Sufferance by Thomas King

Author:Thomas King
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2021-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

23

Emma and Lala find me in the graveyard stacking river stones and pulling up crosses.

“I got four gold stars and a robin.” Lala holds up a sheet of paper.

“It’s a story she wrote,” says Emma. “About dragons and crows.”

“They save the princess from monsters,” says Lala.

Emma rubs her daughter’s head. “Would you mind if I tape it to the refrigerator?”

Lala picks up one of the crosses. “Can I have this?”

“It’s not a toy, honey.”

“I could use it as a sword and hit the monsters.”

“It’s not a good idea to hit anything.”

“Helen hit Linda.”

“What?”

“Linda pushed Helen’s little sister, and Helen pushed Linda.”

“At school?”

“Pushed her right over.”

“And that’s not the right thing to do, is it.”

Lala turns around in a circle. “Linda started to cry, so we called her crybaby.”

“Children.” Emma sighs. “They’re a blessing.”

I STAY IN THE GRAVEYARD the rest of the day. The chiselling is slow, and I’m only able to do two stones before the light goes and I have to drag the wagon back to the school.

Emma and Lala are in the kitchen. Emma has made spaghetti with meat sauce, and Lala is sucking up each strand one at a time.

“Watch this,” she calls out. “I’m a vacuum cleaner.”

“Honey, that’s no way to eat spaghetti.”

“But it’s fun.”

“It’ll make a mess of your clothes.”

“Then you can wash them.”

Emma holds up a plate. “Would you like some? We have plenty.”

The knock on the front door is quick and hard, and whoever it is doesn’t wait. The door opens and there are footsteps in the hallway. Lala is in mid-suck when Florence rumbles into the kitchen.

“Let’s go,” she says. “Nutty’s in the hospital.”

Emma puts the plate on the counter. “Hospital?”

“Ada took her in,” says Florence.

“Is it serious?”

Florence’s face is tight. “We should get there.”

“Is Grummy sick?”

Emma turns to me. “Can I leave Lala with you?”

“I want to see Grummy!”

“A hospital won’t be any fun,” says Emma. “Mr. Camp might read you a story.”

“I want to see the hospital!”

“We can take her,” says Florence. “Do Nutty good to see Lala.”

I float away from the table, try to slip casually out of the kitchen.

Florence blocks me with a hip. “And just where do you think you’re going?”

FLORENCE’S SUBARU is roomier than it looks. I sit in the front seat. Emma and Lala sit in the back.

“So Nutty’s been complaining about her chest for the last couple of days.” Florence slides through several stop signs, tapping the brakes for show. “Ada and her were watching baseball at Ada’s place when Nutty began having trouble breathing.”

“Is Grummy going to die?”

“No, honey,” says Emma. “Grummy is not going to die.”

“Helen had a cat,” says Lala, “and it died.”

I wonder if this is the same Helen who hit Linda.

“She had a goldfish and it died, too.”

THERE ARE NO PARKING SPOTS on the street, so Florence has to use the hospital parking lot.

“You believe this,” she says as she takes the ticket from the machine. “They charge sick people for parking?”

There’s a special five-dollar rate after 6:00.

“You got to be real greedy to do that.

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