Read Online M.I.N.D. by Elissa Harris - Free Book Online Page A

like the change,” my mother says. “It’s nothing to worry about. Menopause is perfectly natural. It’s like when you start getting periods, only in reverse.”
    Okay, stop. This conversation is getting bizarre.
    â€œSo you’re saying she’s fine? She’s like me when I was thirteen?”
    Scary.
    â€œJust try to be understanding, sweetheart. In the meantime, if you need someone to talk to, you can call me. Anytime.”
    Hey. You’re my mother.
    â€œThanks, Mrs. Stewart. I will.”
    I feel something heavy in my mother’s chest, like she swallowed a whole bagel and it got stuck halfway down. “I just wish my own daughter would talk to me,” she says in a wistful voice. “She’s so secretive. I never know what’s going on in that head of hers.”
    â€œShe’s complicated,” Leanne says vaguely.
    â€œHonestly, sometimes I don’t know where she gets her ideas. Just look at this shirt! What’s with the fringe? And what about this skirt? Does it really need all those zippers?”
    It’s the style, Mom. Tell her, Leanne. Apparently she listens to you .
    â€œI’ll talk to her,” Leanne says. “She values my taste.”
    Right. I like looking like a tablecloth.
    The corners of my mother’s mouth decide to take a dive. “What bothers me most is her attitude. She just won’t buckle down. Junior year is coming up fast. She should be thinking about her future, particularly about college. How about you? What colleges do have in mind?”
    I snort mentally. Like Leanne would ever leave Josh aka the Dominator.
    â€œI’m thinking Yale,” she says. “It’s a long shot, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Education is very important to me.”
    What? Since when? Another mental snort.
    â€œThat’s wonderful,” my mother says. “I wish some of your enthusiasm would rub off on Cassie.” She smiles. “I can see why your mother trusts you to drive.”
    Give. Me. A. Break.
    Enough of this BS. Time to vacate. I want out NOW.
    Nothing happens.
    I still have wrinkly hands and I’m still smiling at Leanne.
    Hello? Universe, are you listening? I really would like to vamoose.
    Please?
    I probably should have thought this through. Getting stuck in Stephanie was one thing, but I’m living every daughter’s nightmare: I’ve become my own mother.
    She picks up the laundry basket and heads upstairs to my room. Leanne follows like an obedient puppy. “She’s all tuckered out,” my mother says, glancing down at the bed. “I knew I shouldn’t have let her go back to school so soon.” She leans over and nudges my shoulder. It feels like her whole body is frowning. “Cassie, wake up. Are you all right?”
    If I’m so tuckered out, why doesn’t she let me sleep? Does this make sense?
    My eyes stay closed, like I’m trapped in a dream and can’t get out.
    She taps me on my face and I feel her heart thumping. “Cassie! Cassie, wake up!” She taps me again, a little too hard, I might add, though I can honestly say it hurts her more than it does me. “Oh my God, she’s unconscious! Leanne, call 9-1-1!”
    â€œOh, gross,” Leanne says.
    My mother turns to look at her. Leanne is staring at Oreo and she’s a putrid shade of green. Any normal cat would be scared away by all the commotion, but not my Oreo, who’s on the carpet next to my bed, producing an enormous fur ball.
    And then it happens. I’m thinking I really, really need to split ’cause there’s no effing way I’m going back to that hospital—when phffft! I’m back in me.
    â€œWhat’s all the fuss about?” I say, faking surprise. “Can’t a girl get her beauty sleep?”
    ***
    My mother mumbles something about detergent and hurries downstairs. My guess is that she’s calling every doctor in her HMO.