Rare Objects by Kathleen Tessaro

Author:Kathleen Tessaro
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-03-10T19:00:00+00:00

“Where have you been?” Ma was waiting for me when I came in that evening.

Somehow I’d limped through the day, and I was exhausted. All I wanted was to sleep. “We were out too late,” I told her, pulling off my coat. “So I stayed at the shop.”

“At the shop?” She gaped in horror. “Are you mad?”

“Maybe.”

I headed into the kitchen. It was cold. I opened up the icebox. There were a few eggs, a cheap cut of ham. All the bread was gone.

“It was late, and I didn’t want to miss work. I didn’t have time to come home. You don’t want me to lose my job, do you?”

“You should have rung!”

“Right!” I jerked my head toward the outside landing, where the only phone in the building was located. “You mean the party line at three in the morning? Is that what you want? The neighbors knowing all our business?”

“You could have rung,” she said again, firmly.

My head was pounding now. I didn’t have the energy to argue. “You wanted me to go out with them! To see it as an opportunity! Well, I went!”

“Don’t take that tone with me!”

“I’m too old for this, Ma! I went out, I went to work, and I’m home now. What else do you want to know?”

“I want to know that you’re alive!”

“I’m not an idiot! Of course I’m alive!”

“Well, how would I know that? Do you know how close I was to calling the police?”

I glared at her, turned away.

“What happened?” she pressed. “Where did you go? Who was with you?”

Even greater than her anger was her curiosity. She sat down at the kitchen table.

“I danced with James Van der Laar,” I told her.

“Which one is he?”

“Diana’s brother. He’s the one who invited me.”

“Who was there? Just the three of you?”

“No, there was a whole crowd. We went to a private club, very exclusive. The Friday Club.”

She shook her head. “I’ve never heard of it.”

“That’s the point.”

A furrow deepened in her brow. I could see her mind working, calculating. “James Van der Laar. How many times did he dance with you? More than once?”

“He was very attentive.”

“And who paid?”

“He did.”

“Good.” She nodded. “Very good. And did you drink?”

She knew damn well I’d been drinking; I probably still smelled of it.

“They all drink. What was I meant to do?” I asked her. “Make a spectacle out of myself?”

But her voice was steely, full of condemnation. “Nice girls don’t, Mae.”

“I only had one. One little drink! And I was fine.” My hands were beginning to tremble again, and my knees felt weak. Whatever was in Mr. Kessler’s vial had stopped working, and I was coming down hard. I had to get to bed.

“You don’t look fine. You look as bad as you did when you were hanging around with Mickey!”

I sat down too, cradled my head in my hands. “You know, Ma, I just can’t please you, can I? You wanted me to go. Told me to go. Then I did my best to

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