The Pearl Family

Jessica

It's been a strange few weeks since Joey and Jason returned from the hospital.
They had to stay for three days for observation. We also got a very...very awkward talk with Crystal. Now I know how Henry felt getting the sex talk.

"Wait, I thought only teenage girls get that," Justin said.
"Typically, yes, but boys can be affected too by the disorder," she corrected, "Although it is rare," she explained.
"What could have caused this?"
"Usually, it starts as a habit," Crystal explained. "Once the body gets used to something, it's like an addiction. If you don't do it, your body makes you."

"Shit. I think..i think this my fault." I muttered.
They both looked at me.
"Explain"
I sighed.
"When he was younger, he caught the flu, and he couldn't keep his food down," I said, "I told him not to eat until he could keep some ginger ale and saltines down."

"Jessica, you can't blame yourself; I mean, it's his body. You can't control it," Crytal comforted her. "How about this, you make sure he eats and keep his food down, also maybe keep a closer eye on him and maybe take his allowance away so he can't buy anymore."

Well, he's not going to like that, but she is right. We spent so much time trying to give them a comfortable life we lost sight of our kids and what they're going through.
"Okay, we can do that and maybe keep an eye on him at the Festival," Justin sighed.

"Festival?" Crystal said, confused. "The Festival of New Life, I thought American hybrids didn't celebrate it."
"Uh. You're an American"
"I'm from Alaska" She sighed.
"Yeah, that's an American state."
"What? Since when?" Crystal exclaimed.

"Since four years ago," Justin said calmly, "Welcome to America. Our greatest exports are cigarettes and sugary drinks."

Every six months, the Festival of New Life is celebrated with much gratification. It goes on for mainly a week near the end of the month. It's a holiday with divine roots, but today it is primarily associated with hanging around campfires, traditional dances, and neighborhood parties.
The hybrids in the community mainly celebrate in June and December. Still, due to some human drama with the community center banning hybrids, we needed to find another place to celebrate, which took a while, so this year, we didn't mark it in June, so the December party is going to be a bit more extreme to make up for that failure.

"Jessie?" Justin's voice snapped me out of my thoughts about yesterday. "We're you listening?"
"Oh yeah, you mostly rambled about Bryans's paranoia."
"I'm not paranoid; I want to be prepared for a nuclear holocaust." Bryan said like it was a regular thing. "Is that wrong?"

"If you're spending company money, yes," Justin replied.
"Justin, man, I made a business plan. We won't have to worry about money once we open."
He's been saying that for weeks, and yet no plan on when we actually open. I swear Lycans can be so paranoid.

I decided to step back for a bit as let the men talk business.

Wow, that jargon is not making any sense.
I do have to admit this place is entirely stocked; if we time the opening right, we could get the boom of the holiday rush..wow I think he's rubbing off on me.