The Stone Catchers by Laura Leigh Morris

Author:Laura Leigh Morris
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781985900578
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2024-04-17T00:00:00+00:00

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After she’d slathered Rhonda’s butt with white paste and bought a canister of formula, along with a giant bag of chocolate that her mom would have lectured her about, Priscilla sat on the couch and stared at the television. Rhonda slept beside her. She should have put her in the crib when she finally nodded off, but Priscilla felt better with the baby close by. And the chocolate, which was almost gone, empty wrappers strewn across the cushions and floor.

Priscilla hadn’t been alone since before the shooting, and while her mom sometimes drove her crazy, her constant chatter had been comforting. Or at least distracting. Now she kept the lights low but the TV’s volume high. She watched reruns of Friends. The station aired them all night long. When Rhonda had been really tiny and cried and ate half the night, Priscilla kept it on as background noise. Now it soothed her. She switched to the news during commercials. There was a short piece on the funerals, a montage of people walking into and out of churches, photos of the ones they’d buried today, but mostly the media had moved on—a plane crash in Canada, an officer shooting in Indiana, an unexpected dip in the stock market. Nine days and already Brickton had disappeared from all but the local news. Even if Priscilla didn’t necessarily want her face all over the television, she couldn’t believe the world would move on so quickly. That she was supposed to move on too.

She reached for Rhonda, who didn’t stir until Priscilla picked her up and hugged her close, tickling the bottoms of her feet. Rhonda rubbed her face against Priscilla’s shoulder, whimpered, started to settle again, but Priscilla didn’t want her to sleep. “Hey, baby,” she said and bounced her a little. “Time to wake up.”

It was after midnight. The TV’s blue light flickered, sending dark shadows up the walls, highlighting Rhonda’s still-closed eyes. Priscilla sat Rhonda up, said, “Hey,” bounced her on her knee. The baby whimpered and, head lolling against her shoulder, started to settle again. Priscilla pinched her thigh. Nothing. She pinched harder, and Rhonda’s eyes flew open. She screeched, and Priscilla held her against her chest, saying, “It’s okay, it’s okay.” She stood, swayed her hips as she worked to calm Rhonda. The baby continued to screech for a long while. Priscilla didn’t mind.

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