Inked Perfection

Chapter 25

The hospital was eerily quiet and the silence was eating me up from the inside. We were waiting for the doctor to come out with the results. George was sitting with his head in his hands, shaking due to silent sobs. I let him be. Mom used to tell me, if you're sad let it all out because bottled emotions will rot you from the inside.

After what seemed like hours of waiting -
"Mr. Kroft?"

False alarm, I think and sink back into my chair.

"Yes?" The cracked voice of George asks. I look up in shock. Oh well, I was on a first name basis with them.

"Your wife is stable now. Just try not to take her out for tiring activities when it's cold, given her condition." He warns and walks away.

"Condition?" I ask, hoping I'm not prying.

"Oh it's nothing too serious, she has a lung condition but it only gets bad if it's cold out. We didn't think last night was all that cold though." He shrugs and walks into Haley's room. I wait outside for a couple of minutes before going in.

"Hey sweetie, you're still here." She beams up at me.

"Well, I couldn't just abandon you." I reply with a smile.

"I'm sorry scaring you like that." She says to George. He runs his fingers through her hair and gives her a peck on her lips. I let out a silent sigh, I hope someday I'll have something like this.

_______

"Tidy up fast!" Mom shouts from the kitchen.

"I swear Mum turns into Godzilla every time Nana comes home. Look at poor Shane slaving around." Cole says in a hushed tone. Jesse snickers at his comment. I stop dusting to look at Shane with a broom and dustpan, he had a bandana around his head, the sight was comical.

I saunter over to him and tell, "Cinderella, scrub the floor once you're done sweeping."

"Not funny Mel." He deadpans.

"I thought it was." Jesse says, after another fit of laughter.

"I don't understand why we had to come when you're grandparents are coming over for the weekend." He huffs, bending down to sweep under the couch.

"Because we're family." His Mum shouts from the foyer. She was wiping down all the artifacts Mum had put on display, which had caught dust over the years.

Shane mumbles something under his breath and continues sweeping. I plop down next to Dad. "What are you supposed to be doing?" I ask.

"Supervising." He states and continues to look around, laughing at everyone occasionally.

"Mum." I shout. Dad quickly jumps to his feet and grabs my duster, dusting off an imaginary spider web.

"What?" Mum answers, popping her head out from the kitchen.

"Wouldn't all this be easier if we had a vacuum cleaner?" I ask.

"And throw away the delight of seeing your kids do some hard work? I think not. Besides, the age old way of cleaning is good exercise." She says, sounding just like Nana. She then narrows her eyes at me. "What are you doing?"

"I'm supervising." I shrug and turn to Jesse, "Stop whipping the lamp with that cloth, dust it properly."

He sticks his tongue out at me and continues to whip at the lamp from a feet away. I shake my head and look at Shane trying to sweep around Dad who was dusting the corners of the ceiling. He swept and a few seconds later came back to another pile of dust. I muffled my laughter and turned to Cole, "Well atleast someone is doing proper work."