Local Knowledge by Liza Gyllenhaal

Author:Liza Gyllenhaal [Gyllenhaal, Liza]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2010-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

19

I dropped the children off back at our house and told Rachel to give everyone a hot shower, including Max and Katie.

“Wouldn’t it just make more sense to drive them right home?” Rachel asked.

“No, I think this is better,” I said. “I’m going to run over there and talk to Anne.”

“Oh, Mom, please—”

“Don’t worry. I won’t tell her what you told me. I just need to find out what’s going on. If I’m late getting back, go ahead and give everybody supper.”

The temperature had dropped precipitously since the front had come through, and the air had a charged metallic smell, like spent gunpowder. The sky was clear again, and the low-lying sun shimmered across the rain-soaked fields and woods, setting the trees aglitter and turning the roadway into a river of light. As I made the turn onto Maple Rise, I noticed that Luke had put up a new piece to replace the sunflower Paul had bought from him. It was more abstract than his usual fare, a curving shaft of tempered metal, about five feet high. It felt odd to be approaching the Zellers in such an emotional state. I usually feel so privileged to be making the climb up the curving hillside and tend to compose my best self for Anne: the loving mother, the good listener, the sympathetic friend. Now I was too upset to care how I came across.

I parked the car in the turnaround behind Anne’s Volvo and walked down the rain-slicked pathway to the front door. I don’t think I’d ever used the bell before; I’m usually expected and just walk right in. Now, though, I felt the need to formalize my anger. I pressed on the buzzer. I waited. I leaned toward the door to listen for Anne’s footsteps. Silence. I buzzed again. Nothing. That was the moment it occurred to me that something might be wrong. That Anne could have had an accident, fallen down the unfinished basement steps or taken too many sleeping pills trying to get some relief from her insomnia. There’s always a part of me that worries about her. I don’t have her emotional problems. I don’t understand what it feels like to carry such a burden, though I’ve seen her at both extremes—feverishly exhilarated and anxiously deflated. I’ve been a good, practical help to Anne, I know. But her deeper troubles remain beyond my grasp. I tried the bell again, but I was already pushing open the front door as I did so.

“Anne?”

Late-afternoon sunlight filled the soaring space: the entrance hall, living room, and the long gallery leading to the master bedroom suite. From the foyer, I could see straight through into the spacious dining area and the cutout windows that opened to the kitchen. The rooms were finally fully furnished. Rachel had helped with some of the ordering and had brought home a few of the glossy catalogs as souvenirs, I suppose, of her summer sojourn in what must sometimes seem to her a foreign country.

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.