Broken Women

by Anne Hagan

  Finally, she relented. She shook herself loose of the grip Treadway still had on the other arm and turned toward her truck.

  Stopping me, Mel cautioned, “Stay with her and, whatever you do tread softly.”

  As we drove south, away from the bar, Barb was silent. She sat, half turned in the passenger seat, looking back until The Boar’s Head slipped from view. Finally, she spun back around but she stared straight ahead, not really seeing, I felt, just lost inside her own thoughts.

  “Mel will do everything in her power to get it back Barb; get it back today.”

  She didn’t look at me as she responded, “If they leave anything for me to have back.”

  We drove the rest of the way to Morelville in silence. When I reached the edge of the village, I asked, “Can you tell me where we’re going please?”

  Barb pointed ahead. “Turn right at the next block.”

  I did as she said.

  “It’s the colonial half a mile down on the right.”

  Just outside of the village limits, there were no more homes until we came to Barb’s colonial mini-mansion set a few acres back off the road. I tried to keep my surprise in check as I drove along the gravel track back to the house.

  “You’re thinking it’s too big for just one person, aren’t you?”

  “No,” I said. “I’m thinking it’s beautiful.”

  “I shouldn’t have bought it. It’s too much to keep up for just me. Mom and dad are getting up there in years. I thought maybe they’d want to come here but they like the little one floor condo they have in Zanesville.”

  “Do you love it?”

  Barb looked the house over. “I do,” she answered. “I do.”

  “That’s all that matters then.”

  Not knowing what to expect inside, I was surprised by the comfort that was evident even though the place was decorated simply with a mix of antiques and newer pieces designed for a modern country home.

  “This is amazing Barb.”

  “You like it?”

  “Absolutely. I guess I expected a lot of antiques and you do have some but, I don’t know how to say it…I didn’t expect the soft leather couch and chairs and all the wood. It looks so warm and comfortable.”

  “Dana’s mother did most of it. She’s quite talented.”

  “Chloe did this?” I spun around looking at everything again.

  Barb nodded. “She did Mel and Dana’s place and figured out she had a knack for it. I asked her to do mine.”

  “Where are my manners,” she asked herself more than me. Can I get you something to drink?”

  “No thank you. I’m fine.”

  Barb moved toward a sofa facing the fireplace in the great room and sat down heavily. I took a seat in a soft leather armchair a few feet from her and waited for whatever was coming next.

  “Can I ask you a question?” I said to her, when the silence became unsettling.

  She tilted her head to look at me and nodded her consent.

  “Would you have come back here if your parents were…well?” I was certainly curious but, more than that, I wanted to get her mind off what was going on at her business.

  She half smiled. “I grew up in Zanesville…couldn’t wait to get out of town. A couple years after high school, I left. I went to live with an aunt out on the west coast. It was a whole different world, a whole different way of life. I loved it out there and…that’s when I figured a few things out.”

  I just nodded and let her talk.

  There were probably twenty different jobs and almost as many women along the way when I met Lisa and settled down. I’d finally finished college taking classes here and there at night. I had a business degree but no idea what to do with it.

  Lisa had a background in hospitality and restaurant management. She got a little bit of money from an inheritance when we’d been together about seven or eight months. We used it to buy our first bar; a ramshackle old gay bar in a gay ghetto that was being ‘gentrified’. We hung in there and sold it for what we thought then was a small fortune. We spent a little of it but reinvested most of the rest into another place.”

  “Over the years, we just kept moving from place to place rehabbing failing bars in good locations. We sold most of them but kept a few others for income. Everything was good until Lisa got…sick…”

  Barb grew quiet. Her eyes became unfocused as she seemed lost in her thoughts. I felt bad about leading her down that track but I didn’t know how to pull back now that she was on it.

  A sob escaped from her throat and her arm shook as she raised her hand to her face and covered her eyes.

  I stood and moved to the sofa where I took a seat beside her. Gently, I placed an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to lean against me as she sobbed.

  “I’m so sorry,” she choked out several long minutes later. “I think I’ve finally gotten a grip on it all and then it just comes back in a wave.”

  “It’s okay Barb, really.”

  “I came back here because I realized I’d already lost everything but my parents that meant anything to me. I just can’t bear to lose any more, you know? Not right now. Them, this house and that bar are all I have left.” She looked at me intently.

  My thoughts were a jumble as I nodded silently and then sucked in a deep breath. I knew I should get back to the scene and try and lend whatever help I could but I certainly didn’t want to leave Barb alone in her current state.

  I took my arm from around her and started to put a little distance between us on the sofa but she put a hand on my leg and stopped me cold.

  “Thank you,” she said simply, her eyes still rimmed with tears. “It’s hard for me to open up about all of that.”

  “You’re welcome,” I responded back. It was all I could think of to say.

  Barb held my gaze for several seconds and then leaned toward me, closing the distance between us. She brushed my lips with hers in a soft kiss that was completely unexpected. I froze. I didn’t know how to take it or if I should respond. Taking advantage of a woman in a weak moment wasn’t my style.

  Barb’s cell buzzing on the side table where she’d dropped it when we came in saved me.

  She twisted around to grab it and said, “It’s Dana,” before she answered it.

  I stood and stepped away to a window to look out and to give her a little privacy so I only got one side of the conversation but I heard her tell Dana that I was with her and that, yes, it was the bar.

  She hung up after a minute or so and beckoned me back toward her. I moved back toward the center of the room but remained standing and kept a little distance between us.

  “Dana said the local radio stations are all reporting about the bar. She called to see if I was all right. Morelville’s on lockdown and they’re all sitting around at Kris’s house.”

  “Lockdown? Mel just wanted the roads blocked so nobody made it up to the intersection near the Boar’s Head and got hurt. That’s got to have people all freaked out.”

  Barb looked at me strangely.

  “What?” I asked, when I finally noticed her watching me.

  “You’re antsy all of a sudden. Did I make you uncomfortable?”

  I hadn’t realized that I was bouncing from foot to foot. Self-consciously, I stopped. “No; it’s not you. I’m just really thinking I should be up there helping them do whatever they’re going to do to save your place but there’s no way I’m leaving you by yourself.”

  “I appreciate that,” she said, “but you need to do what you need to do. I’m a big girl.”

  “Nope; I’m not leaving you. I have my orders.”

  Barb nodded and appeared thoughtful. After a pause, she said to me, “How about you run me over to Kris’s place? I know all of them. I’ll just hang there and do whatever they’re doing. You can take my truck back up to the bar.”

  ###

  February 16th, 2015

  The Boar’s Head

  “I really appreciate you all coming to help me clean,”
Barb told the group of us that included Dana and her mother Chloe, Mel’s mother Faye and me, my mom and my aunt. “It’s a disaster in here after the gang takeover but, thanks to Mel and her team, at least it’s still standing. Mess we can deal with. Rubble, not so much.”

  “At least you’re in good spirits about it,” Chloe Rossi replied to her. “What do you want us to do?” Barb started telling our little group about the most pressing tasks. While she did that, I sort of edged away from my mom and more toward her so I could try and get a private word with her.

  My mom was having one of her better days but she still wasn’t very mobile. I was off for the day though and she wanted to spend it with me so here we were. When she was finally done handing out assignments, I pulled Barb aside and explained the situation.

  Tipping my head toward mom, I told her, “If you could have her role silverware, or…or, well anything she could do sitting down. She wants to help but I can’t let her overdo it.” I glanced over at Aunt Leslie who, apparently figuring out what I was up to, was keeping my mom distracted.

  “No problem Barb told me.” With that, she turned sharply around and marched herself right over to mom. “Mrs. Mason,” she addressed her, “do I have a job for you! How’s your eye for detail?”

  “It’s just fine and call me Edith. What do you need from me dear?” My mom actually smiled, seemingly happy to be tasked with something.

  “Those dirty bikers all but destroyed this place. Now, I’ve been able to put a lot of the furniture and such back to right and with this crew, we’ll get most of the rest of the cleanup done today but I just don’t have the time or the patience for some of the file sorting. They just trashed my office and my files. It would be great if you could help with any of that at all but you just tell me now, if you don’t want to do it.”

  “I’ll do whatever you need.”

  “You sit right there then. I’ll be right back with some stuff to get you started.” Barb turned to me and said, “Janet, if you don’t mind, I’ll need just a bit of a hand.” She whirled and headed toward the kitchen while mom looked on. Not sure what I was about to get into, I followed somewhat more slowly than Barb was moving.

  I found her in her office turning a key in a locked filing cabinet. “Grab an empty box from over there, if you would.”

  I picked up a box that had, at one time, held a dozen bottles of Kentucky bourbon and handed it to her. She plucked the bottle dividers out of it and laid them on her desk then set the box down on her chair. She pulled a dozen or more banded stacks of credit card receipts out of a cabinet drawer, un-banded them and started to throw the stacks into the box.

  “Mix those up like tossed salad,” she commanded.

  I did as I was told while she dug out several more stacks; one for each day for at least a couple of weeks. As she handed them off to me, I mixed those in too.

  These go with a shred company once a month but I keep them in here until they’re picked up. Those hoodlums tried to get into the safe but they didn’t bother with this cabinet.

  “Thanks Barb. I appreciate this. Trying to sort through all of these out to keep her out of trouble and out of our hair for a while.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “Excuse me?”

  “For not calling you. I…I... I don’t even know where to start with you.”

  “How about we just start over again as friends for now, huh? Neither one of us is in any position for anything beyond that right now. You’re still grieving and I get that. You also have a mess here on your hands and your own parents to think about and you saw out there what I’m dealing with.”

  She pursed her lips and nodded at me.

  Chapter 23

  Barb

  Early Tuesday Afternoon, March 10th, 2015

  “Hey Mel, what’s up?”

  “Edith Mason was admitted to Genesis late last night. It doesn’t look good…I just thought you’d want to know.”

  “Oh my. How’s…how’s Janet doing?”

  “About as well as can be expected, under the circumstances. She’s with her now.”

  “Yeah…okay. Thanks for letting me know.”

  I hadn’t set foot in a hospital since the day Lisa died. Other than running dad to appointments with various doctors, I hadn’t had anything at all to do with the medical profession since then either. Just the thought of entering a healthcare facility to visit a patient in the last stages of life unnerved me.

  ‘Janet’s your friend; you have to go,’ my brain and my heart told me. In my soul, I wasn’t so sure.

  It had been years since I’d been inside the Genesis facility. When I inquired at the information desk for Edith’s room number, I was directed to the trauma unit. That both puzzled and scared me.

  Following the signs along the main floor toward ER, I found the trauma area pretty easily even though much of the building had been renovated and redesigned since I’d last been in it. When I stopped at the locked double doors leading to the patient area, my heart was pumping so hard, it felt like it was going to come out of my chest. Trying to calm myself just a little, I took a couple of deep breaths and then buzzed to be let back into the unit.

  Edith’s room was directly across from the nurse’s station. Janet was standing facing the door when I walked up to it. There was no turning back now.

  It wasn’t until I got into the room that I realized Edith’s sister Leslie was also there. She was bent over the bed on the side nearer the door but out of direct view, speaking in a low tone directly into her sister’s left ear. Edith lay on her back on the bed, her eyes closed, her features gaunt, an oxygen cannula in her nose. Though she wasn’t hooked up to any other monitors, she looked to be barely clinging to life.

  Leslie turned toward the sound of my footsteps, pursed her lips into a thin line and slightly shook her head. I got the message; the prognosis wasn’t good. She turned back to her sister and I walked toward Janet.

  “You didn’t have to come,” she said.

  “It’s the least I could do; after the things you’ve done for me.”

  Janet sighed. “She was a little out of it and in a lot of pain when we brought her in but conscious and able to communicate. For the last three hours she’s been completely non-responsive.”

  “What are they thinking…I mean, what are they planning to do?”

  Janet was silent. It was Leslie who answered my question. “There’s nothing they can do, dear.”

  Janet whispered, “This is it. It’s the end.”

  My heart dropped. I shook my head and whispered, “I’m so sorry.”

  Shortly after my arrival, Genesis moved Edith from Trauma to the hospice area. I stayed throughout the day to support Janet and Leslie and to act as a go-fer for whatever they needed. Several times I stepped out of Edith’s room to make way for various family members and friends that came in a thin trickle throughout the day to make a final call to the barely living woman.

  At one point Janet joined me in the family waiting area. I was just stirring sugar into a cup of coffee when she rounded the corner of the hallway and entered the room.

  “Taking a break?”

  She nodded.

  “Coffee?”

  She nodded again then leaned back against the counter as I made her a cup.

  “My Aunt Rhoda showed up, mom’s other sister.”

  “The one that’s ‘holier than thou’?”

  “That’s the one.”

  I shot her a look.

  “Really, I tried to be nice; bit my tongue several times as she was barking out questions and orders. It just got to be too much. I had to leave before I said or did something I’d regret.”

  “Good for you. How long do you think she’ll be here; I mean, you can’t hide out forever.”

  “Not very long, I’d imagine. I’m sure she has far more important things to do today than sit here all day.”

  “Is she really that bad?”

  Janet just looked at me.

  M
uch later, well after the dinner hour, it was just the four of us there in the room again. Edith was still hanging on to a thin strand of life but she hadn’t moved a muscle or so much as flicked an eyelid in response to someone speaking to her in hours. Death was imminent.

  “You need to go home Aunt Leslie. Get some rest.”

  She looked at her husband Bob who’d arrived after a long day of tending to their family farm and their animals solo to pay his own respects and to try and coax his wife home. “I just can’t leave her,” she told him.

  “You’ve been here for hours,” Janet said. “She doesn’t even know we’re here anymore, any of us. There isn’t anything else we can do now but wait. I can do that. You go home, sleep and come back in the morning.”

  “But, what if she passes in the night?”

  I stepped in then, “Then you and Janet will need to get together to make funeral arrangements. You’ll need to be fresh and thinking clearly for that.” Bob nodded his agreement and coaxed her to say her goodbyes.

  Finally, after a round of whispering in her sisters’ ear and hugs for all of us, Bob ushered her out the door. Janet and I were quiet. I watched her and she watched her mother.

  Around midnight, as I stood to stretch my aching muscles, I could have sworn Edith moved just a little. I watched her intently. Janet was half dozed off, sitting straight up in a chair. I wasn’t about to disturb her if I was simply seeing things in my own tired state of mind.

  Scooting my chair a foot or so closer to the bed, I perched on the edge and watched her face. Her eyes flickered; not open but there was movement. Then, they did it again. I stood and moved to her.

  “Edith, it’s Barb. Can you hear me?”

  Janet jerked awake. “What are you doing?” she called to me even though I was barely three feet from her.

  “I swore I saw her sort of shudder a minute ago and now her eyes are flickering.”

  “How is that possible? Do you think she’s coming to?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. We should probably call for the nurse.”