Midday Clouds - The Charlie Swan Story

Chapter 31 (New Moon 20)

Bells seemed a little better in the morning. She ate nothing but saltine crackers for breakfast, and called Jake to see how he was doing. From what I picked up on from her end of the call, it seemed as though he was also hit pretty hard by the flu.

"Call me when you feel better," I heard her say, a depth of emotion, worry, and care dripping off her voice. "Okay... Bye, Jacob."

She looked devastated. I felt for her. It was always worrisome when someone close to you fall ill—especially when it feels like there's nothing you can do to help.

"I'm sure he'll be okay, Bells," I offered. You and Mike bounced back super quick—I'm sure he'll do the same."

He apparently didn't do the same.

Bells got so upset that she couldn't see Jake over the next few days, and called the Black house so many times, that she eventually coerced me into calling Harry, which was fine, because I'd been planning to check up on ol' Harry for a few weeks now.

"Charlie," Harry said when he picked up the phone. His voice sounded grave and a little hoarse.

"Harry, how ya been?"

"Oh, not the best," he admitted. "Sue made me go to the hospital today, the damn doctors poked me with all sorts of things, and took all sorts of fluids out of me. I keep telling her I'm feeling fine but she won't believe me Charlie! It's like you at the river all over again, hah!"

It was tough to be reminded of my best friend's ailments, but I was happy to hear that he'd finally gotten it checked out. Harry said that it would be a few weeks before he got results back, given that they had to ship all the way out to a specialized hospital in Seattle (and because he insisted to both me and the doctors that it "wasn't a urgent matter") but that he was feeling better than he had in a long while.

"Fresh fish are good for the heart, Charlie," he explained in the deep, wise elder voice he usually reserved for stories around the campfire. "And I've been eating good."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Well, if it's what's keeping you alive, we'd better go snag ourselves a few more now won't we."

"Count me in," he said. It was then that I noticed Bella looking at me from the couch with a grave expression on her face. I'd completely forgotten the reason for the call in the first place.

"Oh yeah, Harry, we've been trying to reach Jake. Well Bells has been trying to reach Jake, and I've been trying to reach Billy, and the calls aren't going through? Have you talked with him at all lately?"

"Ahhh yes. We had a bit of a storm here a few nights ago, and uh, there's been some troubles with the phone lines," he said. I couldn't remember much of a storm as of late, but it was always somewhat stormy out in this area, and La Push was a little closer to the winds of the coast. Harry went on to explain that Jake had come down with a bad case of mono, and was having a rough go of it. We made plans to go fishing later that weekend before hanging up.

"So," Bells asked, eager as ever.

""Harry says there's been some trouble with the phone lines, and that's why you haven't been able to get through. Billy took Jake to the doc down there, and it looks like he has mono. He's real tired, and Billy said no visitors," I reported.

"No visitors?" she demanded in disbelief.

The last thing I wanted was for Bells to get mono after going through that stomach flu, especially the kind that would knock out a strong boy like Jake. "Now don't you go making a pest of yourself, Bells. Billy knows what's best for Jake. He'll be up and around soon enough. Be patient."

She didn't push it, but as she marched up to her bedroom I could tell that she was disappointed. I hoped for not just her sake but for Jake's and Billy's that he would recover soon, and that things would go back to the good times that they'd been.

I also couldn't help but worry that Harry hadn't been exactly forthcoming with what was going on with him, either. Guess I'd just have to find out for myself. 

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