Fainting

Chapter 10 - Mark

Jenn's calling me wondering where I am.

"I told you I don't know when I'd be home. One of the doctors wanted me to say hi to another patient today and I brought her home. The patient, not the doctor."

"Do you have a time estimate?"
"Within the next hour?"
"Fine." It sounds like she's about to hang up, but then seems to realize something. "Mark, did you say the patient was a girl?"
"I may have used a female pronoun. Why?"

I can hear her smiling. "Oh, no reason. Have fun." Click.

She's insufferable. Which reminds me, Dodge still hasn't told me why Jenn's here.

"Do you have to go?" Allison asks as I come back.

"Not yet. Unless you want me to go."

She shakes her head. "Do you watch the tournament?"

"Yes. I'm cheering for Moody."
"No way. Gale's going to win."
"Gale? He came in last place last year."

"That's why I'm hoping he'll rise to the top this year. He's been practicing really hard."
"Moody's cooler, though. Both him and his name."

She snorts. "You're cheering for somebody because they're cool? Not based on their talent?"

I nod. "Sounds right."

Allison looks at her watch. "Do you have time to watch it now? Then we'll see."

"I wish. If I start watching it, I'll never be able to stop, and my sister's going to kill me. For some currently unknown reason – one I'm going to find out – she's in town this week and wants to do things with me. Watching the tournament does not count."
"I'll record it. Then we can watch it later."

"Deal. Thanks."
She smiles. "Of course. This is a bet."

"You bet it is," I smirk.

She rolls her eyes. "Thank you for bringing me back."
"No problem. See you later?"
"Yeah. Uh, can I have your number so we can plan a time? Or email?"

I suppress a smile and give her my number. She promises to text me soon and I wave and go back to my Tacoma.

In the car I call Dodge and ask her to tell me why my sister's in town.

She sighs. "Jenn has decided that you're twenty-two- "

"That's not a decision she can make. I am twenty-two."

"-and twenty-two-year-olds should be trying to find a spouse. Those were Jenn's words, by the way. So she is here in town to helpfully assist you in finding a girlfriend."

I groan. "Are you freaking kidding me? My sister's in town to be a yente? That's Yiddish for matchmaker – my uncle speaks Yiddish. I knew she had a reason."

Dodge is trying to be the voice of reason. "Well, when you put it that way, it sounds really bad. Promise you, she did not say it as bluntly."

"Always the voice of reason, you."

"I try." I snort. "I believe you owe me a 'thank you.'"

"It was a bargain. No thanks required."

"Tracy says hi back. And tell your uncle to teach me Yiddish," Dodge says as she hangs up.

That's why Jenn looked happy when I said I perform for a nineteen-year-old girl and when I used a female pronoun when talking about Allison.

I'm going to kill her.

Both my sister and Dodge. Sister, for obvious reasons. Dodge, well, I can't put my finger on why but I'm sure she deserves it.

Tracy's her eldest daughter, by the way.