A Whisper of Bones by Ellen Hart

Author:Ellen Hart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

21

Eleanor had just finished getting a fire going in the fireplace when Lena rolled herself into the living room. By the smell of her, Eleanor could tell she’d been at the bottle again. Lena had taken to smoking in her room, thus containing the reek of her menthol cigarettes to a small part of the house. Even so, wherever she went, she carried the stink of her various vices with her.

“It’s really coming down out there,” said Eleanor.

Lena’s lap was covered with a blanket. She wore two sweaters over her bony shoulders. “We better call that kid who shoveled for us last year, see if he’s up for doing it again this winter.”

“Already did,” said Eleanor, closing the top of the kindling box and then sitting down on top of it, warming her hands near the flames. “I spoke to his mother. The snow’s supposed to taper off midmorning. She said she’d send him over after he gets home from school.”

“If there is school tomorrow. They may cancel it.” She cackled. “Do you ever remember our school being canceled because of seven inches when we were kids?”

“No,” said Eleanor, thinking back. “Only for a blizzard.”

“I used to love going for walks when it was snowing out. Nothing like it. A real wonderland.”

“I remember that, too,” said Eleanor. She twisted around when she heard the TV snap off. The tall blond renter emerged from the den carrying a sack of pretzels and immediately headed up the stairs, taking the steps them two at a time. Once she figured he’d gone into his bedroom, she looked back at Lena and was about to comment on him when she saw that her sister was still staring at the empty stairway, seemingly deep in thought.

“He remind you of anyone?” asked Lena.

“Not really. Should he?”

“If Timmy’d had a son, he’d look just like that kid. He’d be the right age, too.”

“Timmy didn’t have a son. You know that. He died when he was a boy.” She decided to get something off her chest. “Speaking of Tim, why on earth did you have to tell Britt that he was a figment of her imagination?” She’d been upstairs at the time getting her purse. When she came back down into the living room, she had to scramble to figure out what Lena had told Britt.

“I didn’t want to bare my soul to the likes of her. It was none of her goddamn business. All I wanted was for her to leave and never come back. But no, oh no. You had to invite her to dinner.”

“You put me in a terrible position. You made me lie to her to back up some ridiculous story that Tim never existed. I’ll never, to my dying day, understand you.”

“You’re always talking about family solidarity. That’s all I was asking.”

Eleanor looked into the fire, deciding to take a more gentle tone. “Tim died in a car accident, Lena. It wasn’t your fault. His death doesn’t make you a bad mother.”

Lena rolled her wheelchair closer to the fire—closer to her sister.

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.