Once the doctor had come up to examine Nick, the teen had made clear that he didnīt want Kevin around. A sourly, the older man had left the room and instead he had been waiting in the corridor. The examination was taking itīs time and Kevin was getting more and more worried. What if there was something seriously wrong with his baby brother?
Sighing, Kevin sank down on the red carpeted floor, waiting. Mr. Pearlman didnīt like spending too many dollars on his charges therefore they were occupying a common middle class hotel. The scent of smoke and mildew hung low in the corridor and the wallpaper looked like it had seen their best years a long time ago.
Kevin had almost dozed off when the door opened from Nicks room and the grayhaired doctor with glasses appeared in the doorway. Quickly Kevin made an attempt to stand but sank back down since his legs had fallen asleep. The doctor seeing his predicament reached out for a hand, "Here son, let me help you."
"Thank you." Kevin straightened himself once he was on his feet. Unfortunately his legs were still asleep and it felt like ants were building an ant farm in his calves.
The doctor peered atop his glasses, "Kevin Richardson I pressume," he reached out his hand again.
"Yes?" Kevin took the firm grip a bit puzzled that the doctor already knew his name. Before he had a chance to ask about it the doctor continued, "Iīm Dr. Waldorfen and young Nickolas was the one that asked me to talk to you."
"Oh he did, did he?"
"Yes," the doctor smiled towards him. "I take it that you are the one in charge of young Nickolas while his parents are away?"
Kevin tensed. What was he going to say? It was only partly true since the Wrights were in charge of Nick while he was touring. And some charge that was! Donna, Johnnys wife and Nick didnīt get along that well at all, especially not since Nick at one occasion gave Donna gum that tasted like fish innards. After that time Donna Wright saw black and red whenever she saw the young blonde. There had been other occasions too when Nick was bugging the living daylights out of the manager. The relationship the teen had with Mr. Wright was special. They were often getting on each others nerves, barking at each other but Kevin knew that the black man had a special eye on Nick. He liked him almost like his own son, even if he sometimes had a strange way of showing it. The relationship with Lou Pearlman however left much to desire. It was plain bad and slowly traveling from worse to a total disaster.
"Eh yes..eh..Iīm sort of in charge. Iīm..Iīm his big brother!"
With a frown the doctor expressed his surprise, yet he made no comment. "Young Nickolas asked me to inform you about his condition." Kevin smiled briefly. Somehow he doubted that Nick had been much inclined to that since he never liked talking about his health or sharing information of what bug that had struck him in the back.
Opening his briefcase the doctor pulled out a yellow paper. "This is a prescription for cough medication that I would like you to get for him. Iīm calling in the prescription as soon as I get down to my office."
"Ok." Kevin stared at the note, trying to read the doctors bad handwriting. "Mol..Moli.." he spelled getting a quiet chuckle from the elderly doctor.
"Molipect. I know I write very bad, at least my wife says that itīs bad." He grinned before continuing, "But we are not here to discuss my bad handwriting. Molipect is cough medicine since young Nickolas is suffering from a nasty cough. He has also a severe case of influenza, more commonly called the flu and his temp this afternoon is 102.5. Since itīs a virus and not a bacteria I canīt give him much to take and unfortunatly the virus has to run itīs course. " He drew back his breath before continuing. "Young Nickolas is ordered lots of rest and fluid. Iīm afraid that his temp may still go up a level so I suggest that you donīt leave him alone in his hotel room."
Kevin frowned. This was a very special man. He was talking about Nick like it was his grandson and with emotion he continued, "He may also experience an upset stomach which is not good since young Nickolas appears dehydrated."
"Dehydrated? From what?"
Not answering the doctor came with a cryptic question, "Have you noticed if young Nickolas has lacked appetite this past month?"
The words came as an surprise. "Lack of appetite?" Kevin scratched himself in the head. No I donīt think so. He has been eating.. as far as I know at least." His thoughts traveled back to Nick and his eating habits. Ok he had to admit that the kid had actually eaten a bit less than usual, but nothing to be concerned about. Like always when Nick was touring he had problem on and off with an upset stomach and so was the case this time too. The fact that he had been to the hospital with a kidney injury didnīt exactly help the situation either. But then this morning Nick had been back to eating again, in fact he had stuffed himself full with pancakes and there didnīt seem to be any lack of appetite at that point. "Why do you want to know this?"
"Oh," the doctor pushed up his glasses ontop of his nose before answering, "Itīs probably nothing but today when I examined young Nickolas I thought that he appeared a bit malnourished."
Malnourished? Nick?
Kevin had a hard time hiding a smile that toyed in his lips. Swallowing down a chuckle he said with reassurance, "No..NO I can assue you that whatever Nick is..itīs not malnutrition. In fact he is constantly stuffing himself full with all kinds of junkfood." His sixth sense kicked in, growing suspecious he added, "Why are you asking these questions? Do you suspect something?"
"His skin appears a bit dehydrated and this has me a bit concerned," the doctor confessed. "I put him on an IV for the time being and I will be back later on this evening to see how your friend are doing."
"My little brother," Kevin corrected.
"Yes your little brother," the doctor smiled, then he suddenly grew serious. "There are a few questions that I feel obligated to ask you."
"Ok go ahead..shoot."
"Have you ever noticed if young Nickolas have ever starved himself?"
"Starved himself?" Kevin was becoming more and more puzzled by the minute. Was this some kind of joke. Kevin couldnīt hide the grin any longer. "Nick..No way..not him." Seeing the frown on the doctors face he continued, "I can assure you Dr. Waldorfen that Nick is not suffering from any eating disorder if that is what youīre aiming for."
"I didnīt say that," the doctor snapped which caught Kevin off guard. He never thought of the elderly being so terse. "All right," the doctor took another route with his questions, "Do you know if young Nickolas have been suffering from an upset stomach recently?"
"Yes, itīs easier to count the times when he is NOT suffering from an upset stomach." Unfortunately this was not far away from the truth since whenever the kid was suffering from one ailment or the other it was usually either his stomach or throat that got the worst hits.
"Fine," The doctor seemed to lighten up a bit. "Well there we might have the case for my patients dehydration." He smiled towards Kevin again, "Iīm afraid I have to get going for now, but like I said I will be up later on to see how young Nickolas is doing. Meanwhile I want him to rest and not doing any excersize and I certainly donīt want to see him out there performing for at least a week."
"A week?" Kevin couldnīt believe his ears. Hell would rather freeze over before Lou would allow Nick to back out of a show more than one night and that was still too much. Kevin knew that one of the reasons why he had sent after the doctor was because they had the night off as well as he had eyes on him when Nick had fainted earlier in the day.
"Yes are there any problems with that?" The doctor scooted down his glasses again, peering at him. "What is the problem?"
Kevin was on the verge to say that the management wouldnīt allow it when he stopped himself. During the years he had more and more learned not to trust anyone and giving away such information for this doctor could be too much. "No problems," he said with a grin, after all they were going to leave after tomorrows concert so the doctor was not likely to cause any problems. He hoped.
"Great. Well then Iīm off for now. Try and get that prescription as soon as possible so his lungs clears up."
"Ok will do." Kevin shook the doctors hand and as soon as the elder man was out of sight he was more and more starting to think of what the doctor had told him. Was Nick really dehydrated? What could be the cause for that?
A flash of memory came up in his mind. Hadnīt Brian talked to him about Nick claiming that Lou was giving him something to make him sick so that he would loose weight? What if this something was what was causing the dehydration? Could the doctor be right? Was Nick suffering from an eating disorder? Or what else could it be?
The questions were many.
Kevin had shrugged away Brians concerned for his friend as nonsense, telling him that he was reading too much into that one. But now he wasnīt so sure anymore. There were something fishy going on and he intended to find out what.
With that in mind he knocked on Nicks door, letting himself inside...
