Read Online Almost Eden by Anita Horrocks - Free Book Online Page B

A group of patients sat in front of a TV in one corner. In another corner stood a piano, all closed up. A few more patients sat by themselves, holding a book or magazine, but mostly they weren’t reading. Mostly they were just staring into space.
    Holy Moses. I glanced at one blank face after another, looking away again quickly before all those empty eyes could pull me in. I’m telling you I was relieved something fierce to find Mom wasn’t among them. They remindedme of zombies, or maybe robots. They only seemed human until you looked into their eyes. Then you knew. Then you could see they were mostly dead inside.
    I’d almost forgot how much I hated this place. My mother didn’t belong here.
    I pulled my shoulders back and made believe my mission was to guide Lena past all the nurses, doctors, and zombie patients to rescue our mother.
    “Where is she?” Lena whispered, slipping her hand into mine.
    If I went back to the desk to ask again, I might leave altogether. “Maybe she has the same room as before. C’mon.”
    A hallway opened off the other side of the lounge. Walking along the corridor, we peeked in open doors and checked nameplates and pretty soon we found her.
    “Mom!” Lena practically shouted.
    Mom looked up from the book she was reading. She smiled to see us there. The smile didn’t reach her eyes or light up her face like a smile is supposed to, but she did smile anyways.
    I hung back a little, but Lena right away threw her arms around Mom and hugged with all her might.
    Mom laughed softly. “Oh, my. This is quite the greeting. Surely I haven’t been away so long already for you to miss me so much?”
    Lena spread her arms out wide. “I’ve missed you this much!”
    “I’ve missed you this much, too,
schnigglefritz.
I’ve missed you to the moon and back again.” She scooped Lena up in her arms and hugged her tight, smiling at me over Lena’s shoulder, until Lena finally squirmed free.
    My heart was thudding in my chest still. Mom didn’t act like she was mad at me. I quickly kissed her forehead and tried not to let it show on my face that she smelled funny. Or that she looked so awfully tired. Her eyes didn’t shine like they usually did. Mom was maybe starting to turn into one of the zombies.
    “Let’s go for a walk,” I blurted, because I had to get out of there and I had to get Mom out of there, too. “Are you thirsty? I’m thirsty. Let’s go get a soft drink.”
    Mom moved slowly. I almost had to drag her, back out through the lounge and past the reception desk. She told the nurse she’d be outside with her daughters.
    Outside Mom’s eyes didn’t look so dead anymore. We walked across the street to the service station. Mom didn’t have any money on her, but I had brought some change. I dropped fifteen cents into the slot and slid a bottle of Grape Crush out of the rack for Lena. Mom wanted an Orange Crush, and I got myself a Mountain Dew.
    Then we walked back to Eden with our soft drinks and sat on a bench on the back lawn.
    “So, how goes it?” I didn’t know what else to say, and I wanted for Mom to say, “On two legs, like a gander,” because then we could smile and maybe even pretend everything was like always.
    Only Mom had gone somewheres, just for a second. Then she said, “
Blow gout
”, and chuckled at the puzzled looks we gave her. “It means, only good, just good. Your grandfather used to say it all the time.”
    “Were you thinking about him or something?”
    “I guess I was. Never mind about me. How’re you girls doing? Tell me how things are at home.”
    “
Blous gout
,” I said. At least it got a little smile out of Mom. And it was true, sort of. Things weren’t going great, but I guess they could’ve been going worse yet.
    “Are you girls getting along?”
    “Sure. Mostly.” What was I supposed to say? It wasn’t like I could tell her that Beth was a bossy old bag or that Lena was pestering me all the time or that Dad was already pulling his