Chapter Thirteen

New Orleans

It was storming.

Johnny was sitting on the window sill, leaning his fevered face against the window. He was supposed to stay in bed, but he was bored. He'd been in bed for a week.

Johnny still had a fever; 99.7 degrees. He was getting so sick of that number. Every time Ana took his temperature for the past week, 99.7 degrees. When the doctors that Ana called came over and took his temperature, 99.7. When Ana took him to the hospital to get his cast taken off and to see if the doctors there knew anything it was still 99.7 degrees.

None of the doctors knew what was wrong with him. Johnny was afraid that he was dying. No one could find anything wrong with him except that he had a fever. He was almost positive that it had something to do with not being able to smoke. It didn't matter though; he'd be going home soon. The letter from his friends came a few hours ago.

Neil and Ana were going out for their anniversary or something. It had taken a long time for Johnny to convince Ana that he was Ok. She really didn't want to leave him. He had heard America talking on the phone with some of his friends. He was going to have a party while his parents were gone. It would be easy to sneak out. There wasn't a bus station nearby, and Johnny didn't know his way around the city, so he was going to call a cab. A bus ticket was twenty dollars, so he would have ten dollars left over. He guessed that that would be enough to cover cab fare.

Johnny watched the rain. He saw a bolt of lightning every minute or two. He was starting to wonder if he really wanted to go home. He would miss Ana, but he wanted to see his friends, and he really wanted some cigarettes. He would go home. He had to.

The door opened and Ana came in.

"What are you doing?" She asked. "You're supposed to be in bed. Do you want to get sicker?"

"No," Johnny said quietly as Ana led him back to his bed. "I don't want to be sick."

"I know you don't," Ana said. "I'm sorry you're sick. I can stay here if you want me to. Neil and I don't have to go out tonight."

"I'll be Ok," Johnny said.

Ana looked skeptical. "I'm going to take your temperature," she said.

"What's the use," Johnny groaned. "It's going to be 99.7. That's what it has been for the past week."

Ana put the thermometer in Johnny's mouth. He watched as the temperature rose to 99.7 and then stopped. It was driving him crazy. He didn't even care if his temperature went up. He just wanted it to change.

"You were right" Ana said absently. "It's the same."

Ana left the room and Johnny eventually fell asleep. He woke up a while later to a crashing sound and someone cursing. There was loud music from downstairs. Johnny guessed that America was having the party that he had heard him planning. He looked at the clock on his bedside table. It was 7:30. There was also a note on the table from Ana. It just said that she and Neil would be gone until about nine and that if he needed anything then he could ask America.

Johnny sighed. He felt sick and cold. It was still raining outside, and he wanted to just stay in bed. But he couldn't, he had to get home. Johnny left his room and went to the upstairs phone. He'd already looked up the number of a cab company. He picked up the phone and dialed the number.

Twenty minutes later Johnny was sitting in the cab and the driver was taking him to the Greyhound bus station. Johnny was shivering, and the driver kept looking at him.

"You Ok, kid?" He asked. "Maybe I should take you to a doctor instead of the bus station."

"I'll be Ok," Johnny said.

"You know, I have kids," the cab driver said. "And if any of them were as sick as you, I'd make them stay home."

"I'm not sick," Johnny said.

The driver laughed. "Yeah, right," he said.

Eventually the cab got to the bus station. The driver parked and Johnny got out of the cab.

"Do you think you could stay here?" Johnny asked. "I need you to take me back home."

"Sure," the driver said. "But it'll cost you."

"Yeah, sure," Johnny said. "Whatever. Just don't leave."

Johnny ran into the bus station. He stopped and looked around. He wasn't sure of what he was supposed to do. He finally walked up to one of the ticket windows.

"What can I do for you?" The person at the window asked.

"I need a bus ticket," Johnny said. Then he realized how stupid that sounded. He was in a bus station, what else would he need? "To Tulsa, Oklahoma," he added.

"Sure," the person at the window said.

"But not for tonight," Johnny said. "Tomorrow or later. And it needs to be early in the morning or late at night."

The person at the window gave Johnny a skeptical look and then nodded. "How about Wednesday at 4:30 A.M.?" The person at the window asked.

It was Saturday then, that would give him a few more days to get better "Sure," Johnny said.

"That'll be twenty dollars," the person at the window said.

Johnny gave him the money and the person at the window gave him the ticket. Johnny walked away from the ticket window and left the bus station. The cab was waiting for him. Johnny ran through the rain and dove into the cab. The driver smiled at him.

"Got your ticket?" he asked.

Johnny nodded.

The cab driver started the engine and started driving him home. They were quiet until they got to the house. The driver parked and Johnny started digging through his pockets for his money.

"So you're running away from home?" The driver asked.

"Running away to home," Johnny corrected.

"Huh," the driver said. "This looks like home to me."

Johnny wasn't exactly sure of what he meant, and he wanted to get inside. He was afraid that Neil and Ana would come home.

The house felt empty when he went inside, but he didn't care. He ran upstairs, fell into bed, and was instantly asleep.