George
The cold woke George up once again at the crack of dawn. It was February now, he had gotten used to it, it had started in November. He had never been an earlier riser before, in fact he usually had been the last one to get up in his family, but being the first one up had its benefits.
He shuffled down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. He looked out of window, the sun was shining but the grass was frosted and the trees before him were bare. He flicked on the coffee pot and poured in some water. Careful to not to step on any of the squeaky boards, he made his way to the doorway. George pulled on his slippers, the red ones which came to the top of his calf and slid the screen door open. The March cold bit him and he hurried to the end of the drive where the paper was waiting at the end of the drive. He shook of some of the frost from the blue plastic covering and scampered back inside. He slid the door behind him shut and walked back to his coffee, now spreading its aromatic waft all over the house bubbling in the pot.
"Georgie, are you up already?" a voice floated from the top of the stairs.
"Yeah, Mom. You want some coffee?"
"Yes please, darling."
He heard the feet shuffle back to the bedroom and the door shut. He smiled to himself, she wouldn't be out of bed for at least another hour or so. He opened the cupboard and took out a mug, poured himself some caffeine and sat down with the paper.
"Come on, Ronnie!" George yelled up the stairs. Even though Ronnie had sworn he was going to live in his car he wanted to drive it so much, he always seemed to be late for school every morning since getting his license.
"RONNIE!" Jerry screamed.
A blurry eyed Ronnie descended the stairs, half bounding half leaping and turned to his two brothers.
"Would you two just shut up!"
"You're the one with the license, doofus," George whined to his older brother.
Ronnie came up behind him and whacked his around the head.
"Ow!" George cried and followed hurriedly after his brothers who were making their way to the car.
¨ · · ¨
"Ma! We're home!" Jerry called as he rushed in through the front door. Louise sat at the kitchen table sipping at a cup of tea and flipping through a magazine.
Without looking up from her article on the dangers of flu vaccines she asked,
"Where's George?"
Ronnie walked in through the kitchen door and gave his brother a wild-eyed look.
"Boys, where is he?"
"On his way home."
Mrs. O'Malley paused and picked up her mug of tea and took a sip. The steam rose off of it and curled into the air.
"And why didn't he come home with you two?"
"Well, he was-"
"Why?"
"Because we kicked him out of the car."
Louise raised her eyebrows at the two boys and shook her head.
"Your father will be hearing about this when he gets home," she paused for a moment trying to keep her face straight, "tonight."
The boys face went from remorseful to delighted so quickly it would have been hard to tell if they had be sorry.
"Dad's home tonight, awesome!"
They each gave their mother a kiss and ran up the stairs to their rooms. Probably fishing out the football for some tosses when Harold came later that night.
George arrived home an hour and a half later frozen to the tip.
"Hey Rudolph," said the brothers as they greeted their slightly frostbitten brother.
George shot them a dirty look and walked upstairs to his room where he dropped his backpack, stuffed with texts and fell onto the bed and climb under the thick woollen covers. He lie there for almost an hour before he heard the screen door open and a round of muffled cheers from downstairs.
"Does anyone tell me anything in this family?" George moaned to the ceiling.
He walked down the stairs again and saw his father giving his mother a large hug and kiss. Jerry was in the kitchen grabbing his father a cold Bud.
"Georgie!" exclaimed Mr. O'Malley as he held his arms wide open for his little boy.
"Hey, Dad," said George as he embraced his father. Whenever Harold got back from one of his cross-country truck deliveries it was always a call for celebration. When the boys were smaller they were allowed to stay up late and Dad coming home had always been a big special privilege.
"How about some tosses with the ol' pig skin, Dad?" asked Ronnie.
"Oh, let your father catch his breath," scolded the mother brushing the dust off of his jacket. Harold laughed and said,
"You set that up boys I'll be out in a sec. How bout you Georgie. You wanna play?"
George smiled earnestly and shook his head.
"Maybe later, Dad."
Harold's smile faded a little, and he turned back to his wife who was sat on the sofa. George went to the kitchen and turned the kettle on again for some tea. He saw his brothers setting up for the football.
"Lou, there wasn't as much as I thought there was gonna be this time."
George turned his head to face the living room with a puzzled look on his face.
"It's okay. How much was it?"
Money problems? They had never been Vanderbilt's, but this money trouble never seemed to have been a problem for the family.
"One thousand."
"Oh."
To eighteen-year-old George this sounded like a pretty large sum of cash but evidently this was not so.
"Well we've always got what's saved away."
"Not if we want to keep paying the mortgage," sighed Mr. O'Malley.
Then George heard what he thought was a small sob from his mother.
"How am I going to tell my boy that we don't have enough to go to med school."
George walked to the doorway and saw his mother crying softly into his father's shoulder. He looked away, he never could see stand to see his own mom cry. He turned back to the kitchen. This was all his fault. Again. He was always the burden, extra science lessons, how much had the trip cost to look at college?
George pounded his fist on the kitchen table. He wouldn't be the one to screw up the O'Malley's. He couldn't be that burden.
He poured the boiling water slowly into the tea cup and stir in the sugar. He walked calmly back to the kitchen doorway, took a deep breath, and walked on into the living room.
"Mom, Dad?"
The two looked up at their son, a slightly dazed look on their faces. His mother smiled and accepted the tea gratefully that George offered her.
"There's something that I've been meaning to tell you."
His mother tried to act non-chalant and asked,
"Have you picked a college, sweetie? You've still got time you know!"
"Well yeah, sort of. I've decided I want to go into Trade school, like Ronnie and Jerry. They're were talking about opening up a garage when they graduate. I'd love to be a part of that."
The two parents looked shocked. His father blinked a few times and stammered,
"But what about being a doctor, Georgie? That's what you want isn't it?"
"I thought it was Dad, but I realized that being good with my hands can be useful for other things than just opening up bodies."
"Oh." was all his mother could reply with.
George's father stood up and walked up next to George, who had also risen to his feet. He looked George in the eye for a moment and then hugged him.
"If this is what you want, then of course."
George hugged his father back and tried to hold back the tears that were welling the corners of his eyes.
Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and, hopefully, enjoying.
I'm considering writing either a sequel with what would happen as the interns continued in their new lives or trying out the same idea out with the resident's and attending (Bailey is going to be hard to keep away from the field of medicine!)
We'll see, until then!
TG916 (Maddie)