Day 29

"Congratulations on getting your first real adult job." Kyle laughed so hard at the card for his twenty-ninth birthday that he had to take some deep breaths afterwards. "Oh, so I finally decided to give up on my dreams of becoming an actor and become a power hungry guy like my dad."

"Maybe you're not power hungry. What if you are a doctor, Kyle. They work hard to make sure people are feeling at their best." Kyle gives me a wry smile.

"Oh, and they don't get paid well for it? Do you know how much my chemo therapies cost when I got cancer the first time around? Let's just say, I heard my dad scream out in pain for the first time."

"Just because of the price?"

"Aaaand because his plans for getting a vacation home in Baja California was derailed. Told you he was power hungry. He even wanted a vacation home like a villain." Kyle wrinkles his nose as he adds, "With me out of the picture he might get his vacation home."

Sinking down on the chair near Kyle's bed I tell him, "Don't think like that. I don't think your dad wanted to be able to have enough money for his own vacation home in this way."

"I didn't want to end up in a hospice center but life is fucked up all the way around. If there was any justice in this world my dad would be in this bed."

"KYLE!"

"DON'T YOU START, RENATA!" he boomed back. I leaned away from Kyle as his angry outburst caught me by surprise.

Kyle immediately looked guilty. "Shit, I'm sorry. My parents didn't visit me since I've been moved here to the hospice center. Except for sending flowers on my birthday, that's all they did. Then you met my little brother, January. Another robot like my dad."

"Yet he was named January," I replied with a smirk.

"Only because it was my mom's turn to name the baby. My dad named me. Since Kyle is such a generic name with just enough character to be the name of a CEO right?"

"Why January?" I asked Kyle.

"Because, it's my mom's favorite month. The month where everyone can turn a new leaf, start losing weight before giving up in February, and hopefully become better people."

I smiled for a moment. "Your mom doesn't sound so bad."

"No, but she's a follower. If my dad asked her to jump she'd ask, 'how high, dear?'" Kyle's falsetto was so comical I couldn't help but laugh.