Green Tea (33 page)

Adeline was smiling, half my work was done, “You’re mother teach you that?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“She did her job well.
 
You have been kind to me Cara.
 
I will allow you this hugely unorthodox request, but Cara, when the doctor says that it is all just a matter of aging, we will not revisit this issue.”

“Promise.”

“I’ll call today.”

“How about I call right now?”

“Very well.
 
The information for the doctor and all that such things entail is in the front right drawer of the desk in the study.”

“Thank you Adeline.”

She gave me the look.
 
I headed toward the office before she could change her mind.

Adeline is so organized.
 
I love that.
 
Not a single thing out of place in the whole house, down to drawers and cupboards.
 
Of course, she has a huge house, no storage issues, a staff to organize it all the first time, a cleaning crew to come in and reorganize any time she chooses, it really isn’t difficult to keep everything clean and organized, but still.

I called the doctor’s office and spoke to a very polite and soft-spoken receptionist.
 
She was completely relaxed and not the least bit rushed
;
a new experience for me.

I introduced myself as a friend of Adeline’s and said that we would like to make an appointment for a physical.
 
I explained the situation in broad strokes.
 
I prayed silently while she checked for availability.
 
I was prayerful that I could get Adeline into the office before I left on my cruise.

“Doctor can be at residence in 45 minutes.
 
Will that accommodate?”

I was a little stunned, “Yes.
 
Thank you.”

A house call.
 
Didn’t even think about it.
 
I know concierge doctors exist, I just never thought I’d be making an appointment with one.

I went back to the kitchen where Adeline was picking at the lunch I’d prepared.
 
I’m a picky eater.
 
I’m a master at moving food around so that it will look like I ate something when I really didn’t.
 
She didn’t fool me.
 
She hadn’t eaten anything.

“I get that you aren’t feeling well.
 
I get that you aren’t hungry, but does anything sound good?
 
I’ll fix anything you can talk me through as far as preparations.”

“Crispy grilled cheese is my favorite Cara, and you do a wonderful job.
 
I’m just not very hungry right now.”

“Will you drink something?
 
It wouldn’t serve you well to be dehydrated when the doctor gets here.
 
AJ’s grandmother got dehydrated and they stuck her in the hospital overnight.”

“Very well.”

“Speaking of AJ’s grandmother, aren’t you guys going out to lunch soon?”

“We are.
 
I’m quite looking forward to it.”

“I’m glad.
 
Is there anything I can do before the doctor gets here?”

“Cards?”

“Love to.”

Adeline and I were neck and neck on the scoreboard when the doorbell rang.
 
I’m embarrassed to say, even after a handful of visits to the house, I couldn’t find my way to the front door without Adeline nudging my memory.
 
Part of it is that I am directionally
challenged,
part of it is that I’m still not completely comfortable with the setup of the whole house, we tend to stick to the kitchen, the white room and Adeline’s personal quarters.
 
I can’t imagine living in a house and not using every room.
 
There are whole wings of this house not used.
 

On the one hand, it is Adeline’s home, and moving might be too hard.
 
On the other, a small condo might just make her life easier, and if it is in a building with lots of people her own age, she might actually have a life.
 
She seems to be somewhere between a recluse and a misanthrope.
 
I always think of a recluse as accidental and a misanthrope as intentional, not sure if that is an accurate categorization.
 
Where is Teagan when I need her?
 

Out playing on a boat, that’s where she is.

I opened the door to a beautiful woman, my age, but way more confident and together.
 
“You must be Cara.
 
My name is Anastasia.”
 
She shook my hand.
 
“If you will show me to the patient.”
 
A dazzling smile.
 
Just the right amount of dental work.
 
Perfectly white straight teeth, but not
chicklets
.
 

She followed me back to the white room.
 
I am proud to say that I didn’t get lost.
 

Anastasia was pulling what I assumed to be a medical bag on rollers.
 
Kind of like a cross between a rolling carry-on, and those mini-trunks you see the lawyers pulling toward court when they are defending some really rich dirt-bag.
 
Anastasia didn’t have the traditional black, her bag was red crocodile, or maybe alligator,
this
is Florida after all.
 

“Adeline, please allow me to introduce Anastasia, she will be checking on your health today.”

“Anastasia.
 
Where, might I ask, is Doctor Newman?”

“He has recently retired.”

“How recently?”

“About five years ago.”

I tried to excuse myself, to give them some privacy, but Adeline cut me off. “Cara, Dear, you are the person responsible for this…” She waved her hand, trying to come up with an appropriate word, dismissed several from thought, and let the comment hang.

“Would you like me to stay?
 
I could go make you some tea.”

“Stay.
 
I would like you to hear for yourself that this is simply a case of a woman aging with grace, not trying to rebuild the structure, nor stave off the inevitable.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Anastasia did all the normal things.
 
She took pressures and checked oxygen levels and looked in ears and such.
 
She took notes on a laptop and took a full history.
 
She then had Adeline go through a series of neurological tests and some do a number of things I don’t understand.

She told Adeline that she would take blood, but that she wanted her on an antibiotic right away.
 
She said her lungs were quite congested, that her ears and sinuses showed significant inflammation and she has liquid in her right ear.

Anastasia didn’t want to make any comments until the test results were in, and said that she would have information for us by the end of the day.
 
She also said the pharmacy would deliver the prescription within the hour.

I saw Anastasia to the door, asked if she thought there was a serious problem, she said she doubted it, but would call with the test results.
 
She also said based on the medical history and my current concerns, that there would probably be further investigation.
 
First, she wanted to clear up the current problems, and then get to the bottom of the underlying problems.

I fixed a couple of meals and some snacks for Adeline and told her I’d be back in the morning.
 
I made sure she had contact numbers for Jovana, the doctor and me.

I texted AJ while sitting in my car.
 
I wanted to give him the opportunity to invite me to spontaneously drop by the studio.
 
No response.
 
I decided to go home.

At home, I decided it was time to re-Cara myself.
 
Seems like a long time since I’d been me.
 

First, I scrubbed for a while.
 
Cleaned out my fridge.
 
Washed my sheets.
 
The basics.

Then I took a nice long bath, using my very best citrusy smelly good stuff.
 
Shaved and pumiced everything important.
 
Shaved my toes, since talking to Adeline brought it to my attention.
 
It had been a while.
 
My hairy toes weren’t quite ready to be French braided, but it wasn’t good.
 

I washed, chemically improved and blew my hair out, then put in some hot rollers while I slapped on some makeup.
 
Somewhere between my usual and full face.
 
Full face makes me sound like a clown, but you know what I mean.
 
Tinted moisturizer, creamy blush, I mixed my eye shadow with water so that it was a little more transparent.
 
Gray eyeliner and Falsies mascara; I’m learning to love that stuff.
 
A non-slimy lip-gloss and I was good.

I went into my closet, straight to the good stuff.
 
Last time I was in the mood for such things, I’d picked up two pieces to add to my collection.
 
One was pink with black trim; the other was black with pink trim, the mirror image of each other.
 
I grabbed the black one, since the pink was a little over the top for daylight conditions.
 
I put it on, and decided to paint my toenails the same color.

My house clean, and my body covered in smelly good stuff and ultra sheer fabric, I was a very happy girl.

I will admit to a tad of residual weirdness.
 
Walking around the apartment in an outfit that might as well be hanging in the closet for all the modesty it gave me, I put the maid lock on the door.

It dawned on me that if I felt that insecure, in my own apartment, where nothing bad had actually happened, I just don’t know how Morgan has pulled herself together.
 
I have so much respect for her.
 
I don’t understand her family at all.
 
To me, she is a hero, and if she were my daughter, I’d scream it from the rooftops.

I was settled on the couch, waiting for AJ to get home, reading a great book, when the phone rang.

“Hey.”

“Jesus, Teagan, you sound terrible.
 
What’s wrong?”

“I spent the whole day feeding the fishes.”

“Feeding the fishes?
 
I didn’t know you were fishing for shark.”

“That’s chumming the water Dingleberry.
 
Feeding the fishes is barfing over the side of the boat.”

“Why were you doing that?”

“For the sheer fun of it.”

“Sorry, stupid question.
 
Are you okay?”

“I’ve never been so sick in all my life.
 
I swear to you Cara, I threw up my toenails.”

“Yuck.
 
Anything I can do?”

“Jessie, poor guy.
 
He feels terrible.
 
Thinks it’s all his fault.
 
He went to the store.
 
He’s gonna get me anything and everything he can think of to calm down my stomach.
 
I told him that now that I’m on terra firma, I’m good.”

“Fix yourself a cup of tea.
 
You’ll be fine.”

“I’m concerned.”