Surprising Myself by Christopher Bram

Author:Christopher Bram [Bram, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4804-2451-7
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2013-04-19T22:55:00+00:00

9

THEN A HAND WITH blunt nails tucked the blanket around the baby’s plump leg. The hand raised a silencing finger across the pinch-lipped smile of my sister.

“Liza!”

“Sssssh,” she went and shared her smile with Corey, who stood there with his hands in his pockets.

Relief became joy—for a moment. Then confusion set in.

Joan slept on her stomach, faced turned out and little fists balled, silky hair feathered around her bony head.

Liza’s hair was almost as short as her daughter’s. The frame of angel wings had been shorn and her hair was level with her jaw. She had ears again. Her face looked as sharp and spare as a knife and I blinked twice before I realized she wasn’t wearing make-up. Her hair needed brushing; her eyes needed sleep. I stepped towards her to kiss my sister hello.

The floor creaked under the carpet.

“Ssssh!” She held up her hand while she studied her daughter. “In the kitchen,” she whispered.

Liza lifted a guitar from the chair beside the sofa—the guitar bonged faintly when it touched the floor—and turned the back of the chair against the sofa. She wedged a sofa cushion on its side so that Joan was boxed in all around.

What was she doing here? Our silence made her presence more dramatic. I found myself expecting the worse, almost hoping for it.

“Okay,” she whispered, shooed us out into the hall and gently closed the door behind her. “The little dickens doesn’t know what time it is. Jet lag. Well. Hello there, Shrimp,” and she gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

I was excited, confused, but all I could manage to say was, “This is a surprise.”

“I’m full of surprises,” said Liza. With her arm across my shoulder, we followed Corey to the kitchen.

“I’m putting on some tea,” said Corey. “Not sleepy. Might as well be alert. Anyone else want tea?”

“Well,” I said. “Well! What a surprise.” I deliberately grinned to hide my confusion. But I was happy to see her, happy because she was my sister and happy because I’d been fearing the worst for myself, only to find my catastrophe upstaged by this. I couldn’t help feeling that Liza was here because of a catastrophe of her own, but one that I approved of. “It’s terrific to see you, Liza, but … what brings you to New York?”

“You,” she said. “What else?”

I glanced at Corey to see if he knew yet, but he watched expectantly.

“We really threw Corey for a loop,” she said. “He came home and found us sitting on your front stoop.”

“Yes. I was coming home and heard wailing,” said Corey. “Like cats. I thought it was only cats, which sound like babies to me anyway. But it was Liza with Joan, crying her heart out.”

“Joan crying her heart out. Not me,” said Liza cheerfully.

But Corey wasn’t trying to be funny. “I just wish she’d told us she was coming. You should’ve called us, Liza. I don’t like the idea of you and Joan out there in the cold.

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.