Chapter 82

"Did you have a good walk with your father?" Jack asked me.

"Yeah, I did. Charlie reminded me today that I can't just drop all the people who were important to me."

"Oh, does Charlie think you dropped him?"

"He didn't say it in so many words, but he did say he's missing the time we used to spend together. We got it back for a few days since he's been living here, but it looks like he's moving back home and I'm not going to be going to school after tomorrow so we're going to lose that time together. He's not really blaming me. He's the first to admit that things are different for him now that he's with Mary. It just got me thinking and when the chance came up to spend some time with Daddy, I took it."

"Julie really seemed to enjoy herself tonight. I think she's pretty much left alone at home. I guess she's got a half sister who spends weekends once in a while but her father's always too busy to spend time with either of them."

"Maybe I should have invited her over for Thanksgiving."

"I already asked her but she's got plans. Eric has invited her over to his house. She's excited to have a Thanksgiving dinner with him and his family but she's also nervous spending the day with his parents."

"I remember how nervous I was meeting Mom the first time. As soon as she opened the front door, everything was fine."

"I guess that can be a traumatic experience in a girl's life."

"Well, look at Mary. I'm sure she wasn't happy when she met Charlie's mom. Ethel didn't think anyone would be good enough for her son and was against them even going out. Who knows how that will end up? Well, I'm going to make coffee for the morning, feed Bozo and get ready for bed."

"OK. Myra told me she made some appointments for me on Saturday and Sunday. She said she gave me Friday off from taking pictures but that we need to get together for a couple of hours to go over the stuff we wanted her to call about. You should probably be there too. It's payroll, bank accounts, that kind of stuff."

"I don't mind meeting with her on Friday. I definitely want to keep Thursday just for family and friends, though."

"I agree."

I went into the kitchen and Bozo was over near the sink, sniffing at the bottom of the cabinet doors.

"What's up, Boy?"

He just kept sniffing, as if he hadn't heard me.

I went over to him and knelt down, ruffling the back of his neck. "You got something there?"

He kind of shivered and whined a little bit.

I reached down and opened the left cabinet door. Bozo leaned forward and whined again. There, on the sticky trap, was a mouse. He was still alive but looked weak. He was on one side and both legs on that side were stuck to the glue. He struggled every ten or fifteen seconds but it was a half-hearted instinct to escape; it looked like he didn't expect it to do any good.

I moved Bozo out of the way, scruffed up his neck again and told him he was a good boy. I got a big freezer bag out of the closet, got the trap with the mouse on it out and put it in the bag. I made sure to zip it closed, then checked the rest of the traps to make sure I hadn't caught any more. They were all empty save a couple of spiders that were stuck on the other glue trap, near his dog food.

I took the bag into the living room, followed by a buoyant Bozo.

"This isn't for you. I'll feed you in a minute."

Jack was at his computer. As soon as I came in, he said, "You know what she did? She's scheduled me for six appointments over the weekend. And she's already got three lined up for next week."

"Wow. You're going to be busy. I need you to do me a favor."

"What's that?"

I held up the bag. "Take this downstairs and put it in the trashcan."

"Oh. I see you got your buddy. Just put it in the trash can under the sink. He's not going anywhere."

"I don't want him in my house. And I'm not sure if he's the same one. The one I saw looked bigger and was gray. This one's brown and he looks skinnier.

He took the bag from me. "OK. I'll put it in the trash can downstairs. There were a couple of these traps left over if you think there may be another one around."

"I've got the other traps. I just want this one out of here."

"OK, OK. I'm going."

I went back into the kitchen, washed my hands real good, dried them, then shivered a little bit. Dirty animals. I don't want you in my house. Then I said out loud, "Told you I'd get you, you little fucker."

I gave Bozo his dog food, topped off his water and got the coffee maker ready to go in the morning. Then I got a new trap and peeled off the covering. I put the new one right where the old one had been,

Jack came into the bathroom while I was peeing.

"Make sure you wash your hands after handing that thing."

"What thing? The plastic bag?"

"Just do it."

He held his hands up, then turned on the water. "OK, OK."

I wiped myself, then flushed.

"Don't I get a kiss for throwing that out for you?"

I didn't say anything. I just kissed him. A good one.

He took an exaggerated breath and said, "Any time you have rodents to dispose of, you be sure to let me know."

We brushed our teeth and got ready for bed. I snuggled up to Jack and he told me to lift up a second and put his arm underneath me. I rolled onto my side and lay with my head on his shoulder, one arm under me and the other over him.

"Do you feel better now?" he asked.

"I'm glad that one's not in the house any more. I didn't get a real good look at the one that ran out of the dog food but he seemed different. I'd be real happy to find another one who was more gray and had some more meat on him."

I rubbed my hand across his chest, then down his tummy and past the patch of hair. "Oh, my, I think I found one. He feels pretty scrawny, though. Wait a minute. I think he's growing a bit. Maybe some artificial respiration will help."

It did.

It seemed like a normal Wednesday morning. The alarm clock went off, Bozo was waiting to get let out, the coffee was ready. It was also the first morning since we'd been here that I felt we needed the heater on. I went to the thermostat and studied it. It's one of those new energy saving thermostats. I'm convinced the reason they call it energy saving is that it's almost impossible to figure out how to turn it on. I was able to get it going by setting the daytime temperature to 90. I figured I could turn it off after it warmed up enough.

The apartment was nice and toasty by the time I came out of the bathroom. That's the nice thing about living in a small place like ours; you don't have to use a lot of energy to heat it up. I flipped the switch on the thermostat to Off.

On the way to school, I said, "I talked to Daddy last night. He says he hasn't heard anything from Wanda. He thought the rumor that she joined a motorcycle gang was funny. He also said he wouldn't be surprised because she goes off half cocked when she's pissed off."

"Mary and I were talking about her last night. She said Wanda's old enough to take care of herself."

"True. Whether she will or not is another story. I know she'd be the first person to tell us there's no reason to worry about her, whether there is or isn't."

We were a few minutes early getting to school so I decided to call Alex.

"Hello."

"Hi Alex. It's Jill."

"Jill! How are you doing?"

"Pretty good. But I've got a problem."

"OK."

"How do I get the thermostat you put in our place to work?"

"You need to read the manual that came with it. I know I gave you a stack of all that stuff."

"Since when do you have to read a manual to operate a thermostat?"

"Since the government decided to remove the responsibility of saving energy from the individual and gave it to the manufacturer. If you can't be bothered to read it, ask Laurie. She can probably figure it out for you."

"Alex, she's smart, but she can't read."

"That's what you're there for. You read what the buttons are marked and what the screen says and she can do your thinking for you."

"You're just all kinds of help. What's the matter? Can't find any kittens to run over or flies to pull the wings off of?"

"No, nothing like that. I miss Alicia and Jenny."

"They're OK aren't they?"

"They're fine. It's been three weeks now. Her mother slipped on some ice and broke her hip and her arm. She lost her father a couple of years ago and there's nobody to help her mother out. She figured she'd be there for a week or so but it looks like it's going to be a long time before her mother's up and around. She took Jenny back there with her, figuring it would be a chance to see her grandma but it's been way too long."

"Jenny. That's your daughter?"

"Yeah. I forgot. You've never met her."

"No, I haven't. Can she travel? Your mother in law, I mean."

"It's too big a hassle getting her in the wheelchair then into the car, then back in the wheelchair. You met Alicia. She's a small woman. Her mother's probably got thirty five or forty pounds on her and it's pretty much dead weight these days."

"I was thinking more along the lines of flying back here. I'm sure Alicia would feel better taking care of her mother in her own home. Jenny's too young to be cooped up with the two of them all the time. I'm sure Alicia misses you and Jenny misses her Daddy. Where does your mother in law live?"

"Buffalo."

"Oh, God. She's going to be stuck in five feet of snow before you know it. Get them all on a plane and get them out here. They have medical transport that will pick her up in an ambulance and take her to the airport on a gurney if they have to. They'll put he in the wheelchair and the airline will board the three of them before anyone else. Her Medicare or whatever it is she has will probably pay for it."

"I'll look into that. Maybe next week, after the holiday madness."

"Call Alicia. She'd probably love having something to do. She can start making calls today, then make more on Friday if she needs to. I tell you, the sooner she gets out of there, the less chance she has of getting snowed in. Speaking of the holiday, what are you doing for it?"

"I figured I'd just relax and watch the football games."

"And I bet you picked up some nice frozen dinner that has turkey and all the fixins in it, didn't you?"

"As a matter of fact..."

"WRONG! You're eating with us. Jack's mother's house, tomorrow, one o'clock. I expect to see you there."

"Oh, I..."

"Alex, do you want me to tell my father how mean you're being to me?"

"No, I..."

"Good. One PM. You can show me how to work that stupid thermostat."

"Yes, Ma'am. One. Tomorrow. Should I bring anything?"

"We've got all kinds of people coming and most of them are bringing something or other. I'm sure all the usual dishes are covered. I know. There will be three kids there about Laurie's age. Bring some kind of junk food for them to snack on that adults like, too. That way we can pretend it's for the grownups and the kids can get something they like."