Babineaux Bléu

8

Going, Going...Gone

"Grandma," Siani breathed. "Are you alright? What happened?"

While driving home from school, Siani received a frantic phone call from Yolanda, explaining to her that Esther had fallen down the stairs.

Without hesitation, she made an illegal U-turn, taking a detour to the hospital. When she arrived and asked the receptionist who and where, her heart filled with worry, and with haste steps, located her grandmother's room.

Siani was relieved when she hadn't seen the morbid thoughts she brooded over on the way there.

Yolanda was seated in a chair off in the corner and her grandmother was rested on an electric bed with her right arm bandaged.

"I'm alright, no need to fuss. I just tripped down a few stairs." Esther said.

"A few?" Yolanda said before turning her attention to Siani. "Try the whole flight."

Esther sighed and waved Yolanda's comment off as she continued.

"If I hadn't been there she would've hurt herself worse than what she did."

"Grandma, what would possess you to try and walk down the stairs by yourself when you know you're not well?"

"She wouldn't let me come down the stairs. I say, either you help me or I'll do it myself. It's my house. If I want to walk the hallways butterball naked, I will." Esther said, her words coming out vehemently.

Siani only shook her head.

"She seemed weaker than usual and kept complaining about her side hurting, which was why I made the suggestion. She wanted to walk it off, but she could hardly stand." Yolanda explained; all the while Siani was giving her grandmother a displeased glare. "The doctor is having a few tests ran on her and the nurse gave her an IV drop because she was dehydrated."

"I'm sorry about this Mrs. Yolanda. Thank you for catching her." She said with an empathic smile. "My mother's on her way so you can go."

Yolanda looked like how Siani felt. Esther had put her through the wire and the exhaustion was written clear on her face.

"Thank you," She said, standing to her feet. "I'm sure she'll be fine, but if you would get me a copy of her test results so I can look them over that'd be great."

"Sure thing."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Esther." She waved and exited the room.

Esther muttered incoherent expletives under her breath.

"Grandma, Yolanda is here to nurse you back to health. You have to listen to what she tells you because it's for your benefit. You can't go around doing things like that, making her job harder than it needs to be and scaring me."

The stubborn lady scoffed and mumbled more words and Siani breathed deeply through her nose with a slight eye roll, knowing she hadn't gotten through to her.

"Did they feed you? Are you hungry?" She asked, looking around for a tray of some sort.

"No, I'm okay. I'm just tired." Esther replied.

"You and me both." She said, covering her up with the blankets and reclining her bed to a comfortable setting before taking Yolanda's seat and turning on the TV to help drown out the hustle and bustle of the hospital.

She played around with her phone and watched her grandmother until she fell asleep. It wasn't too long before she did the same.

"Yani?"