The Shattered Door Brandon Witt

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.Sue laughed, too, but somewhat more soberly. Iwish I thought she was kidding, but I know better. Shelooked over at Della. I hope you re taking notes, dear.In twenty years, you re going to have to go through thesame thing with little Willow. Oh pooh! She should be so lucky! Zephyrablew a kiss to her sister.Everyone continued to give Zephyra a hard time,and she wallowed in pure enjoyment at all the attention.When dessert was served, the conversation turned tome.I filled them in with a vastly abbreviated version.Zephyra had endless questions about Jed.It was clearthey were going to get along splendidly.They wouldmore than likely be inseparable from the time he camedown to join me.They were all fascinated by the storiesI told them from my time working at the residentialtreatment center.Thankfully, I was able to use Mom sstroke as the only reason I moved back, and I didn thave to talk about all that transpired during my last fewweeks in Denver.When I started talking about my first two visitswith Mom, Donnie interrupted me. What do you meanshe couldn t talk to you? What do you mean, what do I mean? You veseen her since her stroke.All she can do is growl. All she s done is growl at you? Yeah, pretty much.Sue interjected, Oh, sweetie, I am so sorry.Ican t believe she is doing this, now, of all times. What? What s she doing?Donnie grimaced at me. She can talk.Granted,not quite as good as she could before, but she can.Who knows what she s trying to prove? You knowRose.I sat there, stunned.I m not even sure why I wasstunned.Yes, I did know Rose, and I should not haveexpected anything different.I was sure she d lovedevery second of growling at me and refusing to talk tome like a human being. I just assumed she couldn t.She looks so horrible.I just figured the stroke wasworse than you had said.Sue reached out to me and placed her soft handover mine. No, dear.The stroke didn t help, but itwasn t really near as bad as it could have been.Thedoctors say she can most likely get back to the placewhere she used to be.Unfortunately, even that isn tsuch a good place. She fiddled with the tablecloth withher other hand and looked back to my eyes. After youleft, she started drinking even more, though it s hard tobelieve that s even possible.Her drinking has gottenworse and worse.She often doesn t eat for days.Idon t think she had left her house for several monthsbefore her stroke. I would go out every few days to check onher. Donnie looked at me imploringly, as if to say he dtried to take care of my mom.As if I could blame himfor her condition when I hadn t even spoken to her inover a decade. I made sure she had food and washedher clothes.I tried to fix up her house.Her porch androof are near disaster areas.The one time I started tofix the porch, she came out screaming and wavingaround that stupid rifle of hers.I didn t go back for overa week.It was several weeks before she would evenacknowledge my presence again.I felt something at my foot.I looked down, andthe puppy was lying there, chewing on my pant leg.Ibent down and picked him up. Hi, Duncan.Whatchadoing, buddy? I peeked over to the living room.Blairehad fallen asleep on the floor below her sister. Notgetting any attention, huh? I sat him in my lap, wherehe promptly began chewing on my thumbnail.I lookedat Donnie and then over to his mom. What am I goingto do, Sue? I don t think I can deal with her again.Somehow, it s worse now.I know what life s likewithout her, and she just looks so horrible now.I canbarely recognize her.Sue s eyes had gotten misty. I know, dear.Iknow. She squeezed my hand. She loves you in theresomewhere.There is a reason for all this.There has tobe.God will show you in His own time.You ll just haveto be strong.Depend on Him.I turned to Della. Can t you just take her intothe nursing home? Oh, Brooke, Sue whispered in sadness.Della met my gaze directly. That is an option, ofcourse.Although not simple.You know your momwouldn t go willingly.If you could show that she sincapable of living on her own, then maybe.The choicewill have to be yours.My choice.Of course.It would have to be mychoice.The son she hadn t seen or spoken to in so longwas now in charge of her future.Perfect.Chapter 12THE next morning, I went directly to Rose s house.Ihad gone to bed angry, and I woke up even angrier.Ifelt somewhat ridiculous over how mad I was.It wasstupid to be upset with someone when they were actingas they had always acted.Plus, it would only makeMom happy to see me angry.It would only give hermore encouragement to try to be even worse.It wasme I should be angry at.Maybe I had been gone solong that I was out of practice in dealing with her.Whenyou expect her to try to screw you over and be cruelfor pure enjoyment of it, it somehow didn t really hurtanymore.I should have known that not even a strokewould cause my mother to change her disposition.I pulled up behind her car, reached over to thepassenger seat and took the cleaning supplies I dbought from Woods Supermarket on the way over, andwalked up to her front door.Apparently, I was starting to remember all I hadlearned growing up with her.I wasn t surprised in theslightest when I reached out to turn the doorknob and itdidn t budge [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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