Little Moments

Chapter Nineteen

"Do we need to have another therapy session?" Drake asks eyeing my bowl of SpaghettiO's.
"No, I listened to all your directions! The ice cream was gone half way in to Mean Girls." I smile and scrape my bowl in the garbage.
"Good girl," he winks and grabs a soda out of the fridge.
"I don't always get like that after break ups..." I say rinsing my bowl in the sink.
There's an awkward silence and my grandma runs into the living room with a cup, "Out of my way!" She yells and shoves Drake causing him to drop his soda on the floor.
She yanks open a drawer, grabs a washcloth, yanks open another drawer and grabs an eye dropper.
"What the h-" Drake is hushed by my grandma, "Shhh, you'll scare it!"
I watch carefully as she turns the cup over in her hand and a baby bird falls into her hand, soaking wet and cold.
"What is it?" Drake cocks his head to the side.
I roll my eyes, "It's an elephant!"
My grandma grabs the washcloth and wraps the shivering bird in it, "I went into the bathroom to find the window open, I must have forgot to close it. The rain had poured in filling the tub about one-fourth an inch and the bird was sitting there!" She took the eye dropper and filled it with water and started pinching the top to release I into the babies mouth.
Drake walked back into the living room, "There's a bird nest above the top of the window ledge."
"Would you go get it down? It could be better for the bird to be in," she went back to nursing the bird.
I follow Drake into the bathroom with an old box my grandma gave us.
Drake stood on the edge of the bath and reached up above the window. There was a squeak and he immediately pulled back his hand and cursed to himself.
"What happened?" I try to get a better look.
"There's definitely another bird," he yanks a washcloth off the towel rack and wraps it around his hand, "Grab that towel and put it in the bottom of the box," he instructs me.
He reaches back up as high as he can, his dark skinny jeans falling a little below his waist.
"Be careful!"
"I'm fine," he says.
"Not you, the bird, be careful with it!"
He rolls his eyes, "You mean them?"
"What?"
He has a small nest clutched in his hands. A wad of feathers sit in the middle of it, drenched.
When we go back into the living room with the box my grandma is mixing a milky substance in a bowl.
"Alicia, you may want to see this," Drake sets the box on the ottoman and my grandma follows with the other bird and her bowl.
"My word, two more birds!"
I shake my head and Drake opens a cloth revealing two eggs.
"Here, give me those," Drake hands her the eggs and she walks to the kitchen, "Drake test the food in that bowl!"
He rubs his finger on the edge of the bowl and touches his tongue.
"That's not what she meant," I laugh.
He gags, "What was I supposed to do?"
"Test it to see if it's too hot."
He squirms, "So you just let me eat bird food!?"
"Get over it, big baby, it ain't gonna kill you!" My grandma yells from the kitchen.

I sit on the couch looking through my phone. Little chirps are heard chirping from the box next to the window. My grandma filled the box with towels and is keeping the eggs warm in her room. We each have to take turns feeding the birds every couple hours. Myah texted me to meet at her place, so I go take a shower.
After my shower I go into the living room in search of my left sandal. The news is on and my grandma is frying bacon the stove.
"This just in," the news reporter says, "An arrest has just been made at a house party in Reno, Nevada, two eighteen year olds have just been taken down to the station after the house went up in flames. Two other teenagers that police think might have something to do with it are believed to have come here, California, because there is supposedly more to this story than police even know. We will have more details on this later and will be sure to keep you up to date."
A picture of two boys and a girl comes up on the screen and I drop my cellphone.
"What is it?" My grandma runs into the living room and gets a glimpse of the screen. She looks at me in worry.
All I can do is stand there. The weekly forecast appears on the television, but the picture of the three stays in my head.
"Oh my god!" My grandma looks at me, maybe hoping that I say something or maybe hoping I don't pass out.
"Call my dad," I say. Panic comes over me and I've lost all feeling in my body. I can feel my breathing get heavy to the point where I can't breath.
"Mabel!" Someone's calling me, "Mabel!" It's Drake, but I can't see him. I can't see anything.
I wake up in my room. I'm sweaty and out of breath. My head throbs and there's something cold on my forehead.
I try to speak, but someone places their finger on my lips, "Shhh, Mabel!" It's Drake.
The picture from the news comes back in my head and I sit up quickly.
Dame grabs my hand, "You need to lay down!" He's stern but kind. I let him lay me back down because there's no way I can manage to sit on my own.
"Where's my dad?" I manage to get the words out.
"He's fine, he wasn't home. Alicia's on the phone with him right now."
"Tell her to come here?" I ask.
I feel the bed move as he gets up. I close my eyes again and try to keep my breathing steady.
I hear faint breathing next to me then soft lips brush my forehead quickly and the door shuts.

"Your dad is fine, honey! He was working!" My grandma's sitting at the foot of my bed. This time I'm glad he was working.
"The fire was mainly in the back of the house. It started outside. Kids were smoking and drinking and something went wrong. They thought they could just party, clean it up and your dad wouldn't notice," she pauses and looks at me, "Keep going," I say.
"I don't know all the details. Some kids were arrested, some questioned. I was told your friend McKenna was there and her boyfriend."
I nod, "He was one of the guys in the picture. Where was their baby?"
"I don't know. They got their after it happened."
I sat up, "I'm going to call my dad."
"Maribel, he's very stressed right now about the house. Give him some time."
"I'm worried about the house too, but I want to know what happened!" I realize in shouting.
"I know, but just wait."
I'm beyond mad, "You don't have to lie! I'm tired of lies!!! I know he doesn't want to talk to me! I'm not an idiot!" I grab my bag and run out into the hallway.
Drake steps outside the apartment.
"If you're going to be ticked with me too then just go inside!"
"I thought you might want a ride," he swings the car keys around his finger.