There Was an Old Woman (3 page)

Chapter Four

Before she left work, Evie told everyone that she might have to take some time off. Ginger was right, of course. The exhibit would launch just fine without her. Nick could manage the final details as well if not better than she. Besides, even though it looked like an unfinished mess, the exhibit installation was nearly complete.

She left Seth a message, too. Told him she had a “family emergency.” Her mother. That she had to spend a few days sorting things out.

Early the next morning, she took the subway and then the bus from her tiny apartment near Sunset Park deep in Brooklyn to Higgs Point at the southern tip of the Bronx. She tried not to think about what she'd find when she got there.

She took her time walking to the house. The bright blue sky was streaked with mare's-tail clouds. Leaves on the trees and bushes were still that electric green of early spring. Of course it would be the same in every neighborhood throughout the city, even Manhattan, but she rarely slowed down enough to notice.

In return for Evie's agreeing to deal with the house and watch over their mother in the hospital, Ginger said she'd sort out the health insurance. Fortunately their mother was still covered as a firefighter's widow. Fortunately, too, their father had had the prescience—though it was no secret that firefighters died young—to purchase mortgage life insurance. When he died, their mother owned the house outright.

Evie shifted her backpack to her other shoulder. She'd brought a few changes of clothes and her toothbrush. The closer she got to her mother's house, the slower she walked. It was its own world, this spit of land in a corner of the South Bronx with the East River on one side and the Long Island Sound on the other. Lanes that ran higgledy-piggledy were lined with long, narrow, shotgun houses built close together. Off any official planning grid, these lots for summer cottages had been divided early in the twentieth century, long before the Whitestone Bridge made it easy to get there. The most fortunate houses, like her mother's, were lined up along Neck Road at the edge of one of the city's only surviving marshes. Evie had no idea why Soundview Lagoons had been spared the indignity of landfill.

She passed the house where her friend Alicia had lived. She'd smoked her first cigarette behind its garage and almost started a fire in the dry grass. Made out with Joey Mendez on the glider on the back porch. Now the house was badly in need of a coat of paint; instead of curtains in the window of what had been her friend's slope-ceilinged bedroom, there were torn shades. The house next to Alicia's looked oddly palomino, white paint peeling off to reveal great patches of dark brown.

A little farther on, three blocks from her mother's house, stood Sparkles Variety. Evie smiled to see it still there. The granite-block building was decades older than anything else nearby. Its sign had a few residual metallic spangles that caught the light. The store was open and apparently busy—half the angled parking spaces in front were filled. Around the side, where customers must have pulled up their cars to fill up even before Evie's family had moved there, stood an old gas pump. Once painted bright red and yellow, it was now mostly rust. With its big round disk on top, it had always reminded Evie of an overgrown chess pawn, AWOL from its regiment.

The grouch who pretty much lived behind the cash register at Sparkles used to scold Evie and Ginger if they so much as breathed on a piece of candy they weren't prepared to buy. He kept
Seventeen
and
YM
magazines in plastic pouches so they couldn't be browsed, and
Penthouse
behind the counter wrapped in brown paper with only the title showing. Inside the pay phone he'd posted a time limit, and a sign on the front door warned customers against bringing any food or beverage into the store. He wouldn't have stood for anything taped to the front window, never mind the welter of flyers plastered across it now. Evie stopped to scan them, resting her backpack at her feet.

Some of the notices were in English, others in Spanish. Yard sales. English lessons. A used book sale at the library. A “Preserve the Marsh” meeting at a nearby community center. A potluck supper at St. Andrews.

She peered into the store. She knew she was postponing the inevitable, but what the heck. Her mother's house wasn't going anywhere.

A bell—the same one from her youth?—tinkled overhead when Evie pushed through the doorway. The interior smelled the same, too. Sawdust and dried sweat. And there was still an actual pay phone just inside the front door. She scooped her finger into the change return slot and came back with a dime.

The enormous ice cream freezer where she and Ginger had discovered root-beer-flavored Popsicles was still there near the front. As Evie peered through the sliding glass top, she realized that she was starving. She'd left her apartment having had only coffee. Sitting right on top was a Ben & Jerry's Peace Pop. Cherry Garcia. Her favorite. She carried the ice cream to the cash register. The rod over the counter was festooned with rolls of bright shiny lottery tickets. Her mother had long been a steady scratch ticket customer.

The clerk, a tall young man with sharp eyes and a beaky nose, pressed some keys on the familiar-looking massive silver-painted cash register and the cash drawer flew open with a
ka-ching
that took her right back. On a shelf behind the counter was a display of flashlights and batteries. Every house out here had a good supply—all it used to take was a stiff breeze for the power to go out, and then hours for it to get fixed. She remembered her mother had a bowl full of spent batteries, back in the day when it was illegal to throw them in the trash.

“You think rechargeable batteries save energy?” she asked the clerk.

He blinked at her, as if seeing her for the first time. “Only if you remember to unplug the charger when they're cooked.”

She'd read that somewhere. “Stupid design. You'd think gadgets would come with a truly-off switch. Instead they sit around doing nothing but suck energy.”

“Wouldn't you think rechargeables would be recyclable?” he said. “They're not. So we carry regular batteries, the ones without mercury, made in the good old U.S. of A. All they do is leak potassium hydroxide into landfills.” The logo silkscreened on his sweatshirt over his heart, Evie noticed, showed a crab and a fish above wavy water lines. A slogan underneath read:
ASK ME ABOUT SOUNDVIEW WATERSHED PRESERVATION
.

“Soundview Watershed Preservation?” she said.

“Huh?”

“Your shirt. It says to ask.”

When he smiled, he was almost handsome. There was a cleft in his chin and at least two days' worth of stubble on his face. From under the counter he pulled a brochure and offered it to her.

“Come to a meeting,” he said. “At the community center. Monday night.”

Evie reached for the brochure. On the front was a color photograph of the marsh. She turned it over. One of the photographs on the back was of a small group of people standing at the water's edge. They all had binoculars around their necks. There, beside a tripod-mounted spotting scope, was the store clerk, the tallest person in the group.

“Sure,” Evie said. But she hoped she wouldn't be here long enough to get involved in some local crusade.

The man leaned back and folded his arms. She felt her face flush as he took in her zippered fleece vest, Dolce & Gabbana jeans she'd picked up at Century 21, and Frye boots that she'd had for the last ten years, ever since her last semester at NYU.

“I know you,” he said. “Don't I?”

Evie knew that was the oldest line in the book. Still, she squirmed under his gaze.
Was
there was something familiar about him?

“I got it,” he said. “You're one of the Ferrante girls. I remember you from P.S. Sixty-eight. You”—he narrowed his eyes—“don't you have a sister, too?”

“Ginger,” she said. Of course he'd remember Ginger. She was the pretty one.

“Right. You two used to come in here for ice cream and—”

“Candy.” Evie laughed. She and Ginger had regularly surrendered their allowances and paper-delivery money in exchange for, in Evie's case, Pop Rocks, SweeTarts, and cherry-flavored Lik-m-aid. Ginger went for the M&Ms and peanut butter cups.

“Finn Ryan,” he said, offering her his hand.

She shook it. His fingertips felt calloused. Evie recalled that the curmudgeon who'd presided over the candy and magazines had been named Mr. Ryan. “Didn't your dad own this store?”

“He did. Died a few years back and I inherited all this.” He gave a grand gesture and a sardonic smile. “It was perfect timing. I had nothing better to do so I came home.”

Now she remembered the tall, gawky, older kid she'd sometimes notice sweeping the floor or stocking shelves. More often he'd be sprawled on an old couch in the back of the store, all knees and elbows and sneakers already the size of bread loaves, reading comic books or playing Nintendo to the telltale
boop-beep-boop
of
Super Mario.
She wanted to ask where he'd returned home from. What had he been doing with himself since P.S. 68? Why hadn't he sold the store?

“You still into video games?” she asked instead.

“You still living in Brooklyn?”

Ouch. His look said he'd pegged her as one more privileged, overeducated hipster refugee from Park Slope. If only she could afford an apartment in Park Slope.

“Don't worry. I'm not moving in. I'm just here . . .” Her phone vibrated. She slipped it out of her pocket far enough to see who was calling. Seth. She'd call him back later. “I'm just here for a few days to help my mother out.”

“How's your mother doing?” Finn asked. She could tell from the uneasiness of his look that he knew about her mother's problems. Though if he lived here, how could he not?

“She's in the hospital.”

“I'm sorry.” He paused. “You're staying in the house?”

“I think so. Though I haven't been over to see how bad it is.”

He nodded. Good poker face.

Evie took the paper off the ice cream bar, wrapped it around the stick, and took a bite. Her favorite flavor, but she could barely taste it. Then she realized she hadn't paid.

Her cell phone played a broken chord. Seth had left her a message. She dug around in her backpack and came up with her wallet.

“My treat,” Finn said. “Consider it a little gift to welcome you home.”

This wasn't home, but Evie didn't say so. She thanked him and headed out the door. Just before it banged shut behind her, she shot a look over her shoulder.

He was leaning back, his arms folded, watching her and smiling. One of his front teeth was chipped. She absolutely did remember him.

She was glad she'd worn those jeans.

It was a few blocks from Sparkles Variety to her mother's house. Evie was licking the last vanilla ice cream off the stick when the rich, sulfurous odor of low tide enveloped her. Many of the houses near the water had been spiffed up. One had been painted a surprisingly pleasant shade of pink and had barrels of purple and white pansies in front. Another had a brand-new front porch and incongruous double doors with fancy etched glass.

Her mother's street, Neck Road, ran parallel to the water. Evie turned onto it, pausing to take in the first slice of water view between close-set houses. A little farther on, she gasped when she saw the house that she no longer thought of as her home.

Chapter Five

Her mother's bungalow had looked run-down, sure, last time Evie was there, four months ago. But nothing like what she saw now. The cream-colored siding was tagged with bright blue graffiti, MKT75 in six-foot letters. Weeds in the front yard and driveway were knee-high. The only actual grass was sprouting from the roof gutter. The little garage, where Evie assumed her mother's twelve-year-old silver Subaru was parked, listed away from the house.

The first wooden front step creaked as she stepped on it. The third felt dangerously punky with rot. The screens in the metal storm door were torn. Evie pulled the storm door open, found the right key on her key ring, unlocked the front door, and pushed inside.

A musty, sharp odor oozed out. Mold. Cigarettes. Sour milk? Eyes tearing, Evie dropped her backpack off the side of the steps and into the weeds. She took a gulp of air and held her breath, then covered her nose and mouth with the bottom of her fleece vest and ventured into the house.

The narrow entry hall was dark. She found the light switch and flipped it. Nothing. No wonder, she realized as she shaded her eyes from the outside light. No bulb.

Straight ahead she could make out the stairs up to the second-floor bedroom she and Ginger had shared. A narrow hallway led to a bathroom tucked under the stairs and beyond that, her parents' bedroom.

Evie turned instead and entered the kitchen. She threaded her way around piles of newspapers and loaded paper bags and plastic garbage bags. The sink was overflowing with dishes, and the faucet was dripping. Evie reached over and turned it off. Pushed open the red-and-white gingham curtains that were gray and crusty with dust, and opened the windows. On the sill, a row of African violets were brown and withered.

She looked around in dismay. The little kitchen table where she and Ginger used to do their homework was adrift in papers and mail. The counters were stacked with boxes and cans. Cat food? Her mother didn't even like cats, and yet there were dozens of empty cans of it.

A trio of small black moths fluttered in front of her. She clapped her hands and got one of them. At least a dozen more were resting on the ceiling, and when Evie opened the cabinet where her mother had always kept cereal and crackers, more flew out.

She poked a toe at one of the garbage bags on the floor. Glass clinked, and roaches skittered between the piles across the redbrick vinyl flooring.

Evie made her way through the rest of the house, trying not to feel overwhelmed. The living room was full of broken lawn furniture, orphaned lampshades, and ashtrays overflowing with cigarette butts. The brown vinyl-covered sectional sofa was buried under loads of rumpled clothing and bedding and newspapers. More books and magazines and newspapers were piled on the coffee table.

In the midst of the disarray was a large packing box with the
SONY
logo. That's when Evie noticed a fancy new flat-screen TV hung on the wall where there'd always been a string sculpture of an owl mounted on mustard-colored burlap.

The only part of the living room that felt familiar was the fireplace and the mantel over it. Sitting there were framed photographs: Ginger and Ben at their wedding, Evie's high school graduation picture, her dad. Evie picked that one up and wiped away a layer of dust. It was one of the few photographs that had survived the fire that nearly destroyed this house when she was six years old.

For an instant, Evie smelled smoke, even though she knew nothing was burning, and for a moment she saw herself standing across the street with Mom and Ginger, watching flames shoot from the roof of their house, knowing that Blackie and her litter of puppies were trapped in her parents' bedroom closet.

She shook off the memory. Until yesterday, her mother had been living in this . . . squalor was the only word for it. She swallowed a lump in her throat. What on earth had happened? Her mother had never been a hoarder. Even at her worst, she'd cared about appearances. She'd always kept a neat house, and never went out without lipstick. Her grammar and table manners were impeccable. Something must have come unscrewed.

Returning to the kitchen, Evie opened the refrigerator, expecting the worst. But there turned out to be very little inside. On the top shelf sat a baking dish. She lifted the foil. Whatever was in it had shriveled and desiccated. She peered into a pink bakery box and poked at the remains of a mummified cake, its pink-and-white frosting hard to the touch. A half gallon of milk was dated four weeks ago. The veggie bin contained a plastic bag with a slimy head of lettuce in it and a bag of something that looked like prunes and smelled of rotten egg.

All of it had to go out. Now. Evie undid the twist on a half-full garbage bag already on the floor. A sharp medicinal smell rose from the open bag and she peered inside. Empty liquor bottles. She pulled one out. Vodka. Grey Goose. Her mother had moved up to an expensive brand.

Evie pushed a pile of papers off the kitchen chair and sat. As far as she knew, her mother's only sources of income were what she got as the widow of a firefighter—a pension and Social Security. So how could she afford expensive vodka and a brand-new high-def TV?

But before Evie could follow that thought, she heard a scrabbling overhead. Instinctively she ducked. Then she looked up at the stained, cracked ceiling. Above her was the slope-ceilinged bedroom she and Ginger had shared. As she stared she heard more sounds, like something hard rolling across a wood floor. More scrabbling.

Vermin—Evie shuddered—had to have gotten in upstairs. What she wanted to do was run out of the house screaming. Instead, she waded through the kitchen, pushed aside the bags stacked in front of the broom closet, and opened the door. Its orderly interior seemed to belong to a different house. Standing on the floor beside a bucket filled with cleaning supplies were a broom and a carpet sweeper. On the shelf over them, clean rags were folded beside a pocketed canvas bag filled with garden tools. In that bag Evie found a pair of leather work gloves.

Armed with the broom and the gloves, Evie returned to the front hall. She looked up into the dark stairwell. If only she could pawn this problem off on someone else.

Slowly, she climbed the stairs. In the near pitch-black of the upstairs landing, she stopped and pressed her ear to the closed bedroom door. She could hear movement on the other side. Rustling. A squeak. A rolling marble sound, again followed by the scrabbling. Then a thump.

Evie stomped hard on the floor. Silence followed. She imagined raccoons or squirrels or, God forbid, skunks on the other side of the door, frozen and waiting for her next move.

She groped for the doorknob, twisted it, and with a bravado she wasn't sure she had, threw open the door. It slammed against the inside wall. She caught a flurry of movement in the sunny, slope-ceilinged room. A whirl of gray disappeared through the back window facing the water. Then another.

Evie stood in the middle of the room, her heart pounding, and took in the damage. All in all, it was not nearly as bad as she'd feared. The seat of the skirted chair at the dressing table was torn open, some of its stuffing mounded like massive dustballs on the floor. There were acorns and sticks on the floor. But the beds she and Ginger slept in, tucked under the eaves, were unmussed, still covered with the familiar pink-and-white chenille bedspreads.

It took her a moment to realize that the window wasn't open. It was broken. The bottom pane was completely gone. But there seemed to be no glass on the floor of the room. She looked out through the broken window. Shards of glass glittered just outside on the porch's sloping roof. Didn't that mean that the window had been broken from the inside?