Twenty minuets later Elina woke up when her sister tugged on
her ponytail.
“Violet, stop it!" Elina
scolded.
She didn't stop because as a baby
grasping objects is little more than a reflex.
Holding her baby sister with her
good hand, Elina used the broken one to carefully uncurl her sister's fingers
out of her blond hair. A sharp pain shot though her left side. “You know
what," She said, as she put her sister into the baby car seat. "We're
going for a little trip." Elina grabbed her backpack, and slung it on one
shoulder. Then she picked up the baby carrier with her good hand.
She walked down to the convenient
store in the hotel. The only other person in the store was a young sales girl,
who wasn't much older than Elina. She wasn't sure if she'd be allowed to buy
medicine, but she had to try. She found extra strength ibuprofen on the wall
opposite of the checkout counter. Under the counter she found a roll of breath
mints about the same size. She set Violet in her carrier on the floor and the
medicine and mints on the wooden checkout counter.
“Ready to
check out?" the brunette girl asked.
“Yeah,"
Elina took her backpack off and put on the counter. She unzipped the front
pocket, and produced her wallet.
“Extra
strength, that's not for the baby, is it?"
She asked.
Elina chuckled, "No, it's for
me. You ever been hurt while traveling? It's all the usual yuck and pain. Plus
you have the inconvenience of not being at home."
The checkout girl rung up the
medicine and mints. “That'll be $7.43 total.”
Violet
began crying. “I'll be there in a minute Violet," Elina said, and with
great difficulty she got out eight dollars to pay the cashier. She put her
purchases in her backpack along with her wallet and change. Elina picked up her
sister as the sales girl said good day.
Once in her
mother's room she swallowed the medicine. Then took Violet out of the carrier,
and checked her diaper. She changed her sister's diaper. However, with her
broken arm she found it to be harder and more painful than ever before. To wash
her hands she unwrapped the hand. Even with the extra strength ibuprofen in her
body, she immediately regretted it. After re-wrapping her hand. This time
tighter than before, she set a blanket from her sister's diaper bag on the
floor. On top of the blanket she placed Violet. Elina was about to look for a
toy for Violet as she began to cry.
“Oh, Vi, what now?" Noticing
the time on the small microwave in the kitchen area. She figured Violet was
hungry. Grabbing the bottle from the counter, Elina walked back to Violet,
picked her up, and sat down in the wooden chair at the only desk in the room. Cradling
Violet, she fed her from the bottle.
"Is
that stuff actually any good?" She wondered out loud knowing Violet
couldn't answer. After seeing her sister
contently sucking the formula, Elina threw her head back, thinking.
“What do I do? Even holding this
bottle up hurts. How can I continue training like this? But I'll have to come
clean to get real medical attention? Can I do that without giving my secret away?
Or should I give it up to ensure my health? Mom was driving her car when she
picked me up this morning; so, I could go home with them. I could come clean,
go home, and get better. Or I could stay, not come clean, and hope for the
best. I could tell my mom the whole story, and go home or stay. Will people
notice if I have to keep this brace on for months? I think it took a couple
months to heal the last time I broke my arm. How can I protect people if it
hurts to simply pick up my baby sister? She doesn't even weigh very much,"
Before long Violet was done eating and Elina tried to burp her, the way she'd
always seen her mother do.
Moments
later her sister was asleep, so Elina laid her down again in the bed and Elina laid
next to her. As she fell asleep she thought, "What should I do?"
