Hanna Who Fell from the Sky by Christopher Meades

Author:Christopher Meades
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Park Row Books
Published: 2017-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

17

The next morning, Hanna walked into the kitchen to find Kara sitting at the table, staring out the window with an empty cup in her hands. When Hanna said “good morning,” Kara glanced her way. She offered a smile that looked painful to wear and then returned to gazing off into the woods, the bruise on her cheek now yellow like butter, a slight greenish color forming along her jaw. The young ones dashed through the kitchen, chasing each other in a game of tag, and Hanna waited until they passed before checking the kettle on the stove. It was still warm.

“Would you like some more tea?” she said.

Kara shook her head. She pressed her fingertips to her cheek, right where it had swelled, and continued staring out the window.

Hanna sat down next to her mother. Outside, frost glistened on the grass, an early-morning mist obscuring the woodlands’ enormity, in contrast to the crisp, clear sky of last night. Hanna had seen these trees, these pockets of leaves and the pathway into the woodlands hundreds of times before. But she’d never focused on them. The woodlands’ stillness was soothing, reassuring in that the world would still be here tomorrow and the next day and the day after that. Hanna exhaled. Her mind returned to her candlelit conversation with Daniel, the thoughtful way he opened her door for her, the taste of his lips. Hanna brought her legs up. She cradled her knees in her arms and allowed herself to savor the memory, to replay it, to relive the burst of excitement she’d felt the moment their hands touched on the stairwell.

Her mother’s voice pulled Hanna from her thoughts.

“Let’s go for ice cream today,” Kara said.

She was looking directly at Hanna; for how long, Hanna didn’t know. Kara’s fingers were spread across her breastbone, curling slowly inward, as though she was holding herself upright. Her eyes were puffy, and yet her jaw was clenched, the lines around her mouth rigid.

“All of us?” Hanna said, thinking how Jotham would balk at the cost.

“No,” Kara said. “Just you and me. Let’s go to the marketplace after lunch. Do something together for a change.”

Hanna thought it strange that her mother wanted to go for ice cream when it was still so cold outside. And she almost said something, but Kara’s expression told her not to question anything she said today.

From the hallway, Emily approached. She braced her hand against the wall for support. “I need help with my jacket,” she said.

Hanna reached inside Emily’s jacket and righted an inside-out sleeve. As she watched Emily struggle to slip it over her shoulders, a wave of regret washed over her. Hanna still didn’t know what was to become of Emily after her wedding. She hadn’t found the courage to ask Jotham if he’d arranged for Emily to live with her and Edwin. Jotham was out on the back porch now, reclined on a deck chair, smoking a cigarette, something he rarely did and usually only when he was hard at the drink.

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