Get Off My Lawn! by Anna Ceguerra

Author:Anna Ceguerra [Ceguerra, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

November

THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Olivia had her kitchen window open to let the breeze in. She had just finished her coffee when a girl screamed, “Papa!” Heavy footsteps thudded before the murmur of a male voice and a child’s whiny cry drifted from next door.

Five minutes later, she heard the doorbell.

“Olivia—thank goodness you’re here. Susy’s had an allergic reaction… I think she’s eaten something. Could you look after Dotty for me?” Luke asked, raking a hand through his hair. An ambulance pulled into his drive, and Luke stuttered. Holding his hand was Dotty, who carried a toy truck in the crook of her arm.

“I—yes, of course—” Olivia started.

That was enough for Luke. He crouched down to Dotty’s eye level. “Be good for Mrs Olivia. Daddy will be back soon.” He kissed her on top of her head and ran back to his house.

A thousand thoughts flew through Olivia’s head, but none of them formed a coherent sentence. Underlying these thoughts was the kernel of guilt germinating in her belly. Did she do this? Dotty stilled as she entered the house, only her head moving as she took in the alien surroundings.

“Have you eaten breakfast?” Olivia blurted out, anything to break the awkward silence of the past minute. Dotty slowly shook her head. “Okay, let’s go into the kitchen.”

Olivia led her through the musty hallway, the space filled with overflowing bookshelves from floor to ceiling. When Olivia checked on her charge, she found a look of wonderment on Dotty’s face.

“What do you usually have for breakfast?” Olivia asked, breaking the spell.

Dotty quickened her steps to join Olivia and climbed onto a chair. “Papa makes us something different every day.”

“Like what?”

Dotty settled into her seat. “Yesterday, we had orange pancakes with swimming spiders on them.”

“Orange pancakes? And the day before that?”

“We had Mickey and Minnie pancakes.”

“Okay… what else?” Olivia asked.

“Dinosaur pancakes.”

Olivia laughed, stopping abruptly when the girl shrank into the seat. “What’s your favourite food?”

“Pancakes…” Dotty continued to fiddle with her toy truck.

“Would you like some pancakes now, dear?” Olivia said, her tone serious, but her lips twitched.

“Yes…” the young girl said to her truck, and Olivia got to work.

“That’s a nice truck,” she mentioned off-hand.

Dotty authoritatively put her truck on the table. “It’s a CM-1000 cement mixer, capable of rotating one rev per minute,” Dotty rattled off the specs as she pointed to different parts of the truck. Olivia nodded impatiently along the way. Nerds always irked her with their endless recitation of specs. She identified more with the creativity of being a techie.

Dotty continued her tireless spiel, so Olivia interrupted. “Oh, very nice. I don’t know much about trucks myself, but I know a fair bit about gadgets and read a lot of books.”

“I only have baby books at home.”

Olivia expertly flipped the pancake on the frying pan. “We can look at my library later if you want.”

Dotty eyes glimmered, but remained glued to her truck, so Olivia let her be while she finished cooking the pancake. When she served

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