If You Can Get It by Brendan Hodge

Author:Brendan Hodge [AUTHOR, FIRST]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spirituality & Religion
ISBN: ISBN 978-1-64229-
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2020-04-20T16:00:00+00:00

7

“Our last night together here,” Katie announced. The condo showed little sign of it, aside from Jen’s luggage sitting near the door. “I should have planned something special for dinner.”

“Let’s go out,” Jen said. “I could go for some sushi. That seems a fitting way to say goodbye to the coast.”

Katie agreed.

“Should I call an Uber?” Jen asked. “We could make it a sake night. Big send-off.”

“No. I can drive. I may be crazy, but I’m not crazy enough to mix raw fish and hard drinking.”

In the end, it was a quiet night that ended early.

The next morning, they both got up early, and Katie made breakfast.

“I could just call for a ride,” Jen offered one last time. “You’ll get stuck in all kinds of traffic.”

Katie shrugged. “I’ve got the time.”

It was good to have the company. Up to this point, the move had hardly seemed real. Now the reality of leaving her home and the city in which she had built her career came down with crushing force.

At the airport, as she unloaded her bags curbside under the watchful eyes of airport police, who blew their whistles and waved on any cars that tarried long, the immediacy of their household dissolution gripped Jen. She tapped at the driver-side window.

“Did you forget something?” Katie asked, as the glass rolled down.

“No, you idiot. Come here.” Jen reached in and enveloped her sister in a hug. “I’m going to miss you.”

A policewoman whistled loudly at them and waved the car on.

“Sorry. I’ll see you in a week.” Jen stepped back and waved as Katie pulled away from the curb.

The furnished apartment in Johnson was a sort of architectural white noise, drowning thought. The possessions she had unpacked from her two suitcases did nothing to make it homelike. The effect was so lonely that Jen turned on the TV for company.

The kitchen provided no comfort. Under Katie’s care, her own cupboards had become packed with ingredients, the shelf stacked high with cookbooks. The few items here were studiously generic: salt, pepper, a package of microwave popcorn, and a Snickers bar in the cupboard; in the freezer, a lone turkey-and-mashed-potato microwave dinner and a pint of mint ’n’ chip ice cream. Did they expect the resident to dine on turkey and Snickers her first night, or were these items merely intended to avoid the offense of a completely bare shelf?

She consulted the phone book and discovered she could order Mad Jack’s World-Famous Wings, pizza, or Mamma Ming’s Chinese food. For a moment, she contemplated getting back in the car, driving to Chicago, and abandoning small-town life and her new job. But that would be failure.

Not long ago, an evening alone with a frozen dinner or takeout had been a normal routine. Had she become so dependent on Katie in the last few months?

The question, as it formed, had an offensive sound to it. Why not be dependent on her sister? Who else should she depend on? But Katie would be there soon enough. In the meantime, she needed to eat and get ready to begin her new job.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.