5 - Crabby

'Good morning, puffy eyes!'

She glared at her cheerful big brother as she put her seatbelt on. Immediately, the car lurched forward, and she braced herself for his manic driving.

'Nothing good about it,' she retorted, sinking into her seat and closing her eyes.

Chad reached over and patted her shoulder.

'What was it this time?' he asked, his tone serious.

'I was playing russian roulette. With an old Ruger. And I had no idea how many bullets were still left. One player was already dead.'

His hand withdrew from her shoulder, and she opened her eyes.

'Chad, before last night, I had absolutely no idea there was such a thing as a Ruger revolver. Makes no sense that I knew about it in my dream. Plus, I knew I had fired one before.'

'You know, Freud said something about something similar-'

'Freud,' she interrupted, 'is dead. Unless you can bring him back to life to figure out why I suddenly know so much about revolvers, leave him out of it.'

She sunk a bit more in her seat and put her arm over her eyes.

'Hey, calm down, kid.' he soothed. 'What else was there?'

'A Russian man with tattooed fists.'

She didn't see her brother's hands clench on the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.

'Maybe you watch too many movies,' he suggested, his tone only slightly strained.

'I haven't watched a movie in two months,' she grumbled. 'Last one was “Ice Castles”. Hardly the movie to contain Russian men with tattooed fists, don't you think?'

'True,' he replied. 'So, have you had any sleep last night?'

'Only two hours or so, before I woke up. Then I was too scared to go back to sleep, so I sat with Marty in the kitchen until the rest of the guys woke up.'

'What, was he afraid you'd turn his kitchen floor into a skating rink?'

She removed her arm from her eyes and glared at her brother.

'Ok, sorry, crabby one,' he said. 'We'll get home and you'll get some sleep, maybe you'll be more
sociable after you rest. Do you have ice time today?'

'No, Maurey ordered us to get a week of rest. Mostly because she freaked about Mel's knee. I swear, it was twice its normal size after last night's show.'

'What about your hip?'

She didn't reply, suddenly finding the street they were driving down very interesting.

'Jubes, did you tell her?'

She kept her eyes glued to the front door of someone's house, until it opened and four men dressed in black leather walked outside, two of them banging their heads to the music that was echoing from inside the house.

'Are we getting new neighbors?' she asked, staring at the four men.

'Yes. Answer the question.'

She looked at her lap.

'No.'

Chad gave an exasperated sigh.

'Why?' he demanded. 'Do you plan on having hip replacement surgery before you turn twenty? Do you plan on spending your retirement years in a wheelchair?'

'I just don't want any fuss about it!' she replied. 'I'll see the doctor next week, get an x-ray, take a break from jumping, whatever, I just don't want her to go crazy over it – just like you're doing now.'

Chad pulled into the driveway and stopped the engine.

'It might not seem like much now, sis, but you'll regret it later. All of it. The amount of exercise, the eating habits, the untreated injuries...'

'Are you done?' she snapped.

He gave another sigh and leaned his head against the headrest, listening to her unbuckle her seatbelt, open the car door, jump out and slam the door behind her.