my wandering thoughts, comes Israel. He comes through the door looking tired after putting Matthias and Harry and Bar on a bus, and evidently grocery shopping as he is loaded up with brown paper sacks. I grab the one that looks like it is about to slip out of his grasp and we carry them to the kitchen table to put away. I wait for his reaction to my appearance. I have even put on the dreaded heels.
“Prue wanted almond paste. This look right to you?” He holds up a can of something.
“Sure, I think so, I guess,” I move closer.
“Well, she practically cleaned out the fridge for the boys,” Israel continues, his head deep inside the refrigerator as he puts away eggs and milk. “Can you hand me the cold stuff since I’m here?” He peers over the door expectantly.
I hand him a block of cheese and clear my throat.
“What? Did you say something? There’s an ice cream in that other sack, would you hand me that?”
I consider chucking it at his head. He didn’t even blink when he saw me. Is anyone that unobservant, especially normally astute Israel?
“I didn’t say anything,” I mutter.
“Yeah?” Israel shuts the freezer and fridge doors and looks at me with his eyebrows raised. Finally. Finally he’s going to notice how grown up and even pretty I look. “Well, you should be saying something.”
“What?”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know. Just how, why and where did you take the Blue Beast? Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”
“Of course not, you notice everything,” I reply sarcastically, and cross my arms over my chest. Suddenly the V of the neckline seems too low and I am uncomfortable in my skin. Not that Israel has noticed.
“Well?” He pushes. His eyes are concerned and narrowed. He stares at me and yet he doesn’t even see me. “Where did you go?”
“I went to do laundry,” I answer. “Maybe you’ve noticed I’m out of clean clothes?” I gesture half heartedly to my dress. He doesn’t move his eyes off mine.
“Do you understand how much trouble you would have gotten in if you’d been pulled over? Do you have that kind of money to pay that fine? Because I don’t! And I don’t know if you expected me to come bail you out for driving without a license because let me tell you, I’d probably let you sit there for a while first. That was really irresponsible, Sonnet.” He looks at me like he’s chiding a little girl for sneaking a cookie or a puppy for biting his pant leg. I feel like a little girl now, and I resent it.
“You’re not my parent, Is,” I shoot back. “You hardly any older than I am! Don’t boss me around.”
“I’ll boss you around whenever I feel like it, Sonnet,” He steps away from the refrigerator and moves towards me. I back up. “That is my car and it took me hours of blood, sweat and tears to get it. If you want to learn to drive, I’ll teach you, but for goodness sake, don’t presume to take it. What if I had an emergency that I needed to get to?”
“You’re just an intern – I daresay they can get along without you there helping them save lives, Mr. Hero.” That sounded much less petty and immature in my head. Now I am behaving like a little girl as well.
“Yes, I’m just the intern. The intern who needs to learn as much as he can so that he can take that knowledge with him when he leaves! Do you understand how important the education I am getting here is? Do you understand that if we leave here and end up somewhere poor and full of disease that I can help? That I can bring back knowledge of antibiotics, penicillin, cleanliness, surgical procedures?” He slams his big fist down on the counter, making me jump. “Sonnet, if we go back I can make a difference! I won’t have to just sit there the way I used to as a boy and watch everyone I love die! I won’t be powerless. I won’t be impotent. I’ll be useful. I can save people.”
I simply stare at him. I didn’t know this was why he works so hard, why he stays up late at night, sometimes doesn’t come home. “I didn’t know,” I say weakly. “I just thought you liked medicine.”
“I hate medicine,” Israel replies, passionately. “I hate watching people suffer. I hate blood. I hate mistakes. I