Chapter 18

         I ran inside. “Grandfather!” I called. “Grandfather!”

        “Calm down, baby girl. I'm right here.” I whirled towards his voice, and ran to where I thought he was. I was right, so I wrapped my arms around his waist and squeezed. 

        “I've missed you!” I said. 

        “I was in my bedroom.” He laughed.

        “I know, but I didn't want to disturb you.” I explained.

        “Well, I'm fine now, so it doesn't matter.” Then he coughed.

        “Are you sure?” I asked. I wasn't convinced.

        “Yes, baby girl. Now stop hassling me.” He patted my shoulder as he walked past. I stood there, stunned. 

        Dad walked into the kitchen. “Hey,” He said. “how was your day?”

        “Fine.” I sat down on one of the stools.

        “Do anything interesting?” He asked.

        “We uh...painted,” I paused. “and then we ate finger sandwiches.”

        “Oh nice. Supper's in the oven.”

        “What're we having?”

        “Chicken and mashed potatoes.”

        “From a box, right?” I asked.

        “Yes. From a box.” He laughed. 

        “Cool.” I hopped down from the stool. “Im going to my bedroom. Call me when dinner is ready.” 

        “Will do.” Dad said. 

        I disappeared from the room and walked upstairs. I plopped myself down onto my bed. I was exhausted. I didn't know I had fallen asleep until Dad came to get me for supper.

        My head felt like it weighed a billion pounds, and I really just wanted to go back to sleep, but I was really hungry. So I got up. 

        After supper, the phone rang. I answered it. “Hello?”

        “Hi, is Daniel White there?” An unfamiliar voice asked. He wanted Grandfather.

        “Um, yes. May I ask who's calling?”

        “This is Doctor Baker, from the Residential Hospital.” A doctor?

        “Hold on just a second.” I covered the mouthpiece with my hand. “Grandfather,” I called. “phone!”

        Grandfather walked over to me and removed the phone from my hand.

        “Hello?”

        I couldn't hear what the Doctor was saying.

        “This is him.”

        Muffled words that seemed to drag on forever.

        “Are you sure?” Grandfather asked. Pause. “Thank you.”

        He hung up the phone. “What was that about?” I asked.

        “Nothing baby girl,” He smiled. “just head on up to your room, I need to talk to your dad.”

        I nodded and walked upstairs. Grandfather was hiding something from me, and that made me very upset. What could possibly be so bad that I couldn't know about it?