Читать книгу Tiger Lilly - Sharon Vander Meer - Страница 9

Harve always said you should never get angry at an animal because they don’t think like humans. I can’t be angry with Krank. He was doing what comes natural. And I must say he’s not so intimidating as he looks.

Lilly glanced down at her feet. Krank was snoozing with his muzzle resting on her right foot. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that but it was oddly comforting. If she’d known being in human company would have shut him up, she’d have let him in sooner. A niggling thought banged at her conscience. No, she wasn’t like the dog; she didn’t need human company. She got tired of people pretty quick.

I haven’t the energy right now to tackle cleaning up the dog’s mess. Maybe I can enlist the help of Annie and the children. They sure did a good job on the garage.

Lilly bounced the pen on the page. Nonsense. She would do it herself. Harve would have wanted it just like he left it. No matter that with him gone the work of keeping it up was becoming more than she could handle.

I don’t know where they went, but it’s coming up on time to think about what to have for supper. I’ll be switched for a choir member before I’ll fix dinner for that bunch again! The meatloaf is gone. Krank and I finished it off. I could fry hamburger and layer that with the leftover mashed potatoes. It would make up into a credible knock-off shepherd’s pie. Yuck.

Or I could do soup. Soup doesn’t go bad and if they don’t eat it today, then it would still be edible tomorrow.

What am I thinking?! I am NOT preparing another meal for them.

Lilly closed her journal and patted it in a gesture of assertiveness. No matter what, she wasn’t going to cook for them and she wasn’t hungry. She moved her foot carefully so Krank’s muzzle slid off without waking him. Poor thing must be exhausted. He’d been up all night and busy all day. She wasn’t forgiving him all that easy, make no mistake, just recognizing reality.

She’d just put the journal away when she heard a car pull into the drive. Krank must have heard it too. His woof, woof was one of mild curiosity.

The bell rang and Krank went past her in a blur.

“I’m coming!” she said, thinking Krank was going to scare the pants off whoever was calling on her. Maybe having the dog around wasn’t so bad.

She opened the door to find Annie standing there with a bulging plastic garbage bag in one hand and a clutch of Dairy Queen bags in the other. Marie hugged the stuffed pink pig and Caleb stood back holding Alex awkwardly with his arms bracing the child against him. The younger boy’s head lolled on Caleb’s shoulder and he appeared to be asleep.

Lilly opened the door wider and pushed open the screen.

The bedraggled family trooped in and Caleb headed toward the bedroom. “I’m putting Alex down.”

“Wake him up or he won’t sleep tonight,” Annie said wearily. “And you need to change his clothes.”

“Mo-om! I gotta change too.”

Annie closed her eyes and took in a shallow breath. Marie hurried after her brothers. After a hopeful nudge of his nose at the DQ bags, Krank followed them, tail whipping back and forth joyfully.

Lilly reached out to take the garbage bag. Annie blinked rapidly at the dog’s retreating backside.

“We, we put him out, I know we did!”

“I let him in. The neighbor complained about his barking. He’s been fine. I guess he wanted company.”

Annie seemed unable to respond to this and merely nodded.

“Where have you been?” Lilly asked gently, taking the surprisingly heavy plastic garbage bag and leading Annie toward the kitchen so she could get rid of the fast food bags. The woman looked on the verge of shattering.

“I, ummm, wanted to register Caleb and Marie for school, and, and do laundry.” She gestured with a limp wave of her hand at the garbage bag.

“Why on earth did you go to a laundry? You should have used the machines in the garage.” Lilly stopped when she saw tears brim in Annie’s eyes.

“I, that’s what Caleb said, but I don’t, you know, want to be any trouble.”

“Child,” Lilly said, putting down the bag of wet clothes and relieving Annie of the Dairy Queen bags, “If I thought having you here was going to be trouble for me I would have never said yes when you called.” Lilly cringed inside at the lie. Maybe God would overlook it, considering.

Annie’s chin quivered for a tick in time. She sucked in a breath and let it out again. “It’s just everything that should be easy turns out to be so hard.”

Lilly didn’t know what she was referring to but figured it pretty much covered life in general. “Ain’t it the truth,” she said, which elicited a tentative smile from the younger woman.

“We were going to have…” she gestured at the food bags, “for lunch but one thing and another happened. The clothes are still wet; I hope you don’t mind if I dry them here. I could hang them on the line.”

“I haven’t had an outside clothesline in years,” Lilly laughed. “You put them in the dryer and I’ll have no more talk about you not using what’s here. Those appliances don’t get enough of a workout as it is.”

Annie’s face bunched and Lilly thought for sure she was going to start bawling, but she held onto her composure and nodded. “Thank you, thank you more than I can say.”

“Nonsense. I’ll look in these bags and see what can be salvaged.”

Krank clicked into the kitchen and looked from one of them to the other. Apparently satisfied at some doggie level he headed for the patio door and stood waiting to be let out.

“I’ll be switched,” Lilly said. “He sure does know how to behave. Who’d have thought?”

Annie smiled. “He isa good dog.” She reached to open the door to let Krank out and saw the havoc he’d wrought in their absence. “Oh… my… God.” The tears she’d managed to master broke like a busted dam. She sank to the floor and wept choking sobs.

Marie and Caleb rushed in. “What did you do to her?” Caleb yelled, going to his mother. The gentle arm he placed around her shoulders was at odds with the fury he flashed at Lilly as he patted Annie ineffectually.

Marie was on her knees next to her mother, silent tears streaming down her face. Krank licked Annie’s arm, which seemed to get her attention when nothing else could.

“No, Caleb,” she said, and straightened her shoulders. She placed a comforting arm around the two children. “Mrs. Irish…” Annie saw the barely discernable flicker in the older woman’s eyes, “Aunt Lilly didn’t do anything.”

She turned to look out into the yard and opened the door so Krank could go out.

“But look what Krank did.”

Caleb’s mouth dropped open.

“Wow,” Marie whispered.

Caleb darted a look at Lilly, his shoulders hunched up around his ears, and Marie hid behind her mother.

Lilly was at a loss. What did they expect her to do? She’d already been through her disappointment and there was no more to be said.

“Well, then, I don’t think this food is going to get any better for sitting here. When did you pick it up? You don’t think it has spoiled do you?”

The words seemed to give Annie the boost she needed to pull herself together.

“I shouldn’t think so. Caleb, Marie, put your jackets on and go do what you can to clean up Krank’s mess.”

Lilly started to protest that she would do the cleanup but realized doing so would inject one more complication for Annie to deal with.

“I’ll get the jackets, I’ll get the jackets,” Marie sing-songed. She skipped down the hall and disappeared.

Caleb toed the hardwood floor.

“Go on, boy,” Lilly said. “We’ll put your dinner together.”

It was evident he wanted to say something but was at a loss for the right words.

Marie skipped into the room wearing her hooded sweatshirt, one hand dragging Caleb’s jacket behind her. She held the stuffed pig firmly under her arm. Annie gently pushed Caleb toward the door. After a brief hesitation he shrugged into his jacket and stepped outside.

Annie looked up from where she still knelt by the door. “I think it’s time I tell you a little about us.”

“Yes, I think that would be a good idea.”

At that moment Alex came into the family room rubbing at his sleepy eyes.

Peace at last! Everyone is down for the night, including the dog. What an afternoon and evening. The food was mostly salvageable. I heated up mashed potatoes from last night, layered that with the chicken strips and topped it with left over mixed vegetables. The whole lot of them thought I was off my rocker but not a single person turned it down! Krank ate the hamburger patties from the DQ meals, after we threw the sodden bread away. I made a quick chocolate sheet cake and put that with ice cream. All in all, a pretty good meal if I do say so.

The children apparently had quite a day, which didn’t include getting registered in school. I never got the details but from the dour look on Caleb’s face he wasn’t too happy. Truth be told everyone was subdued, probably tired. All that traveling and then cleaning up after that dog. I will give Annie credit; whatever she asks, those children do.

A snuffling noise startled Lilly until she remembered that the dog, for some bizarre reason, had decided there was nothing for it but that he would sleep in her room. Every attempt to dissuade him had ended up in dog whines and barks of protest. Since he seemed content enough to settle down on the floor at the foot of her bed, she decided it was better to leave him to it rather than have Phyllis Arrington call the police because of his barking.

Caleb and Marie had been thoroughly put out by the whole thing, quite upset the animal wanted to be with her rather than one of them. At some fundamentally childish level Lilly felt like crowing. Served them right for being so snippy.

I absolutely hate having animals in the house. No matter how clean they are they’re still dirty in my mind. All that dog hair and bad breath. I mean, really, animals should be outside. Annie said that Krank is, despite his size, a housedog and knows how to behave himself. You couldn’t prove it by me! Then again, maybe being someplace new has unsettled him. I know change has that effect on me. Of course I don’t go tear up people’s garages and yards!

She twitched her nose.

I’m on the schedule tomorrow. Annie said she will get Caleb and Marie registered in school. She wants to look for a job. I don’t know how I feel about that. I’m okay with her contributing to the additional expenses caused by them being here. What I don’t like is the implication they will be around for awhile. I’m an old woman. I don’t know how long I can put up with the chaos, and is there ever chaos!

Getting Marie to bed took Annie a good hour. Alexander flat out refused to take a bath. That’s when it came out he’d wet his pants and soaked Caleb at the same time. Peeing on stuff seems to be a big thing with these people, and their dog too.

Annie asked me about getting a job at ShopMart. I discouraged that. Aside from the pay being downright embarrassing, I don’t want a situation where I might have to pick up her slack.

Lilly’s eyes began to droop and the last line fairly scrawled across the page. She yawned mightily and closed the journal. Eleven o’clock. She wouldn’t be worth a nickel at work if she didn’t get some rest.

She placed the journal in the drawer in her nightstand and took out a different one. It had been some time since she had written in this journal, or even looked at it. She touched the cover and ran her fingers over the letters: Lilly’s Prayer Journalwritten in formal script. She had several of them filled with daily reflections and prayers and more that remained empty. Harve had given her the blank books as a gift. He’d had them made for her by a friend of his who did specialty bookbinding.

The cover was imprinted with a splash of salmon colored tiger lilies against a white background. Tiger lilies were her favorite flower. She loved the color but she mostly loved the fact that it took absolutely nothing to make them grow.

She thought back to when he had given her the books. She was having a time of it trying to be the kind of wife Harve needed and the best substitute mom possible, and feeling she was failing on every front. Lilly loved her husband dearly but continued to have doubts about how long their marriage would last. Her insecurities made doing the right things for the right reasons a daily challenge. She was frustrated with being proper and nice and available to everyone.

Her mother and father added to her stress by constantly calling to see if she had heard from Milly, or to relate Milly’s latest news, which usually involved asking for money because Trey had just gotten laid off, or Trey had quit because his boss didn’t like him, or the other employees didn’t carry their own weight and he had to do all the work. There was always a reason Trey Hadley was out of work.

Using the excuse they didn’t want to interfere, they would pay for Lilly’s transportation to visit Milly. Ever the obedient daughter, despite having more to do than she could handle, Lilly would agree to go. She never went to Milly’s house. They met at restaurants and Lilly never stayed over. It was a tiring trip but one she couldn’t refuse to make.

Lilly had been worn down by all the pressures in her life and didn’t know which way to turn. One day right before Christmas, Harve came home with a large wrapped box.

“This is for you. A gift.”

“A gift? I thought we decided no gifts for each other.”

That had been an easy decision to make. On Harve’s salary there was hardly enough money to get by, especially with two kids in the house who thought they should have the same high-priced sneakers everybody else wore.

“I know, but I think you need this.”

“What is it?”

“Open it, go ahead.”

She’d loved the books but wished he hadn’t put the business about prayer journalon every single one of them.

“I know you would have liked something else, but with all you’re going through right now, I thought you needed a place to talk to God.”

It had struck her as an odd thing to say.

“My dearest,” he said. “You love to write. This is a way for you to write your feelings, get them off your chest and onto the page. It’s a way to count your blessings instead of looking at all the ways you’re feeling pressured.”

It took a while to get into it but once she did she enjoyed—and admittedly—benefited from the experience. The last time she’d written in it was the day Harve died, more than two years ago. She opened the journal to her last entry.

That Harve. Honestly, Lord, you would think the only thing we have to do is dig in the dirt. He’s going to give me a heart attack! I’m not one for working too hard, as you know. As for Harve, he gets such joy out of it and I thank you for that. Still, February is too early to be turning soil in northern New Mexico. You could send a cold snap and all this work would be for nothing.

He’s already talking about what he will put in the garden this year. Okra. First time he tried it I told him you can’t grow okra in this part of the country; it’s too cold. You know what happened, Lord, he had a bumper crop and everyone at church got more than enough (probably more than some of them wanted).

Why did you put us together? We’re hardly suited. He’s such a good man and, well, you know me, Lord, I’m not so good. Anyway, thank you for this day and every day. Amen

She blinked away the sting in her eyes. The next day he had the heart attack and died. She closed the book and slipped it back in the drawer. She removed her glasses from the top of her head, laid them on the nightstand and turned out the light. Sleep seemed unlikely but it stole over her. Lulled by the oddly comforting sound of Krank’s breathing Lilly was soon asleep.