>>> 1:48 AM

It was 1:48 AM – why hadn’t she come back?
Grandpa Joe had went to bed at ten thirty. He told me to go to bed too, even though I was on the couch. He used to get mad at me for not sleeping in my own bed when my mom worked the late shift, but eventually he gave up. I love Grandpa Joe even if he can be stubborn and mean – he’s my best friend.
My mom says that it’s great that Grandpa Joe is my best friend but she thinks I need to find friends my own age too. I always tell her that I’ll try but the truth is, I gave up trying. The other kids don’t like me. I told Grandpa Joe and he said that I didn’t need those kids – “a man has to rely on no one but himself.”
I like Grandpa Joe being my best friend too. He’s a retired corpsman and likes to show me a lot of cool medical stuff. I really like when we go out to the creek and catch frogs. He’ll take out his pocketknife and dissect the frog right in front of me – that’s how I learn anatomy. Then we’ll use the frog as bait to catch fish… but we hardly ever catch anything. Grandpa Joe says the fish must not be French. I didn’t understand him at first so he explained that the French eat frog legs. He said when he visited Parris he had some and it tasted like chicken. I don’t see how that’s really possible… I mean, frogs don’t have feathers.
As I looked back up at the digital clock on the VCR, I heard Grandpa Joe stumbling in the dark in the hallway.
“Grandpa,” I said lying down on the couch, “Are you okay?”
He coughed, clearing his throat. “Kingston, help me find the hall light switch.”
I quickly got off the couch and ran to the hall, flipping the on switch. The ceiling light came on and I looked up at my grandpa. “What’s the matter?”
“Kingston, get dressed. On the way home from the bank your mom got in an accident.”

Characters:
Kingston, Grandpa Joe, and Karie from Silvercrest Hospital