Chapter 16: Grandmother Ellison
Arriving at class on time was a serious pain in the neck. Waking up was easily as awful, and the promise I'd made myself yesterday was further lifted up as a great idea. The problem, however, was that, like many promises I made myself, it would be broken quickly. I avoided thinking about that. Staying at school was easy. Especially when I stuck myself in a set of floorboards, and couldn't for the death of me figure out how to get out. I got detention for being late to class. Death was tough, and my grades were going to come out low. I just knew it.
True to form, I was right about the grade thing. In fact, I was hoping I was wrong, believe it or not. Tucker was cheerfully typing away on his PDA, and Sam was reapplying makeup. Or something. Dash had captured me shortly after my return, so I had also been lockerized. School was normal, but it was when I got back that things started popping. Not literally.
When I got home, Mom was talking on the phone. She looked worried, and I knew it had to be something big for her to look that way. It turned out that her mom had been in an accident, and she was in critical condition in a hospital in New York City. There was very little chance of survival, and we would be going to New York tomorrow. I wasn't sure how to react. Sure, we got letters from her every once in a while, but not that often, so we weren't connected. I guess Mom must have been really fond of her, because the news was enough to drag her from her work. Dad, on the other hand, was going to be staying here. Jazz was going to see our maternal grandmother, probably because she was also rather fond of her. I tried to protest, but Jazz was insistent. I was going. I was going to be leaving my work and my friends behind to visit an old lady I barely knew. Who was also dying. Wonderful.
There was really very little I could do, so I packed my clothes, got my excuses for school, and wrote down the homework I'd need to complete before we got back. I had no idea how long we'd be there. I added all my schoolbooks on the top, and was ready a few hours after lunch, all except for my toothpaste and toothbrush.
I packed those in the morning, just before we left, Dad dropping us off at the closest airport in the Fenton Assault Vehicle. Because our town was in the middle of nowhere in particular, it took us about two hours of diving to reach it, and then we had to go through security. It took a really long time, but we made it. Mom also didn't take her weapons. I was relieved when we made it through, and got into our plane. I drifted off to sleep, hoping I wouldn't do anything weird, like float.
I awoke with a jump hours later, as I learned that our flight had landed. We stumbled out of the plane. Jazz looked as if she, too, had slept. We ordered a taxi, and waited. And waited. And waited. Did I mention that, as big as New York City was, they had terrible taxi service? And when the taxi came, the driver tried to take the fastest routes, regardless of safety, and sped up to make them faster? I understand that time is money, but with the way our driver drove, you'd think he was going to die if he went any less than twenty miles above the speed limit. I checked. I also wondered why anybody bothered with speed limits. The only reason none of us puked was that we were used to dad driving. The only time he slowed down, it was to a complete halt, and I found myself wondering what the ratio of replaced brakes to replaced drivers was. It was amazing that someone could drive that fast and still be late. We arrived at an inn, and checked in. I slept in another room. It took me a bit to go to sleep, wishing I had finished my device, just so I could use it, and everything would be okay again. The city noises were louder there, and I wished they wouldn't be so noisy. It sounded like there was a train in the basement of the building.
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-Miaulin
