfortunately, most of the available houses were out of his price range.
He continued to search through websites, looking for something that fit his ideal home, but he knew that with his limited budget, a real house was not going to be easy; he just hoped for something that he could live in, in peace.
"Good neighborhoods, Royal Woods area," he said as he typed into the search engine.
Francisco didn't want to stray too far from the area, especially when he has a good-paying job and Elena nearby.
He stared at the screen, there wasn't much of a difference in the results, and he was growing desperate as the weeks passed. Francisco continued to scroll through the results and he fixed his eyes on a foreclosed property that isn't too far from his work. He's seen the listing before, but with only an exterior picture to go off of, he was concerned.
"I guess there's nothing wrong with touring the house," he said in an effort to convince himself.
He emailed the realtor to schedule a tour and set his phone down. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his heart as he thought about what he was doing.
That morning, with little sleep to go on, Francisco dragged himself through his morning routine before work.
As he walked through the kitchen, he heard his mother say, "Te puse tu desayuno ensigida de tu lonchera."
"Gracias," he yawned.
He looked at his breakfast and bit into the breakfast taco; as much as he appreciates his mother, doing such things for him and his brother, he still needed to get out.
Chuy walked towards him and grab his lunchbox, "Ready to go?"
Francisco nodded.
"Did you take your medicine?"
"Yes," Francisco flatly said.
Chuy looked at his brother, who seemed rather irritated, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Francisco responded. "I'm just tired. I didn't sleep well last night."
The two brothers walked towards the truck, and immediately after pulling out of the driveway, Chuy asked, "How come you didn't sleep well last night?"
This isn't how he wanted to tell his brother, but Francisco wanted to get his thoughts out in the open, "I'm looking for a place so that I can move out."
"Excuse me?" Chuy asked, surprised by his brother's declaration.
"I'm moving out. I need my own space to breathe without worrying about you or mom checking on me like I'm a child."
"Gee, I wonder why we have to do that?" Chuy sarcastically asked himself.
Francisco shook his head, "Look, I get it, it's not ideal, especially since we carpool, but I need…something."
Through his teeth, Chuy responded, "Look, I get that things have been rough, but you need to start getting over all of this. I don't care if you need to talk to someone else, but you're being ridiculous. Besides, don't you have a daughter you need to take care of? I doubt spending your money on a place of your own is going to smooth things over with Caroline."
Francisco huffed and didn't answer as he looked out the window.
Chuy regretted his words, "Look, I didn't mean to go there, but–"
Francisco raised his hand to stop him, "Don't. I don't want to talk about it and I just want to sit in silence right now."
The hot summer sun beats down on Francisco as he takes a drink from his pop and looks at the oil inside of the wok.
"Pancho! Do you want me to chop up all the tortillas or do you want me to leave some?!" asks Chuy from the kitchen.
"Just chop them all up!"
Chuy continues to chop the remaining tortillas in fours and placing them in a large bowl. Elena passes and looked at her uncle, "Do you need any help, tío?"
The older man shakes his head, "Not yet, but when I finish, can you take these to your dad so he can fry these up? I don't feel like making so many trips."
She nods. It is the Fourth of July, tomorrow, but Francisco decided that they could celebrate the day before together before she went back to her mother. Unlike Caroline's family's celebrations, Francisco's festivities were a little more close knit with just his brother, or brothers depending on where Kiké was, his mother, his neighbor Jackson; which made it different compared to Elena celebrating with cousins and other family members at her grandfather's cabin.
Chuy finishes chopping the tortillas and hands the bowl to his niece, "Can you take that to your dad? I gotta get the chicken out of the fridge."
The two walk outside where the summer heat greets them as soon as they open the door. Francisco took the bowl from Elena and handed her a pop. He tossed some of the chopped tortillas into the wok to begin on the appetizers.
"I'll be right back, I'm going to go get the speaker from my truck," Chuy said, as he set down the chicken on the table.
Elena looked at her dad with dread, "Is he going to play his music again?"
"Unfortunately…look, you can go inside to avoid it, if you want. I'll call you when the food is ready."
She was tempted to take him upon his offer, but this was one of those few moments that she got to spend with her dad, and no amount of old ranchera music was going to keep her from having a few extra hours with him…she hoped.
"If it gets too loud just let me know, he'll turn it down if he thinks it bothers you," Francisco reassured her.
It wasn't the volume that bothered her, it was the repetitive songs. They all seemed to have the same tune; one time she recalled listening to four songs that she thought was one very long song. Although compared to her dad, she had it easy; he's been listening to those same songs since he was a boy and his father and older brother would play them for every barbeque growing up. Luckily, her uncle was always nice enough to take her feelings into consideration, which made her feel guilty about cutting his good time short.
Chuy brought out the speaker, "Where's the extension cord, Pancho?"
"In the garage," Francisco said as he took out the first of the freshly fried tortilla chips.
"I'll get it," Elena volunteered.
As she ran into the garage, Chuy took the opportunity to help himself to some of the chips.
"I got the cord," Elena said before she handed it off to her uncle.
"Oh God! Is he going to be playing that music again?" said a male voice from the entrance to the backyard.
The three turned to Kiké and the family matriarch standing next to him. The brothers went to greet her and get her a seat.
"Abuelita!" Elena said, before running up to her grandmother to give her a hug.
"¿Como estas mija?" she asked her granddaughter.
"Geez! Not even happy to see me? And here I wasted my time getting his hat for you." Kiké said, pretending to be upset at his niece's actions.
He handed Elena a red and white beanie, "Why does it say 'Canada' on it?" she asked him, as she read the hat.
"I was in visiting a friend up there and he asked me to hang out on Friday, one thing led to another, and next thing I know, I'm celebrating Canada Day before I remember that I have my cute little niece that I'm gonna see."
Neither brother believed Kiké, "Did you swipe that off of another Canadian like you did last year?" Francisco asked, with disapproval in his tone.
"I resent that. He was kind enough to give it to me."
"Before or after he took advantage of him being drunk?" Francisco quietly joked with his eldest brother.
The two brothers laughed, until Kiké walked by the two, and asked Francisco, "So where should I put my laundry?"
The younger brother groaned, "Same place as usual."
Chuy shook his head in disappointment at his younger brothers. As Kiké went to get his things, "By the way, I brought us one more thing, fireworks!" he said with glee.
Before looking at his brother's explosive loot, Francisco yelled out to his neighbor, "Jackson! Get your hose ready! Kiké has fireworks again!"
Francisco's neighbor ran out of the house, ready with a hose and water guns. After last year's incident, no one would blame Jackson for being extra cautious; after all, no one likes the idea of having to call the fire department, because someone decided to play with fireworks while drinking.
"Oh c'mon! It wasn't that bad!" Kiké complained.
"Not that bad? I had half a mind to send you to court after the damages done last year!" Jackson argued back as he filled the large water guns.
Last Fourth of July, Kiké got overly excited with the fireworks, which coupled with alcohol, made the man set off too many fireworks and cause a small fire to Jackson's house. Luckily for the man, Jackson was kind enough to not press charges against Kiké, despite Francisco insisting that it wouldn't affect their friendship. Understandably, Jackson has been cautious whenever Francisco's older brother would show up or get intoxicated.
Jackson took a seat next to Alicia, "Buenas tardes, Alicia."
"Buenas tardes, Jackson," she returned. "Pido desculpas por cualquier molesta que mi hijo pueda haberte causado," she apologized to the man.
"De nada, afortunadamente, tu hijo menor compensa más las molestias de tu segundo hijo."
Elena looked at the man, surprised, "You speak Spanish, Jackson?"
"Oh, I once spent a few years teaching English in rural South America when I was younger, oh, the places I've seen," he looked Elena in the eye, "Never stop learning and never stop exploring, you never know where you'll end up."
The girl nodded at the advice the man gave her.
"What the heck haven't you done?" asked Francisco, who was surprised by another job that his neighbor listed to have experience in.
"Olympian," responded Jackson, "I broke my knee just before the tryouts and while I was recovering I moved onto robotics."
"Wait," the girl interrupted him, "So that's the only job that you've never done?"
Everyone was rather surprised at the thought of Jackson in a variety of different fields, presumably due to boredom.
The older man nodded, "If I'm correct. Just call me Jackson-of-all-trades," he said in jest.
Francisco smiled, "And I thank you for your many years of random service in and well outside the Detroit metro area."
Francisco pulled into the driveway of the house. After searching for days, he found a house in a nice neighborhood that was also in his price range, but upon seeing the front of the house, he could see why it was listed as cheaply as it was. Aside from the recently mowed front lawn, paint was chipping, the roof needed to be reshingled, the windows were filthy, porch light was smashed, and that was just what he could see from the driver's seat.
"Just a few cosmetic issues," he told himself in an effort to comfort himself.
When he searched online, there was only one picture online for the property, which already raised alarms, but a few repairs shouldn't be of too much concern. He stepped out of the car and walked towards the front door of what could potentially be his first home.
The realtor pulled in beside him, and greeted him, "Nice to meet you."
She opened the door of the house. Dust flew into the air and the two coughed; the house has a musty smell, the floorboards are rotting underneath them, drywall was missing and exposing the frames, and cockroaches were crawling around on the floor.
"As you can see, it really is a handyman's dream," the realtor said in an effort to convince Francisco.
He knows what she's doing; they both know that the house looks more like a deathtrap than a place that anyone would want to live in, but it's her job to sell a house no matter the condition. The two continued their tour of the house, but Francisco became more and more disinterested with each door they opened.
Holes, trash, and exposed wires were not what he had in mind when looking for a place to live, but the house has plenty of space and would cost him less than if he rented an apartment.
The realtor locked the door, "I hope that this tour helped clear up any questions that you may have had about the property."
He nodded, "I'll keep in touch. Thank you, by the way…for the tour…and whatnot."
The realtor smiled, "You're welcome, and let me know if you have any questions about the area or if you are interested in looking at other properties," she told him before getting in her car and driving away from the house.
Francisco stayed put and looked at the house as he tried to determine if buying the cheap home outweighed the cost of labor and man-hours that he would have to devote to make it acceptable.
An older man walked out of the front door and saw the young man staring at the empty house, "Are you thinking about buying that house?"
Francisco snapped from his thoughts and answered the man, "Yeah, but I'm not sure if it's worth the hassle. I work a lot and won't have much time to fix it, but at least it has what I need."
The man nodded, "I guess it's not surprising considering that the previous owners were rather negligent in their home maintenance duties."
"You knew the previous neighbors?"
"Not personally. I do remember that they would be awake that some rather odd hours and I would hear fighting from time to time."
It is a long list of things that need to be repaired, before it is even livable, but he figures that he can probably make it work for himself temporarily, until he can mention the idea to Caroline.
The older man looked at the potential neighbor, he seemed like a nice boy who just wanted to have a place for himself, "You know, if you're concerned about getting the work done or just getting some tools, I used to do some work as a carpenter and I have a lot of tools that I would be willing to let you borrow."
Francisco was surprised by the man's generosity, "I-I don't want to be a burden, and I'm not even sure if this will be the right move. I mean, I'm just one man right now, do I really need three bedrooms?"
"Oh, it's no trouble. I offered the previous neighbors, but they never took me up on my offer, so it's nothing new. However, as I said before, if you need any help with repairs, I'm right here."
Francisco was a little suspicious of the man's generosity, but he nodded, "I'll think about it."
Francisco took a seat in the driver's seat and asked Lynn, "Do you want to head into the city or do you know of a better place to see the fireworks?"
She shook her head. Everything online looked the same, so none of the gatherings looked interesting, "How willing are you to drive to Ann Arbor?" she asked, even though she was sure that he would reject the idea.
"How about some place closer to home?"
"Fine," she said as she tapped her fingers on her lap.
She didn't have an idea of where to go. No matter where she picked it was going to be crowded, but they had to make due and find someplace before the sun set.
"How about you go drive and I'll tell you what direction to go in?"
"No! I don't want you to lead me to somewhere in the middle of nowhere."
"When have I done that?!" She turned around to see Francisco staring at her in the eye, "Alright one time, but we were sixteen!"
"And I ran out of gas without one of those gas cans. We were lucky that we were only a few miles away from a gas station; I can't push this truck like I used to."
Francisco saw that Lynn wanted to give her little plan another shot, so he pulled out his phone, turned on his truck and took a photo of the odometer, "I'm willing to go sixty miles in any direction, give or take ten miles if we're close to something good. We take turns deciding–"
"I remember the rules. C'mon! Let's go!" she happily said as Francisco pulled out of the driveway.
It was a simple way to venture randomly – any time the vehicle comes to a stop, someone picks a direction, they drive until the next stop, then another person does picks a direction, and continue until something of interest appears.
Francisco pulled to a stop, "Which way?"
"Right."
Francisco drove. For half an hour, the two drove hoping to find some sort of sign that would point them in the direction of a fireworks show, a concert, or even a restaurant with a great deal, but it appears as though nothing is being advertised in the area. Both of them are losing hope in finding anything worth doing to celebrate the day, until a dash of red, white, blue catches Lynn's eye.
"Look!" Lynn points to a poster on a telephone pole, "There's a fireworks show by Lake Eddy, let's go do that."
Francisco chucked, "Alright, let's go."
Despite the one poster that the couple saw, the lake was crowded with families who were setting up picnics and enjoying time on the lake before the big fireworks display at dusk.
As soon as he pulled into the parking spot, Lynn jumped out and stretched, "Race you to the lake!"
"No, I want to relax and enjoy myself, not bump into running children."
" Fine, do you want to rent a boat to get out on the lake?" asked Lynn, as she pointed out a rental stand.
"I gu–"
Lynn didn't hear him out, before she ran towards the stand, 'He'll catch up.'
The rental attendant greeted her, "Hello, how–"
"Hi! Get me something fast and with some power under the hood," she happily said as she bounced back and forth, ready to hit the water.
The man handed her a safety manual for operating the boat and she began to read it, before losing interest from reading the lengthy paragraphs and handing it back to the rental attendant, "Ma'am, did you understand everything in the manual?"
"Yeah, yeah, no drinking, no crashing, and return the boat in one piece, does that sound about right?"
It did, but he wanted to make sure that Lynn understood what she was responsible for before he hands her a rental contract, which she immediately signed. The attendant checked the paperwork before inputting the information on the computer and giving her a set of keys.
Francisco caught up to her, "You could've at least let me finish, and maybe not run so far ahead."
"But there aren't many boats to choose from, and I wanted to get one before someone else beat us to it. C'mon! Let's get out on the lake!" she happily proclaimed, as she took his hand and lead him to the boat.
"Aren't there lifejackets?"
Lynn looked back at the stand, and noticed that she forgot to take them from the rental attendant, "You can swim, why do you need one?"
"Safety, desire to live, and because that sign on the stand says that we have to take the life jackets," he said, pointing out the large sign that Lynn seemed to have ignored.
"Fine!" she groaned before stomping back to get the equipment. She tossed him his life jacket, "Happy?"
"Yes," he playfully responded.
Lynn turned on the boat and sped a good distance from shore. The splashing water hit her, "This sort of makes you feel alive, huh?"
"I guess," Francisco said nervously as he held on tightly to his seat.
Lynn stopped the boat, "See, this is nice, a gentle rocking for you, people to watch, again for you, an opportunity to jump in the water without worrying about someone else's kid getting in the way for me, and far enough to not go deaf from the concert, also for me."
Francisco tried to regain his balance, "Is this why you wanted a speedboat? To get away from people?"
"No, privacy is nice sometimes, especially since you like it so much, but maybe we can water ski in a bit!"
"How about we save that for a little later."
"But the sun is going to set in less than two hours, when else we would be able to enjoy waterskiing?"
He shook his head at her playfully whining. This was the sort of fun that he liked about her, the choices game used to drive to new places, the sparkling in her eyes as she thought about waterskiing, and even her consideration for him despite having her own ideas of how to make the day perfect.
"Alright, we can go waterskiing, but let's enjoy the rocking for a little longer."
She took a seat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder, "Alright, but then we can have a little more fun?"
"Yes. I promise."
He knows that sitting around isn't her speed. He knows that she would much rather be moving around doing something, especially as he listens to her foot tapping rapidly. He looks down at her eyes and sees them staring in the direction of the rental stand; likely wishing to go and get the water ski equipment.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"You keep tapping your leg, and I'm just wondering if you're nervous or something?"
She shook her head, "No, I just want to move around a little more. It feels like the boat is getting smaller."
"Okay, go ahead and move a little; jump in the water, you know that you don't have to stay next to me."
She moved to the seat across from him and began to rock the boat a bit.
"That's not what I meant by move a little," he said with a somewhat nervous tone in his voice.
The sound of music caught their attention as a band began to perform. Despite their distance from the shore, the two could hear the music clearly.
"Now, I'm happy that you got the boat," Francisco said.
He wasn't like her; growing up, she had chaos with ten other siblings, but he grew up with two older brothers who had a sizeable age gap from him, so loud and rambunctious wasn't something that he was comfortable with.
Lynn whined, "So now you don't want to go to shore? How are we gonna go waterskiing?"
"We can still go, I just said that I'm happy to be far from the crowd and music. If you want to go waterskiing, that's fine, let's go!" he said, before taking the wheel and driving the boat back to shore to retrieve the additional equipment.
As their boat approached the shore, Lynn jumped off and ran to the rental shack, leaving Francisco behind. "There she goes again; leaving me behind," he told him before chuckling.
Lynn returned to him, and kicked the ground, "They aren't renting any more water skis. Can you believe that?"
"Is it because the music started or he ran out or because he saw how fast you were going and thought that you would hurt someone or because the sun is going to set shortly?"
"I don't know, once he said no, I just walked away."
He rolled his eyes, "Do you want to go back on the water? We'll have the best view of the fireworks," he said in an effort to make her forget about the failed waterskiing opportunity.
She smiled, "Alright, but I'm forcing you into the water!" she said as she took a seat in front of the wheel.
"What is your obsession with getting into the water?"
"I don't know, its summer, hot sun, cool water, water sports, and I haven't raced you in a while."
That was it.
They don't race outside in the winter, and due to their break, they didn't see each other for most of spring, and while summer just started less than two weeks ago, Lynn appeared to be itching to get in the water with him again.
"Well not today," he said, before taking a seat.
"What? Why?"
"Because I look stupid swimming competitively swimming in a life jacket."
Lynn turned on the boat, "Then take it off!"
"No, I just want to relax, besides it's a holiday."
"You relaxed yesterday, let's have more fun today!"
"Fine, I'll get in the water, but no racing, I want to enjoy my day off from work."
Lynn stopped the boat and took off her lifejacket before she jumped in the water, "Are you serious?" he asked.
She emerged from the water, "What did you say?"
"Never mind," he said before turning off the boat and jumping into the water.
"See! Is this so bad?"
He sighed, "I never said that it was bad, but I know you, and I also know that you're going to do something reckless just to get a rise out of me."
She began to swim around him, "You don't know that."
"I think Lincoln begs to differ," he reminded her.
Lynn rolled her eyes. She knows what he's talking about; she and her friends went to the beach, but dad insisted on Luan and Lincoln tagging along.
"And I'm telling you that it wasn't my fault," she said before taking a deep breath and going underwater.
Francisco shook his head and took off his jacket to make sure that she didn't try to pull something. He knows that when Lynn gets comfortable, she gets playful, and unfortunately for those that she's comfortable with, playful can easily become painful.
He saw her swim with a goofy smile on her face before going back up to the surface. As soon as he emerged from the water, Lynn blew a raspberry, "See, nothing happened."
He took a deep breath and submerged himself underwater once again, before pulling on her leg. Immediately after feeling someone grab her, she kicked as hard as she could and he let go.
"Serves you right."
Francisco rose up to the surface with his hand held onto his nose, "I know that I surprised you, but you didn't have to kick me so hard."
"Yeah…well maybe next time don't try to sneak up on me like that."
She climbed back onto the boat and helped him get back in. The sky above them began to turn a bright orange, the musicians stopped playing and the crowds of people began to get quiet.
Lynn pointed to the shore, "Look! They're about to start the fireworks show!"
Francisco turned around as the alarm clock woke him up. It's Sunday, and after spending hours with his neighbor fixing Elena's future room, he was still exhausted, "I guess I can sleep in…what's a few…hours? Yes, hours."
Yesterday, he exhausted himself to get as much work done as possible, from trash removal to removing loose drywall, pest control, and fixing the roof, but the pain is worth it.
In the afternoon hours, Francisco heard a knocking from the front door. He checked his watch, "Dang…it's almost noon." He attempts to get up from bed, but immediately a sharp pain begins to radiate from his lower back.
Francisco bites down on his lower lip and powers through as he drags his feet to the door. With each dragging motion, he feels his heart pounding rapidly and his lungs feel as though they are running out of air. He finally reaches the door and opens it to see his neighbor, ready for another day of work.
"How are you doing today, neighbor?" Jackson asked happily before noticing his neighbor's almost bloody lower lip and poor posture.
"My back hurts," Francisco complained to his neighbor.
"Do you need help getting back to bed?" Jackson asked before noticing that Francisco was falling. Jackson grabbed him before he crashed down and carefully laid him on the floor, "On a scale from one to ten, how much pain are you feeling?"
"Seven," he struggled to say through his breath. Francisco tried to get up from the bed, "I'm fine…I can handle it…"
"You need to rest," Jackson told him, "If you push yourself too hard, you're only going to make things harder on yourself in the future. Trust me, I've seen plenty of old men who try to tough things out and they pay the consequences for it every day.
Francisco took a deep breath and conceded, "Can you help me to my bed? I don't know if I can get back alone." Jackson nodded, "…just make sure that there aren't any rusty nails on the ground, and I'll be happy…"
"I'm not letting you drag yourself on the floor, nor am I going to drag you either. Would you like me to get you a wheelchair or a skateboard so that you can wheel yourself into your bedroom?"
"…the wheelchair would be nice…"
"Give me a few minutes, and I'll be right back," he said before running to his house to retrieve the medical device.
With his neighbor gone, Francisco made an attempt at getting back on his feet to ease the burden on his neighbor. He keeps being surprised by the generosity of the man next door; he wasn't used to the thought of a stranger choosing to spend his weekend helping him fix his house, so he wasn't sure what to think.
Jackson returned with a wheelchair, "Oh good, you're up. Here, take a seat."
Francisco complied and is wheeled into his room, "Were you this nice to the old neighbors?"
"Excuse me?"
"It just feels strange to me that someone that I've only known for a few days would be so kind."
That was his parents' influence. Growing up, they would always tell him about how judgmental people that come to your home are, how you can't trust anybody but family or how you'll never really know anybody that comes into your life.
Jackson nodded his head in realization, "Oh, I see that I came on a little strong."
"No! That's not what I mean, it's just why?"
Jackson helped Francisco into his bed, "Honestly, you looked like a nice young man who needed a little help."
"Is it that obvious?"
"Well there is your aching back, so maybe I'm not that far off."
Francisco smiled, "Okay, you got me there."
"If it makes you feel better, I can tell you a little bit about myself, so that you can feel more at ease. Ask me whatever you please."
"Alright, but don't think that you can't ask anything," Francisco offered.
Jackson nodded, and over the course of an hour, Francisco began to learn that his neighbor was a widower who lost his wife ten years ago, he is a retired teacher who has traveled the world, learning different skills from all corners of the world, he doesn't have any children, and he occasionally moonlights for his friends if they ever need an extra pair of hands.
In return, Francisco gave a brief summary of twenty-six year life; from Elena and Caroline, growing up, sports, and his move to Michigan as young boy with his parents and two older brothers.
The conversation almost made Francisco forget that he woke up in pain.
Almost.
As soon as the questions stopped, Francisco's pain returned, "Can you do me a favor and get my medicine from the kitchen cabinets?"
Jackson quickly walked to the kitchen and spotted Francisco's medicine. He grabbed his neighbor a glass of water and noticed the label, which showed the medicine has been expired for a year.
He walked back to Francisco, "I noticed that your medicine is expired," Jackson declared, "Do you want me to call the pharmacy for a refill?"
Francisco shook his head, "Don't worry. I probably left my more recent prescription at home. I can get my family can bring it for me later."
Lisa walked up to Lynn's front door with a backpack and medical bag in tow. About an hour ago, she received a call from her older sister, who stated that she wasn't feeling well, and urgently requested her medical expertise. However, despite knocking on her elder sister's door multiple times; Lynn isn't responding.
Lisa checks under the welcome mat, but doesn't find a key; her sister hasn't gotten around to getting a spare key, which now leaves Lisa with little choice. She pulls out a lock picking kit and discreetly picks the lock to let herself into her sister's apartment. The warm air hit her and she walked over to the thermostat which was set at a higher temperature than outside.
"Lynn? Are you currently in your habitation?"
It normally isn't in Lynn's nature to call her unless necessary, so Lisa couldn't imagine that her older sister was playing a prank.
"Lynn?" she called again as she walked down the hall.
The silence was beginning to worry Lisa, until she heard groans coming from the bathroom. Lynn, who is currently wrapped in a blanket despite the hot temperatures outside, is shivering on the floor of the bathroom.
"If this is what Francisco deals with every day, I really gotta stop telling him to suck it up," she told herself before noticing Lisa walked in, "Hey," Lynn said as she tried to get up off the floor.
Lisa helped her sister into a sitting position, "What seems to be ailing you, fifth eldest sibling?"
"Just getting right to it? No 'how are you?' or 'hello'?"
Lisa set down her medical bag and pulled out a thermometer to check her sister's temperature, "That's why I asked, 'What seems to be ailing you, fifth eldest sibling?'." The thermometer beeped, "You have a fever, and considering your choice to wrap yourself in a blanket, especially at our current outdoor temperature, indicates chills. Based on your comment about your childhood friend, I can deduce that you also may be suffering from back pain. Is there anything else that I should be aware of?"
"My guts don't feel so good either," Lynn said, before she made an attempt to get on her feet and head back to bed.
"What does that mean?" asked Lisa, as she tried to keep her sister still.
Lisa pressed on her abdomen, and Lynn hissed upon feeling the added pressure.
"Well…let's get you back to bed," the younger sister said as she helped Lynn to her feet. Lynn dragged her feet out of the bathroom and Lisa followed after her before she noticed the contents of commode.
Lisa wrote down the symptoms that Lynn was displaying. She had an idea of what could be ailing her sister, but she didn't want to confirm without asking her sister a few more questions.
Lynn stood in front of her bed, "Dang it…I don't have any spare sheets," she complained before leaning her body against the wall.
"You still haven't learned the value of having spare bedding in your home?" Lisa asked as she noticed why Lynn wanted clean sheets.
Lynn rolled her eyes, "No, I haven't. You can get on my ass about that later," she said before letting her body slowly land on the floor.
Realizing that Lynn isn't going to lay down on the bed, Lisa took a seat next to her sister. She noticed the sadness in her eyes, "How many days have you been ill before you decided to call me?"
"Two."
"Did you feel any nausea in the last few days?"
Lynn nodded her head.
"Do you mind if I check your heart rate?"
She shook her head, before Lisa pulled out a stethoscope from her medical bag. Lisa listened to Lynn's heart rate, and didn't detect any abnormalities.
"Ow," complained Lynn, "That hurt."
Lisa was surprised to hear her sister feel pain in her pectoral muscle, especially since she didn't press down too hard with the diaphragm of her stethoscope.
Lisa took a deep breath, "I believe I know why you're ill. I'm going to prescribe you some medicine, although given your current physical state, I can probably call Lily so that I can retrieve your medicine. You should be fine, but I will continue to monitor your progress to ensure that you are able to overcome your ailment."
Lisa pulled out her phone, but Lynn asked, "So what's wrong with me?"
The younger sister took a deep breath.
