Page 73 of The Turning of the Tables

I finished my 7Up.

Noah brought us both vanilla ice cream—his had bananas and peanuts on top, but mine didn’t. Normally, he’d have done that for both of us, but anything chunky was out for me if I didn’t want to immediately bring it back up.

I ate the ice cream slowly, carefully.

I kept it down. I was still queasy, but it tasted good, and I knew I needed the calories.

I felt like I was getting better.

21

ELLIOT CRANE

How are you feeling today?

SETH MAYS

Worse.

How much worse?

I don’t know.

How do I know when I need to go in?

Trouble breathing.

Trouble keeping food down.

Passing out.

And if your bones ache, go in immediately.

My ribs ache from barfing.

Are you keepinganything down?

Liquids.

Have you tried broth?

Yeah. Noah made some.

I do okay with ice cream as long as there are no chunks.

That’s good! Keep doing that.

You’ll be okay.

Promise?

Okay doesn’t necessarily mean human.

But I think you’ll live.

I’m scared.

I know. It’s okay.