Michigan town couldn’t keep them prisoner anymore. They had both moved out of state, Carol to Arizona, Joan to Georgia. It had been mom, Tori and him for all those years since. With the occasional phone call and even more rare visit. “I don’t know.”
“Mom’s not going to want to slow down.” She glanced at him. “She’s still working. Still involved in the garden club. The library literacy club. She watches the boys for me after school at least twice a week.” Fresh tears started at the thought. “What if this is my fault?”
“Before we go assigning blame, let’s find out what we’re dealing with. But no.” He squeezed her hand again. “None of this is your fault.”
He slowed down for their exit and breathed a sigh of relief when the hospital came into view. The sooner the doctors could examine his mom, the sooner they could find out what was wrong.
Then fix it.
SUZY’S ALARM SOUNDED from her cell phone. She sat up. Stretched. Rubbed her eyes. It had taken a while, but she’d finally fallen asleep. Good thing too. She had to work tonight at the nursing home.
She turned off the alarm and stood. Her eyes fell on the yellow notice. Oh, right. She’d forgotten about that. Two weeks to clean up the backyard shouldn’t be hard, right? Just a matter of getting the trash bags to the curb on pick up day. Straighten a few things. No big deal.
After she made her afternoon cup of coffee and added plenty of cream and sugar, she pried open the sliding door that led to the deck. Stood and observed the yard. Tried to see what Mr. Stone had seen.
Yep, those trash bags were waiting by the garage. Had to be at least a dozen of them. But she worked on collection days, and by the time she got home, she wanted to sleep. Not haul trash to the curb. And that’s if they hadn’t already picked up her neighborhood. She could transport them herself to the dump, and probably would have to, but that meant more time taken out of her already busy, upside down schedule. Four twelve hour days left only three to catch up on everything, and that was if she was lucky enough to have those three days off instead of getting called in at the last minute to cover a shift at the nursing home. Not that she minded. It was easier to keep busy. Less time to think. To remember. To grieve.
Then there was the Camaro that had been parked in the backyard since Suzy had been eight or nine. Shortly before her dad had left her mother and her, he’d driven it there to work on the engine. But he never had. And so it sat, almost twenty years later. She wondered if she could even find the keys for it. Maybe in the glass bowl Mama had kept on her dresser.
She took her coffee with her and approached the rusted heap. It had been her dad’s pride and joy once. The classic car he had wanted to restore. But he couldn’t fix it any more than he could deal with the people in his life. Instead, he’d left it behind for them to deal with along with everything else.
She’d asked Mama why he hadn’t stayed, but answers had been rare. He’d never called, never sent a gift for her birthday or Christmas. As if once he’d gone, they no longer existed to him. Part of her wondered how much of his absence was possibly due to her mom keeping him away. Maybe he’d wanted to see her, but Mama wouldn’t let him. Or maybe he just hadn’t cared. Suzy had tried finding him when Mama got sick, but it was as if he’d disappeared completely that spring morning when he’d said he was leaving for work and never came home.
She shielded her eyes and peered into the passenger side window. Noticed evidence that some animal had made it a temporary home. Shredded paper nested about a foot wide. And, if the soft mewls were any indication, the resident had left her babies behind.
Suzy set the coffee mug on the roof of the car and pulled on the handle to open the door. With much effort, it wrenched free. She popped her head in and wrinkled her nose at the stench. She carefully kneeled on the passenger seat and bent forward. Between the driver’s seat and the control pedals, three gray and white kittens huddled together. They couldn’t have been more than a few days, maybe a week, old. Their eyes still closed. So tiny. So helpless.
Suzy glanced around the car for something to use to carry them inside. Nothing. Despite her mom’s lackluster housecleaning skills, the interior of the car was empty. She’d have to go find something. “Okay, guys. I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”
She unfolded herself from the car, slammed the door shut and grabbed her coffee mug from the car roof. She ran to the house and once inside, placed the mug in the sink before searching through piles of stuff until she found an old wicker Easter basket that still had plastic green grass inside. Figuring that the grass would act as a cushion, she placed a clean tea towel over the grass and sprinted back to the car.
The driver’s side door took less effort to open. Probably because she’d found her mom sitting in the seat more than once over the years. She stooped down and carefully removed each kitten and placed it in the basket. Took her precious cargo into the house. Found a baby bottle in one of the boxes. Washed the bottle since dust coated the surface and then filled it with milk. On the couch she took turns feeding each kitten and stroking its head.
As she did so, she wondered what had happened to their mom. They were orphans, abandoned just like her, and that connection made her heart break for them. “It’s okay. I’ll make sure that someone takes care of you. Promise.”
They looked little more than skeletons covered in fur, and they would need more care than she could give. Propping the bottle on a pillow so that the last kitten could still eat, she dialed her best girlfriend Presley’s number at the animal rescue. “Hey, Pres. I’ve got some little ones for you. Do you have room?”
A big sigh on the other end. “I’ll find room. What have you got?”
“The cutest little kittens in the world.” Suzy looked them over again and smiled as they rolled around each other trying to find a comfortable sleeping position. Almost as if they didn’t want to be separated from each other for very long. “Well, they will be once they get some meat on their bones. And they probably need shots. I found them abandoned in Daddy’s car.”
“Any sign of the mother?”
Suzy shook her head and petted the two kittens who had fallen asleep after eating their fill. “Orphans. Just like me.”
Funny how that word still hurt after six months. She kept the smile on her face. As if her best friend could see her through the phone. “I can bring them in before I go to work tonight.”
“Yeah, okay.” The line stayed silent. “Suze, are you all right?”
How many times had she been asked that question since her mom died? She gave the standard answer. Better that than admit she missed Mama so much it ached. “Perfect. Wait till you see these cuties.” She smiled brighter. “They’re going to break your heart.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Once the last kitten had eaten and fallen asleep, Suzy took her shower then got ready for work. She had an hour or so before she needed to be at the nursing home, so she could stay at the animal rescue and help out with the animals. She knew Presley was swamped with strays, which meant less time to walk them and care for them. Suzy could volunteer to do that for her friend.
She nodded. That’s what she’d do. And she’d deal with the backyard tomorrow.
* * *
