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I’d had to go to the hospital and everything.
Though, I hadn’t stayed. They’d wanted me to, but the last time I’d stayed overnight in a hospital was when my wife had died, and that brought back debilitating memories.
“Whether you had it or not, it’s better to be on the safe side.” Bayou crossed his arms over his chest, planting his feet as if he was waiting for a fight.
“I’m out of stuff,” I said. “I have to go.”
“What are you out of?” Bayou asked. “Phoebe already said she’d go to the store for you. She’s exposed to this crap all day long thanks to being in healthcare. She doesn’t mind going.”
“I don’t care if she minds going or not,” I disagreed. “I’m going, and that’s final.”
“Are you embarrassed by what you need?” Hoax asked then. “I mean, if it’s something personal, just tell me. I’ll go.”
I rolled my eyes.
“I don’t care if you know that I need hemorrhoid cream,” I told him bluntly. “I also don’t care if you know that I sometimes piss my pants because I have bladder incontinence now. What I do care about is the fact that you’re trying to steal my freedom from me.” I looked them both in the eyes. “I’m going. If my time is up, my time is up. I don’t freakin’ care anymore.”
“You don’t care that you won’t see your great-grandbabies graduate?” That was Phoebe. When had she gotten there?
I turned to survey Bayou’s wife. “I care. But what I also care about is that I’ve actually been a prisoner of war once. There are things I just won’t do, and that’s stay here where I’m a prisoner and be forced to do something I don’t want to do. And you blackmailing me with those great-grandkids of mine won’t work. I’ll live for as long as I live, and that’s final.”
Bayou’s wife started to cry then, and I rolled my eyes. “Dear God. Please, Lord above, save me from these hormonal women!”
“I can’t believe you made my wife cry,” Bayou grumbled.
I flipped him off and put the branding iron in the water bucket next to the fire. “Y’all stay here for a minute. I have to take a leak.”
The three of them started to talk as I moseyed into the woods.
And when I noticed that they were all preoccupied, I veered to my bike instead. Then, without a word, I started it up and roared straight out of my yard.
Ten minutes later, I walked my happy ass into Walmart wearing my mask, my beard hanging low out of it like a 50s granny panty underwear ad, and got myself my cream, Depends, and a twelve-pack of beer.
When I got back home, it was to get a glare from all of them.
“Does your mask say fuck on it?” Phoebe gasped.
I pulled it off. “Yeah. I had an old lady make it for me. Now move out of my way. I gotta sanitize.”
Book:One Chance, Fancy
CHAPTER 11
Having kids makes you realize how dumb you used to sound like to your parents.
-Casten’s secret thoughts
CASTEN
I walked into the house from a long day of work, fully expecting my wife to meet me at the door.
She didn’t.
I knew why.
It was the same reason she never met me at the door on our wedding anniversary.
She wanted me to see her in her wedding dress.
