PART 11 – Back on their feet

Cole felt calmer as soon as he’d talked to his father. Maybe he should call more often. Maybe he could open a three-way comm link with Uncle Jayne and Baba and they could all have lunch together. Maybe then Uncle Jayne would have more to say … not that Cole minded the quiet company.

Wrapping his arms across his chest, Cole took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders backward, stretching his back. His arm was sore and bruised from wrestling and after twenty matches, he’d declared that he and Baba had done enough catching up for one day. Cole wasn’t sure if he’d lost the last five matches because his father was stronger than he’d let on at first and had been playing him, or because his father simply had more endurance. It was probably the latter. Uncle Jayne always said Baba was completely off his nut and could keep strength through anything. There was the story of when Baba lost his ear – a man had killed him, but Baba came back to life, got up off the table, and tried to kill him right back. Baba always blamed his lack of success in that he’d died that morning and was still a little woozy.

Baba had lots of wisdom to share with regards to taking on Zoë’s mission. It helped, talking to him, because he’d pointed out that Zoë had only asked Cole to get one box from Sihnon and speak in one place on Sunday. That made it significantly less overwhelming than the burden Cole had been feeling, because he’d lumped the request with Zoë’s open invitation to join her on the campaign. He didn’t have to give up his life to grant his sister’s request. Still, he’d feel remiss if he didn’t consider it. She needed his help, now more than ever. She’d been asking for it.

He kicked himself for all the times he thought he was just a name on the check list in this family, because every moment here at the hospital had been a revelation. His little brother kept coming to him and leaning on him. His sister had called out to him first, before anyone else. His father had been so glad to just sit