Ash Falls by Warren Read

Author:Warren Read
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781632460486
Publisher: IG Publishing
Published: 2017-07-03T04:00:00+00:00

Lyla and Tin

In Lyla’s memory, Henry Kelleher Sr. was a man who wore a frown more often than not, his mouth curled down hard at the edges, the brow constantly gouged with worry ruts. He was protective of his solitude, and Lyla liked to hide in the shadows to watch him in the pre-dawn lamp-lit kitchen as he simmered his pot of coffee over the wood stove, whispering the old Irish folk songs, The Cliffs of Doneen and Lark in the Morn. In those moments, she could often catch the faint lift of a smile.

He told Lyla and Hank stories of his own childhood in St. Paul, tales of schoolyard scuffles and ice fishing and of litters of kittens that seemed to appear in different corners of the house each time he told it. One night, when he had drunk too much whiskey, he told them of the frigid winter morning when he found his grandmother dead, slumped over in her own porch rocker. She was dressed only in a flannel nightgown and wool socks, and dusted from top to bottom with the thinnest layer of snow.

“You need to have plans,” he said to them. “You don’t want to end up alone, no one around to be there when you most need help.”

“I got plans,” Lyla told him, since she did. She had a clear idea to run away from Ash Falls the first chance she got. The world, she decided, was waiting for her.

He turned to Lyla. “I don’t mean plans to go up and cook in the logging camps, either. So help me, if I ever catch you so much as breathing the same air as one of those lumbermen, it’ll be the last breath you take.”

“I’m not cooking for anyone,” she said. “I’m gonna go to France and make dresses, and eat in restaurants.”

Hank laughed at her, and their father furrowed his brow at her and shook his head. “Don’t mistake dreams for plans, Lyla,” he said. “Dreams are what happen when your eyes are closed. You’d be smart to keep yours open.”

It was almost 9:00 a.m. when Lyla pulled into The Sleep Inn parking lot with Marcelle seated beside her. There had been a hard rain the night before, some fir branches thrown down onto lawns and such. But the sun was out now, and the pavement had enough of a gleam in it that Lyla swatted down her visor.

“I might not be there when you get home,” she said. “It’d be a good time for you to run a load of laundry.”

Marcelle nodded and tugged at her dirty coat sleeves.

Lyla said, “I noticed Eugene’s been wearing the same jeans the last three days.”

“I know,” Marcelle said, “He does that even when he’s got clean ones.” She didn’t look at Lyla when she said this, but she thanked her for the ride then got out and walked quickstep to the motel office. The girl was getting bigger in the behind, Lyla observed. And everywhere else. There were men out there who liked that kind of thing.

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