Read Online The Thirteen by Susie Moloney - Free Book Online Page A

the real threats were not in places like Haven Woods but in gangs of boys who sat on apartment-block steps in the city)
    hey little girl c’mere I’ll teach you school
    A cat was on the porch railing, digging its claws into the wood. It stopped when Ro opened the curtains, and peered at her for a second with its yellow eyes. Then it cleaned a paw and jumped down to where Ro couldn’t see it. A cat. It had freaked her out. She’d crawled in with her mother.
    “Who’s got a cat?” she asked the dog. “Do you have a cat? Are you a good boy?” Tex thumped his tail.
    Rowan lay back on the porch, one arm draped across the old dog, her feet on the steps. A little breeze came up from somewhere and the chimes over her head swung and tinkled. The dog stuck out his tongue and licked her hand.
    She wished her mother would hurry (the F-word) up so they could walk the dog.
    From somewhere down the street she heard a car coming, slowly, slowly.
    The suburbs were deadly boring. And there were too many cats.
    Paula let water run into the kitchen sink over the tiny pile of dishes. A teacup, her and Ro’s breakfast things, some cutlery. She didn’t have to do them, but wanted the distraction. It was easier to think when she was busy.
    She’d gone to visit her mother right after breakfast. She’d tried to talk Ro into going, but her daughter had not slept well. When Paula shook her awake for breakfast, she’d rolled over with a groan, mumbling a sleepy not yet . She’d decided to let her sleep. Kid was likely as stressed as she was.
    So she’d gone alone, hoping to talk to the doctor and to have a longer, private visit with her mother. It was not to be.
    There hadn’t been anyone at the reception desk in the lobby, and when she got to the second floor, it was just as deserted as it had been yesterday, except for Tula at the nurses’ station. The minute the elevator doors opened, the woman was on her like ugly on an ape. She followed her to her mother’s room, jabbering the whole time, barely taking a breath so that Paula could answer her.
    She followed her right into her mother’s room. “Oh, I just have to take her vitals, you know. Might as well do it now,” she’d said and grabbed her mother’s arm to take her pulse before Paula could even say hello.
    Tula fumbled the blood pressure cuff around her mother’s arm—which seemed very thin to Paula—and never took her eyes off them. When she was done, she fussed with the curtains and sheets. When subtle hints didn’t work, Paula finally asked Tula if she would please go and find the doctor. She eventually said she would, and on her way out propped the door open.
    Paula had made the obvious joke to her mother. “Well, I thought she’d never leave.”
    But Audra hadn’t even smiled. As soon as Tula’s footsteps had faded, she’d insisted again, “Paula, you can’t stay long in Haven Woods.”
    She’d protested, said they would stay as long as Audra was in the hospital. But now they could hear the murmur of Tula’s voice, probably on the phone at the nurses’ station.
    Her mother had said, “There isn’t time to explain,” and “I’m fine, I’ll be fine—”
    And then Tula was back.
    Paula had asked for a few more minutes alone with her mother, her voice as sweet as pie, but Tula had said, “I’m afraid your mother has to rest. Doctor’s orders.”
    “Where is he, then?” Paula had asked, exasperated. “Why can’t I talk to him myself? And when is he going to check on my mom?”
    But Tula had insisted that he couldn’t be reached for the rest of the day, and then she stood there like a statue. So Paula wrote her name and her mother’s home phone number on a piece of paper for Tula to give to the doctor when she saw him next. Underlined twice was I must speak to you . Tula shoved it in her pocket.
    And then her mother had said she did need to rest, and there was nothing for Paula to do but leave. She pecked Audra on the cheek and gave her hand a