Cab Rides in Istanbul

X - valerie

I rolled over on my arm this morning and started crying, my wrist and hand are killing me, I need to go to the hospital today.

I look at my phone seeing I have a lot of missed calls and texts from Keith so I toss it on the bed and head downstairs.

"Morning dad" I say as I see my dad drinking his coffee reading the paper.

"Hey son? Good morning, when did you get here?" He asks as shocked coming to hug me.

"Last night, well this morning." I told him.

"You hungry, want breakfast?" He asks me as I nod my head yes. I walk to the table holding my arm, and he notices it.

"Bud, what happened to your hand?" He asks coming over to look at it.

"Long story" I tell him, "it looks broken, go put on something I'm taking you to the hospital" he tells me rushing out the kitchen. I go up to my room and put a pair of shoes and a hoodie.

"We can grab something on the way back" he tells me as he leads us out the house.

-

I have a sprained wrist and 2 broken fingers. My dad keeps questioning me about why I came home and how did this happen. I don't blame him, if my child came back randomly with injuries I would ask questions too.

We pull into McDonalds to get something for me to eat. I get out the car and walk inside while my dad is on the phone telling my mom what happened.

"Wassup welcome to McDonalds" the boy working the counter says to me.

"Hi can I get a large fry and and a 6 piece nugget" I say trying to take my wallet out my hoodie pocket. He sees me struggling as he says "I got you" and grabs a random receipt and hands it to me. I look around and there's no one else in line so I take the receipt and step to the side.

"Let me get a large fry and a 6 piece nugget" he shouts out to the people in the back.

I stand there looking around at the people in McDonald's as he talks again. "You in college?" He asks me pointing to my hoodie. I look down at it and nod, "oh, yeah I am" I laugh moving my hair out my face. "That's wassup" he nods.

My dad walks in and comes up to me, "what did you get?"

"Fries and nuggets" I tell him. He takes my hair tie off my wrists and puts my hair into a bun before walking out to go back to the car.

"What kinda sauce you want?" The boy asks turning around to grab my bag.
"Can I have honey mustard?" He slides the bag to me dropping the sauce in it before he grabs a cup and putting it on the counter for me.

"Thank you" I tell him as I try and carry everything with 1 hand.

My dad opens my door for me, taking my food for me to get in. I start eating the fries as I see a receipt in the bag. I take it out and see a phone number with the name Noel written next to it. I laugh silently to myself as my dad looks over to me so I put it in my pocket.

-

I wake up seeing more texts and missed calls from Keith, and one from my mom "We need to talk", I reply okay and she texts back to come downstairs.

I see both my parents sitting on the couch cuddling as I take a seat across from them.

"Hey mommy" I say taking a seat.

"Why are you here?" She asks me getting straight to the point. "And why are you calling me drunk to pick you up from the bus station early in the morning?!" She says sitting up.