A Little Excerpt

Summer 2023

“So my girlfriend Alyssa, Sav, his girlfriend, and I are going to Door County in a couple weeks,” Toby Ingram said to his older brother, Brody Ingram, over the phone.
“You looking forward to it?” Brody asked.
“Yes and no, honestly. I think it will be fun because it’s a double date on vacation, and this is something that we have been planning for a while. But I am really hoping that I don’t get sick again when we are there.”
“Oh gosh, yes. You were down and out when all five of us boys were in Door County a few years ago.”
“Yup, I remember. I ended up with pneumonia. It sucked because when we left, I was not feeling too well, but I wrote it off as a small cold. Then the next day, it went into my chest, and I knew something was up,” Toby said.
“It was still a fun enough trip since we were able to play video games together, and we had that pizza in the hotel room,” Brody replied.
“Yeah, but I wish I could’ve done more things with you. I missed out on a lot of what you all did. Dawson took me to see the doctor when you all were exploring the area. And it was brutal too, since I had a chest x-ray and all those other brutal lung tests. And by the time we got back to the hotel, all I wanted to do was f*cking sleep. I know that Dawson caught up with you, David, and Brett. It just wasn’t one of my favorite trips with you all. That’s all I gotta say.”
“It’s so funny how at least one of us almost always gets sick when we have a road trip with all five of us boys. Brett got sick when we went to Minneapolis. David got sick when we went to Nashville. I got sick when we went to St. Louis. I don’t remember a time when Dawson got sick.”
“Dawson’s got the immune system of a wildebeest, though.”
“Of course he does. Oh, what is Sav’s girlfriend’s name?”
“Krissy.”