Authors: Ruth Ann Hixson
She put her hands on his shoulders. "I should have known it was something that. It's just the way you are." She kissed him.
He pulled her close and the kiss deepened. She pulled back and looked up at him. "Mark's moving in with Sherry. Lisa's away at college. We're going to be empty nesters."
"Does that bother you?"
"No. I want to celebrate."
"Thanks a lot, Mom," Mark said as he walked into the kitchen carrying his briefcase and duffle bag. "Here I thought you'd be missing me."
"You're not moving to the other side of the world. I'm sure I'll see a lot of you and Sherry. I might even invite you for Sunday dinner now and then."
"I'll need that just to get away from Alison. I hope she doesn't plan to live with us forever."
"Right now she has no choice," Frank reminded him. "She's in Sherry's custody."
"Whoever heard of putting a mother in her daughter's custody?" Mark queried.
"I don't know but that's the way it is. Get used to it."
****
"Oh darn!" Sherry pulled off the road and stopped. The fact that she'd forgotten to bring a check to get cashed for quarters did nothing to improve her already bad mood. She'd quarreled with Mark that morning. He wanted her to take the laundry over to the farm to do it. She insisted on taking it to the Laundromat.
"You're just being stubborn because I suggested it," he accused.
"It's more complicated than that," she responded.
"Okay, tell me. You told me you want commitment yet you aren't willing to give it."
"I am committed. Just give me a chance to get my head around all these changes."
"I don't have time for this right now. I'm already late." He stomped out without a goodbye kiss.
Sherry put the car in gear and continued on. She certainly didn't want to go back to the house after she'd argued with her mother about what to make for supper.
"Fine; suit yourself," she said and went out to her car. She felt like Mom was trying to take over the house. That was why she'd forgotten the check.
We won't be going naked if the laundry isn't done
today,
she thought. She decided to go on to town to stop at her father's auto sales. She recalled what he told her last night about himself.
He hadn't tried to whitewash his affair with her mother. He'd simply said that Rhoda had shut him out of her life and he was lonely. He also told her about his financial troubles, apologizing that he couldn't give her money. "I've missed out on a lot of birthdays and Christmases."
She told him she still had money in the bank and could use it now that her account was no longer frozen. That was exactly what she planned to do. She couldn't wait for her mother to get a job and buy back what she'd broken.
She needed to get gas. Maybe her dad would let her get enough until she had a chance to pay him. She pulled up to the pump and got out. The sign on the door said 'Open' so she went on in. "Hi, Dad," she said as she walked into his office.
He stood up quickly. "Hi, Sherry. I didn't expect you to take advantage of my invitation so soon."
"If you don't want me here I can leave."
"No. No. How can I help you?"
"How good's my credit?"
"Why?"
"I need gas and I forgot to bring a check with me. I can't get change for the Laundromat either."
"I can give you the gas. No charge. But I can't give you any money. Are you hungry? We can go to my place for lunch and you can do your laundry there. Come on, I'll get your gas for you."
Sam balked when he saw her car. "I am not pumping gas in that old clunker. My daughter is not driving around in an old rattletrap like that. After we eat and do your laundry, we'll come back and you can take your pick of any vehicle on the lot."
"I can't afford another car."
"You don't need to. I'll give it to you. Sort of a makeup gift for all the birthdays and Christmases I missed. Let's get your laundry moved to my van."
It was past two o'clock when they arrived back at the dealership. "I'd like to have a station wagon if you have one."
"I have two. A 2000 Chevy and a 2004 Subaru Outback. Let's go take a look."
The dark green Outback took her eye. "May I drive it?"
"Sure. Wait till I go get a dealer plate."
Sherry loved the car. They went to the office to do the paperwork. "I'll need your driver's license number."
"I don't have it. The police still have my purse. They're supposed to give it back. The judge issued an order."
"I'll fill this out and you can still drive it home. I have some things at the house to give you. I'll be out this evening. Maybe you have something else with your number on it. I'll also need the title to your old car. Let's go out and transfer the plate and you can go home. Tell Frank if he wants that truck, he better get it or it's going to the auction."
"I'll tell him."
Sherry's was in high spirits when she drove her new car in the garage. Right away she noticed her mother's car was gone. "That does it! She can just go right back to jail. I will not put up with this.
"Mitzi, stay out of my way," Sherry scolded as the kitten pounced on her foot and wrapped her paws around her ankle. Sherry's good mood evaporated when she saw that her mother's car was gone. She carried in the wicker clothes basket her father gave her and dropped it on the floor in front of the kitchen cabinet barely missing Mitzi.
She turned around to go back to the garage for her other clothes basket when she saw the note on the magnetic clip on the refrigerator door. "Dear Sherry, I got called to work at the dollar store. I called the sheriff's office so they don't think I'm trying to run away. Make something good for supper. I laid a chicken out to thaw. Love you, Mom."
Sherry drew a deep breath and relaxed. The tension dissipated from her shoulders. She was smiling when she carried in the other basket. "I should put that chicken in the oven now so it's roasted by the time the milking is done." She and Mark would have some time to themselves that evening.
She heard a car pull in the driveway, and since she couldn't see out the window with its translucent plastic covering, she went to meet the driver at the door. Chad came carrying her purse. "Here you are. Your keys are inside."
"Where's my claw hammer?"
He grinned. "We won't release the key piece of evidence until your mother pleads guilty. We may need it if it goes to trial. I understand the judge, D.A. and Mr. Wright have been meeting today to work out a plea agreement. If your mother's smart, she'll go along with it. She just may get off with a slap on the wrist. Especially since it's her first offense. You may be able to influence that if you want to."
"Part of me wants to put her away for a while. Part of me doesn't. I can look the other way as far as the thefts are concerned. I got that back. But not the vandalism. She broke every dish I had."
"By the way, I heard about the findings of Elena's evaluation. They admitted her to the hospital for testing. They think there may be a physical reason for her insanity."
"Just so they keep her away from me."
Chapter 29
"Time to get up, Mom, it's nine-thirty."
"I'm awake. How can I sleep with you traipsing back and forth?"
"That's not what I said. It's time to get up."
"It's cold in here. And you had to let in more cold air opening and closing the door."
"Just carrying wood in for the fire. You know. Fire. Warmth." Sherry went through to the den. When she came back she was carrying her yellow fleece robe. "I told you not to wear that flimsy nightgown. Here, put this on."
Alison sat up. "That's ugly."
"It's warm, Mom."
Alison grabbed the robe. "You talked me into it. Don't you have another robe?"
"I have Gram's pink robe with the flowers she embroidered on it but I'm not going to let you wear it."
"I won't eat it." When Alison stood up to pull on the fleece robe she could see through the open door to the den. "After I go to the bathroom, I'm going to sit in front of the fire until it's time to leave."
"Whatever," Sherry returned. "Look out the window. It's snowing."
"In the middle of October? You can't see out these windows," she complained.
"Whose fault is that?"
Sherry was in the kitchen with a cup of coffee when her mother came from the bathroom. "I'm glad Steve helped Mark put that window in last night, "Alison said of the window over the sink. At least you can see out one of them."
Alison poured herself a cup of coffee. "I'm glad your dad brought those dishes out for you last night. It's better than drinking coffee from a plastic measuring cup. I'm going to the den to sit by the fire."
"The brown chair's mine," Sherry said as she picked up her mug to follow. She liked the big chair because she could sit cross legged on it.
Alison sat on the gold rocking chair and set her coffee on the milk-can side table so she could hold her hands out to the fire. "We're taking your car this afternoon and I'm driving."
"Getting a little bossy, aren't you?"
"We're taking your car because it's all-wheel drive. I'm driving because you never drove in snow before. It makes sense. I want to get there and back; not end up in the hospital. I've only ever been in a hospital once in my life and that was when you were born. Make that two. I was born in a hospital, too. I try to avoid those places."
"Whatever. I don't think we should take time to stop at the thrift store. I do have to stop at the drugstore."
"For what?"
"A little nosy, aren't you?"
"Does it have anything to do with you and Mark sleeping together?"
"It's not the sleeping together, Mom. It's what we do before we go to sleep."
"I'm hungry."
"You know the way to the kitchen."
Sherry was glad her mother left her alone for a while. She wished she had some potato chips but Mark and her mother had finished them off last night. She could pick up a bag when she went to the pharmacy. She hoped her mother didn't make a habit of prying into her affairs with Mark. She wanted to think. She needed to think about Mark.
She walked to the window and looked out at the blowing snow, a scene more like January than mid-October. She shivered involuntarily at the thought of an early winter. She knew her mother was right about driving. She had never driven on snow-covered roads.
Alison came back from the kitchen. "The schools are closing early so Mark should be home early. The radio said there is a two hundred mile long band of lake effect snow from Erie to Lancaster. They said it's an unusual weather phenomenon. They didn't even guess at how long it will last. I wish we didn't have to go out in it but some things can't be helped."
Sherry, dressed for warmth in sweat pants covered by a long black skirt and her good flat-heeled boots over warm socks. Alison wore the spike heeled boots Sherry bought to entice Mark. She wore a knee-length skirt and panty hose.
"You're wearing those heels?" Sherry asked. "I can't walk in heels like that on dry concrete."
"I've been wearing spike heels for years. I know how to walk in them." She went out to pull her car in the garage where Mark usually parked. It was decided that since her car was the oldest, it should be the one parked outside but she had to move it to get Sherry's car out of the garage. She left her car parked inside. "If Mark plows the driveway it would only be in the way," she reasoned.
Mr. Wright met them outside the courtroom to explain the plea agreement he had hammered out with the judge and D.A. "If you plead guilty some of the charges will be dropped."
"Which charges will be dropped?" Alison wondered.
"That will depend on your daughter." He went on to explain. "You never actually stole the contents of the safe deposit box and the things you did steal were returned to your daughter."
Sherry understood. "I won't push for punishment on those counts. I will, however, on the vandalism. She even broke the windows out of my house."
"I'll have the D.A. call you to the witness stand," he told Sherry. "He'll ask you about that. I'm not sure just what the judge has in mind, but it will be better than going to prison for a couple of years."
"I'd die in prison," Alison said with a shiver at the thought of it.
"Then I suggest you plead guilty. You will have to explain what you did and why."
"What if I don't know why?"
"Come on, Miss Winnette. How could you not know?"
"I was just so angry I lost control."
"Aha! That gives me an idea. Just plead guilty. I'll take care of it. I need to talk to the D.A. Go ahead and take your seats behind the defendant's table."
Sherry explained to the judge that she could see no reason for her mother to go to jail. It would just cost the county money to keep her. Her mother had a job. But she didn't want her mother to get off scot free. "She did a lot of damage. I want her to pay for that. And I think she needs counseling for her anger problem."
Alison did get off easy. She got two years probation plus community service to be determined at a later date. She had to reimburse Sherry for the damage done. And she was ordered to attend anger management classes.
"Do I have to keep wearing this GPS bracelet?"
"For now. But you may leave your home as long as you stay in the county."
"You got off lucky," Sherry told her as they walked out to the car. "Don't forget I need to stop at CVS."
"Get some chips. Two bags."
The snow was coming down harder than the plows could keep up with it. Sherry was glad she wasn't driving. The back roads were even worse than the highway but when they arrived home, they found that Mark had already plowed the driveway. They found a note on the refrigerator door. "Alison, move your wreck out of my parking place before I get home after the milking is done."
Alison darted in the downstairs bathroom. Sherry ran upstairs. When she came back down, she got a glass of milk and took one bag of chips to the den and closed and locked the door.
Alison went upstairs to change her clothes and brush her teeth before going to work. She knew she'd be late but she couldn't help it. She had told Judy she had a hearing that afternoon. As she put away her toothbrush she glanced down in the waste basket. She just stared before reaching down to pick up the pregnancy test. It had a positive read. "Oh, my God!"