Listen to the Words

Chapter 15

At the end of the day, he left the building, and walked out into the cold. He made his way through the crowd, in and out of slushy footprints. When he got to the car, he saw Cameron in the front seat, holding an ice pack to his forehead. His mom leaned to the window, beckoned with one hand, and mouthed the words hurry up. He opened the back door and got in.

"Cameron felt sick in school," she said, driving away from the curb. "So I picked him up early. I'm going to take him to that walk-in clinic on Hamilton."

Murphy set his book bag on the seat beside him. "Can I go home first?"

"Oh no, we don't have time," she said, and sat up straight, squeezing the steering wheel with both hands.

They drove down the street, and Murphy got out his phone. When they reached Hamilton, he felt the car accelerate. The clinic came into view, and his mom screeched down the road. She turned into the parking lot, came to a stop and bumped the curb.

As she walked around the car, Cameron waited. She opened his door and took off his seat belt, stuck her hands under his arms and practically lifted him out of the car. "I am going to throw up," he said. "I am going to throw up."

"Oh, I think you can make it inside." She looked at Murphy. "Well, come on."

He unclicked his seat belt. "I'll just stay out here."

"No, you can't," she said. "It's too cold."

"I don't mind the cold."

Cameron looked at Murphy. "You're just saying that 'cause you want attention."

His mom shut the door, and she and Cameron left. Murphy leaned back in his seat.

A few videos later, he zipped his coat. He set his bookbag on the floor and stretched his legs. The car was like his own little universe, a compartment detached from the rest of the world. But his hands were getting stiff, and he could see his breath in the air. He shivered, got out and slammed the door.

He crossed the parking lot, pulled open a glass door, and found himself in a waiting area. His mom and Cameron stood at the counter, talking to a receptionist. Murphy sat in a chair by the windows and looked at his screen.

Across the room, a woman was whining and crying and holding her elbow. A nurse called her name, and she left her seat. Murphy dug into his pockets, but then remembered dropping his earbuds to the floor of the car. He pressed the button on his phone to turn the volume all the way down.

"Your place of employment?"

"Child care," his mom's voice said.

"But I need to know the name of the company."

"Just child care."

"But I need the actual name for our records."

"Oh, you can just put 'child care.'"

Murphy looked at his phone. It was weird how you could tune things out, and almost not hear what you didn't want to.

His mom and Cameron came back to the waiting area, and his mom sat beside him. Cameron sat next to her, on the edge of his seat, and posed as if he was putting on a show.

"I hope we get a real doctor," his mom said. "And not just some intern or something."

"Why..." Murphy began.

"Why what?" she asked.

He looked at the two women behind the counter, and shook his head. He tapped his screen. Why don't you just tell them you're a stay at home mom?

Her phone rang, and she read the message. Because a few years ago I did that at a different doctor and they looked at me like there was something wrong with me, she typed back.

A nurse appeared, and called Cameron's name. He and their mom followed the nurse through a doorway, and Murphy sat with his phone.

A half-hour later, they returned, and his mom went to the counter to pay. Murphy left his seat and went out the door, and crossed the parking lot to the car.

He got into the back seat, and picked up his earbuds. He stuffed them in his bookbag as the front doors opened. When his mom started the motor, he asked, "Is Cameron sick or not?"

She backed out of the parking space. "Oh, he's all right. The doctor said he probably just ate something that didn't agree with him." She laughed. "I think when he saw how cute Cameron was he didn't want to disappoint him by telling him he wasn't really sick."

Cameron poked her arm. "I am sick," he said. "I am really sick."

"Oh, you are?" She laughed.

They drove down the road. A panorama of fast food places appeared on the horizon, and Cameron asked, "Can we go to Pell Mel's? Mom, can we go to Pell Mel's? I want a kids' meal."

"Oh... Oh, I guess so," she said.

"I thought you were sick," said Murphy.

She stopped the car in the middle of the road and turned into the Pell Mel's parking lot. She parked the car, and Murphy stuffed his phone into his bookbag before following them inside.

His mom walked to the counter with her arms on Cameron's shoulders. "We were just driving home and he said he wanted a kids' meal!"

The Pell Mel's employee looked at her blankly and said, "What?"