Chapter 62

Nikki's turn:

So okay, lemme tell you what I see.

I always thought that if Cindy's mom ever showed up, there'd be, in Dan's word, a shitstorm. Cindy and I and Tina have all shared our 'crappy mom' stories, and Cindy's is pretty bad. Not necessarily worse than mine or Tina's, but gee, who wants to be all scalar about that?

So Cindy's mom shows up, and Cindy's a wreck. The bad thing is Cindy's a wreck because her mom is NOT.

Evidence. We sort of left Cindy and Dan 1.0 and her mom, Donna, alone to have lunch together. We didn't want to overload them, thinking they wanted time to talk about things. First thing is that we all agreed that she was dressed nicely and acted 'normal'.

I didn't really get a chance to talk with Cindy alone until Monday. We were walking to Doctor Embert's office.

I said that I thought her mom seemed nice.

"Somewhere there's a pod with the old mom in it. Nikki, this ISN'T the mom that left me in the trailer park."

"Really?"

"I mean, yeah, it's physically Mom, but ... she says she turned her back on that whole thing that used to be her. Went to church with us yesterday morning. Church! Nikki, this is the woman who I could not depend on to even be HOME on Sunday morning. She's quit smoking. Says she's off drugs and alcohol. Not gonna be a barmaid. I ... I'm ... I don't know WHAT I am. It's like I struck an iceberg in Mobile Bay."

"I thought my best friend was upset, you know."

"I shouldn't be, Nikki. Dan told me that this was a case of 'Be careful what you pray for. You just might get it."

"You'll forgive me for being a bit confused myself," I said. "Mom's got a few years before Arkansas turns 'er loose. I'd be..."

"That's exactly it! I should be grateful."

"I would be." I really would. Seeing Mizz Donna standing there gave me pangs. If it could happen to her, then my own mom... "But I understand..."

"I guess I wanted to at least see her suffer..."

"Suffer," I repeated. "For basically doing what her hormones and her bad ideas told her to do."

"She left me. For real. And before that, for all intents and purposes, she had no more to do with me than something close to the statutory requirements."

"And don't you think that waking up on one or more days and realizing that ... You wrote her at least every two weeks. Faithfully. What's that Bible saying? Something about repaying evil with good and heaping coals on their heads?"

"If your enemy ... Yeah."

I smiled, not an 'I told you so' smile, but I know my sister understands where I'm going. "And there you were, being the best daughter you could be from two thousand miles away. This is your fault."

Okay. A little smile showed up from that one. "My fault for praying that my mother turned her life around."

"Yep. And your fault for being so miserable now that you see it."

Smile was a little broader. "I see where you're possibly correct."

"I, lady, am half of the Granger-Richards Academic Terror Coalition. Our motto is "Always right, and you need to learn to recognize it"."

Okay, now she's laughing. "Okay, my brown-haired Cajun sister, but if this comes crashing down, you're going to be right here with me shoveling the shit."

"And wondering where they hid the pony," I laughed.

At least our day took an uphill turn. Cindy did go visit Doctor Stanton that afternoon.

"Gotta get my head right," she told me. "Plus ... Terri. So sad, little Terri."

"I know," I said. "Her namesake..."

"Alan says that Terry Pratchett..."

"Don't let Terri hear you say that," I warned.

"Excuse me, SIR Terry Pratchett was not who she was named after."

"She adopted him just like she adopted Rachel as a sister and Tina as a mom and you don't argue with the pTerri-dactyl." I laughed. "Your mom pulled Terri out of mourning."

"She posted her avatar with a black shroud around it. It's charming. Little pterodactyl with a sad expression and black bunting."

"And she got it on short notice. Called whats'er name, the artist..." Cindy said. "Demanded a rework. In memoriam."

"And got it," I stated. "What power Terri wields."

"We altered the company home page with a little memorial."

"She's the little sister everyone wishes they had instead of the one they got."

"I dunno. You're MY little sister and I'm darned happy with you."

"Thank you," she said. "I'm happy with you, too."

"Ain't we just a happy pair of bluebirds." I laughed.

"Yeah. Let's get home. One. I wanna see which Mom I'll have when I get there and two, I have been lax in getting Dan to ... you know..."

"Really?" I squeaked.

"Seriously, sis, I've been messed up over this."

"Poor Dan," I said.

"Poor Cindy," she tossed back. "I'm gonna kill 'im."

We pulled into the apartment parking lot and noticed a different car there, a little older one. I registered it in my mind as one of those little details that stack up in there and eventually go away.

"Office?' I said.

"Yeah. Gotta warn Dan. And figure out how to do what MUST be done quietly."

Turns out that the car is Cindy's mom's new wheels. Japanese sub-compact. Nothing flashy there. And tomorrow she's hitting all the appropriate social services agencies. We learned this sitting around the table in the office kitchenette.

"I have some savings," Donna said.

I saw Cindy's eyebrow twitch. "Good, Mom. That's a neat car."

"Not gonna turn heads, but then heads that get turned by the car I drive are probably the wrong heads, anyway."

"Mizz Donna," I said, "How about having dinner with me and my Dan this evening? I've got a lasagna in the freezer. It gets fresh cheese before it goes in the oven."

Donna turned to Cindy. "She makes the best lasagna in the place," Cindy said.

"You sure?" Donna asked.

"Of course we're sure. You're the office Share-a-Mom. We'd love to have you." Donna was looking right at me so she didn't see Cindy mouthing 'thank you'.

My Dan will totally understand.

Cindy's Dan, however, may not survive the night.

We did have Donna over and she actually carries her own in a conversation. We let her talk about Cindy as a child. "Not that I paid attention like I should have, you know. One of the things I'll regret for the rest of my life."

"But look where you're at now, Mizz Donna," Dan said.

"Dan, I can let these girls get by with calling me Mizz Donna, but when you and the other GUYS do it, I feel bad. Stop it."

"Okay," Dan smiled. "Habit."

"Cindy says there are stories." She read my face. "If I'm being nosey, just say so."

"No, I guess not. About once every five or six weeks Dan and I go to Arkansas to visit my mom. She's kind of in a fixed location. Prison."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Donna said.

"Me too, but her and her boyfriend had been dealing a little bit, making a little spending money, you know, keeping a little for themselves ... They left two days ahead of the hurricane and left me. I missed the ride out. Short story, hurricane blew the building down with me in it. Dan was next door in HIS house. He built it to stand the storms. He heard me hollering for help and cut me out of the rubble. And here I am."

"So I get to be Share-a-Mom?"

"If you want it. Susan and Jason have moms, but Susan's is in Tennessee and Jason's is in Texas, and Tina's is probably playing cards with mine in Arkansas. She hasn't even acknowledged Tina since the last time they saw each other."

"She'll regret it one of these days, Nikki," Donna said.

Okay, I got a little of Cindy's skepticism working, but this woman, no, going on what I'm seeing, this lady is pretty nice.

"I'd like to think that mine will change as well."

"It's not easy, baby. Believe me. I know. I could tell you things but just the idea that I signed off my daughter and left the state should tell you enough. But things do happen. Sometimes it takes something really big to make somebody see the light."

Sometimes the best way to talk with somebody is to listen.

"I OD'd. One of my friends, and I use the term loosely now, scored some good stuff." She paused. "I may be telling you things you don't want to hear."

"No, Donna," Dan said. "Friends listen. Sometimes it's things that are hard to hear."

"Oh, thank you, Dan. I need to get this stuff out. I need to do it to be clean."

"You're in with friends and family now," I said.

"You have no idea what that means, Nikki. Those 'friends' scored some dope. I don't know if you realize it, but drugs you buy on the street are horribly inconsistent. This wasn't cut like a lot of stuff. I think it was probably pure or close to it. I was on a great trip, I thought, when it started hitting me. I woke up in the emergency room. I got out. I realized where I was. I tried to overdose on some pills. They kept me for two weeks in a psych ward for evaluation. That's when I decided."

"Wow!" I said.

"Baby," Donna said, "I haven't yet told my Cindy all this. Just me showing up is a big enough shock to 'er."

"She loves you to pieces," I said, "but yes, it's a shock."

"Probably a worse kind of shock than her last letter, where she says she graduated from college. Me. Her mom. Got my GED."

"Credentials," Dan said. "You know how intelligent you are..."

"Yeah. Dumped my daughter. Almost died from drugs. Intelligent, huh?"

"Donna," Dan said softly, "Those are bad choices. Has little to do with intelligence."

"Nikki baby, no wonder you married 'im. He's gentle with people."

I smiled.

"Anyway, last 'boyfriend', he dealt drugs and he had wads of cash around all the time. I just sort of squirreled away some here and there. He never missed it. Accounting wasn't his strong suit. When I got to thirty thousand dollars, I bought a plane ticket out of there. He even said good-bye when I left." She smiled. "That's how I bought the car. And if I'm careful with it, I can set myself up in a little apartment and start over."

She forked another chunk of MY lasagna into her mouth. "Nikki, did you do this from scratch?"

"Yes, ma'am," I said. "Had to expand outside my Cajun roots. You like it?"

"You bet, baby. I've eaten at a lot of Italian restaurants, some of 'em supposedly pretty good, and this is the best I've ever had."

"Married 'er because she can cook," Dan said.

Donna smirked. So that's where Cindy gets that. "Yeah. I'm sure you did."

I turned RED. I could feel the heat in my cheeks.

"Dan!" Donna squeaked. "Look what I did to your wife!"

"That's new," Dan laughed. "Little Miss In Control is blushing. Yeah, I married 'er for cooking skills, and because she's smart and cute and yeah ... what she's blushing about."

"Kinda like you two shuffling me off to the side so Dan and Cindy..."

"Oh, I thought we were being all subtle," I said.