Chapter 5: Inspection

Irene Castillo stood up from behind her desk and reached over the little wooden block reading “Principal” to shake Leah’s hand.

“I must say, I’m surprised to see you. Didn’t we kick you out of middle school years ago with a near-perfect grade point average?”

“I’m not here for me, Dr. Castillo; I’m here about Tania Bailey, my sister.”

“Really? Technically, I’m supposed to only discuss our students with their parents, not their siblings. Why are you here, Leah?”

This time, Leah came prepared with their guardianship order from the judge. She explained their being orphaned and the new living arrangements.

“I see. Well, let’s get into it. I’ve called up her records on my display; she has three absences now, and we have no excuse on file. What can you tell me?”

By this point, Leah had a good understanding of how her little sister’s sudden illness had come on so quickly. In a few minutes the principal had the whole story.

“So, my sister is still in the hospital, and there’s a truckload of antibiotics going into her arm. She’s terribly weak, and I can’t stop worrying. At least they’ve moved her out of the critical care unit to a room, which is helpful.”

“No estimate for when she might return?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Even then, we might be looking at homeschooling her for the remainder of the school year.”

“Let’s see how her recovery goes. I can set up accommodations for her; there’s a whole list of options at my disposal.”

A couple of hours later, Val crouches on her front porch retying her new running shoes. They weren’t quite broken in, yet. Just as she was standing back up, Abel jogged up.

After a brief kiss, “How is Nia?”

“They say she continues to improve, but I haven’t been able to visit her.”

“I know I’m probably going to mess up, but I need to ask anyway. This sounds like good news, but according to your face it isn’t good, it’s terrible. As usual, I don’t understand.”

“It’s my fault.”

“I don’t understand. How could you give your sister an infection?”

“Listen, Abel. You must forget I told you that. I wasn’t being careful enough about her privacy. What I did was this: I watched her get sicker and sicker without saying anything to Leah or to Andrew. I stayed silent although I’m in the same bedroom with her.”

Val’s voice showed stress and regret.

“Abel, I didn’t help her! Not when she really needed me.”

“I can’t speak for Nia, only myself. But I think when she gets home, she won’t blame you. When she gets home, we’re going to have a little party for her, according to Fernanda.”

“That’s a great idea.”

“She says we need to have another cake since she didn’t have a bite of yours at the party. Alright then, let’s get going. Exercise improves all problems; that’s what my mother says.”

Val did feel a little better, but she set a punishing pace. When they reached their clear spot deep in the grove of pines, Abel flung himself down, wheezing.

“Are you, ah, trying, ah, to kill me?”

“Don’t whine, Abel. I’m building up your endurance for when I have my way with you.”

“First, you punish me for no reason. Second, you tease me with false promises. What have I done this time?”

“You haven’t done anything; that’s the problem.”

“Huh?”

“If your breath has returned, where’s my kiss?”

“Oh, OK. Mnph!”

“I really did tire you out. Want to try again? Mnph. That’s better. One of these days...”

“Oh, now you’re teasing me again.”

“Of course, I am, boyfriend. The time will come when you’re going to come to the aid of your party—that is, ME. Now stand up, fix your shorts so you don’t fall out of them, and follow my bouncing butt back home.”

“Valerie Bailey!”

“Oh, don’t give me that bullshit. It’s only a matter of time before you’re another notch on my bedpost.”

“ANOTHER notch?!”

“You really need to understand when you’re being teased. Just get up, rearrange yourself, and let’s go.”

She didn’t stare, but she was confident in what she had seen and turned away. Abel’s face was blazing red as he reached under his waistband and corralled the savage beast within. When Val heard the rustling of his clothing stop, she started running home, assuming he would be closely following her ass.

Of course, that’s exactly what he did.

Once again, streamers and balloons were in the Bailey house. On the side table was another of Leah’s sheet cakes with “Welcome Home!” across the icing. A smaller group attended this time, though.

Besides her five siblings, the party included Abel, Fernanda, Diego, Danilo, and Bonnie Douglas—Nia’s best friend. Nia was still recovering from her medical ordeal, still markedly pale, and moving slowly.

Once the party was well-established, Leah took the floor to make an announcement.

“Guys, we’re going to go ahead and have the cake now, and then the boys will be leaving us so we can have ‘girl time’ without them. They’re going to some movie with exploding spaceships and alien monsters or something.”

“Aw, I like alien monsters. After all, I share a bedroom with Val.”

“Very funny. Ha. Ha.”

“I guess your sense of humor is coming back,” observed Leah.

“Not all the way back,” snarked Val.

Nia stuck out her tongue.

“Let’s have the cake now, and then all the boys can go watch ‘Captain Jerk’ and his green-skinned alien girlfriend, or something.”

Half an hour later, all of the girls were lounging around the living room.

Bonnie raised her hand.

“You’re not in school, Bonnie. Just ask, ‘What’s your question?’” said Leah.

“I’d like to know what happened to Nia. Nobody will tell me anything.”

“It’s entirely up to Nia how much information she wants to be shared.”

Nia just smiled. “I’m tired of this, well, pussyfooting around. Leah, you understand all this better than I do; you should explain what happened to me.”

“I’m sorry, Bonnie, but I need to answer your question with another question. Are you having periods yet?”

“Um, not really, just a few spots in my underwear. But my mother has explained everything and bought me the necessary supplies.”

“Good. Well, here’s what happened. Like many girls, Nia’s periods have started even though she’s only 9. This wouldn’t be a problem except for her hymen, her cherry. There was no hole in it. For the vast majority of young women, their hymen is either missing, broken, or has at least one opening. But not Nia; she had a complete unbroken layer of skin covering over her vagina’s opening, which prevented any flow from escaping her body. It’s called imperforate hymen, and most doctors are aware of it as a possibility they need to check.

“I feel bad because I didn’t take her to the doctor before this, where her condition could be diagnosed and dealt with by making a little slit in that bit of skin. With me so far? Good. This is the reason for her trouble. The mass of blood...”

Leah continued to describe what happened. Her voice became thick and her eyes teared as she described the ambulance ride and the hours that followed, while they waited for a doctor to explain everything.

“And it partly happened because I didn’t bring Nia along when Val and I went to the gynecologist. I feel awful about that, but I’m glad that she is now healing and back home with us.”

“I’m the same age as Nia; do you think I should go to the doctor?”

“Bonnie, I have no medical training; I don’t know. You should ask your mother. I will say, though, that since you are seeing spots, you likely don’t have the issue that Nia had. Important social things about hymens need to be discussed with your family, not with me.

“So, who wants seconds on cake?”

“Andrew, it’s for you.”

“Andrew Bailey.”

“Andrew, it’s Amara Kumar from Children and Family Services. You probably remember me.”

“Of course, Ms. Kumar. And what can I do for you today?”

“I’m calling to give you an alert. First, though, how is Tania?”

“She’s doing well; her health is coming back, but she has a ways to go.”

“That’s good to hear. I’m calling because the Health Department is going to come and visit you at home and assess Nia’s situation. They were notified by the hospital when she was admitted, and following up, they discovered she wasn’t yet back at school.

“The reason I’m calling is to alert you about the inspection and to caution you. They have the power to break the six of you up and put you in the system if they suspect anything unusual in your living situation. That means, for example, overall sanitation, food in a clean kitchen, older siblings of different sexes sharing the same bedroom, and a whole lot of other practical things.”

“Thank you for the heads-up. We will have all our ducks in a row when they surprise us. And thank you so much for calling. Goodbye.”

“LEAH!”

She rushed in, concerned.

“Sometime in the near future, we are going to be visited without warning by some kind of ‘health inspector.’ They aren’t going to like seeing us share a bed.”