“Girls,” she set the tray down on Casey’s desk, “I made us some iced tea,” she winked at me and I realized that she had brought three Long Island’s
“I like your new haircut,” I looked at Linda’s new do, a short cut that left her deep red hair in angles around her face. It might have been considered young for a woman in her early forties, but I thought it looked cute.
“Thank you! It was Casey’s idea,” Linda picked up one of the glasses and took a long sip. “Friday!” She held her arm up over her head and spun around.
We all laughed, and I took a drink of my own tea. It was strong, and almost sour, but delicious. This is going to be fun. I set the drink down on the tray and looked at Casey. “So, are you going to tell me what all of this is?” I pointed to the bed.
Casey and her mom shared a split-second glance before Casey picked up a stack of papers near the end of the bed. “Well, we have been kind of,” she sorted through the stack like she was looking for something in particular, “working with a clinic.”
I shot a glance at Linda and looked back at her daughter. “A clinic?” I stared around at the chaos. “What kind of clinic?”
“You know how expensive school is, right?” Casey set the papers down, sat on the edge of the bed, and adjusted her jeans. She looked sad, disappointed, and a little embarrassed.
I thought about the three of them living in that big house alone, one daughter in college, one about to graduate high school, and just Linda to support everyone. It couldn’t have been easy. Like my own father kept reminding me, life isn’t cheap. “Yeah,” I sighed, “nothing’s cheap.”
“Exactly,” Linda sat down at the desk and took another gulp of tea. “We’ve been doing everything we can think of to come up with extra money, but it’s not easy.
“So, we found a way.” Casey handed me a sheet of graph paper with what looked like a complicated chemical equation. It was a chemical diagram. I studied it trying to remember what all the abbreviations for the compounds were – carbon, oxygen, and I think I saw some kind of salt, but I couldn’t be sure. They’ve been taking drugs. I was right; she’s a guinea pig like you see in the commercials.
I stared down at the map of chemical bonds, but I had no idea what I was looking at. To me, it just looked a bunch of weird chemicals all put together. “What is this?”
Linda and Casey exchanged looks again. “It’s an experimental thing.” Casey said with some difficulty, like she wasn’t sure how to explain.
“We need to get the rest of the data in the computer, and then we can go and talk about all this stuff.” Linda handed me my glass. “Here, sweetheart, have a drink while I finish typing this stack.”
I looked at Casey. “Alright, but you guys have to tell me what’s going on at some point.” I sighed and straightened another stack of papers.
“We will,” Casey smiled and started and pulled out her laptop. “You’re not going to believe it, but we’ll explain everything after we get done.”
I shook my head and took a long sip of my Long Island. Just straightening the piles made the place look less messy, but there was still a long way to go if we were going to make it out. I grabbed the pitcher and refilled my glass. I could already feel the effects of the alcohol. I was all warm and fuzzy, even a little horny really, but I didn’t care. Casey needed my help and it was fun hanging out with her and her mom. Better than sitting alone sweating in my dorm room.
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