The Edge Of The Sky by Drusilla Campbell

Author:Drusilla Campbell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2013-03-28T04:00:00+00:00

In the upstairs hall an oversized utility closet with a window had been designated as the girls’ playhouse when they were small. There was a television there, one that Dom had found too small-screened for his family, and Jack had built a wall of shelves on which were stacked games and art supplies, books, and the essential junk of young lives dating back several years. Lana would put it on her list to clean the place out, send a bunch of stuff to Goodwill. Beth and Micki had decorated the walls with posters of rock and television stars; the furniture was old pillows and an orange beanbag chair one of them had dragged home from a junk store. The room gave Lana claustrophobia but the girls and their friends loved it. Micki retreated there right after dinner while her mother sat at her kitchen desk writing bills, listening to the jazz station from City College.

When Beth came in the back door just after ten, Lana said, “You’re late.”

Beth looked at the wall clock. “Five minutes.” She slung her book bag onto the oak table where it slid off and onto the floor. She stared at it a moment.

Lana wondered if she planned to pick it up.

“Be more careful.”

“Sor-ry.” Beth hefted the bag onto a chair.

“Did you have enough dinner? I made spaghetti. Want some? Only take a minute to warm it up.”

Beth considered this for what seemed a long time to Lana. “Nah. I’m wiped.”

“Are you sleeping okay?”

“I’m just tired. No biggie. Why’re you putting the smack down on me?”

Lana stared at her. “I don’t even know what that means.”

“Just leave me alone, will you? I gotta go to bed.”

“I only asked you if you wanted something to eat.”

“You think I’m a moron? I don’t get what you’re doing?” Beth flounced across the kitchen, throwing up her arms. “It’s not what you say, it’s the way you say it. You ask me if I want food so I’ll tell you I ate from all the food groups tonight. You ask if I’m okay means you want me to spill my guts. Well, I don’t have any guts to spill, Ma. I’m just really, really tired.”

Lana’s vocal cords had frozen. She stood up, her hands busy stacking the bills into two neat piles, paid and unpaid. She crossed the kitchen and began to wipe down the counter, wondering how many millions of women felt as she did right then, sick to their souls of wiping down the same slab of counter space just to give themselves something to do to keep from screaming at their children.

When she could talk, she said, “I want to meet Kimmie.” She stopped herself from explaining why. She did not need to give a reason.

There was silence and then Beth said, deeply blasé, “Whatever.”

“I don’t like the way you act since you started hanging out with her. I don’t like this new attitude. It isn’t you, Beth.”

“Maybe you don’t really know me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I know you.

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.