|
|
 |
|
| sample chapter 3 |
| By nine o'clock the next morning, a substantial
pile of men’s shirts, pants, shoes, belts and underwear dotted Blue’s front
lawn. They were not boxed or bagged. Nor were they neatly folded.
They were strewn. Everywhere. And it was raining. Blue knew Carlos had spent the night with the woman he was fondling at the party. “He’ll be furious,” she said, “just furious. He loves his fancy wardrobe... his Italian shoes and Pierre Cardin shirts!” She surveyed the soggy menagerie. “A few hours in the rain and none of it will be so fancy anymore, Carlos!” she announced with satisfaction. Blue felt righteous outrage. “I’m not that creep’s hostage anymore,” she told Muss, who had watched the entire goings-on from the living room window. “My cab driver buddy was right. I deserve better!” “C'mon Muss. We’re going to take a little ride. I don’t want to leave you here. Carlos never liked you and I don’t want you hurt. We’re going to Mom’s.” “Meow...” Muss complained as Blue lifted him off the bed where he had been sleeping comfortably. Against his will, she put him in the front seat of the car and shut the door. Once Saffron was in gear, Mussels was always an anxious passenger. She’s got me in this metal death machine again. All I can see is everything whizzing by. It makes me dizzy... oh no, I gotta relieve myself. If I pee in here, she’ll yell at me for sure. Does she expect me to hold it like a dog? “Muss, please stop crying. You’re a real drag when you’re like this,” Blue pleaded. Mussels ignored her and kept meowing. Today was Sunday, the day Ruby would be home alone, watching Billy Graham on television. Ever since Blue’s father died, her mother followed Reverend Graham’s ministry every Sunday. It took the place of sitting in a church pew, as she had done for thirty years, listening to her husband preach the Sunday morning sermon. Whenever Blue suggested to her mother that she might be lonely and meeting people would help, her mom would get angry. “If you spent less time chasing after men and more time on your knees praying like I do, you’d be a daughter I could be proud of!” she would retort. Blue’s face would burn with shame. Thinking about it almost caused Blue to miss the turn onto her mother’s street in the nearby town of Haysville. There it was, the little aqua-colored frame house with the multi-colored spring flower wreath on the front door. It was her mother’s sanctuary, a shelter from the world. “Why do I come here?” she asked herself. She pulled into the driveway, feeling the dread that always made her chest tighten just seconds before seeing her mother. It’s always judgment day with her, Blue thought. Ruby’s critical looks were searing and her comments cutting-- about her daughter’s appearance and the way she was living her life. And she never failed to mention both. The door opened, revealing a petite woman with dark, slightly graying hair. “Hi, mom,” Blue said, trying to sound cheery. Her words tumbled over themselves, trying to keep Ruby from launching her attack. “You look so pretty today. Is that a new dress you have on? I’ve never seen that one before.” Blue was delaying the inevitable. And it came. “Well, you must need something or you wouldn’t be here,” her mother said sarcastically. “You know, if you didn’t wear so much make-up, you could save a whale of a lot of money. But I suppose you need it to attract all those men.” Her words pierced like daggers as Blue stood waiting to come in. She and her mother were so different. At times it had made her wonder if she had been adopted. Blue was pretty, followed the styles of the day and displayed her femininity freely. Her mother was a plain woman, wore practical clothes and liked to recall stories of herself as a tomboy. The truth was, Blue was more like her grandmother-- who had been a voguish dresser and appreciated the attention of men. She often questioned if her mother ever recognized their similarities. “Oh gee zooey, mom. I left Muss in the car,” she said. Cats were the one thing she and her mother did have in common. Ruby was a cat lover and had three of her own. “Well, you’d better bring him in. He’ll get lonely out there all by himself,” her mother insisted. Ruby Spencer’s affection for Mussels was a once-removed way for Blue to get her mother’s love. “I’ll have to put my babies away so Muss can have the run of the house,” she said brightly. My mother loves my cat more than she loves me, Blue bemoaned silently as she brought Mussels into the house. “Oh Muss, you’re my sweet baby, my little angel,” Ruby cooed, picking up the sleek, gray cat. “But you’re so skinny!” she exclaimed. “I’m sure your mother never feeds you. She’d probably treat her own child the same way... if she ever decided to raise one,” she taunted. “Well, if you lived with me young man, you’d never go hungry.” Her hateful comments were making Blue angry. Ruby sat down on the couch. “I don’t know why your mother doesn’t take care of you. I guess it’s because all she thinks of is herself,” she said, kissing Muss on the nose. “She’s too busy running all over creation, looking for some man to lay under. You could be dead and stiff as a board and she’d never know it!” Ruby had plunged the knife too far this time. “THAT’S ENOUGH, MOM!” she screamed. Muss jumped off Ruby’s lap, scrambling to safety. Blue leaped out of her chair and lunged at Ruby. “Shut up! Do you hear me?” Before she could stop herself, she had her hands around her mother’s neck. It felt small, soft and fragile... unfamiliar to her touch. “Can’t you ever just shut up about me?” she shrieked. Her mother was starting to lose consciousness as the pressure of her first-born’s fingers cut off her windpipe. Her eyes began to roll back in her head. “I hate you! I hate you! I hate you,” Blue kept saying over and over. Blue’s arms suddenly fell limply at her sides. Her knees buckled and her body sank onto the spotlessly clean Berber carpet of her mother’s living room floor. She could hear her mother moaning and gasping for breath. “Oh my god,” Blue repeated. “Oh my god...” |
