The Annie Year by Stephanie Wilbur Ash

Author:Stephanie Wilbur Ash
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781944700256
Publisher: The Unnamed Press
Published: 2016-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

She came back three days later. “They told me she makes too much money,” she said.

“Technically, it’s her land holdings, not her income. It’s the farm that Huff gave her,” I said. “And there is a legal agreement that prevents her from selling any of it until after his death.”

Her eyes narrowed but she did not cry this time. After I said it, I could tell that it sounded callous, that I had behaved callously, even if it was technically true. I could have been kinder. I can see that now. I am learning.

“There are loans,” I said, trying to redeem myself.

She nodded, or rather tilted her chin up and then down enough to convey to me that she had heard what I said, but not enough to indicate what it meant to her.

“I’ll figure it out,” she said.

This, in my mind, was worse than her assertion that she had come to the end of something. Coming to the end of something was the end for one person. Figuring something out meant she could take others down with her.

“How will you figure it out?” I asked with as much kindness as I could muster.

“I have friends,” she said. “In high places.”

A darkness came over both of us. The space over my desk between us became heavy and prickled.

“Like Clive?” I asked.

“Clive who?” she asked, answering a question with a question, lying in that stupid, petty way the little girls around here lie.

“Clive, the person who gave you hundreds of pills of cold medicine.”

If there was a hitch in her confidence she did not display it. “Did the Vo-Ag teacher tell you that?” she asked. And when I did not reply she said, “Isn’t it interesting what people will do to make themselves feel like your hero?”

“I have not had the good fortune to experience that,” I said.

“Maybe someday,” she said, as if I were a little girl, and then left.

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