Irises by Stork Francisco X

Author:Stork, Francisco X. [Stork, Francisco X.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Young Adult, Contemporary, Religion, Romance
ISBN: 9780545151351
Amazon: 054515135X
Goodreads: 11534332
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
Published: 2012-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

Kate had to take the bus after school to the Red Sombrero, since neither Simon nor Bonnie could give her a ride. It was just as well. She needed time to think, to relive the conversation she had with Reverend Soto yet again. He had said the truth required that she consider all the options, that she look at all of them squarely. She leaned her head against the window of the bus and tried to do just that. She went to Stanford, and Mary and Mama stayed with someone. That was the top option, the only one she had considered so far. Who would Mary and Mama stay with? Aunt Julia would be best, but her aunt had never given any indication that she would be willing to take on that responsibility. Besides, it would be cruel to saddle Mary with Aunt Julia. Finding someone to live with Mary and Mama and paying that someone with the insurance money was a better solution. But was it realistic to have someone take care of Mama for four years or maybe longer while she went away first to college and then to medical school?

The bus stopped and a lady with a canvas bag full of groceries started to get on. She had trouble making it up the steps of the bus. She ambled slowly to an empty seat, and as she passed by, Kate saw her thin brown legs. Every night, before Kate went to sleep, she poured rubbing alcohol on her palms and massaged Mama’s legs so they would not atrophy. When she first started doing it, she kept expecting Mama to open her eyes, to sit up, say thank you, hug her. But as time went on, the nightly hope gave way to a sense that the limbs she was touching were devoid of energy, that life would never come back to them.

The bus passed a sign pointing toward Ascarate Park and she remembered suddenly her mother playing volleyball during a picnic game. It was a school outing, and Mother had volunteered to serve as chaperone. The rest of the mothers sat together talking, but not Mama. She saw that players were needed for a volleyball game and she jumped in uninvited. Kate remembered her bare feet and how she ran to get the ball, laughing with all the joy of an eight-year-old lost at play.

“Mama, we need to let you go,” she whispered.

But the thought that she wanted to let Mama go for her own convenience stuck in her head like a painful splinter she could not remove. She’s no longer alive. Reverend Soto’s words kept coming back to her. Andy’s words. The images of her mother’s limp legs as she massaged them and of her chasing a volleyball, full of life, whirled together in her head one after another. And she saw Andy’s soft hands, his fiery eyes and thick black hair. She tried to shake the feelings that came with the thought of him, but then she remembered his sermon and the way he gave it, the emphasis he placed on certain words.

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