Smithereens by B. W. Battin

Author:B. W. Battin [Battin, B.W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: serial killer thriller
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 2015-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

After eating her macaroni casserole and washing the dishes, Terri switched on the big console TV in the den and sat down on the couch. The recliner would be more comfortable, but it had been Stanley's, and she couldn't bring herself to sit in it.

Using the remote control, Terri switched channels, finally stopping on Showtime, which was showing a movie, a Chevy Chase comedy. That's all she watched now, comedies. She'd paid the cable TV bill just before Stanley died. Meadowview Cablevision would want to be paid again in a couple of weeks; Terri would have to cancel the service.

When the house sold, the console TV would have to go too, along with most of the furniture. She could keep the small television set in the kitchen, cookware, clothes. Almost everything else would have to go. Although she had no idea where she'd be going, she was sure her new place wouldn't be large enough to hold many of the things in this house. Besides, she was going to need the money she could get from selling them.

As with the house itself, she was uncertain whether she wanted to get rid of these things because of the bad memories or keep them because of the good ones. Not wanting to think about these matters, Terri forced herself to concentrate on the movie. Midway through it, she fell asleep. She was awakened by the phone, which sat on a small table by the couch.

"Hello," she said, trying to clear the sleep from her head.

"Hi, Mom. It's me." Michelle called every few days, and they ran up a phone bill they couldn't afford, but neither of them wanted to give up the conversations.

"How's everything at school?" Terri asked.

"Oh, okay," Michelle responded without enthusiasm. "How's your job going?"

"I'm kind of enjoying it. I'm not making much money, but for the first time in my life I'm earning what I do get. It's a whole new experience. I'm learning things, too. I know what a tortilla press is now, although I'm not sure I could use one. I even know the difference between chef's knives and slicing knives and filleting knives. Did you know that some of them cost as much as eighty dollars a knife?"

"For one knife? Wow." But this, too, was said without enthusiasm.

"Honey, is something wrong?"

"Oh, nothing much, I guess. I flunked a test today. I can't seem to concentrate on my classes anymore. I just can't seem to keep my mind off… you know. It's hard not to think about it."

"Michelle, listen. We've both got to pull ourselves together and go in with our lives. Things are going to be different from now on. We've been through something terrible, but even as awful as it is, we have to live with it. We have to be strong because… well, we have to. We just have to do it."

Terri wished she could accomplish half the things she was urging her daughter to do. Still, what she was saying was true. And the words had to be said.

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.