Home Is Where The Heart Is

chapter 2

As Caren stood at the doorstep waiting for someone to answer the door, her hand subconsciously fiddled with the manila folder she was holding. The instructions were simple, hand this folder to a Mr. Link Neal, have him sign the contents and bring it back to Burbank. At least that was the main plan.

A few minutes in, a blonde woman in her thirties opens the front door. She had a smile that went from ear to ear and she looked like what Caren could only verbalise as summer. " Hey,  How can I help ya?",the woman asks in a thick southern accent, very unusual in these parts of LA.

Caren got right on track and explained that she was sent by Ms. Levine to have these papers signed by Mr. Neal. The blonde woman introduced herself as Christy Neal and escorted Caren into the living room while she grabbed the file and headed back towards the dining room. Caren slowly walked across the room , eyeing books and family photos. Three kids... Two teenagers and a middle schooler. Cute kids, she thought to herself as she noticed a young boy around 6 or 7 slowly make his way towards the couch and then plop down, enveloping himself in the blankets that lay on the cushions. He buried himself in the covers, breathing heavily.

And right on cue, Mrs Neal came back into the living room. She says that she has given the papers to Mr Neal and that he will be right out and then offers Caren a glass of lemonade that she gladly accepts. Mrs Neal makes small talk about the weather and the heat and all the while she walked upto the little boy and had sat down next to him, gently running her hands over his hair.

Caren interrupted the conversation to ask about the child. " Is he alright?" Mrs Neal is caught a little off guard but she answers nonetheless, " He's been running a fever since last night. I'm assuming viral. He'll be alright"

As she saw the little child lying on the couch, Caren couldn't help but let her medical instincts kick in. " Do you want me to take a look at him? I'm actually a doctor. " Christy looked very confused so Caren continued to talk " I'm just doing Ms Levine a favour. I'm not actually a courier."

Christy still looked extremely puzzled but she wasn't going to pass on having a doctor check out her child. So she moved aside so that the boy could be examined. " His name is Lando." She says as she watches Caren at work.

Christy watched in admiration as this woman who she initially thought was a courier, gingerly examined Lando. After a few moments, Caren laid the child back onto the couch and called Christy aside.

"It would seem that Lando has a severe throat infection. It's called epiglottitis. Not to alarm you, but he requires a few doses of IV antibiotics. It's good that we caught it early. If left too long....." The brunette was cut off mid sentence by a tall man, with greying hair as he walked into the living room and handed her the envelope.

" All signed. You can get this back to Stevie at the office" he said. As he turned to look at his wife, he sensed something of concern. He asked her what happened and she slowly reiterated to him what I told her. I was gonna continue and tell them why they needed to give the antibiotics when all of a sudden I was met with a sense of hostility from the man.

" Who do you think you are? What do you think you're doing? You can't just come into my house and go diagnosing my children. We know nothing about you" he yelled while Christy tried to calm him down.

" I understand your hesitation Mr Neal and I apologise if I've overstepped my boundaries but there is no harm in taking Lando to get checked out." Caren knew that nothing she said was gonna make a difference so she grabbed an EpiPen out of her backpack along with a business card and handed it to Christy. " There is a chance his throat might close up. Give him a stab with this pen and take him to urgent care right after. My number is on here, gimme a call if anything." She slowly escorted herself out of the house and hoped to God that they wouldn't let their defensiveness against a stranger keep them from from taken her advice.

She got on her scooter and zipped all the way to the mythical office. Stevie had told her to drop the file on her table of she couldn't find her, so that's just what Caren did. She sent Stevie a text informing her of the same and then went back home, her mind reeling at what all she experienced this day.