“Hello?” He picked up on the first ring.
“It’s Kylie. I’m sorry for calling you but. . .”
“Don’t be sorry for calling.” Jonathon interrupted.
I thought it was sweet how he was so willing to help me. I took a breath and continued, “I don’t have a car and well we don’t have any food and my mom hasn’t eaten today or much yesterday if anything at all and I can’t get her to drink any water and I’m so worried.” I sagged with relief. I had been worried about my mom for a while and it was nice to share my worries with someone else. I had had trouble admitting that there was a problem to myself but now that I had said it I couldn’t look back.
“Shhh. You’re rambling, I’ll go get some food from this place down the road and I’ll take you grocery shopping tomorrow after school.”
“Okay. Thank you.” I said my blood pressure going down.
“You’re welcome. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Bye.”
“Bye Jonathon, thank you so much.”
I heard the phone click off.
I resolved to sit down and start on my homework. It was no time until the door bell was ringing. I jumped up like a jack-in-a-box and ran to the door.
“I brought food.” He said holding up three big paper bags of food labeled with a strange Italian name that I couldn’t decipher.
“What did you do? Buy everything on the menu?”
“Just about.” I motioned for him to enter. He walked in and placed food on the kitchen table.
“How much do I owe you for this?” I asked, closing the door.
“You don’t owe me anything.”
“Sure I do. That much food isn’t cheap. How much?” I asked.
“I’m not telling you because you aren’t paying me back. This is a friend helping a friend. Don’t worry about it.”
“Jonathon.” I said getting irritated.
“Kylie. You needed food to eat it isn’t a big deal. I want to help. If I didn’t want to I wouldn’t be here would I?” He said, I could tell he was getting irritated as his accent was thickening.
“Whatever.” I said. Jonathon could be extremely stubborn I was coming to find out but I was stubborn too.
“How’s your mom?” he asked, a worried look on his face.
“I haven’t checked on her since I talked to you.” I said. I knew I should have but I was scared of what I may find. I hated seeing my mother this way. I had always thought she was so strong and indestructible but I was coming to learn that she wasn’t.
“Go get her and I’ll wait here. She needs to eat.” He said with his hands in his pockets.
I left the kitchen and walked down the hallway.
I opened her door and poked my head through.
“Mom.” I began, “Jonathon brought food. You should come eat something.” I finished. There was no reply so I moved further into the room.
I went over to her bed and leaned down next to her. I shook her. No response. She felt like a rag doll beneath my hands and I became hysterical.
“Mom,” I screamed at the top of my lungs, “Wake up!” There was no movement. How could this be happening? She had been fine an hour or so ago. What had I done? I should have done something. I should have seen this.
“Jonathon!” I cried, “Hurry!” I could hear his footsteps running down the hallway. Thump, thump, thump. They sounded like the fading heartbeat of my mom.
“What’s wrong?” He asked sniffing the air. It was so subtle a movement I almost didn’t notice.