Iced Tea (32 page)

I pulled the chairs away from the table so that I had some room to move.
 
I took my iPhone out of my purse, plugged the earbuds in, found my ‘weird’ music playlist, the playlist that has songs that I think are funny, that make me smile, and I went to work.
 
Grab, grab, fold, stuff, put in box.
 
Grab, grab, fold, stuff, put in box.
 
 
I never seal without approval.

By the time Jovana came back in to check on me, I was almost done, only had three paper cuts, but I needed tea.

She seemed pleased with my progress, which pleased me a great deal.
 
I have no idea why.
 
Stuffing envelopes is really no big deal, especially when you come from a big family.
 
Just Christmas cards each year will give you an idea of how a major mailing should be done, and God forbid you get stuck doing the thank you notes for a funeral or a wedding.
 
Each and every one has to be personalized.
 
This, just stuffing envelopes, was a piece of cake.

Tea.

We headed out to the kitchen and put on the kettle.
 
While we waited for it to boil, Jovana said, “Sugar, I think that sister of yours, Morgan, is just one of the nicest girls I have ever met.
 
I’d like to do a little something nice for her wedding, but I don’t really want to tell her about it yet.
 
Do you think she would be offended?”

“Oh, Crap!”

“What?
 
Did I say something wrong?”

“No, it isn’t you.
 
I’ve been so busy, I haven’t even checked in with my mom.
 
She was going to get together with Morgan’s mother the other day, and I never heard any more about it.”

“Well, that’s nice.
 
I guess they were planning wedding fun of their own.”

“I’m not sure what Morgan has told you about her family, but they aren’t really communicating well right now.
 
It’s a long story, and parts of it are really ugly.
 
My mom decided to try to put things right and talk to Morgan’s mom.”

“Well, that sure is kind of your mother.”

“I’m not sure Morgan will see it that way.”

“Morgan didn’t know?”

“Nope.”

“Sugar, I’m not sure of much in this life, but I do know, only because I am a daughter, not because I raised any, that the relationship between mother and daughter can be a complicated thing.
 
I’m not sure your momma can fix this.”

“Me either.
 
More important than that, I hope she doesn’t make it worse.
 
At least they were being civil to one another before, if my mom screwed it up, Morgan might not be happy with any of us.”

“Sugar, Morgan isn’t like that.
 
She would appreciate the effort.”

“Maybe.
 
Morgan isn’t used to a big family, and she really isn’t used to people stepping in and taking over her life.”

“Well, then, maybe my idea isn’t such a good one.”

“You could always ask Morgan.”

“I really wanted to make it a surprise.”

“Better to beg forgiveness than ask for permission?
 
Pretty much how I’ve always lived my life.”

“Well, I’ll think about it a bit more and see what comes to me.”

“I’ll make a note to call my mother.”

“You could call her right now Sugar.”

“Calling my mom isn’t a quick thing.
 
Besides, I want details.
 
I think that I’ll just wait.
 
I’ll finish this up, go visit with Adeline for a bit since I’m here, and then when I pick up my nephew, I’ll bring him to see grandma, and pump her for information.”

“Using a poor innocent child as a shield against your momma Cara?”

“Jordan, that’s Morgan’s son, is a smart pipsqueak, he can hold his own, besides, my mom loves Jordan, and he’s still young enough to be cute.
 
That whole thing wore thin with Mom and me years ago.
 
She doesn’t think I’m cute any more.
 
I’ll just scoop up Jordan, stop at the store and pick up something good to go with a cup of tea, and spontaneously drop by my mom’s house so she can visit with Jordan.
 
I’ll just happen to mention that I forgot to ask about the whole thing.
 
It’ll be fine.”

“Well, Sugar, I wish you luck.
 
Being a more mature woman, I can tell you from both sides of that particular riddle, that your momma is gonna see right through you.”

“Probably, but with Jordan there she’ll be nice.”

“A mother’s memory is long Cara.”

“I’ll finish these up and then go see Adeline real quick, if that’s okay.”

“I’ve got this.
 
It won’t take me long at all.”

“I just grab a bunch, fan them out so the adhesive is showing and then swipe them with a damp sponge.
 
I could get them all done in 5 minutes.
 
It really isn’t a problem.”

“I do the same thing.
 
I’ll take care of it.
 
You go on now.
 
What about your tea?”

“Can I make it to go?”

“Of course you can Sugar.”

I waved as I headed for the door to visit with Adeline.
 

Dear Lord, how well I know that a mother’s memory is long.

I drove to Adeline’s, a two-minute journey.
 
I smiled as I walked to the side door.
 
I didn’t expect what I found on the other side.
 
Adeline looked old.
 
Very old.
 
She seemed to be just a shadow of herself.
 
It kind of freaked me out.
 
I wasn’t sure if I should call Jovana, or drag Adeline to the ER.

“Adeline?
 
How are you this morning?
 
I thought I’d come by for our visit.
 
Is it too early?”

She was polite, but obviously confused.
 
“I’m sorry dear.
 
I’m having a little problem placing you.
 
Are you a friend of my daughter’s?”

“Yes ma’am, a friend of Genevieve’s.
 
May I come in?”

“You may, indeed.”

We basically repeated our movements of the day before.
 
We ate in the big kitchen, we chatted about everything and nothing.
 
It all seemed very déjà vu-ee, except that Adeline seemed about fifty years older than when I met her.
 
Very surreal.
 
Very scary.
 
Very confusing.

I wasn’t sure I should even leave her, but I needed to go pick up Jordan.
 
I called Jovana from the bathroom and explained my problem.

“Sugar, I told you that Adeline might be suffering from Alzheimer’s or some other affliction.
 
That is why her daughter wanted you to visit.
 
If it is too upsetting for you, we might want to see if we can find someone else to do this.”

“No, I don’t want to stop seeing her, I just didn’t expect this.
 
It caught me off guard.
 
She was fine yesterday.”

“She has good days and bad days.
 
They used to call them spells.”

“What does the doctor say?”

“She hasn’t seen the doctor on a bad day.”

“How could that be?”

“Sugar, we can’t schedule her bad days.
 
We don’t have a reason to put her in the hospital.
 
There isn’t much we can do right now.
 
Her daughter is out of the country.
  
Adeline isn’t going to sign a paper that gives me or you or anyone else, her medical power of attorney.
 
She isn’t doing poorly enough to force the court to do that.
 
For now, we are doing what we can.
 
We monitor, we document, and we help where we can.”

“Okay.”

“Are you sure you want to do this Sugar?”

“Yes ma’am.
 
I’m worried about leaving her alone.”

“Sugar, if you’d never met the woman she would be alone and you would never have known.
 
You can’t take on full responsibility for her welfare, all you can do is help when you can.”

“True.”

“You tell Adeline that I’ll be by tonight for our chat.”

“I’ll do that.
 
Thanks.”

We hung up and I took a deep breath.

I ran for the kitchen, fixed a few snacky type things so that Adeline wouldn’t be so likely to use the stove, I had visions of her burning the place down.
 

I couldn’t very well drive all the way across town, pick up Jordan, drive all the way back here, check on Adeline, then drive all the way across town, talk to my mom, drive all the way back here, check on Adeline, then go home and feed AJ, then come back across town.
 
I knew that wouldn’t work, but at the same time, I felt terrible leaving Adeline alone.

I got as many things in order as I could.
 
I wrote down directions, thinking that might help.
 
I put my phone number by the phone, every phone, and I made sure to tell Adeline that I’d call her later in the afternoon.

I jumped in my car and zoomed toward the elementary school.
 
Made it to the ice cream store parking lot with several minutes to spare.
 

Called Adeline, she was fine.

Called AJ, no answer.

Called Teagan, too busy to talk.

Got out of the car and walked to the school.

Jordan was one of the first kids to the street.
 
Ice cream in your near future will do that for you.

His pants had a ripped out knee.
 
He explained that his mom was gonna kill him.
 
Second pair this week.
 
His friend, Creighton, tore out the knees of his uniform pants twice in one week, and his mom went to the fabric store and got these really scratchy patches and ironed them on the inside of his pants.
  
You aren’t supposed to be able to tell they’re there, but once the pants are washed a couple of times, you can see the outline of the square and everybody knows the patch is there, just like the little kids, and because it is elementary school, everybody has something to say about it.
 
Jordan’s pretty sure that his mom’s going to do the same.
 

That, or military school.

While we ate ice cream, I called my mom, and mentioned Jordan’s dilemma, asked if she had any suggestions.
 
She laughed and said she would take care of it.
 
Grandmas have super powers when it comes to these things.

Jordan and I enjoyed our ice cream.
 
I had mint chocolate chip, my favorite, he had something blue with gum or candy or something in it.
 
By the time we left there was no hiding the fact we’d done what we’d done, he had blue teeth, gums and tongue.

I should have known better.
 

For a few weeks, when we were in grade school, Teagan and I would take the money Mom gave us to bring to church, and instead, walk over to Ott’s Ice Cream and have an orange Slush.
 
They were so good they were worth the risk of going to hell, cause when you are a Catholic kid and you’re spending the collection money on slush, that you are not even supposed to be eating, and skipping church to get to it, hell is a distinct possibility.
 
I’m just sayin’.

It wasn’t until after we’d gotten away with it several times, or at least we assumed we’d gotten away with it several times, since we were still alive it seemed a valid assumption, that my oldest brother informed us during a loud argument, that Mom and Daddy knew exactly what we were doing instead of going to church on Sunday.
 
He took great pleasure in describing our orange lips and tongues that anyone would notice from one hundred paces.

You would think that we would have noticed it on each other, even if we didn’t notice it in a mirror, but we didn’t.
 

Maybe that is when Teagan started checking herself out in mirrors more regularly.

Jordan and I went to the grocery store, grabbed my mom’s favorite raisin bread, fresh butter, and some apples just to put a healthier spin on the day.

We got to Mom and Daddy’s, my plan still fully intact and practically foolproof.
 

What is it they say about the best-laid plans?

My Dad was out in the backyard, doing some guy thing, that he wanted help with, from Jordan of course, which left me all alone to face my mother.

“Hey.”

“It has been a while since I’ve seen you Love.
 
How are things?”

“Well, long story short, they haven’t changed all that much.
 
I finally got moving forward with the whole Officer Jerkface thing, but it is moving slowly.”