Or it could be a sign of mental illness Walter continued Or a vivid dream Or rang Never mind The bell and disappointed Gracie gathered her books and hurried leaving Walter mid sentence to lunch You got this from Walter Gracie sat at the kitchen table later that night Her mother stood at the counter clutching the flyer one hip cocked honey colored curls tumbling around her shoulders Her face wore the pinched splotchy look that meant she was angry Don’t worry Gracie pulled a thread from the tablecloth I didn’t tell him anything But why did he have it He said it came in a book he bought Who cares why he had it I think we should go see her Mom crumpled the flyer Absolutely not
I’m not saying we have to talk to her Gracie stared at the flyer wrinkled in Mom’s fist Mom had set her mouth in a hard line and Gracie could feel her hopes slipping away It’s the perfect opportunity to see her in person She won’t know who we are if we sit in the audience and listen She might recognize us Mom stuffed the flyer into the trashcan and thumped a jar of pickled eggs onto the counter She wrote words it’s not like she has our photographs And what if Cassandra’s watching her huh Just watching and waiting to see if we try to contact Gertrude Winters What if Cassandra was able to find us I don’t want to have anything to do with Gertrude Winters I don’t understand why you’re so fascinated with her Mom slammed pots around as she got the water boiling for potatoes Mom always
started banging things when she talked about Gertrude Winters But I’m not going to discuss this anymore It’s for your own good Gracie blinked back tears of frustration Why can’t we at least talk about it You won’t even listen to my side You don’t get a side in this I’m the parent I make the decisions What I want matters too The room grew hotter a burned smell in the air Gracie took a breath balled the edge of the tablecloth in her fist and focused on keeping her voice level as she said Aren’t you even a little curious about what she wrote See I knew you wanted to do more than listen You want to talk to her Don’t you want to read our story
Why would you want to read something so awful I know more than enough already You tell me what kind of a woman goes around killing children off Mom slashed her knife through a potato and dropped the pieces into the pot Gertrude Winters didn’t know She thought she was just writing a story Mom snorted Is that supposed to make it any better Besides I have to work on Saturday You could at least let me see her if you don’t want to No Mom turned her back to Gracie and opened the freezer Do you want peas or corn with dinner But Gracie was already gone halfway to her bedroom where she slammed the door with a satisfying thud
