Bad Ideas (First & Forever 4)

“Well, keep it up. He’s been less disagreeable this week, so we all should thank you.”

“Do me a favor, Darice. You and I both know how rumors spread in this place, so if you hear anything else about Koenig and me, please let me know, okay? I’m worried about the stories getting out of hand.” Especially since they weren’t actually stories.

“Not a problem.” She glanced at me, and after a moment she asked, “If there was any truth behind those rumors, you’d tell me, right?”

“As your friend, probably not. Asking you to keep a secret like that would put you in an awkward position, and it wouldn’t be fair to you.”

Darice raised a brow. “Damn, Casey, you missed your calling. You should have been a politician. Way to totally dodge the answer.” I grinned at her as I left the nurse’s station.

By the time I returned to Oscar’s room, Koenig was gone. The boy was playing a game on a tablet, and he looked up and smiled at me as I came in and said, “Happy Birthday, Oz. Nice new gadget you’ve got there.”

“Thanks! Doctor Koenig gave it to me.” He grew serious and added, “Oops, he didn’t want me to tell people that.”

“It’s okay, your secret’s safe with me. That’s a very thoughtful gift.”

The kid perked up again and said, “He put a bunch of books, games, and movies on it for me. Doc said he thought I could use it because it’s light and only takes one hand to operate it.” That actually made a lot more sense than what I got him. I placed a wrapped gift beside him on the bed, and Oscar asked, “Can I open it?”

“Of course.”

He pulled the Iron Man wrapping paper from the box set of books and exclaimed, “This is great—another Rick Riordan series!”

“It might be a little tough to flip pages in a hardback book with one arm in a cast, but I was thinking we’d start this series next. Plus, I can come read to you even after you go home—as long as it’s alright with your mom, of course.”

While we were talking, I put a colorful paper centerpiece on his side table. It spelled out “Happy Birthday” and had a bunch of paper stars sticking from it. Then I arranged the items on the rolling cart and moved it beside the chair. As I sat down, I said, “The other nurses are going to come in at three o’clock so we can all sing to you and eat some cupcakes. That gives me about an hour to make us some party hats.”

I put a bundle of long, thin, non-latex balloons in a rainbow of colors on my lap, and as I blew up one of them using a small air pump, Oscar watched with fascination. Within minutes, I’d fashioned a hat worthy of a pirate captain out of balloons, complete with a big, red feather. The boy seemed delighted as he put it on. I made him a balloon sword next, then a two-foot-long pirate ship, and he exclaimed, “This is amazing!”

“Here, I’ll show you how it’s done.” I worked a bit more slowly on the oversized, black top hat I made for myself, which I embellished with a big daisy. Then I stuck it on my head while Oscar grinned from ear-to-ear.

He asked me, “Why are you so good at this?”

As I went to work on another hat, I explained, “I’m a lot older than my brother Seth, and we didn’t have a lot of money growing up. When he was seven and I was fourteen, he went to a friend’s birthday party and was super impressed by the clown they’d hired to make balloon animals for all the kids. There was no way my parents could afford something like that, so I got a book from the library, bought some balloons, and learned how to do it. Then I made all kinds of things for Seth’s birthday party—hats, animals, decorations, you name it. Turns out, I still remember how to do it.”

“That was nice of you,” a voice behind me said. “Most teenagers wouldn’t do that for a younger sibling.”

I glanced at Theo over my shoulder and grinned. “There were plenty of times when I thought my kid brother was the most annoying person ever, but he meant the world to me. Still does.” While I was talking, I twisted three long, brown balloons together into a pointy, half-dome shape.

Theo joined us and handed Oscar a small envelope as he told the boy, “I forgot to give you this earlier. It, um, goes with the other thing.”

“Oscar spilled the beans about the tablet,” I said. “Like I told him, your secret’s safe with me. I know the other kids might get jealous if they found out Oscar’s our favorite patient.” I winked at the kid, and the boy smiled happily.