The Carolyn Chronicles, Volume 1

by Derek Ciccone

  Billy felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked to see Dana. “If we’re going to make it to that auction, we need to go.”

  Guy let out a laugh, the change of subject welcome. “Sounds like Dr. Soos roped you in—he’s been working on me for a month. The man is relentless.”

  “How’d you get out of it?” Billy asked, welcoming some advice on the subject.

  He looked across the room to Heidi. “I told him there is only one woman I want to spend Valentine’s Day with. And no doctors or diseases were going to keep me from taking her out to eat tonight.”

  Guy looked to Chuck and Lindsey, as if a thought had come to him. “Do you have plans?”

  They looked at each other, and then Chuck spoke, “Um … we’re not a … Valentine’s Day is more for … but we’re not …”

  “We’re probably just going to go back to the hotel, and the three of us watch a movie,” Lindsey saved him with a smile.

  “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to change those plans. You are going to come to dinner with Heidi and me.”

  Chuck lightly protested, but Guy would have none of it. “My city, my rules.”

  “I’m not so sure we should go, Guy,” Heidi said. “Maybe just give them our reservations and we’ll fit the bill.”

  “Nonsense,” Guy said.

  “Yeah, complete nonsense,” Ryan backed him up. “Can we stop acting like I’m a child who needs my mommy hovering over me 24/7?”

  Guy went to Heidi and pulled her face as close to his as possible. “This all started because our son was having trouble breathing. The worst thing we can do is smother him. We must live, so he can live.”

  She finally gave in.

  Now it was Chuck’s turn to decline, “I appreciate it, both of you, but I can’t just leave Carolyn by herself.”

  “I can stay here,” she offered, sounding excited by the possibility.

  “You’re not staying in a hospital by yourself.”

  “She won’t be alone—she’ll be with me,” Ryan said.

  “And there will be plenty of doctors and nurses … and Shay will be right down the hall with Owen. Not to mention, this place has more security than the Super Bowl,” Guy added.

  Chuck looked at Lindsey, and then at Carolyn. He thought for a long hard moment, then asked, “Do you promise to be a good girl and stay out of trouble?”

  Carolyn smiled victoriously—another win for the princess … or Supergirl … or whoever she was these days.

  Billy and Dana headed out. “See ya later, alligator,” Billy said to Carolyn, but she barely noticed.

  “Looks like your old news, Harper,” Dana rubbed it in with a smile. “On the bright side, you can find yourself a new princess tonight at the auction … or at least a wealthy cougar.”

  Chuck gave Carolyn a huge hug, and left his phone, with instructions to text Lindsey’s phone immediately if anything happens, whatever that might be.

  She just smiled at him. As always, man plans, God laughs, and Carolyn Whitcomb gets her way.

  Chapter 9

  Carolyn grew jittery. She gripped the rose necklace that hung around her neck, as she did when she got nervous or overwhelmed.

  Ryan viewed her closely. “You were all Miss Independent before, and now you’re scared to be on your own?”

  She thought for a moment. “They say this isn’t a hospital, but I’m starting to think it is. I really don’t like hospitals.”

  “At least you’ll get to go home tonight and sleep in your own bed.”

  “When my friend Billy is with me, hospitals aren’t so bad. He wrote a story about Peanut Butter and Jelly escaping from the hospital, and he was there when I had my appendix out. But now he’s all in loooove with Aunt Dana.”

  “You’re a pretty good actor, you had him totally fooled that you didn’t care that he left. Just so you know, I’m much harder to fool.”

  “I don’t like when people know that I’m sad, that’s all.”

  “No offense, but if I was out on a Valentine’s date with your hot aunt, I wouldn’t be worried if some little kid was sad or not.”

  “My Aunt Dana is a lot of fun, I won’t deny it.”

  “What about the other woman … the skier. What’s her deal?”

  “That’s my teacher, Miss Stevens. Well, she used to be my teacher, but I’m in kindie-garden now.” Her face crinkled with resignation. “I think she’s gonna be my new mom.”

  “Are your parents divorced?”

  “My mom had to go to Sesame Street, but I’m not so sure anymore.”

  He flashed a confused look. “Like the TV show?”

  “It’s not just a TV show, it’s the place you go when you die … if you’re good … if not,” she cupped her hand around her mouth and spoke softly, “then you go to H.E. Double Hockey Stick. I’m surprised you didn’t know that.”

  “So your mother died?”

  “I just told you that.”

  “Why aren’t you sure she’s at Sesame Street anymore?”

  “Because I watch every day, and I’ve never seen her one time.”

  “Maybe she’s laying low—hanging out at Bert and Ernie’s place, or with Oscar the Grouch.”

  “My Mom was all about me cleaning up my room—there’s no way she’d go near Oscar’s pigsty. Also, Sesame Street is not on Saturday and Sunday, so why couldn’t she come home to visit then?”

  “Carolyn—we have a code in this room.”

  “What’s a code?”

  “Something you gotta follow if you want to be in the club. But it’s a big kid club, I don’t know if a little kid like you can handle it.”

  “I’m a big girl.”

  “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you—the code is that we ‘keep it real’ in here.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “We always tell the truth, no matter how much it hurts. Grown-ups like to tell us things that aren’t true to make us feel better. They’re just trying to protect us, but in the long run, it’s better to just tear the Band Aid off and get the hurt over with.”

  She looked at him with a blank stare.

  Ryan shook his head. “I forgot—you can’t feel pain.”

  “I can feel pain on the inside, like when I get sad.”

  “Then you know what I’m trying to say?”

  Her face slumped. “That my mom isn’t at Sesame Street?”

  He nodded.

  “Then where is she?”

  “I have no idea. She might be in heaven, she might be an angel, she might have been reincarnated as a frog. But I do know that when people die they never come back—your mom isn’t ever coming to visit.”

  Carolyn took a moment to process Ryan’s words. “I don’t think I like keeping it real.”

  “Life hurts. You might as well get used to it.”

  “Dying sounds really confusing. I’m glad I’m never gonna die.”

  “Everybody dies some day.”

  Carolyn’s look turned to disbelief. “Even me?”

  “I hate to break it to you, but we’re all on borrowed time.”

  She still appeared skeptical. “Are you going to die soon? Sick people die a lot.”

  “You and I aren’t going to die for a long time, Carolyn—we’ve got too much to do. And when I do die, it sure isn’t going to be from cancer. You can book that.”

  “What do we have to do that’s too much?”

  “Did you already forget? We promised that we’d play hockey again.”

  She smiled. “I like staying in hospitals with you, Ryan.”

  “You wouldn’t be saying that if you’ve been here for seven months like me.”

  Carolyn’s head almost exploded. “Seven months? That’s cuh-razy … I would run away.”

  “I thought about it a gazillion times, but it’s kind of hard when you’re hooked up to tubes and throwing up every five minutes.”

  “I like throwing up.”

  He looked at her strangely. “Nobody likes throwing up.”<
br />
  “It’s kinda cool to see the food I ate all mushed together.”

  He laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone like you. That’s messed up you can’t feel pain—I didn’t know that was even a thing.”

  “It’s my superpower,” she said proudly.

  “I could of used that during chemo. But the worst was when they inserted a feeding tube through my nose.”

  Carolyn grabbed a pen from a bedside table. “Kinda like this?”

  She began slowly pushing the pen up her nostril, until it almost disappeared from view. She had mastered the shock element of CIPA, and enjoyed the reactions she could evoke.

  Ryan cringed. “Okay, okay, I believe you can’t feel pain. Stop!”

  She removed the pen with a smile, proud of her parlor trick. She tried to hand the pen to Ryan, who pushed it away. “I don’t want that—it has your boogers all over it.”

  They both laughed.

  Carolyn maneuvered around the bed, so she could get a better view of his photos. “Who’s that?” she pointed at the one from the school dance.

  “Are you punking me?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “That’s me in the picture.”

  Carolyn took a second look, and broke into laughter when she realized it really was him. “You look funny with hair, Ryan.”

  He held his gaze on the photo. “That was from the Junior Ring Dance last year … before I got sick. Man, it feels like twenty years ago.”

  “Who’s the girl with you? She looks like my All-American Girl doll.”

  “She was my girlfriend.”

  “She’s not your girlfriend anymore?”

  “No … um … she … it was just hard for her. This isn’t what she signed up for. She thought she was dating the hockey star, and it turned out to be about lymph nodes and chest scans. And I was loopy on meds half the time—until they recently cut them back—so it wasn’t like we were having some deep conversations. Tonight is the Valentine’s Day dance at our school—that’s where she belongs, not with me in the hospital.”

  “If she’s not your girlfriend, why do you have her picture up?”

  “How about we change the subject?”

  Carolyn’s determination increased. She held her stare on Ryan until she finally broke him.

  “Fine—I want everyone to believe things are okay. They all think I’ll end up back in the ICU if a girl breaks up with me, like I’m some fragile flower. It’s best for everyone.”

  “That’s not very keeping it real.”

  He nodded—she had a point. “You saw my mom. She’s a basket-case, and this would just give her one more thing to worry about. It’s best that she doesn’t know.”

  Carolyn understood. “My mom was the same way. Carolyn don’t do this, Carolyn don’t do that, you’re gonna get hurt, Carolyn.” She thought for a moment. “I really miss that.”

  He nodded with understanding. “I would too.”

  Carolyn again looked at the photo. “You really wanna go to your dance tonight, huh?”

  “Not being able to do stuff is what hurts the most. My senior year, my friends, hockey. Instead, I’m stuck in a hospital room.”

  “I knew it was a hospital.”

  He smiled at her. “It’s not all bad. I might not get to go to the dance, but I got me a Valentine’s date, who’s looking dope in her pink dress and hockey helmet.”

  “Hey—I’m wearing a pink dress and hockey helmet, too.”

  “I meant you—now come over here and let’s take a selfie. It will make all the girls at my school jealous.”

  Carolyn hopped up on the bed and wrapped her arm around Ryan, who held the phone with an extended arm. “Cheese!” Carolyn shouted out and flashed a toothy smile, while Ryan took the photo.

  “I’m going to tag it on Instagram. We’ll get like a thousand likes. But don’t think you’re that important—people feel like they have to give the cancer kid some charity.”

  Ryan posted the photo, and added, “I’ll tell you one thing, when I get out of here I’m going to live life. Make every minute count. I’m not going to spend my time on the Internet like the rest of the bored zombies at school.”

  “My dad says only boring people get bored.”

  “He’s pretty smart. And he’s a big guy—I’d hate to be the poor guy who tries to take you out on a date.”

  She laughed. “Then you feel sorry for yourself.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You said I’m your Valentine’s date, so you have to take me out for dinner … but first we need to get a sitter.”

  Ryan broke into laughter, which turned into a eureka moment. He snapped his fingers. “You’re right, I did promise—we need to get out of here.”

  “Where are we going?”

  Ryan gingerly got up off the bed—his body not working as fast as his mind—and put on his slippers. “We’re going to play hockey.”

  Chapter 10

  It wasn’t real hockey, but Carolyn was still enthused. “Whoa—best room ever!”

  “It’s the video game room—my dad donated it.”

  “I donated a wing.”

  “Well, aren’t we special. Basically it’s a place to hang out for the kids who are stuck here. We usually get into some heated battles of video hockey.”

  A voice rose up from behind them. “I thought I was your Valentine’s date. Then I open Instagram and I see you’re two-timing me. What’s up with that?”

  Carolyn turned, and stared at the large figure. “You’re almost as big as my dad.”

  Ryan laughed as he greeted the visitor. “Good to see ya back, Hen’s Teeth. I’d like you to meet my new friend, Carolyn Whitcomb.”

  He looked down at her. “How ya do, mate?”

  “I don’t know who this mate person is, but my name is Carolyn. Maybe you mixed us up.”

  “He calls everyone mate, it’s an Aussie thing,” Ryan said.

  “Is it also an Aussie thing to talk funny?”

  “First you steal my date, and now you’re tossing shade on my accent? You’re trouble, little one, you know that?”

  “Not only does he talk funny, but he’s funny looking,” Ryan said and Carolyn laughed.

  “That’s okay—I got me a better date, anyway. I’d like you to meet my best girl, IV Tower.” he patted the large structure that he wheeled by his side, the intravenous tube hooked into his arm. “But between you and me, she can be a little clingy—never leaves my side.”

  “She’s hotter than your last girlfriend,” Ryan said with a smile. “And has a much better personality. So there’s that.”

  Owen took a seat on one of the many couches in the room; his energy sapped from just the short walk down the hall. “So how you been, Piano Wire? A little birdie told me you might be getting paroled soon.”

  “That’s the plan, but sometimes the Dirty-C has different ideas.”

  They both nodded with an understanding that was well beyond their seventeen years.

  “How about yourself, Hen’s Teeth? You gave everybody a scare last week.”

  “Just wanted to keep everyone on their toes … and who could turn down an all-expense paid trip to the ICU?”

  “You feeling better?”

  “Just had me a platelet transfusion, mate. That stuff is the GOAT. Feel like I could do a triathlon.”

  Ryan’s expression said he didn’t think his friend was “keeping it real.”

  Carolyn scrunched her face with confusion. “Why do you call Ryan, Piano Wire? That’s not his name … is that an Aussie thing, too?”

  “That’s a cancer-warrior thing. You’ve got to be tough if you’re going to get out of this place alive, and your buddy Ryan is as tough as piano wire. Which is pretty much the toughest thing on earth.”

  “Owen’s warrior name is Hen’s Teeth, because he’s as tough as a hen’s teeth. He grew up on a farm, so I’ll take his word that it’s pretty tough.”

  “Do you have a warrio
r name?” Owen asked her.

  “I used to be Princess, but now I’m Supergirl. She’s really tough.”

  He looked skeptically at her. “You don’t look like Supergirl.”

  “I’m actually her helper. She can’t fight all the bad guys by herself.”

  “Can’t be easy to do with the Dirty-C—much respect. What kind you got?”

  Her look turned quizzical. “I don’t think I have a dirty C. Or a clean C.”

  “Carolyn doesn’t have cancer,” Ryan filled him in. “She has something called CIPA. She’s the one responsible for the new wing.”

  “So you’re the reason for all that construction noise that wakes me up in the morning,” he said with a hearty chuckle. “What’s this CIPA about?”

  “I can’t feel pain,” Carolyn answered nonchalant.

  Owen looked to Ryan. “Seriously, bro?”

  Ryan nodded. “I didn’t believe it either. But I just saw her stick a pen practically into her brain and she didn’t even flinch.”

  Carolyn reached out her arm. “Go ahead—pinch me.”

  “I’ll take your word for it, mate.”

  Carolyn sighed. “I guess I’ll just have to prove it to you the hard way.”

  She began taking off her dress. Ryan and Owen both put up their hands. “Stop—what are you doing?”

  “Aren’t you a little young to be working the club?” Owen said.

  She continued undeterred, until her dress was completely off.

  The boys laughed with relief. “You wear a Supergirl costume underneath your dress?” Ryan asked.

  “Most of it. I couldn’t fit the cape.”

  Then without warning, she ran as fast as she could across the room, smack-dab into the wall. She toppled to the ground with a loud thump, but showed no sign of any pain. It received the shock value she was going for, so she decided to perform an encore. But this time she led with her face, and after picking herself off the ground, she noticed the warm liquid leaking from her nose. She rubbed her nose and stared at the blood on her hand, mesmerized.

  The sound of the crash had alerted the on-duty nurse, along with Owen’s mother, who both rushed into the room to find a bloody superhero.