A Little Excerpt

It was Friday September 30th, 2016. Brody Ingram was not feeling too well. His older brother, David Ingram, celebrated his 25th birthday today. And, sadly, Brody was not in the mood to celebrate. His birthday is exactly a week before David's, September 23rd.

Brody had been fighting this cold or whatever it was for a few days. He seemed to get it when Brett, their older brother, came back to Crown Point to visit for the weekend. For a couple months now, he and his friends live in Chicago so that they can be closer to the music festivals. Not that Crown Point is really that far away as such. But Brett and his friends have always really wanted to be in the city.

Either Brett or one of his friends was sick when he came home. David might have gotten a small case of what this was for only a day. And then he was fine. No one else seemed to get it. Not even Dawson, the kids' older brother, or his wife, Daniela.

For about a year, Dawson and Daniela have been living in the southwest side of Valparaiso, a small city about thirty minutes away from Crown Point. They did not want to be too far away from everything else going on, and being in Valpo was perfect for them. And Toby, the kids' youngest brother, goes to school in Chicago. He was not at home the past weekend because he had something going on with one of his groups that he is involved in. Luckily for him, he wasn't exposed to this virus at all.

Brody had spent pretty much the whole day wrapped in his plush throw blankets in their apartment in Merrillville. He took a sick day today, so he didn't have to go into work. He lay on the couch with a cup of English breakfast tea on the coffee table next to him and watched as many movies as he possibly could. And he fell asleep at least once or twice today and woke up with an even stuffier nose than before. This Friday was most definitely not going to be a fun one.

Brody, David, Adam Levistad, and Andrew McCalsky were at their apartment in Merrillville at 6:30 in the evening. David and Brody were already going to their parents' house in Crown Point later this evening because David wanted to have Chinese food brought in. He was not in the mood to go out. And he was worried about Brody. Just taking it easy was probably the best thing to do tonight.

David and Brody drove for a few minutes to their parents' house. Toby was already at home for the weekend, but he did not know that Brody was sick today. Pretty much all they were going to do tonight was to have Chinese food, open presents, and possibly play video games. Well, David and Toby would play video games. And Brody would most likely try to sleep for as long as he could.