A Family Podcast (english)

Chapter 21

Taylor

After closing Aden's bedroom door behind me, I went downstairs to make him some tea. Just as I reached the bottom, the door opened, and Susan and Dad came in.

"Are you just getting back now?" I asked, realizing that they had been at the doctor's.

"We stopped by the store afterwards for a bit. Seems like there's no such thing as vegetables or fruits in this house" Dad replied with a reproachful tone. I furrowed my brow. What was that supposed to mean? We hadn't been eating any healthier when Dad used to be around more.

"We have frozen peas" I defended. At the same time, I was annoyed by his complaints about how things were going here. After all, it was actually his responsibility to take care of such things.

Susan sat on the small stool next to the coat rack and lifted her feet, expecting Dad to take off her shoes, but he didn't notice and carried the groceries into the kitchen.

I helped Susan take off her shoes and hung her jacket in the coat rack. Susan disappeared into the living room, and I followed Dad into the kitchen.

"What did the doctor say?" Dad rummaged through his pocket and placed a few papers on the table in front of me.

"I'm not exactly sure" He shrugged, looking almost concerned. "Her blood test results were poor. She's not eating enough. And not healthy enough. I don't know. What do you guys eat here when I'm not around?" His accusatory gaze landed on me, and I pressed my lips together. Canned noodles and frozen pizza probably wouldn't satisfy him.

"So she'll get better if she eats more and healthier?" I asked, feeling a twinge of guilt. It's not like we never cooked, but we were often out all day, and then we'd be tired in the evenings. Not to mention that I could barely manage to put together a decent meal.

Dad grumbled "I don't know. There was something else in the blood test results that the doctor found strange. He did a few more tests, but they need to be analyzed."

Dad shrugged, and I furrowed my brow. That didn't sound too good.

"So we have to wait and see" I concluded, and Dad nodded.

With a sigh, I filled a pot with water and started brewing tea. Why did everyone have to be sick all at once? Aden was completely out of sorts, Liam had started coughing this morning, and now Susan.

Once the tea was ready, I gathered a pack of tissues and headed back upstairs.

________

Susan

As soon as Dad and I got home, I walked into the living room and sat down next to Jackson, who was busy typing on his phone. Today had been strange. I had been so excited to do something with Dad, but then I had been really nervous. I had no idea what the doctor had said, but Dad seemed a bit down afterwards, so that had made me a bit anxious.

But apart from feeling tired often, I felt fine, so it couldn't be that bad, right?

I was snapped out of my thoughts when Jackson nudged me with his shoulder.

"Everything okay?" he asked, and I nodded.

Jackson shrugged and was about to return to his phone. So I took the opportunity and crawled under his arm, resting my head on his shoulder.

Jackson laughed, and his chest vibrated.

"Okay, what's going on?" he asked, still laughing, and I hugged him tightly.