by Angela White
“What are we telling her mom?”
Mary tapped the driver’s seat so that Douglas would get the car moving.
“Nothing, of course. This is a family visit.”
I snorted. “You’ve never treated Angie like family.”
Mary frowned, fastening her seatbelt. “I have it covered. Try to act normal.”
I started to tell her how good I was at hiding things, and stopped. I needed to let Mary think she was teaching me some of this stuff. If she knew what I was already capable of, my plans would be in danger.
“When we arrive, stay quiet and by my side,” Mary instructed. “You understand?”
“Yes, but this wasn’t what I meant by-”
“I know what you want, you ungrateful child!” Mary snapped. “Be quiet.”
I did as ordered by falling into a glassy-eyed stare of rebellion that I happened to know drove her crazy. I wasn’t sure why I was pushing her this way, but it was getting me what I needed and I didn’t stop. Telling her the truth was out of the question. My mother didn’t know that Angie and I had been fighting or she might have refused to do this.
I had spent two months trying to talk with Angie, but she’d made it clear that she wanted to be left alone. She didn’t go to the clubhouse anymore, or the cornfield. She also hadn’t spent much time with Daniel or Patty before they left.
That had been a memorable day for me, finally meeting Patty. Angie had spoken well of the old woman over the years, but she hadn’t mentioned that Patty also had power. I’d thought only our family had such people and it was a shock to find out otherwise.
“She doesn’t know,” Patty stated, after telling me who I was before I even opened my mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what,” I asked.
Patty smiled sadly. “Your pain. You love her deeply.”
“Well, yeah,” I stated, unable to contain these emotions. “She’s everything.”
“I hear you’ll be taking over your family,” Patty stated, changing the topic so fast that I just stared at her.
“You do realize you don’t have to wait to use that authority?”
Now, on my way to Angie, I wished I’d thanked Patty more for her advice before she left. She’d been absolutely right. My mother had already told the family I was her heir. That gave me a powerful hand to play. So powerful, that I could drop a card here and there and not feel the loss. This was my first flip of the deck.
I thought Angie’s mom might have a stroke when she opened the trailer door to Mary’s sharp rapping.
“What…? I.. Do…?” Frona, leaning against the frame of the door, eventually stopped trying to form a sentence and stared with bloodshot eyes.
Mary stared back with a dislike that I thought could have resulted in a murder.
“The diner has to be reopened. I’m here to discuss that.”
“Uh... What?” Frona sputtered.
“I want the diner open.”
Mary didn’t wait to be let in. She climbed the three metal stairs and shoved by the drunken woman without the invite that I doubted would have come even if we’d stood there for days. Frona’s buzz wasn’t clearing, but I had no trouble reading the hatred on her face. It gave us an instant bond.
I followed my mother, not picking up anything from Angie. Worry for her slammed me as the smells of vomit and filth filled my nose.
“What…”
I stared around in shock as my mother came to a halt in the living room. The trailer was a mess. It looked like there had been a fight, except there was also trash everywhere, most of it reeking.
“What the hell happened here?!”
My mother cursing sent me fleeing back to the door to wait for the explosion. I’d never heard that from her, not in all the years I’d been alive.
Frona stumbled toward Mary and tripped over the corner of an overflowing garbage bag. She plunged forward into the mess, passing out.
“Oh, my Lord, this is not what I expected.”
My mother’s shock matched my own. That gave me a moment of calmness where I realized I still hadn’t heard anything from Angie.
“Angie?”
“Marc?”
The voice was so weak that even my mother hurried into the room off the hallway. It was another first–to view Mary running.
What we found was so bad that my mother immediately dropped down on the corner of the bed and dug in her purse for her phone.
“Douglas!”
He appeared in the doorway a few seconds later. “Yes, ma’am?”
“Go get my doctor. Pull him off whatever golf course he found this week and get him here. Now!”
I stayed back as Mary gently lifted Angie’s emaciated body into a sitting position. She’d lost at least twenty pounds and she hadn’t been that big to begin with! I forced myself not to stare so the anger wouldn’t gain control. She needed help right now. Emotions had to wait.
I hurried to put pillows behind her as Daniel’s warning rang through my mind like a blade.
You can’t leave her alone again. We’ll both lose her this time.
“Go help her waste of a mother,” Mary instructed angrily, going to the dresser that was covered in tissue boxes and bottles of medicine. All of them were unopened.
“What? Did she drop off the medicine and expect you to do it yourself?”
Angie tried to answer, but a cough came that lasted so long her face went purple from lack of air.
“We have to get her to the hospital!” I shouted as Mary thumped her on the back.
Angie sucked in a gasp of air, followed by another. Her skin slowly returned to bright red cheeks over pale skin.
“Doctor Kim will take care of her,” Mary said, handing Angie a bottle of water from the dresser.
Angie couldn’t open it. The bottle slid from her grasp and a thin tear rolled down her cheek.
I looked down to giver privacy from her misery, but shitty pile of clothes at my feet was covered in flies. Angie had tried to care for herself because she’d had no one else who would. It was too much and I broke, storming from the room.
I dragged Frona to the couch and let her drop on top of a pile of clothes that I assumed were dirty from the smells. Any sympathy I’d first felt for her was dead now.
I verified that Frona was breathing and then stomped outside into the sleet. I couldn’t say in there anymore or I’d start shouting and never quit.
Douglas pulled up, tires sliding, a short time later. The Asian doctor in the passenger seat didn’t appear upset or even surprised to be stolen away. He nodded respectfully to me as the pair climbed out, reminding me that everyone knew I would be the next leader of our family. It also reminded me that I wasn’t acting like it.
I went back inside and observed every move and sound that was made, this time letting it fuel my flames. Georgie and Frona would pay for this. So would my mother. She’d promised to handle things.
Mary sensed my train of thought, frowning up at me. “She couldn’t run the diner. We tried it. I thought keeping Frona…happy, would trickle down.”
“That’s not how it works with alcoholism,” I told her curtly.
“Well, I know that now, don’t I?” Mary retorted hotly. “Don’t blame this on me, young man. I may not like our deal, but I’m sticking to it.”
I had to concede that she was. “Okay.”
Pleased, Mary resumed helping Angie pull on another nightgown while the doctor examined her. Frona would be next, I hoped. Angie wouldn’t be happy if her mom died.
I, on the other hand, thought Frona deserved it. Even my mother was better than this.
“Pneumonia,” Doctor Kim informed us a few minutes later. “Lot of it going around. Mostly farmers who labor in the bad weather, but kids can get it too.”
The doctor didn’t mention the state of the trailer. He also didn’t comment on Frona being passed out when he was directed to her. I wondered how much my mother would pay for his future silence.
&nbs
p; Through all of this, Angie remained quiet and observant, except when a coughing spell hit. Then she made so much noise that I couldn’t believe her mom didn’t wake up. Wasn’t there supposed to be some sort of connection between child and parent? I didn’t have it with mine, but I had hated her for a long time. I’d always gotten the feeling that Angie loved hers. After finding this, I had no idea why.
“What happens now?” I demanded. “He’ll come to take care of Angie?”
“You’ll do that for the next week or so.”
“What about after that?” I pushed. “He’s going to come home soon. Word about the diner being closed will spread.”
“I’ll delay him.”
“We can’t keep him out of his own home,” I pointed out, glad that Angie had dozed off under my mother’s careful hands.
“No,” Mary agreed, gently wiping Angie’s filthy arms with a warm, soapy cloth. “We’ll have a short time to fix this before he figures out something happened and demands to come back.”
“Then we just pretend that we don’t know they live like this?”
“Yes. Georgie keeps them in line when he’s here.”
“But he clearly doesn’t care about her either!”
“Actually, he cares too much,” Mary commented, now tugging Angie’s gown down over soiled leggings. “Help me lift her and we’ll get these nasty things off. We’ll leave the soap on for a minute.”
Caring for Angie wasn’t as awkward as I might have imagined it would be. When Mary found a crisis, she snapped into action and handled the people around her. This time, I was grateful. In fifteen minutes, we had the bed changed, Angie washed and redressed in clean clothes, and the worst of the mess bagged up. That was the best we could do for her with the fever was raging.
Doctor Kim gave her two shots. He also wrote a prescription and my mother immediately sent Douglas to fill it.
“What about the drunk?” Mary inquired, rubbing her hip as we finished.
‘She’ll be alert enough for jail come morning,” the doctor muttered, letting his disapproval show.
“If only,” Mary complained. “Please stay as long as you can, Doctor Kim. As usual, it will be worth your while.”
The man surprisingly waved off the offer. “No need, Ms. Brady. I always stay nearby when my patients are this ill.”
Satisfied, Mary left the room, motioning for me to follow.
The doctor sat down on a chair by Angie’s side and I reluctantly went out, not sure what to expect.
“Thank you.” I got it out around the hatred as best I could.
My mother breathed deeply of the fresh air, for once not appearing to mind the winter weather.
“Yes, and you’ll earn this favor, my boy, but for now, let’s get your little friend taken care of and handle the fallout. I have to change my plans. I’ll need time to think.”
“What plans?” I asked worriedly.
“I’ll cover it,” she answered vaguely. “You can go sit with her for the first shift. Don’t bother with food yet. She won’t keep it down.”
“Is she…” I forced myself to go on. “Will she be okay?”
“I think praying on it is something that we might both do, Marcus. She’s bad off. You know that.” Mary patted my arm, the first time she’d ever shown me compassion. “Go be with her while you can.”
I was at Angie’s side seconds later. I didn’t care about witnesses as I took her hot hand and sank down on the floor across from the doctor. I rested my cheek on the edge of her mattress to do something I never thought I would. I prayed to my mother’s God. But I didn’t just beg for mercy for Angie. I also promised to bring down the evil tyrant who was killing our entire town. I thought that was a fair trade.
We spent the night at the trailer, surprised when Frona sobered up around dinnertime and scurried into the kitchen to cook.
Mary didn’t speak to her. She observed the drunken gypsy with a hateful sneer that I couldn’t fault her for. When the meal finished heating–leftover spaghetti–Frona disappeared into her room without a word to anyone or even glancing in Angie’s room as she staggered by. We heard the lock click.
I frowned. “Bet she has a bottle in there.”
“Yes,” Mary murmured. “Go take it from her. Search the drawers and closet for more.”
“She’s probably gonna scream,” I warned.
“So correct her,” Mary ordered.
I went to the rear room with a deep scowl. My mother didn’t understand me at all or she would know that I could never hit a woman.
I knocked on Frona’s door. “Can I come in?”
There was no answer and I drew in a deep breath. “Open this goddamn door right now!”
I sounded so much like Georgie that I heard Angie whimper from down the hall.
I thought my mother would be scowling at my choice of words and was pleased.
The lock clicked and Frona cowered back as the door opened.
“Give it to me.” A bottle was already in her hand and I snatched it before she could pull a last drink.
Frona slapped at me while I searched the filthy, stinking bedroom, but I didn’t react. I found two more bottles, both vodka. I also took the stash of pill bottles from her vanity, earning a kick in the ass. That’s when I told her what she needed to hear.
“You’re pathetic! Get your shit together!”
Frona winced, hands coming up in defense.
“Stay in there until I’m ready to deal with you!” I shouted, slamming the door in her face.
I didn’t know it at that moment, but I had just taken over my mother’s position. She was usually the one who did this part.
“Will a rehab help her?” I asked the doctor as my mother and I joined him in Angie’s room. I didn’t know if we’d ever had a family member so addicted that they’d almost let their child die.
He reluctantly shook his head. “She doesn’t want to stop. Nothing will until she changes.”
“Won’t happen,” Angie choked out. “Too scared. Hides in there.”
Mary and I both grimaced. We knew what she was scared of.
“So we do nothing?” I was horrified. Surely, the tyrant had something up her sleeve for moments like this.
“I can keep him away longer, but you would have to help run the diner,” Mary suggested reluctantly. “It doesn’t fit with our deal.”
I knew that. She didn’t need the family to hear that I’d been shoved into a shop somewhere. “What if you asked Larry? Rodney and Scot can run the farm now.”
Mary frowned a bit. “They’ve sold off enough livestock that both of them don’t need to be there. That could work.”
She stood up, going to check on Angie’s fever now that the shots had been given time to take effect. “I’ll make the calls.”
“What about Frona?” I insisted. I didn’t care about her, but Angie still might.
Mary sighed. “We’ll let the doctor and the good Lord make that call, Marcus. Some things are out of my hands.”
The doctor decided that Frona shouldn’t be dried out all at once. He suggested sending her to a clinic over the state line, where she would receive treatments of a new drug to help her ease off the dependence. Neither of us cared for that suggestion. Instead, we chose to send Angie’s mom to the farm, where Judy could try to help her. The two women had no animosity between them that I knew of, and with Larry at the diner and Georgie out of town, it would give her a little peace to think. Angie was all for that. Between coughs, she thanked Mary as if she actually meant it. Knowing Angie, she did. I hoped she was smart enough to understand that my mother wasn’t helping out of the kindness in her heart. She would want something. A simple visit might have been covered in our deal, but this was more than either of us had anticipated. There would be a heavy payment required for all the sudden favors that had to be called in.
I didn’t care. It was all worth it when Angie’s fever broke and the doctor verified that she would survive. I didn’t know what I might have don
e if she’d died, but it definitely would have been the end of any deals.
It took four days of medicine before Angie’s cough started to go away and she could eat real food. In that time, Frona was shipped out and I was allowed to stay. I fed Angie, helped her dress, and took her to the bathroom, all under Mary’s guidance. She knew when Angie was ready for food or a trip to the john. I was also grateful for that.
Angie was so weak that even a few minutes of alertness exhausted her. We got to say hello and goodnight a lot during that four days, but we didn’t talk much. She wasn’t capable of it yet. I didn’t mind that part, but it made me angry all over again when she would fall asleep during a sentence or with food in her mouth. She should have never gotten this bad. Daniel had been right. I couldn’t leave her alone again unless she was protected.
My mother knew. She didn’t try to send me off or distract me. She did teach me how to care for someone who was deathly ill, though. I hadn’t realized how good Mary was at nursing. When had she learned to care for someone other than herself? I’d always assumed that Douglas did the laboring.
My mother went home on day three, leaving me with Douglas to finish tending Angie through her illness. She got well quickly as both of us pushed soup and water into her. When she was able enough to walk down the hall on her own, the expected separation still didn’t come. At night, a nursing student sat with Angie while I tried to sleep on her couch. During the day, it was just us, the way we preferred it. My mother kept her word and then a little more.
I was the one who finally decided it wasn’t right for me to be there any longer. We arranged for the nurse to stay during the nights and I visited every day.
