Triggered (7 page)
Gavin's going to get really sick without me. Just you watch. They'll be sorry.
Mick
Jade's mother is sitting across from me at McDonald's. She's taken three weeks off work but doesn't look like she's caught up on her sleep yet.
“Shoo! Go play,” she says to Gavin. We watch him duck into the fun room. He waves from the slide, then forgets about us and starts talking with a little girl.
Angie says, “That didn't take long.” She seems a lot younger when she smiles, but she's never smiled much.
She holds her paper coffee cup in both hands. She pushes the rim up flat with her thumb.
“I don't want you to think badly of her,” she says.
I don't say anything.
She puts on a smile for Gavin, who's back at the top of the slide again. “It's my fault,” she says. “I was too busy. I gave her too much responsibility. Looking after her little brother. Buying the groceries. Cleaning the apartment. Doing her schoolwork. Shouldering half the worry about money. That's too much. She's only seventeen. She needed looking after herself. A young girl like that needs attention too.”
I agree with her there.
“I'm not saying from you, Mick.” She keeps playing with her coffee cup. “That wasn't your job. It was mine.”
She takes a swig of coffee, but it doesn't stop her lip from quivering.
“That's all this was about. Attention. She just needed attention, and this was the only way she could get it. She's not a bad person.”
I'd like to believe that.
“How is she?” I say.
Angie tucks her hair behind her ear. She's wearing a jacket that used to be Jade's. It's gotten kind of shabby, and I feel embarrassed for her.
“She's not happy, but the hospital is good for her. Lets her get some rest and keeps her away from some of the things that could trigger her.”
She pushes her donut at me. “Want this? I don't think I'm going to eat it after all.”
I almost say, “Save it for Gavin” but remember he can't have chocolate. “Sure,” I say.
She takes a breath. “It's called Munchhausen syndrome by proxy, Mick. That's what she's got. It's a psychological condition. Caregivers harm a child in order to get attention for themselves. The doctor said that other than being so young, she's a textbook case.”
That almost makes me laugh. It's just like Jade to do it exactly right.
Angie turns her face away and dabs at a tear with her finger.
“I feel so bad,” she says. “I should have known something was up after that car accident. It didn't make sense. Gavin said there was no cat. He said she went,
Here goes!
and just turned into the ditch. But who are you going to believe? A teenager who's never, ever done anything wrong or a kid who talks to a stuffed kangaroo?”
She laughs at that, but not for long.
“I didn't know about all those migraines,” she says. “I gave the preschool people permission to talk to Jade if there was a problem with anything. The idea was that she'd pass it on to me. She never did, so I just assumed everything was hunky-dory. Gavin was always asleep by the time I got home.”
She starts to cry. “I'd never even have known what she was up to if it weren't for you, Mick.”
“No,” I say. “If it weren't for Gavin, you mean. He's the one who figured it out. He saw
MSG
on the list and
MSG
on the label and knew she shouldn't be putting it on his sandwich. He hid the bottle. He's a smart little guy.”
I say that to make her feel better, but it only makes her cry more. She takes a napkin and pats her face dry.
“Sorry,” I say.
She shakes her head and puts on a perky voice. “We're going to be fine. My parents live in Brockville. We'll go live with them as soon as Jade gets out of the hospital. It'll be a brand-new start for all of us. Just what the doctor ordered. Mom will look after Gavin. Jade can finish high school. And I'll finally take that medical secretary course I've been meaning to take.”
She stands up. “It's been nice seeing you, Mick.” She gives me a hug, and then she calls Gavin. “C'mon, honey! We've got to go see Jade.”
He doesn't even hesitate. He runs right over.
It takes me a long time to explain it all to Dalma. I don't mind.
Vicki Grant has been called “a superb storyteller” by the
Canadian Children's
Book News
and “one of the funniest writers working today” by
The
Vancouver Sun
. She's written a number of titles in the Orca Soundings series, including
Comeback, Dead End Job
and
I.D
. She lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Find out more about her award-winning novels at
vickigrant.com.
