If the Ice Had Held by Wendy J. Fox

Author:Wendy J. Fox
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Santa Fe Writer's Project
Published: 2019-01-11T16:06:18+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

Melanie

Summer, 1988

The apartment building they lived in was flanked by impenetrable juniper bushes and was between her mother’s job at the bank and Melanie’s school, and sometimes when she flushed the toilet the water knocked through the pipes in an unconventional way.

One day when Melanie checked the answering machine there was a message from her father about his child support checks. He was reminding her mother to cash them. He said he did not understand why she had not cashed a single one—almost a year’s worth. He said he did not think it could be that hard to just take care of it, since she went to the bank every day. He said he was not sure what to make of it, since cashing checks was what she did for a living.

It was not his business, Melanie thought, but she could see his point. She deleted the message.

She knew where the checks were; crammed in the junk drawer in a repurposed solicitation envelope, with two plastic windows on the front. This was unlike her mother, who was organized and saved receipts and kept records. The junk drawer itself was not even that junky. Melanie wondered if her mother was ashamed to take her father’s money, since she was very good at making do. Her mother had come from a large family, and she was the last of four girls—her three younger brothers followed her. Sometimes when Melanie complained, her mother told her that she should be grateful that she never had to wear hand-me-down underwear and that if she had a cavity she got to go to the dentist instead of chew aspirin. Melanie did not actually believe that the dentist was all that great.

“I don’t have any cavities,” she reminded her mother once.

“Because I had your teeth capped, and you get your teeth cleaned,” her mother said.

That night, when her mother came home, Irene was with her. Irene had high-piled hair and Melanie adored her—she smelled like cigarettes and lemon and was once widowed and once divorced. She never talked about either man, but Melanie’s mother said she would have liked Irene’s first husband, and when Melanie asked why, her mother thought about it for a little bit before she said because he was like them. He was young, and his name was Sammy, and he would have loved her.

* * *

Her mother didn’t get the paper, but she brought home week-old news from the branch. Melanie read the comics, the lifestyle section, and the horoscopes.

What meticulousness, Cancer! You may feel a sudden, urgent need to take a close look at your financial situation, wardrobe, cupboards, or car. List the things you need to do in order to fix them over the next few days. You’re going to spend this time taking inventory in your life. Why not? It’s important to get a really good look at the reality of things, occasionally.

* * *

Irene lived in a nicer apartment building nearby, with aqua siding and a small pool.

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