part 15 {rach}

“How’s it going with Mom?” Addison asked.
“Very fascinating,” Eliana admitted. “Her patients are very…”
“Unusual?” Hayden suggested.
Eliana grinned. “Yeah,” she said, “big time.”
“I can’t believe Mom can put up with all those looneys—”
“Addison…” Eliana warned.
“Okay fine,” Addison corrected himself. “I can’t believe she can put up with all those mentally disturbed people, and still not be willing to have an intelligent, clean and friendly pig around the house!”
Hayden laughed out loud, realizing where Addison was going. “Having a pig for a pet is slightly…unconventional, Add,” he said.
“Yeah, and so is having a snake sweater,” Addison retorted, sticking his tongue out like a five year old.
Eliana laughed. “I think having a pig for a pet is kind of cool. In a weird, eccentric sort of way, of course.”
“I’ll talk Mom into it one of these days, you just wait and see,” Addison said. “She’s getting lonely in the shed.”
“Your mom?” Eliana asked, her face a picture of innocence.
“No, Ursula,” Addison said, not at all catching on to the joke. “Poor little thing, cooped up in there with no one to play with.”
“That’s how I feel about being grounded, but no one ever pitys me like that,” Hayden said.
“When you get grounded, Hayden, it’s usally for a reason,” Addison returned.
“Yeah, like that time you put the spaghetti noodles up the—”
“Hey, I was young then!” Hayden cried.
“You were not, you were like fourteen,” Addison replied. “The only reason you get grounded is because you do stupid stuff like with the spaghetti noodles. Ursula’s never done anything wrong! She’s just a poor, unloved, rejected little animal who’s never known what it’s like to have a family.”
“Check please!” Hayden yelled, throwing his hands in the air in mock disgust. “End of conversation. This is getting too weird.”
“Hayd, we’re at a psychiatric ward. Things are going to get weird.”
Hayden laughed. “Come on, lets go eat lunch before we’re needed again.”
The rest of the day passed pretty uneventfully, if you disclude a man with a pet ink pen and a woman who couldn’t stop singing. Eliana drove home with the Zanglers around six, grabbed some leftovers from the fridge and crashed on the bed, exhausted from a long day.

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to quote some random Anonymous person, "Never underestimate the power of human stupidity." oh yeah. :)

goodbye.