Yolanda’s Ray of Sunshine by S.E. Smith

Author:S.E. Smith [Smith, S.E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Montana Publishing

Four

Five years later:

* * *

Aimee frowned when she noticed her mom had fallen asleep sitting in the chair. She closed her book and set it aside. Her mom had been losing weight the last few months and always looked tired. Aimee studied the over-the-counter pain pills lying on the crate next to the chair. They weren’t helping anymore.

Concerned, Aimee pushed up off the concrete floor. They were living in an abandoned hotel. Afraid of the upper floors with their rotted wood and crumbling concrete, they had taken over a lower room that had once been used as a breakfast nook. Aimee hoped they wouldn’t be here long. Despite the two cats that had taken up residence shortly after they arrived a week ago, she was sure there were rats living here.

“Aimee….” Yolanda murmured.

Aimee finished adjusting the blanket over her mom. “Would you like some hot tea? Mr. Lu gave me some Egg Drop soup and fried rice to bring home for you.”

Yolanda shook her head, wincing with pain as she did, before she struggled to sit upright. Aimee tried to stop her mom, but Yolanda gave her a pointed look. Aimee crouched down in front of the chair and picked up her mom’s hand. It was chilled despite the warm temperature.

“A cup of tea would be nice… and your hairbrush. I want to brush your hair,” her mom said in a low voice.

“One tea and hairbrush coming up,” Aimee replied.

Rising to her feet, she quickly heated the tea over a small alcohol stove set on a large, flat piece of tile. Once the tea was ready, she poured it into a paper cup and sealed it with a lid. She placed the cup on the dusty crate she had set up next to the once plush lobby chair before retrieving her hairbrush.

She set a plastic milk crate in front of the chair, sat on it with her back to her mom, and handed her the brush. Yolanda leaned forward and gently unwound her braided hair until it fell like a silky curtain down her back. Aimee sighed as her mom began brushing her hair in a soothing rhythm.

“I love your hair. I hope you’ll never cut it. It’s your superpower,” her mom said.

“Like Samson?”

Yolanda waved the hairbrush in the air. “Stupid man. He should have known better than to trust Delilah. You’ll be smarter—”

“—because my real superpower is my brain,” Aimee finished with a laugh.

“That’s right. Knowledge is a power that no one can take away from you. As long as you use your brain, you will always be safe,” Yolanda replied.

“You’ve taught me well, Momma,” Aimee said.

“I hope so, child. Remember, if you sense danger, run—run as far and as fast as you can. Then find a place to hide until it is safe. Be careful who you trust. Not everyone is nice. Their eyes can usually tell you. Listen to your gut.”

Aimee frowned at the almost desperate note in her mom’s voice. They had gone over this topic for years, but there was something different about the way she said it now.

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