The Curious Prayer Life Of Muriel Smith

by Raj, Carol;

  Muriel laughed. “They don’t speak Spanish in Brazil. They speak Portuguese.”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t know that at the time.”

  “And now you’re a father of three boys?”

  “Yep. Jimmy’s a chip off the old block Thinks he’s hot stuff, too. But he’s bigger than I was. He was only a sophomore last year, but the coach wanted him on the varsity football team. This year he’ll be a starting player. Plans to go pro. Doesn’t see any point studying if he can make millions throwing a ball. Heck, I don’t blame him for trying. Everyone has to have a dream. I just want him to have a Plan B. Just like my mother told me every year before she died.”

  “I’m sorry to hear about your mother.”

  “Heart attack.” Patrick looked down and bit his lower lip.

  “Did she have a big funeral?” Muriel’s words popped out.

  Patrick looked up. “What? Oh, yeah, I guess so. Thirty, forty people maybe.” He paused. “That seems like a strange question. Why would you ask?”

  “My husband had such a small funeral. He died ten years ago, and I still can’t stop feeling bad about the graveside service. Five people. That was it. Looks like I’ll only have three people at my funeral. Four if my great-grandchild is born. Would you like to come?”

  Patrick looked up at her. “To your funeral? Uh, sure. I’d be happy to do that for you. But I’m sorry to hear you’re so ill. Is it cancer? Or would you rather not say?”

  “Oh, I’m not sick. Just obsessed with the idea of a small funeral. I always thought I’d make a difference in the world. Do something with my life. It’s not going to happen. Not at my age.”

  “But you did do something. That’s why I wanted to get in touch with you. The other teachers, they were happy to pass me along. D minus was an easy out for them. At least they didn’t have to deal with me two years in a row. I didn’t care at the time. D minus seemed a lot better than studying. I just wanted to get out of that place. Back then, I thought those teachers were the greatest. But you, I hated you. You were a real pain in the you-know-what.”

  Muriel shrugged. “I’m sorry, Patrick. I really am. You don’t have to come to my funeral if you feel that way.”

  “No, no. Don’t be sorry. That’s not what I mean. It turns out you were the one who was the greatest. It just took me a few years to realize it. You made me stop on my fast track. Learn there were consequences to things I said and did. Actually learn geometry, too. Not that I remember much of it now. Couldn’t help Jimmy at all last year. He got a D+. But I have no idea how. Next year he’s signed up for trigonometry and pre-calculus. I don’t know how he’s going to manage either of those. My wife’s not good at math, either.”

  “I could help.” Muriel’s words popped out.

  Patrick looked at her in surprise. “You mean like tutor him?”

  “It’s not like I’m too busy anymore. I am retired.”

  Patrick was serious. “Well, gee. I didn’t come here to ask any favors of you. Honest. But you tutoring him? That would be great. I’d pay you the going rate, of course. Or maybe I could do some landscaping for you in exchange. I notice your grass is pretty high. And there are a few dead branches on that maple tree over there. You should get them off before they fall and damage your property.”

  Muriel smiled. “I’m sure we can work something out. But I’m curious. How did you find me? You mentioned there were so many Smiths.”

  Muriel could see the children in the car were ready to go. Home. Ice cream. Anywhere but some old lady’s house. The one in the front had stopped bopping his head and was shaking it back and forth as if he couldn’t believe they were still in the same spot. The two in the back were leaning against their respective doors. She would bet anything they were foot wrestling.

  Maybe that’s why Natalie turned out to be so self-centered. Maybe if she had had a sibling, she would have been a little more compassionate. Howard had wanted to have more children. So had Muriel. It just never happened.

  Patrick leaned toward Muriel. “The carjacking, that’s how I found you. They showed an old picture of you on TV. Must have been from a high school yearbook. I thought ‘I know that lady!’ And your address was in the local paper. It was actually one of my classmates who saw that. Legs Landry. You remember him? He posted it on Facebook. We’re all in touch, you know.”

  “All of you?”

  “Well, most of us. Say, did you know Legs owns that big conference center on the other side of town?”

  Landry Conference Center. Why, of course. Why had she never made that connection before? “I didn’t know Legs was connected to that. I’ve heard the service is wonderful.”

  “How’d that ever turn out anyway? The carjacking, I mean.”

  Muriel smiled. Kevin to mow the grass. An old student popping by. A little tutoring job to relieve the monotony of her days. Some pocket change. Her cup running over. So that’s what God was up to. If it hadn’t been for the kidnapping, Patrick would never have been able to get in touch. “It turned out just fine. A lot better than I thought it would.”

  20

  Who could possibly be at the door now? Neighbors and church members were still coming to offer their condolences because of Muriel’s son-in-law. It was too embarrassing to admit they hadn’t been close. When Natalie married, Muriel thought they would be one happy family. Play board games at holiday gatherings. Maybe have an intimate little book club every Thursday night with bowls of freshly popped corn. Nothing had happened the way she assumed it would.

  Now when she sat across from people who came to pay their respects, she nodded and donned a gloomy expression. It wasn’t hard to do. Because she really did feel sad. Especially for Natalie.

  The bell rang again. More insistent. “Coming, coming.”

  Muriel put the chain on the door before opening it to peek out. Chloe! Oh, my goodness. She looked as if she was about to give birth any minute. And her due date was still months away. “Chloe, for heaven’s sakes, child. Come in and sit down.” Muriel found a pillow for Chloe’s back and moved the coffee table closer to the sofa so she could put her feet up. Chloe’s ankles were even more swollen than Muriel’s sprained ankle had been. How in the world had she managed to drive over?

  “Thanks, Gram. My goodness. I had no idea pregnancy would be this hard. I can hardly wait until it’s over. I’m so hot all the time. I’m so tired. People look at me funny.” Chloe glanced down at her left hand and didn’t seem able to look up again. Instead, she chewed her upper lip. Her cheeks began to tremble.

  Muriel’s gaze followed. Oh, my. Chloe’s ring finger was bare. “Are your fingers swollen, too, honey?”

  “Not so much, Gram. Why?”

  “You’re not wearing your engagement ring.”

  The center diamond of Chloe’s ring was the size of a rock, with smaller diamonds on each side. Each of the smaller diamonds was bigger than the quarter carat Howard had been able to afford. The ring as a whole was prettier than Natalie’s. It must have cost a fortune.

  Chloe burst into tears.

  “Honey, what’s wrong? Talk to me.”

  “Gram, my friends are whispering to each other about my having stayed too long at their house. I can hear them after I go to bed at night. My mother’s moving into a one-bedroom apartment and says I can sleep on the sofa. Look at me! How am I going to sleep on the sofa? I’m wider than it is.”

  “Can you move in with Phillip before the wedding? Stay in his parents’ house? You could have separate bedrooms.”

  “No, Gram. You don’t get it. My engagement’s off. I have no place to go. People aren’t supposed to have babies all by themselves. It’s not fair.”

  That’s why you’re supposed to get married first. Do things in the right order. Muriel couldn’t say that out loud. Not now. Not to Chloe. What was done was done. Muriel sank into an armchair. “What happened, honey? Tell me.”

  “Phillip’s father says Daddy’s suicide will cast a shadow over his business. He built it from s
cratch. And he’s very proud of it. He’s the one who’s causing trouble.”

  “And Phillip?”

  “His father says he has to choose between me and his job.”

  “And he chose his job?” Oh, my. What a cad! Muriel bit her lip. Things were worse than she’d thought. “You still love him, honey?”

  Chloe nodded her head as tears poured down her cheeks.

  “Well, honey, you can always stay here. I have two bedrooms.”

  “I didn’t come to ask for charity, Gram.”

  “I’m not offering charity. I’m offering to share my home with my only grandchild. And when my great-grandchild makes an appearance, we’ll buy a crib. No problem.”

  Chloe’s sobs were morphing into sniffles. “Really, Gram? Are you sure I won’t be too much trouble?”

  “Of course you won’t be. Now give me a hug.”

  Trouble? Muriel could hardly support herself. How could she feed one more person? One person who was definitely eating for two. She couldn’t afford to buy the crib she’d just blithely offered, either. And later they’d need baby food and a high chair and toys.

  You can still sue Kevin’s parents. It’s not too late.

  The thought came out of nowhere. It made so much sense. It was surely the only chance she had to save her own finances. Get a substantial sum to put away for the proverbial rainy day. Help the people she loved. But suing Kevin was wrong. She was sure of it. It didn’t matter how many times the thought popped into her head.

  She would not do it.

  Besides, Kevin was coming tomorrow to mow her grass.

  21

  “Checkmate, Mrs. B.” Kevin stood up, pumped his hands in the air and twirled around.

  Muriel leaned back in her front porch chair and smiled. Sometimes it seemed Kevin was five, not fifteen. It was nice to have young people around. They had so much energy. So much enthusiasm. No wonder she had enjoyed teaching so much. “Maybe we’d better go back to checkers.”

  “Ha! I can beat you at checkers, too. I proved that last week.”

  “Then Scrabble. I’m sure I could beat you at Scrabble.”

  “Not if I play paraphernalia, Mrs. B.”

  “Don’t be silly. You only get seven tiles.”

  Muriel started counting the number of letters in paraphernalia on her fingers. She was up to the ‘h’ when she heard a car coming along her quiet street. Kevin’s mother was early today. Oh, my. Muriel didn’t want his visit to end.

  The initial mowing of the lawn had taken Kevin longer than either of them anticipated. The high blades of grass kept making the lawnmower’s motor stall. But now that the lawn was tamed to a reasonable height, Kevin whipped through the process once a week. On the dot. Without a single complaint.

  Today, they even had time to plant a few mums Kevin’s mother had sent over. Their yellow and purple and rust colors looked beautiful in Muriel’s late summer garden.

  It was time for Muriel to start praying for something new. Like a purse with a decent clasp. The old one had opened in the grocery store just yesterday, spilling coins all over the floor on her side of the check-out counter. A toddler picked up a shiny new penny and refused to let go.

  A white sedan slowed as it approached. “Did your Mom get a new car?”

  Kevin shook his head. “No. Must be one of your many admirers.” He grinned his lopsided grin.

  The car stopped right in front of her house. Who could it be? The driver’s door opened and Natalie stepped out.

  Muriel rose from her chair. “Natalie! Why, what a nice surprise. Is that a new car?”

  “A used car, Mom. I traded in the BMW and pocketed the difference. I can’t believe I’m stuck with an American brand.” Her voice broke. She looked around the porch and spied Kevin sitting in the other chair.

  “Mother! Honestly! What is that punk doing here?”

  “Mowing the lawn.”

  “Well, it doesn’t look like lawn mowing to me. It looks like loafing.”

  Muriel had been thoroughly enjoying herself just seconds before. Natalie changed Muriel’s mood from relaxation to tension with just a few words. “It’s nice to see you, too, dear. Here, let me grab another chair. Do you want to join us for a glass of lemonade?”

  “I’d like to speak to you in private, Mother. That’s what I’d like to do.” Natalie looked around for a place to put her purse and finally leaned it against one of the pillars supporting the overhang of the porch. She glared pointedly at Kevin.

  Muriel wondered what kind of clasp Natalie’s purse had and whether it ever came undone. She glanced over at the fine leather and noticed a zipper running the length of the top. A zipper would never come undone. Though with her luck, it might refuse to zip at all, or even worse, refuse to unzip, leaving her tugging red-faced at the zipper pull in the grocery store while a line of impatient customers waited behind her.

  Kevin looked flustered. “Mrs. B?”

  “It’s all right, Kevin. I do apologize.” Muriel winked. “Too bad my daughter didn’t come a few minutes earlier. We would have had to put away the chessboard. I would have called our game a tie.”

  “I don’t think so, Mrs. B. Not with your king about to die an awful death. Do you want me to go inside? Or what?”

  “If you wouldn’t mind, maybe you could pour three glasses of lemonade. Just take your time, if you know what I mean.”

  “Sure thing.” Kevin headed toward the kitchen, letting the screen door slam behind him.

  “Mother, honestly, you let that punk have free run of the place?”

  “He’s not a punk, Natalie. I prefer to think of him as a reformed carjacker. He’s made a lot of progress since we first met.”

  “Since he carjacked you, you mean. You didn’t exactly meet under normal circumstances.”

  “Well, that, too. Anyway, dear, what did you want to discuss?”

  “Chloe.”

  “What about Chloe?”

  “You won’t like this, Mom.”

  Muriel felt a chill wash over her. She let out a deep breath. “Just tell me, Natalie.”

  “Chloe’s considering not going through with the pregnancy. We both know how you feel about abortion. She didn’t want to tell you herself.”

  “What?” Electricity shot through Muriel’s body. Chloe had been a little weepy lately, but that seemed perfectly normal. Muriel had been weepy sometimes, too, when she was carrying Natalie. How could Chloe even think about ending her baby’s life? She was how many months along? Muriel counted on her fingers. Why, the baby must be fully formed by now. A little heart beating away. A little mouth sucking its thumb. Practically capable of living outside the womb. At least with some medical assistance. Muriel swallowed hard. “That’s my great-grandchild you’re talking about, Natalie. Not some extraneous blob of tissue.” Oh, Lord, help. It’s the one thing I was looking forward to.

  Natalie sat down in Kevin’s vacated chair. “Phillip called off the engagement because his father is raising a stink about Stan’s sui…sui…oh, Mom, I can’t even say the word.”

  “Chloe’s told me a little about it. But I still don’t understand. What does Stan’s…accident…have to do with Phillip’s father?”

  “You know how important his business is to him. He’s always wanted to pass it on to Phillip. Keep it in the family. He feels Stan’s…accident…will cast a bad light on his company. Affect the stock value. Scare away customers. Phillip makes good money there. But if he marries Chloe, he’ll be out of a job.”

  “That much I understand. But doesn’t Phillip have a college degree? Can’t he find another job?”

  “Not one that pays him as much as his father does. Not without his father’s reference.”

  “So that’s why Chloe doesn’t wear her ring.” Muriel hadn’t been able to talk to Chloe about it. Every time she tried, Chloe burst into tears. Muriel quickly learned to pretend there was nothing wrong. How could anybody be so cruel? End a life to save the reputation of a business? The baby’s own gr
andfather! What could she possibly say? She’d offer to raise the baby herself, but she had no money. And only a slim chance of being alive when the baby graduated from college twenty years from now. Muriel didn’t want to get into the abortion issue. She and Natalie had never agreed on that. She cleared her throat. “Lots of women have babies by themselves.” It was a fact. Though Muriel never did figure out how they managed.

  “Chloe won’t have any money coming in. She can’t work and take care of a baby, too. Daycare costs more than she can earn.” Natalie slammed her fist on the table. “She should never have majored in art history. What was she thinking? She’ll end up with some job that pays minimum wage.”

  “Well, don’t worry about that, Natalie. Phillip will have to pay child support. He’ll be ordered to do so by the courts.”

  Natalie shook her head and then lowered it. “I don’t know, Mom. He’s weaseled out of the marriage. What if he weasels out of child support, too?”

  “And ends up on a list of dead-beat dads? Don’t worry about that. Phillip’s father is too concerned about his public image. He won’t want his son’s picture hung in a store window to shame him. He’ll make sure Phillip follows the letter of the law.”

  Natalie looked up. “Do you really think so?”

  “Yes, Natalie, I really do. I wish I could help Chloe out financially, but you know all my assets were tied up with Stan. If I ever get anything back, it’ll be pennies on the dollar. That’s what your lawyer said.”

  “Stan didn’t mean to defraud anybody, Mom. I want you to know that.”

  Muriel looked into Natalie’s eyes. Natalie thought she was telling the truth. But Stan must have known what he was doing. Maybe he didn’t mean for the Ponzi scheme to go on as long as it had. Muriel would like to think that. Maybe he got in so deep that he had no choice but to keep going. Maybe he hoped to turn things around. Give everyone the money back. But he had been a trained financial planner. He’d known all along that what he was doing was wrong.