Chapter 4

Sophie hurried through the hospital doors with Logan close at her heels. Hurrying to the front desk, Sophie blurted out her name, her brother’s name, and why they were here. The nurse smiled at her reassuringly.

“Yes. Follow me.” She said. 

They walked down a long hallway, turned right, walked down another long hallway, took an elevator to the third floor, walked down another hallway, and turned into room #367. Ken’s room.

Sophie had been scared when the lady called. There’d been an incident at the hospital. The nurse had given Ken the wrong medication. Normally it wouldn’t have hurt the patient, except that Ken happened to be allergic to the type of medication the nurse had given him. Dangerously allergic.

They’d been able to stabilize Ken for now. He was doing better, but still a little affected by the medication given him. He was open to visitors.

Sophie nervously ran her fingers through her hair as the nurse led them into Ken’s room. She hoped he wasn’t in to bad condition. He was her brother. One of her life lines.

Ken was sitting up in bed eating a suspicious looking dish a nurse had brought for him. He grinned when he saw Sophie and Logan walk in. “Hey little sister!” He smiled as Sophie sat on the edge of his bed. She smiled a weak smile back at him. “Do you know how much you scared us?” She asked.

“Yeah sorry about that. Kind of scared me too. Hey big brother!”

“Hey little brother!” Logan gave Ken a light slap on the back. “How’ve they been treating you?”

“Oh, pretty good!” He lowered his voice and looked around to make sure there were no nurses around. “But the food is terrible!” 

“You poor guy!” Logan said in mock sympathy.

“Hey!” Ken defended himself. “It is! You try it!’ He shoved the tray toward his brother.

Logan eyed it suspiciously. “What is it?”

“Potatoes,” Ken answered, “Try them.”

“Potatoes!” Logan hooted, “Looks like they were mashed up with a toothpick and dipped in chocolate sauce before they got to you!”

“Yeah. It looks like a couple of those toothpicks broke. They taste like it too. Go on.”

Cautiously Logan lifted the fork to his mouth. When it was about three inches away he shoved it in an started to chew.

“Blak!” Logan choked. “Glass of water!!! Quick!!”

He grabbed Ken’s glass of water by his bedside and guzzled it down. He gasped.

“Man!” He exclaimed, “How do you eat this stuff! It needs salt!”

“It needs to be trashed, that what it needs,” Ken responded. “And I have to eat this stuff!”

The brothers all of a sudden snapped into seriousness when a nurse entered into the room. Logan pretended to examine the flowers by Ken’s bedside. Finally the nurse left.

“You jerks!” Sophie jumped to her feet and pushed Ken playfully, “Imagine what she would have said if she knew!” 

Ken gave his sister and innocent smile. “Hey, we were just playing around, Soph.”

She made a face. “Yeah! Try to tell them that! You wouldn’t want to her their feelings about their food! They’re taking good care of you and if you insult them they might get revenge!” She stuck out her tongue.

“In that case,” he took another spoonful of potatoes and said loud enough for the nurses in the hall to hear, “It’s delicious!”

“Shh!!!” Logan hissed, “Do you want more of that stuff?”

Ken stopped mid-chew, “Oohh… blek!!” He started to gag.

A nurse walked in. Ken straitened up. “You’re time is up,” she said to Sophie and Logan, “I’m sorry, you’ll have to go now.”

Ken quickly swallowed when the nurse left. “Well, thanks for coming to see me,” he said, “Come back soon and tell Mom I miss her.”

“We will,” Sophie promised, “Soon you’ll be home. See you later!”

They walked out of the hospital and started for home.