Your Fall

Precious Oil

"I'm sure you remember the uses of chamomile, try to recite them for me." You nod your head to your father as you help bring another box of herbs to the cart. You did not remember anything when it came to ginkgo and want to prove to your father that you do remember what he has taught you. That you are not a waste of time, but a cookie-cutter copy of him and your mother.

"Sure," you bite your lip as you think.

"Stop doing that." You immediately take your lip out from between your teeth and bring your head down to focus on the boxes, not wanting to look your mother in the eyes. You know that she is just looking out for you, but it can come off slightly overbearing when it doesn't seem necessary.

"Okay, chamomile is extremely helpful to those who have trouble sleeping," You smile to Joda as he helps move another box to the cart, "which means it helps level out stress and anxiety which are two common factors of insomnia."

You nod your head after racking your brain for a few heartbeats telling your father that those are the facts you remember.

"You forgot something." You shrug your shoulders at your father as you place the final box on the cart and start pushing your side of the cart out of the herb farm. "What about that it can help fight cancer.'' You could hear the smallest bit of smugness in his voice, he has always loved being able to teach you something.

"Oh, I did forget that. My bad." Your father chuckles shaking his head and pulls the cart from the front to take a turn to another corridor.

"It's a lot to remember so don't worry princess." You nod absentmindedly to him as you try to focus on not hitting anyone through the narrow corridor. You nod to a few passersby only recognizing one of them as a kid from your history class.

"What about turmeric?" Your mother continues, pressing the quiz as the cart is lifted slightly to get into the Go-Sci station. You lift onto your tiptoes and with the combined strength of you and your mother, you are able to lift it over the small lip of the connector.

"Oh," You nearly trip as you try to visualize the herb, "that's the bright orange one correct?"

"Correct." You trip again over your shoe this time only staying on your feet with your mother's quick grip on your jacket and leaning on the cart.

"Watch your step princess, the last thing we need is you getting hurt while we teach you." You nod to your mother and take a deep breath to relax your body then focusing your mind back to the question at hand.

"Okay, the bright orange herb helps a lot with inflammatory diseases, like arthritis." You all begin to take the final turn to the corridor that leads straight to the medical area. "I remember that it helps several skin diseases and can be very helpful when dealing with DNA mutations." Your father lets go of the front of the cart, leaving the weight of it on you and your mother, and moves quickly to alert the lengthy line that they need to move to the side so that the cart can pass. Your mother slows her pace and you copy as your father makes his way back to the cart with a small nod to a young couple leaving the corridor before he turns his attention back to on you guys. His eyes are bright brown. You could feel his happiness at nearly finishing his shift along with the pride that swells deeply behind his big doe eyes.

"Wow, your answer could not be more accurate to the information that we know of turmeric," he pauses a moment to adjust his grip on the cart as we continue to move towards the entrance of the storage unit for medical, "I don't even recall teaching you about the skin disease capabilities."

A smile warms your face as you and the cart move past the last of those in the line. You nod towards Cayen, sympathizing that he has not made it very far in the line and has probably been there since early that morning.

"Okay, tell me about the healing properties of evening primrose." You feel your throat grow dry as you turn your attention from Cayen's emaciated figure that he doesn't successfully hide behind his baggy clothing, as even his wrists that are visible are the size of a young child's, back to the cart and path ahead of you.

"Evening primrose," you see your mother watch you out of the corner of her eye as the cart is continually pushed down the corridor, "is used to make a fine oil that can help with a lot of bodily issues."

"Like?"

"Like," you turn your head to look at the waiting souls that you seem to pass in slow motion, "mild skin conditions such as rashes, chest pain, inflammation, and," you pause a moment as your eyes drift towards the front of the line that you are about to pass. Multiple people stand on feet too eager to get moving as they near the counter where a health professional is working. A man stands second in line, with the same posture you often see Cayen hold when he is tired or cold.

"And?" You move your head quickly back to your parents not realizing that you had zoned out.

"And is very helpful with many symptoms of multiple sclerosis." A flicker catches your eye but when you turn your head to the beginning of the line nothing seems out of the ordinary as the next person in line makes their way to the counter. You see the back of a wiry neck lean down as the man from earlier speaks to the nurse.

You trip slightly as your father pauses the cart to get it over the lip and into the medical office.

"How can I help you today sir."

The cart is finally over the lip and you and your parents begin to move the boxes to the storage shelves.

"I was wondering where I was on the list..." The low gravelly voice of the man goes in and out of your hearing as you continue back and forth from the cart to the shelves.

"I'm sorry sir. There are still several people in front of you on..."

A loud bang sounds from the counter and from your obstructed view from behind the cart you see the wiry man lean incredibly close to the medical expert.

"I have been on this list for 2 years." He pauses his droll and turns his gaze to you where you quickly turn and finish stacking the last of the boxes.

"Princess." You turn to the direction of your father's whisper. His brown eyes stare you down and flick to the shelf filled with empty boxes beside another shelf marked EP oil. You return your father's gaze and give a slight nod.

Feeling eyes on you, you slowly begin to stack the empty boxes on the cart. You falter for a moment and drop a few boxes, still feeling eyes on you, you slowly begin to pick up the empty boxes and using the sleight of hand technique your father taught you, you grab a small bottle of the EP oil and slip it into an empty box.

Stacking the last of the empty boxes on the cart you turn and see that your father is helping a nurse further along the storage shelves with a box that is just out of her reach. Shaking off the feeling that someone was watching you, you finish helping your mother push the cart out of the main area of storage and back into the corridor soon followed by your father who pats you gently on the back.

"Great work."