Indigo Rose by Susan Miller

Author:Susan Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780307418135
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2007-12-18T00:00:00+00:00

Twelve

Overnight, we go back into the freeze. Snow streaks through the light of the moon, and the weather seems more like it’s meant to this time of year. By morning, every tree branch and twig carries a coat of snow, and I have to admit the world looks like a fairyland. Winter’s beauty and its roughness no longer surprise me, and knowing that makes me count the months and add up that in the spring it will be two years I have been in this odd part of the world where half the year you stay so bundled up you forget the look of your own flesh under all that layering.

I wrap myself against the cold to wait for my bus back to the Silvers’. The bus comes late, leaving me to worry about Clair getting off to school. I got to count on the big girls, I guess. Finally, the bus rolls through the slush into its spot alongside the curb. My breath clouds the air as I step inside. When I get to the Silvers’, the girls are dashing out in a group, and I see it’s hurting Clair to have her sisters hurry her along and not allow her time to stop and be with me a little. Inside, alone but for Tennyson, I’ve got to stomp each foot a dozen times before that soft snow gives up its grip on my boots.

By afternoon, snow is falling again as if it wants to make up for the two unnatural weeks of warmth we had and hide the house up to the roof. The girls tumble in, and Clair talks with a dance in her voice about sledding in the park with her friend Franny, each on a spinning saucer that puts the smooth glide of Brother Man’s roulette wheel in front of my eyes. I put my face to the strip of glass beside the front door and watch the snow come down and cover everything, and I am glad to see the whole world buried before my eyes.

The big snowfall shuts the schools and keeps the girls home the next day. The older two are jittery, and I have to summon Professor’s warning in order to muster patience with them. Only after some time pass do I understand there’s something particular that’s itching at them.

“The lawyer’s really coming today, on our snow day?” Julie questions Jill. “That’s not fair. It’s our day off.”

“Not till this afternoon, till after school hours,” says Jill.

“So what,” Julie says. “He’s still coming, isn’t he?”

“What’s a lawyer?” Clair wants to know.

“A giant asshole that swallows you up in his big butt,” says Julie.

Louisa’s voice comes into my head, saying, That’s nasty. “Jules, watch your mouth,” I snap and I am shaken to feel these girls and my own together in this room.

“What is it?” Clair presses. “You tell me, Indi. They won’t.”

“Someone your mother’s sending over to talk to you girls.”

“He taught my Sunday school class in fifth grade. I hate this,” Jill says, her voice filling with the embarrassment she anticipates.

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.