Read Online Buried by Robin Merrow MacCready - Free Book Online Page B

stocking up on groceries at High Tide Health Foods, I dove into a cleaning frenzy. In the kitchen I reorganized the fridge and threw away anything that was opened and anything that could be thought of as junk food. I wiped down the counters and cupboards and restocked them with oats, wheat berries, whole-wheat pastry flour, dried fruits, and pastas.
    I consulted my list on the fridge door. It said: Clean the toilet and sink . I scrubbed away at the rust stains, but nothing helped. I poured bleach into the toilet bowl and washed my hands in the sink. Goose bumps rose on my forearms as hot water pounded my hands. I felt someone near me, but it couldn’t be true—I’d locked the door. I looked in the mirror. Nobody. Just me, a pale, thin stranger with a halo of something white behind my head. Was it someone’s clothing, hair, scarf? I had to look. I counted one, two, three, four, five, and turned. Of course, a towel. It hung on the door, used and unfolded. That should teach me to be neater.
    Even though it had only been a towel, I was still jumpy when the phone rang. Before I picked it up, I turned on the TV so I’d have some background noise after I hung up.
    â€œClaude, you were awesome today.”
    â€œThanks, Liz. But, awesome?”
    â€œYou were there when I needed you.”
    â€œThanks. How’s it going with your dad?”
    â€œHe’s sorry, and he says he’s got a drinking problem.”
    â€œReally? He’s brilliant.”
    â€œYep. He even cried. It was hard to see him like that.”
    â€œBig, tough Tom MacPhee?”
    â€œAnd he’s going to go to meetings and maybe to Jackson Heights.”
    My throat closed up and I couldn’t breathe.
    â€œClaude?”
    I forced myself to breathe through my nose while I held the phone to my pounding heart. I was dizzy with the effort and tried to swallow, which made me cough. I gasped and took a breath.
    â€œClaude! Are you okay?”
    â€œRight here,” I said, panting.
    â€œMaybe you ought to take a day off. You haven’t been looking so hot lately.”
    â€œI just had something in my throat. I’m fine.”
    Â 
That night I couldn’t sleep. I puffed up my bed with extra pillows and blankets, thinking I needed to be more comfortable. Something was nagging away at me. I felt the way an oyster from the cove feels when a grain of sand gets between its soft body and its shell home. After so much irritation, it creates a little pearl. I went over and over the meeting at the Community Center. What was irritating me? Maybe I was just creating a pearl.
    I finally fell asleep half sitting, half lying down with Moonpie on my shoulder.
    I jerked awake with a heavy feeling of dread. Something was wrong. I looked around, touching my cheek where I’d felt a whisper of something. Had someone called my name? Nobody was there. Moonpie was gone. The night was bright enough to make shadows of sunflowers and cosmos on my floor. Out my window, the moon hung over the workshop like an overripe melon.
    I picked up the cat, who was waiting by the door, and went down the steps to the garden path in my underwear and T-shirt. The shells were sharp, and I tiptoed as I made my way to the center raised bed. I heard the whoosh of a car on Sea Road and then the pounding of the surf. Moonpie squirmed out of my arms and into the catnip patch. He rubbed up against the long stems and rolled to the ground.
    A twig broke, and I stiffened. “Is someone here?” My voice sounded thin and raspy. “Don’t hide.”
    Snap!
    Moonpie had rolled again and broken off a stem of catnip. “Goddamned cat! You scared the hell out of me.” He flattened his ears and ran off. I threw a shell after him and went back inside.
    I stayed up and rearranged the cupboards so that the cereal goods would be right next to the fridge. While I wiped down the counter, I thought of something else I had never let Mom