Rudy initially made plans for another date the following Friday. Unfortunately, that was the week Sylvester's health took a drastic turn for the worse. After a terrifying three days in Intensive Care. Which he was not expected to survive. He pulled through but decided he was ready to enroll in hospice care. The night Rudy and Louise were supposed to have their big date. Was the day Rudy moving his dad in and understandably he was not up to do anything else that day.
Rudy offered to take her out the next weekend, but she had already agreed to look after Tina and Zeke's kids. They had never had a vacation that was just them and Zeke wanted to change that before the new baby came. It was just a weekend trip to the shore since neither of them wanted to take a major trip.
The weekend started out uneventfully enough. It was just going to be the twins and Lily. Because Mason was away at summer camp. The extent of Louise watching him was dropping him off in the community center parking lot to catch the bus for his art camp. Louise was a little upset he would not be a part of the weekend. Aside from he was the one she could count on to help her out and keep his siblings in line. He reminded her a lot of Tina at that age, and she did genuinely enjoy being around him.
It was Friday night and Louise was in the middle of preparing dinner for herself and the kids. She decided to keep things simple a Caeser Salad kit and a make your own pizza bar. She wished she could just take them out to eat but Tina and Zeke were trying to cut back on fast food, and she didn't feel like wrangling three kids in a sit-down location. She had been feeling pretty rundown the past few days. She hoped it was just her overexerting herself and she wasn't going to be hit with the flu in the middle of caring for the kids. Bob and Linda were officially moving to Florida and the last thing she wanted was to owe Gene a favor. Her phone rang. She tried to ignore it at first. Another thing Tina and Zeke were working on was screen time. They were trying to lead by example and had requested Louise limit her phone usage to only when necessary. Easy enough considering Louise wasn't as much of a tech head as her older siblings. Then her phone rang three times. She decided it was serious, washed her hands, and picked it up. She missed the call, but it was Rudy. She started to press the callback button. When it began to ring for a fourth time.
"LOUISEYOUHAVETOWATCHSYLVIE!MYDADISIT'SBAD!HE'SMAXEDOUTONMORPHINESEIZURES!BLEEDING!HAVETOHOSPITALCAN'TSYLVIE!AMBULANCEHERE!" Rudy cried before Louise even had a chance to answer.
"Yeah of course I'll watch Sylvie. Is she at your place or the hospice?" Louise questioned.
"She's with my mom and Paul but Paul's mom is having surgery Monday, and they have to leave tonight." Rudy explained after taking a hit from his inhaler.
"OK…OK I will pick her up. Just give me a minute to get dinner in." Louise assured.
"Thank you." Rudy wheezed.
After tossing the pizzas in the oven and letting the kids know she was leaving. Louise rushed to Rudy's mom and Paul's house. It turned out they were not leaving until the following morning, but she didn't want to add to anybody's stress. Lily had begged to come with, but she pointed out that Sylvie may not be in such a happy mood. She tried to get the young girl to open up but unlike her father. Sylvie was far more guarded with her feelings. Upon returning to Tina and Zeke's place. Louise pulled the four cooked pizzas out of the oven and set things up for Sylvie to make her own when she was ready. By that time, the young girl had locked herself in Lily's bedroom. Lily made her plate and then joined her friend.
"So, are you boys having a good summer so far?" Louise asked.
"Yeah" Bobby sighed.
"It's OK." ZJ added.
"Are you sure? You both sound upset." Louise observed.
"Well, it's just mom and dad who went on vacation without us. Then Mason got to go to summer camp and now Lily has her friend over. We don't get anything special." ZJ explained.
"OK but remember Sylvie is only here because it's an emergency." Louise reminded.
"Yeah, but what about Mason going to camp. That's not an emergency." ZJ pointed out.
"Your mom said you guys didn't want to go to camp." Louise commented.
"We went last year, and it was boring." Bobby replied.
"Fair enough, but you guys do have wrestling camp in a couple weeks." Louise remembered.
"Yeah, but that's not this weekend. We got totally left out this weekend." ZJ explained.
"Would you feel better if I called your parents to see if you could each invite somebody over for the rest of the weekend?" Louise offered.
"Yeah, that would make us feel better." ZJ agreed.
"Much" Bobby confirmed.
Tina and Zeke ended up agreeing to allow the twins to each invite one friend over for the weekend. Bobby invited his best friend Tyler and ZJ invited a kid named Kyle he knew from wrestling. His actual best friend Brody was on vacation with his parents that week. Tyler was a good kid. He was actually the son of the sister of Benj's older brother's wife. So, Louise had known him for a couple of years before he became friends with Bobby. Kyle and Louise was not so sure about. She had only met him once at one of the boy's wrestling matches, but he seemed a little unpleasant to her and she was surprised that ZJ was friends with him, but Zeke said it was OK. So, she decided she was just being overprotective.
Saturday ended up being a little underwhelming. The twins and their friends ended up spending the day with Kyle's older brother. While Sylvie and Lily kept to themselves. Only coming down to the restaurant to help Lousie during the lunch rush. The boys returned around dinnertime soaking wet. Because they had apparently decided to go to the beach, but nobody had swimsuits or towels. Louise ordered them to go get cleaned up upstairs. Relieved that Gene and Bob had left enough of their old clothes. For the boys to have something dry to change into. She decided to repeat the pizza bar from the previous night. The kids enjoyed it and she only had to pick up a few extra crusts. Once again, she was in the middle of cooking. When the phone rang. This time it was Mason's summer camp. Her heart dropped and she prayed it was something benign. Like he got a sunburn and they needed to confirm he wouldn't die if they gave him Tylenol.
"Hello?" Louise greeted.
"Yes, am I speaking to Louise Belcher?" A woman questioned.
"Yes mam" Louise replied.
"And you are the aunt and emergency contact for Mason Belcher-Tisdale?" The woman verified.
"Yes" Louise confirmed, heart now racing.
"I'm afraid that Mason came to the infirmary about an hour ago with nausea. At first, we thought maybe it was just nerves or motion sickness from the canoe race, but he began experiencing diarrhea and is now running a low-grade fever. We are going to need you to come pick him up." The woman explained.
"Can you send me directions to the camp?" Louise questioned.
"Of course," The woman replied.
"What's going on?" Bobby asked as he set the table.
"Mason has a stomach bug. I have to go pick him up. I am leaving you and ZJ in charge while I am gone. It's a two-hour drive to the camp, but I will get back as fast as I can." Louise explained.
"OK" Bobby replied.
"The other thing is I am afraid that I am going to have to send Tyler and Kyle home." Louise replied.
"But Sylvie gets to stay!" ZJ whined.
"Yes, because Sylvester is still in the hospital and her other grandparents are out of town. Besides, you wouldn't want your friends to catch Mason's bug and be sick during the summer, would you?" Louise explained.
"No" ZJ sighed.
Louise left to pick Mason up, and Tyler and Kyle called their respective parents to pick them up. Kyle's parents were out. So, his older brother ended up coming to collect him. If Louise had known how the night would end. She would have driven the boys home herself on the way to get Mason.
"This sucks!" ZJ cried as Kyle came down the stairs with his duffle bag.
"I know! Lily doesn't have to send her friend home, but we do! I mean everybody was probably already exposed to Mason's sickness anyway! Why not just let everybody stay?" Bobby complained.
"Oh, you darling Freshbabies!" Kevin cried.
"Excuse me?" ZJ demanded.
"You heard me you guys are baby Freshman who don't know a thing." Kevin laughed.
"OK well since you are a senior. How about you enlighten us." Bobby insisted.
"I will take Kyle home but who says I have to take him home right away? And who says you two can't have a little fun before the midget returns with Typhoid Mason?" Kevin questioned.
"Aunt Louise" Bobby reminded.
"Yeah, but she's going to be gone at least five hours. I mean a two-hour drive to the camp, two hours back, and then however long it takes to get him checked out. Plus, if he has the Hershey squirts, she's going to have to stop frequently." Kevin explained.
"So, we stay a bit and then invite a few other friends over. Sort of a "Welcome Freshman!" party." Kyle added.
"Yeah, but what if Louise comes home and catches us?" Bobby questioned.
"She won't" Kevin assured.
"How do you know?" Bobby questioned.
"You call her and tell her you think that you have Mason's virus. You are puking and pooping and have a headache. All that fun stuff." Kevin started.
"And that protects us how?" Bobby wondered.
"You say you may want to go to the emergency room. When she says she can call somebody else to take you. You say you want to try to tough it out, but if she could call when she is about fifteen minutes away. You then say you are feeling much better and don't need to go to the hospital. That will be our code to vamoose." Kevin explained.
"And when the house is trashed?" Bobby asked.
"Then we just blame Sad Sack Sally and the future President of the Huxley High Lesbian Club. I mean no way that midget is going to punish a girl whose grandfather is at death's door." Kevin finished.
"Sounds good" ZJ replied.
"What the hell I'm in." Bobby added.
"PARTY TIME!" Kyle cried.
"I don't know" Tyler sighed.
"Well then you just go home when your mommy gets here." Kyle teased.
Tyler left and Bobby called Louise. Louise insisted on calling Gene, but he managed to hold her off. ZJ, Kyle, and Kevin compiled the guest list and Bobby watched from the stairs. suddenly he had a bad feeling about this. Zeke didn't keep alcohol in the house and Louise hadn't brought anything this time. Luckily one of Kevin's friends had a connection. Before long kids were flocking into the house. Besides his own brother, Kyle, and Kevin. Bobby did not know any of them. A few of them looked like they could be in college. Now Bobby had a really bad feeling.
"Kyle? Who are these people?" Bobby hissed.
"Kevin's friends." Kyle replied.
"OK well this is supposed to be ZJ's and my party. So why are they here?" Bobby demanded.
"Because it's a "Welcome Freshman!" party not a preschool reunion. These are the coolest kids at Huxley High. You get in with them and you are guaranteed popularity first day." Kevin explained as he took a swig of beer.
"These kids are high school students?" Bobby gasped.
"Most of them. A few graduated last years and the year before but name the right names and you are on easy street." Kevin explained.
"ZJ! I have a bad feeling about this!" Bobby hissed.
"Lighten up, little brother." ZJ laughed already on his second beer.
"Is that your second beer?" Bobby asked.
"Back off mom!" ZJ cried.
"Come on ZJ just slow down. Maybe this is your last one." Bobby pleaded.
"How can I have my last one. When you haven't had your first one?" ZJ demanded as he shoved a beer into Bobby's hands.
"Hey big boy, Kevin tells me you are a wrestler." A random blonde girl stammered.
"Why yes I am." ZJ confirmed.
"I love wrestlers." The girl slurred.
"ZJ! She's drunk. Just leave her be." Bobby pleaded.
"It's not like I'm going to have sex with her! We are just going to talk!" ZJ snapped before following the girl into the kitchen.
Sylvie and Lily heard the party from Lily's room. At first, they thought the boys were just watching TV way too loudly again. One of the many things their parents were constantly lecturing them about. It wasn't until ZJ and Boby's argument that they realized the party was actually happening in their home. Well Lily's home but Sylvie stayed over so much it was her home too.
"That party is happening in my living room. We need to call Louise." Lily hissed.
"Why should we?" Sylvie questioned.
"Uh because she specifically told the boys to send their friends home. Not invite a bunch more teenagers over." Lily explained.
"Where's the rebel girl I befriended in Mr. Frond's office?" Sylvie questioned.
"I am still a rebel. I just don't like parties." Lily sighed.
"Well, I mean we are going into fifth grade this year and my mom started partying in sixth grade. We need to be ready." Sylvie explained.
"Sixth grade? Because my parents didn't start partying until high school. Aunt Louise was a senior when she went to her first party." Lily explained.
"A senior?" Sylvie gasped.
"Yeah, I mean she's like me where she isn't too big on parties, but she was also. She had some stuff going on in high school." Lily explained.
"OK well my dad was older too but that's probably just because my grandparents were so overprotective of him because of his asthma." Sylvie explained.
"Sylvie why do you want to rebel all of the sudden. You have always been the voice of reason." Lily questioned.
"Because Sharmaine Michaels called me a baby. She assumed I had already done all kinds of stuff having come from New York City and when I told her I hadn't she said I was a baby." Sylvie explained.
"Why do you care what Sharmaine Michaels thinks. She is about as smart as the fake skeleton in the biology room and has about as personality as him too." Lily questioned.
"You wouldn't understand." Sylvie sighed.
"I might." Lily commented.
"No, you won't! No, you can't! You have the perfect family! You live in the house you were born in! My parents hate each other, and my mom doesn't even remember the apartment number from when I was born." Sylvie sobbed.
"Sylvie" Lily gasped.
"You can stay up here but I need to go down there. I… I just need to." Sylvie sighed.
Sylvie made her way down the stairs. The party was even more intense in person. ZJ was lying on his back drinking straight from a keg. Bobby was sucking down a glass of beer. All the kids were drinking, and Sylvie smelled marijuana coming from the bathroom. A tall boy with brown hair who could barely stand shoved a beer into her hands.
"Oh, uh I am too young for this." Sylvie stated instantly regretting her decision.
"So, I am I." The boy slurred.
"I am just looking for the bathroom." Sylvie stammered.
"It's being used." The boy laughed.
"I will just go back upstairs." Sylvie replied.
"Come on Princess live a little. Don't go up to your tower prison." The boy insisted.
Suddenly Sylvie had a very bad feeling. She tossed the beer onto the floor, the can exploded but she did not care. She raced upstairs. The boy chased after her. "LILY! HELP!" Sylvie screamed. Lily came out of her room and the boy offered her a beer.
"Dude we're nine." Lily laughed.
"Come on" The boy ordered.
"Sylvie this is bad. This is like after school special bad. We need to get out of here." Lily hissed.
"Where should we go?" Sylvie questioned.
"My treehouse" Lily replied.
"But you're banned from the treehouse." Sylvie reminded.
"Desperate times" Lily insisted.
The girls raced back down the stairs and out the front door. They got lucky in that the boy ended up getting distracted by a girl who was doing a strip tease on the coffee table. They raced to the backyard and climbed the ladder to the treehouse. Unfortunately, they were not the first to have that idea. A boy and a girl who were definitely way older than the twins. Had utilized the treehouse as a private room. Lily ran back down the ladder before the pair noticed. Sylvie did not get so lucky. The girl screamed and the boy chucked a beer can in her direction. The can hit her in the back and caused her to lose her footing. She fell from the treehouse with a heavy thud.
"Sylvie!" Lily cried.
"My arm!" Sylvie gasped, raising her left arm. Lily was no expert, but she knew arms were not supposed to face that way.
"HELP!" Lily screamed but the music was too loud.
"Oh God! It hurts so bad, Lily! Ow! It hurts!" Sylvie sobbed.
"You stay there. I am going to get the emergency phone and call for help." Lily insisted.
Rudy sat beside his dad's empty bed. An ambulance had been called the day before after his father experienced a series of seizures and a hemorrhage. He was in hospice, but the facility could no longer manage his pain. When the ambulance arrived, it was determined that he was too critical to transport. If the only goal was to manage his pain and seizures. Rudy had no idea how his father had survived as long as he had. The nurse had not expected him to live through the hour after the paramedics left, but he had lived an entire twenty-four hours. He was in a deep sleep and there were at least fifty times, Rudy assumed he was dead. Only for him to let out a gasp. Finally at eight thirty-five on Saturday evening. He took his last breath, and Rudy had never been more grateful for anything in his entire life. It sounded horrible but Sylvester had been in constant agony for months and Rudy was glad the fight was finally over. He knew he needed to get back to Sylvie, but he could not leave the last place where he had seen his father alive. His phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket. Praying that it wasn't anybody to whom he would have to break the news. He did not recognize the number but thought maybe it was somebody from the funeral home or one of the other death companies he had been in constant contact with since Sylvester went on hospice.
"Hello" Rudy greeted.
"Rudy it's Lily." Lily wheezed.
"Lily what's going on? You sound upset." Rudy noticed.
"Don't freak out but something's happened to Sylvie." Lily began.
"It's just when you tell somebody not to freak out. That pretty much guarantees they are going to freak out." Rudy pointed out.
"ZJ and Bobby threw a party. Some older boys were hassling us. So, we went to the treehouse, but kids were having sex in there. They threw a beer can at Sylvie, and she fell out. She broke her arm. Bad." Lily explained.
"I… I'll be right there." Rudy stammered.
Rudy hung up the phone before Lily could explain more. Sylvie was hurt? Because Louise had let ZJ and Bobby throw a party? How could she be so irresponsible? He thought she had changed and had stopped being so careless and immature but apparently, she had not.