Little Lovely Things by Maureen Joyce Connolly

Author:Maureen Joyce Connolly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2019-03-14T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Moira

“Stay inside this time.” Moira jerked the Buick toward the gas station air hose alongside the cinder-block building. “I don’t need you wandering around like always.”

“You mean exploring.” Colly cracked a mischievous smile.

“And no messing with the dials either.” Moira attempted to be stern but then shook her head and smiled back. That child! So curious, and by God was she smart. Sometimes too smart for her own good.

The Buick heaved and sputtered before turning off. Clearly, the end of its lifespan was fast approaching. Moira got out and crouched near the wheel well, turning her face to avoid the foul smell of hot rubber. Anchoring her shaky right hand, she twisted the snake-headed tube into place.

This was a hard life for sure. Living hand to mouth. Almost twice a week now, she was filling these near-treadless tires. But she’d kept her promise to Colly, tried to be just like a mam to her. Thank Jesu she was so independent. That girl knew everything—how to cook oatmeal, how to keep vermin at bay, and always, the last place where Moira left her cigs.

But recently, with Colly getting older, keener to wisecrack, Moira found her patience buzzing in alternating current. After all of Moira’s sacrifices, she was beginning to wonder if that child wouldn’t abandon her the way everyone else in her life had. Her mind went to Eamon. She bit her trembling lip against the surfacing distress she still suffered. Despite everything, she missed him so.

And part of Moira still longed for the feel of a larger family around her. Life as a Traveller had been like living in a pile of hamsters, always one on top of the other. The shock of sudden isolation after the shunning was gone, but a deep wound still festered inside. This life with just the two of them seemed beyond lonely; it felt unnatural.

Tap, tap. Moira looked up. Colly’s face was plastered against the window like a fish in an aquarium, her hand gesturing, finlike, toward the outdoor soda machine.

Moira shook her head. Did that girl think they were made of money?

Colly sank from view.

The tires took longer to fill each time. She yawned and glanced around. Nothing for miles in the slow Indiana landscape except acres of furrowed fields under a hazy sapphire sky. It was late spring and the heat, thank God, wasn’t yet razor sharp. She followed the robotic blink of lights on the outdoor soda machine, and then counted the rows of cinder blocks on the wall. Fourteen in all, from the roof to the tops of some shaggy-headed grasses, stiff and upright as sentinels. A quick breeze swept them to one side. Moira froze at what she thought she’d seen on the wall behind those weeds.

Could it be?

“Colly.” Moira banged against the fender. The top of Colly’s hair appeared in the window, like a thatch of green sod, followed by her thin face.

Moira swallowed hard, choking with emotion. “Come out.”

“Really?”

Before Moira uttered another sound, the car door flew open and Colly’s bare feet hit the ground.

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