Meet the Richards

3.1 || Bowl of Cereal

I drove up to Zheng's home. I parked across the road from it. I walked up the porch steps and rang the doorbell. No movement inside. I knocked on the door. I banged it with the side of my fist and kept on doing it.

"ZHENG!" I yelled like a mad man. I moved over to the window and knocked on it. I would think his mother would at least be home. I knocked too hard and the glass shattered before me. My hand went through and was slashed by a shard of glass. "Fuck!" I pulled my hand back instinctively and stopped the blood flow by squeezing my wrist with the other hand. But it still bled like water. Blood could not be stopped so easily. It painted a sheen of red over my hand. It bled onto the front lawn and in my car as I drove back to the hospital one-handed. I had it stitched up and bandaged. I guess I wouldn't be using my hand as well.

Me and Irene were now both at the hospital full-time. Then Jonah asked something right after breakfast.

"Mum, can you get me another bowl of cereal?" Me and Irene looked at each other, knowing that it was what Zheng said would happen next.

Irene said, "Okay, but only one bowl." She got him another bowl and fed him.

"Hey, if he gets another bowl, can I get one as well?" Ovi requested.

"Yeah, one for me as well," Elena said. I put my hand up to them to tell them to stop.

"I don't think that's a good idea," I advised.

"Why not? I'm hungry dad," Ovi demanded.

"You just had a bowl. Look, we can eat lunch early if you like." Elena stepped out of bed, her arms swinging around. Ovi followed her. "Where are you girls going?"

"We're going to get our own food."

"No, what you need to do is lie back down and rest," I said.

"That's what we've been doing!" Elena exclaimed.

"Elena! Don't raise your voice at your father," Irene said. She spooned another lot of Corn Flakes into Jonah's open mouth. Elena and Ovi continued to leave the room. I moved quickly and grabbed Ovi by the arm.

"Ow! Dad, your hurting me!" she cried. I let go of her.

"You can feel your arm again?" I asked.

"No, I just wanted you to let me go." She said it dryly and her face was expressionless. I had never seen any of my children act like this before. Elena and Ovi left the room and got packets of chips from the vending machine.

After a month at the hospital, they were sent home where we would have to take care of them. There wasn't much food at the hospital, but they grew so hungry that their bellies writhed with pain. So we had to keep them unconscious because they would've eaten all of the items in the vending machine and the vending machine itself if we didn't. This was a nightmare.