30|By The Balls

An irritable Austin walked into his doctor's office almost an hour later. He would have gotten there much sooner, but all the traffic lights in the Central Business District were out. Rolling blackouts were back, and so was everyone's road rage.

"I was surprised to see you on my appointment list today, Hawthorne," said Dr Claudia Young as she pointed at one of the velvet scallop chairs reserved for her patients.

Austin dutifully sat down, grumbling, "Nice to see you too, Claudia."

He'd known her all his life, so there was no need for formalities and honorifics. She may be a doctor now and deserved all the respect that went with the title. To him, though, she would always be bratty, annoying Claudia, the little girl with pigtails who used to follow him, Blake and Tim, around when they were kids.

Eric Young, Claudia's father, was the Hawthornes' primary physician for over three decades. Several years ago, following a heartbreaking diagnosis of early onset dementia, he was forced to hang