Читать книгу Celia's Shadow - Sandy Levy Kirschenbaum - Страница 16

Celia felt triumphant when she beat the paper thief to her Sunday Globe. She flipped through the headlines and the lifestyle section, as she relaxed with a fresh cup of Kona coffee. The coffee was a gift from Kate and Tom after their recent trip to Hawaii.

She barely rinsed her coffee mug before she placed it in the wooden dish rack to the right of the sink. The dish rack also held her ice cream bowl from the previous day and four large soup spoons she had used to scoop the ice cream from its container. Daily, Celia would use one of her largest spoons to shovel out an oversized serving of ice cream, lick it dry and then toss the used utensil into the sink. After three or more samplings, she inevitably gave in and filled a cereal bowl to the top. For Celia, pint size meant single serving. A carton of ice cream lasted a very short time in her freezer.

She gathered the magazines, circulars, real estate section, and a bowl of fresh cherries and then walked down the three flights to her front steps. The sunlight streamed in between her building and the one next door. The dwellings were close together. The driveway was narrow, barely wide enough for the tenants’ cars to pass through.

Like most summer Sundays, the street was quiet and somewhat deserted. Celia opened her first magazine when, in a flash, her solitude and serenity ended. He raced toward her. His tan and white ears flapped up and down, his tongue hung out to one side and his leash jingled as it dragged behind him. His tail wagged wildly as he put his front paws up where Celia sat. He pushed his shimmering wet nose into the circular. She moved the paper to her other side as he plopped himself down, just about in her lap, and nuzzled against her. “Aren’t you the cutest little thing?” She stroked his floppy ears and the top of his head. “And who have you escaped from?” He was barely full-grown and extremely energetic. She continued to rub his head and neck while she checked for tags. He was well-cared for, with a shaggy light-tan coat dappled with swirls of white.

Within seconds, a young boy dressed in baggy denim shorts, a dark-green T-shirt, and a dingy white and red baseball cap, worn backward on his head, appeared at the opening of her driveway. Except for the panicked lost my dog expression, he was like every other kid in the neighborhood. He walked toward Celia and his liberated puppy, who sat comfortably by her side.

“Trudy! I thought I lost you! Stay there!” He relaxed his shoulders and let out a big sigh. “Stay!”

“I'm holding his leash. He won’t be going anywhere, at least not right now. You have a friendly little dog! Quite the leaner.” The dog continued to lean into her pale-blue sundress. “If he leans against me any harder, he’ll push me off these steps.”

“Oh yeah, she’s wicked friendly, and she loves to run off. I’m in the middle of training her now. Sorry if she’s bothering you.”

“Oh, he’s a she. Don’t be sorry. I love dogs, and she’s adorable. She can run this way any time. Here you go.” Celia moved forward and handed the boy Trudy’s leash. She patted the dog’s head one more time.

“Thank you, ma’am.” He took the leash from Celia.

No, not ma’am. Not that word. She cringed. “You’re welcome. My name is Celia.” She responded immediately to keep him from calling her the “M” word again.

“Hi, I’m Noah. I don’t know what happened. I reached down to tie my sneaker and she took off. We had just left my uncle’s house. We’re staying with him for the summer.” He stepped into the handle of Trudy’s leash, and wrapped it around his ankle.

“You have her now, Noah. Hold on tight.”

Noah bent down and picked up a large rock at the side of the driveway where he and Trudy stood. He tossed the rock up into the air as they spoke. Trudy’s head moved up and down and her ears bounced along while her eyes followed the stone into the air and back down again into the palm of Noah’s hand.

“My uncle lives around the corner on Washington Street. He moved in last winter and he invited Trudy and me to stay with him for the whole summer. He doesn’t want me to walk Trudy by his house because it’s a wicked busy road. Uncle Bill is a huge worrier. Ya know, it’s a good thing I listened to him too, because if Trudy got away from me over by his house, she could have gone into the street. I hate to think what could have happened if she did that, ya know.” Noah dropped the rock, and before he could grab it, Trudy pounced on it and took it into her mouth. “Trade, Trudy, trade.” He extended his arm as if he was about to give her something in return. She wagged her tail furiously and plopped the slimy wet stone into Noah’s hand as she waited for her reward. “She turned one about a month ago. She’s still got that puppy behavior, if you know what I’m talking about.” He reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a biscuit, which he then gave to Trudy as her prize for trading the rock.

“Oh, I know exactly what you mean. I used to have a dog and I remember all too well that puppy behavior. Mine would run away every chance she got. I guess they love the feeling of freedom. It drove me nuts.”

“Yeah, it drives me nuts too. Thank you for catching her. I was wicked scared I wouldn’t find her. My parents would be super mad if they came back and Trudy had run away.”

“I’m happy I could help you. But I didn’t find her. She sort of ran to me.”

“Thank you, thank you, and thank you again.” He rubbed Trudy’s head. “My parents wanted to board her while they were away for the summer, but I promised I would take care of her by myself. Uncle Bill helps me too.”

“It’s nice you get to stay with your uncle for the entire summer.”

Noah took his baseball cap off and tucked it into his back pocket. “Yeah, my dad’s doing research in California and I didn’t want to go. I begged them to let me stay here. I’m a ballplayer, ya know. I didn’t want to be away because I was hoping to make the All-Star team. I’m almost sure I’ll make the team. At least, my coach says I will! If I went to California, I wouldn’t have been able to play, and I would have been wicked upset about that. That’s for sure. Playing on the All-Stars is like a once-in-a-lifetime chance, ya know?”

Celia was entertained by his innocence and enthusiasm. He was full of conversation. “That’s terrific, Noah. You must be a great ballplayer to make that team.”

“I’m not terrible, but I’m not the best. My regular team usually plays down the street at the park near the church. If you ever see us, you should watch. It’s wicked exciting.”

“I’ll watch for you. I walk by there every day.”

“Uncle Bill lets me go down to Pete’s to pick up stuff. We’re having company for lunch today to celebrate his new job. I’m going down there now to get soda. Maybe we’ll see you on the way back.” He stepped out from the leash’s handle and wrapped it around his hand and wrist. “See ya.” He waved as they walked out to the sidewalk.

“Bye.” It would be nice to have a dog again. Would be a lot of work to train. I could get a rescue and then wouldn’t have to deal with the puppy stuff and would save a dog at the same time. Hmm.

“See, here we are again. Told ya.” Noah held the leash tight as Trudy pulled toward Celia's driveway.

“Have fun at your celebration.”

“Bye-bye. And thank you for catching her.” They disappeared from Celia’s sight.

She thought of her last dog. A salt-and-pepper schnauzer named Heidi. For a small dog, she had a ferocious appetite. Much to Celia’s dismay, Heidi’s favorite treat was a bar of soap. Heidi would sneak into Celia’s bathroom, jump into the bathtub, and grab the soap from its dish. Without fail, after each soapy snack, she would proceed to vomit on a carpet somewhere in the house. Never would her upset stomach reject the soap on the tile floor—Heidi always got sick on something plush. When Celia cleaned the mess, the regurgitated soap would foam, lather, and stink. Celia began to keep the soap too high for Heidi to reach. In the end, a new bar of patchouli-scented soap took Heidi to the great beyond. She was fourteen years old. Her little body couldn’t take the upset. Celia felt sad as she remembered her sweet Heidi. She never bought patchouli soap again.

She picked up the real estate section and read descriptions of ocean-front homes for sale in nearby communities. I have an ocean view. She could see a tiny square of the ocean from her bedroom window. This patch of water was Celia’s definition of an ocean view.

Celia popped a cherry into her mouth. She ate the fruit and then sucked the pit. She glanced around to be sure no one was watching and then spit the pit across the narrow driveway. Why can’t I reach that strip of grass? She ate another cherry and spit the second pit. With cherry after cherry, she attempted to get the pit across the driveway. Not one pit made it to the grass. Finally, she reached the strip of grass. “Yes! I did it!” She pulled her fist to her side.

Celia heard the church bells ring and then cleaned up the spit pits.