Elaine Orr - Jolie Gentil 07 - Vague Images (11 page)

CHAPTER TEN

I WOKE UP at about six-fifteen Tuesday morning to the sound of raised voices in my living room.

Lucas was the loudest
. “It’s not to put you in a hospital. It’s just to see if different meds will…”

“I’m fine without medicine!  I got myself here, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, and you got all your stuff stolen.”

I reached for the crutches next to my bed
. I heard Scoobie’s door open, but he didn’t seem to come out. Probably didn’t want to scare Kim.

The argument continued as I crutched into the living room
. They were trying to talk over each other and both stopped mid-sentence. Kim’s face was thinner than in the photo Lucas had, and she had deep circles under her eyes. Her hair was also different, now a brassy blonde color.
She’d get along with Aunt Madge.

“I’m glad you’re here, Kim.”

“My name is Hannah.”  She managed to scowl and looked almost cowed at the same time.

“In here you can be Hannah.”  Lucas started to say something, and I stopped him with a babysitter look
. “Outside it’s safer to be Kim.”

“Are you guys hungry?” Scoobie asked
. He spoke from the doorway of his room.

“I am,” Lucas said.

Kim frowned at Scoobie. “Are you the person who told the police to look for me?”

“I told you he…” Lucas began.

“I asked
him
.”

Scoobie walked into the doorway to the living room and stood next to me
. “You’re almost never taller than anyone, but you’ve got Kim beat by an inch.”

Kim actually smiled for a couple of seconds
. “You have some grey in your beard.”

“You can lend me some of your hair color.”

I laughed, and stopped when Kim stared at me stonily. “It’s not the right color.”

“Okay, now that we’ve all had our introductions,” Scoobie said, “I’m up in time to make pancakes and scrambled eggs
. Lucas, you’re doing the toast. Kim, if your clothes were stolen, Jolie can lend you some. I have first dibs on the bathroom.”

Lucas looked at Kim
. “I told you they were okay.”

“Stop saying I-told-you-so.”

“Come look in my closet.”  I glanced around the living room, which was strewn with pillows, sheets, and blankets. I had no idea when Kim had arrived, having gone to bed about midnight. I looked at Lucas. “You pick up the living room.”

“What did you do to your foot?” Kim asked
. She was studying the clothes in my closet, but not taking anything out to look.

“Slammed hard on the brakes to avoid hitting a deer
. Kind of sprained it.”

She gave me the look most people do when I say this. Who sprains an ankle stepping on the brakes?

While she looked, I went over what had been said in the last few minutes. I still had no idea where Kim had been staying, but she definitely knew that the police were aware of her. I wondered if she had talked to one of them.

Kim pulled out my Harvest for All tee-shirt
. “I went to this place.”

“You saw the note, so you know I was there.”

She nodded. “Do you have a belt I could use when I wear your pants?”

I nodded to a hook at the back of a closet
. I could hear Scoobie and Lucas working together in the kitchen. “I’m not about to lecture you.”

“Good.”

“And I can see why you don’t want to listen to Lucas.”

She looked at me, surprised.

“He’s probably made his points before,” I said, dryly.

This earned me a weak smile and she flipped through more clothes.

“But Scoobie had a really crappy childhood. Talk to him sometime.”

“As long as he doesn’t talk about medicine.”

I shrugged, or as much as you can when standing on crutches. “You can ask him what he takes. He won’t bring it up.”

She didn’t turn from where she was flipping through my hangers, but she did pause for a second
. “Okay if I borrow these jeans?”

Borrow. She said borrow!
  “Sure. You’ll probably have to roll up the cuffs once.”

She came out of the closet and I pointed to the top drawer of my chest with a crutch
. She opened it and pulled out a pair of underwear and a bra. She took the bra by each strap and looked at it. “I don’t think so.”

I am
not that well-endowed, but I did beat her rail-thin figure. “Rinse yours in the sink and stick it in my drier. I can give you a few dollars to get underwear.”

“I was in the Salvation Army thrift store yesterday
. If you lend me ten dollars I can buy a lot.”

“Sure.”  I was relieved to hear her talk about practical things
. She sounded much calmer than ten minutes ago.

“Yo. Jolie
. Lucas is finishing the eggs. I’m grabbing the shower.”

The three of us ate in silence for almost a minute
. Then Lucas said, “There’s a good community mental health center…”

“No.”

“Lucas,” I tried to speak gently. Not always my forte. “She needs to make her own choices about that.”

“You don’t know how our mom was.”  He was wearing his mulish expression.

“I’m not crazy. I’m not mom.”  Kim’s tone was fierce.

“Yes, but…”

“Enough!”  I spoke louder than I intended, but it had the effect I wanted. Lucas’ fork paused near his mouth and Kim sat very still. I looked at Lucas and gestured to the stove. “Pour some pancake batter into the pan so they’re ready for Scoobie.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

For some reason, his exasperated tone made Kim giggle, and I saw his shoulders relax.

I looked at Kim
. “On Lucas’ first day here, I made him go with me when I appraised a house. You want to come?”

At her blank look, I explained what I did, and said she would help me with the measuring tape, since I was, obviously, still on crutches
.

“I promise I will tomorrow
. I’d really like to sleep for a while. Unless you want us outside during the day.”

“Of course not,” I said.

Scoobie, towel drying his hair, stuck his head in the kitchen. “It’s not a hostel. Your turn, Lucas. Hey, thanks for the cakes. Be right back.”

As he left the kitchen, Lucas looked at Kim
. “Remember what I said.”

Kim scowled just as Scoobie walked back into the kitchen with bare feet, jeans and a tee-shirt
. He looked at me and I shook my head. “Not at you and me.”

“I just get tired of him trying to boss me around.” Kim’s tone was petulant.

Scoobie sat next to Kim and began pouring syrup on his pancakes. “You should live with her.” He jerked his head in my direction.

“Hey
. I don’t boss you around.”

“Yeah, but you try.”  He winked at Kim, and she smiled briefly.

The shower went off.

“I’m not in a big hurry today. Only one house to appraise
. You can go next.”  Kim stood, and I added, “There’s a pack of cheap toothbrushes under the sink.”

“Unused,” Scoobie added.

I couldn’t hear what Lucas said to Kim in the hall, but she gave a short reply in a grouchy tone. The bathroom door shut and Lucas walked into Scoobie’s room to get dressed.

“I might have to take him to a meeting,” Scoobie said, in a low voice.

“Can’t make him go,” I said, knowing he was referring to the twelve-step meetings at St. Anthony’s.

“Duh
. A couple of people in the All-Anon group have had family members commit suicide. I found it helpful.”

“Getting over your mom?” I asked, though I knew her death was not a suicide.

He nodded. “Some people think suicide is the ultimate form of selfishness and, as you met her a couple of years ago, you know my mother thought what she wanted was all that mattered.”

It was my turn to nod
. “Hey. Whatever happened to your dad?”

“No clue
. Thought he might hear about her death and contact me, but no dice.”

I was about to ask him if he really wanted to see his father when Lucas walked back into the kitchen.

“Still ticked off?” Scoobie asked, in a casual tone.

“I’m not ticked off,” he responded in an angry tone.

“Sure you’re not,” I said, but I smiled at him and he gave a grudging smile back.

“I can’t tell you what to do,” Scoobie said, “but if I were you I’d give the mental health stuff a break for a while. Take her to a movie, or to buy some new clothes
. You have a little money, right?”

Lucas nodded
. “She’ll need an outfit for prunes.”

“She has been in there awhile,” I said.

I crutched the short distance to the bathroom door. The shower was running full tilt. “You getting super clean in there?”

No response
. It suddenly occurred to me that, given the size of my hot water tank, the shower water would be ice cold by now. Without knocking I pushed open the door.

Kim was gone and the window curtains danced merrily in the light breeze.

HALF AN HOUR later, after running through the neighborhood, Lucas sat at my kitchen table with his head resting on his folded arms
. “Why?  Why would she do that?”

Scoobie was in the doorway in his scrubs, and I knew he had to leave
. “It’s okay,” I said to him.

“No, it’s not!” Lucas started to sob.

I touched his shoulder. “I meant Scoobie could go to work. You and I can figure out what to do next.”

Scoobie walked to Lucas and gave him a guy kind of pat on the shoulder, winked at me, and left.

I kept a hand on Lucas’s shaking shoulder, and after a few more seconds his sobs began to subside. “I’m sorry we’re so much trouble,” he said, choking back more sobs.

I pushed the napkin holder to him
. “We’ll figure it out. She knows good places to hide, so she won’t let us find her quickly. When I get out of the shower we’ll talk about what to do.”

Lucas sat up and blew his nose, careful to turn so I wouldn’t see his red eyes.

As I shampooed my hair in the tepid shower water, I thought about places Kim could hide. It was only in the upper forties or low fifties at night, so it would have to either have heat or she had to have a warm sleeping bag. Since her stuff was all stolen at some point, that pointed to the former
.

But where she is isn’t really the issue
.
I’d learned enough from Scoobie over the last three years to know that it was the why that mattered when it came to how people acted. Nothing could be changed without addressing what was really wrong. Why wouldn’t Kim get medication or counseling?  Had she tried an anti-depressant that made her feel worse?  I knew that could happen, usually only briefly, and then the medicine had its intended effect. But if she was the one feeling worse, she wouldn’t want to stay on medicine long enough to see whether she would feel better in a week.

I finished blow-drying my hair and getting dressed in the bathroom
. When I was finally done, I was alone in the house. I went to the kitchen and mentally thanked Lucas for doing the dishes. Always Mr. Responsibility.

There was a note on the kitchen table
. “I know you’re right. When I find her the first thing out of my mouth will be no meds, and then I’ll ask her what movie she wants to see. I’ll be back tonight, with or without Kim.”

I sighed, with a sense of relief
. I knew it was selfish, but I didn’t really know how to help Lucas or Kim, in the emotional sense, anyway.

As I swung my foot away from the spot where I’d stood to read the note, my foot collided with a kitchen chair and I cursed
. Jazz meowed from the kitchen doorway. I wiped away the kind of instinctive tears that come from sudden pain and regarded her. “Where have you been?  Usually it’s only Pebbles who hides.”  She meowed in seeming agreement and walked to the fridge.

“Okay.”  I opened the door and pulled out a half-eaten can of cat food for her and raw veggies for Pebbles
. “Pebbles. I’m not crawling under the bed with your food.”  I could hear her gently walking across my bedroom floor, and she came into the kitchen as nonchalantly as if she had planned her visit. She ignored me and went straight for her food.

When I had been surprised by Pebbles’ sudden appearance last spring, I had no idea what to feed her
. It turns out there is pet food for skunks, and she can also eat certain raw vegetables. More important, she and Jazz get along well. Jazz had been lonely without her two playmates, Aunt Madge’s retrievers, Mister Rogers and Miss Piggy.

I took the Ocean Alley phone book from a kitchen drawer, tossed it on the table, and crutched over to sit with my foot on the table
. I was tired of crutches, whether one or two. Annoyed that my ankle still would not bend, I put in a call to Dr. Birdbaum’s office.