Chapter 5

The next morning everyone gathered at the breakfast table except for Taylor, who they had decided neededc all the sleep he could get.  Zac had looked in the mirror that morning to see a bit of a black eye, the result of the blow to his nose.  When his parents had seen it, they had declared "No more basketball with those guys!  They play too rough."

Isaac and Zac looked at each other, glad their parents had bought their story.  This morning, their mother had decided to treat them to hot cinnamon rolls and the aroma that drifted upstairs was enough to wake Taylor from his chemical induced slumber.  He lay there for a minute until his mind started to function,  hisgrowling stomach and the pressure from his full bladder letting  him  know his body was already wide awake.  He got up from his bed and groaned as his sore limbs reminded him just how big and strong his little brother had gotten this past year.  After using the bathroom he headed down to the kitchen.  Ordinarily, he might have gone back to bed, but the smell wafting up the stairs was too much for him to resist.  He had avoided the mirror in the bathroom, not really caring to see the damage done the day before.  It was water under the bridge, nothing he could do about it.   "Hmmm," a thought occurred to him as he stepped through the doorway to the kitchen, "maybe I'll have some macho scar now like Harrison Ford, he thought, and they'll stop saying I look like a girl.  That could be a good thing."

Just then Zac sang out "There she is, Miss America.."

Oh well, so much for that theory.  Though extremely annoying he couldn't help but smile at Zac's insult.  "Ow! Don't make me laugh.  It hurts!"

"Sorry, dude."

His mom stepped over to him, "Lemme see that lip now."  She said as she gently touched his face and peered up at his mouth.  "Well, it's not nearly as swollen today.  How's it feel?"

"It hurts like the devil."

"They prescribed some pills for pain and your dad got it filled last night if you think you need it, but they'll probably make you sleepy."

"Naw, I think it'll be ok."

She handed him a plate with a gooey roll on it and a glass of milk.  "Here, they said to use a straw for a few days."  He sat down with the rest of his family at the kitchen table.  He didn't want a fork anywhere near his
mouth so he tore pieces off the roll and once he had a system down was able to put away four of the sticky buns.  As his mother watched him eat the last bite she shook her head.  "There is no justice.  They eat like pigs and don't have an ounce of fat on their bones."  It looked like things were back to normal as Zoe tipped over her sippy cup and Mackie licked his fingers to get every bit of the sugary icing.

~~~~

A couple days later he was officially ungrounded and if Taylor noticed he was missing any of his electronic
correspondence, he hadn't let on, which was a great relief to Zac.  He had felt some remorse for that act of
vengeance but it appeared no harm was done.  Five days later, Isaac took Taylor to the family doctor to get his stitches out.   In the parking lot they had been spotted by a few girls who had rushed over and were ever so upset to see that he'd been hurt.  Isaac rolled his eyes as they ooh'ed and ahh'ed and fawned over his brother.  Taylor was in his element but Ike had to remind them that he had an appointment to keep.  The ride up the elevator was uneventful and Isaac hoped there would be no replay of the fainting incident at the hospital.  Once there, they were shown to room two, a nurse came in and had Taylor lay back on the table .

A sense of deja vu washed over him but without the blood, sweat and tears of the week before.  She pulled a bright lamp over him just as their familiar old doctor came in the door.  "So, Taylor, your mom tells me you had a little accident playing basketball, eh?"

"Yeah."

The doctor was now inspecting the damage to his patient whom he'd known for almost seventeen years now.   "Well, it looks to me like they're ready to come out so just hang in there and let me get my scissors here,"
he was peering down his nose which had glasses perched on the end.  "Hold still..."  Snip,  snip...  Isaac's
curiosity got the best of him and he was watching over the doctor's shoulder.  "So Isaac, what have you been up to?"  Snip, snip...

"Oh, nothing."  Snip, snip....

"How's Zac?"  He set the scissors on the small table next to him and reached for his tweezers.

"He's good.  Getting big."

As the doctor pulled the threads out Taylor got the shivers as it was a very creepy feeling.  "What'sa matter?"

"It just feels weird."

"I'll bet it does.   Well, all done.  Smile."  It was such a ridiculous request Taylor couldn't help but comply.   "There, no leaks.  You can sit up now."   He did as he was told.  "How much have you grown this year?  Stand up for  me."  Taylor stood up and the doctor looked up at him.  "Well, Isaac, either you've shrunk or he's been eating good..  I guess you don't pick on him so much now."

"No sir, I had to give that up."

"And I guess neither of you pick on Zac?"   They just looked at each other.  "That's what I thought."  He smiled and looked at Taylor.  "I don't want to see you back here for a while.  Seems like you're in here twice as much as the rest of them."  He said pointing at Isaac.

Taylor blushed because it was a pretty accurate statement.  Even when Zac had broken his nose it had been with a great deal of involvement from Taylor.  "Yeah, well, I try." He sheepishly replied.

"Put some vitamin E on that a couple times a day for a few weeks and you should be as good as new."  He reached out and shook Taylor's hand smiling at him.  "Bye bye, Angie will give  you your paperwork."  And with that he left the room.

"Does it look ok?"  Taylor questioned his brother.

Isaac stepped over to him and looked closely.  "Mmmmm...  Damn!  I was hoping you'd look like Frankenstein but it looks like they did an okay job."

"Now, why would you want that?  You're just jealous of all the jillions of girls who want me 'cause you've only got a few  million."

"Yeah, you found me out.  It was all a big plot to rob you of your good looks and you played right into our hands."

"At least you don't look like a girl."

"Tay, I don't know if you've looked in the mirror lately, but a girl would have to take an awful lot of steroids to look like you."  They walked out of the building and into the bright Tulsa sunshine.

"Hmph. Whatever."

As he drove out of the parking lot, Isaac looked over at his brother.  He could tell something was bothering him.  "What's wrong?  I thought you'd be happy.  You can eat anything you want now."

"Yeah, I been dying for an apple."  He had gotten that look that was all too familiar to Isaac, the looking out the window, far away look.  Taylor was rubbing the place on his lip where the stitches had been removed.  "I don't know Ike, I just..."

"What?"

"Well, I just kinda thought I would have heard something from her by now, y'know?  I really thought she'd try to reach me or somethin'..."

"Are you sure Zac got the right room?  I mean, he didn't actually see her or anything."

"I know, he says he did.  I'm sure he did, he's not stupid.  I just thought she was different.  At first, I felt guilty like I had done her wrong or something, but now I feel like I was just a star fuck.  Maybe I understand now why girls get so touchy about that whole "how come you never called me" thing.  It sucks!!"

Isaac knew he was upset by it but he couldn't help but laugh.  "Yeah, Tay, it really sucks to be you, doesn't it?"

"Hey, I'm serious!!"  Taylor was almost angry now.  "I just don't get it man, the next time I get all freaky over some girl, hit me or something.  I don't want anything to do with them, they're all insane."

Isaac was still laughing.  "So, you're swearing off women?  Because some woman wanted to have sex with you and then disappeared?  Tay, most guys would kill for that."

"Yeah, well, whatever."  Taylor turned back towards the window and Isaac knew he had just been dismissed.
 
 
 

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