Sisters Part 4

The next morning found Mary in the kitchen putting final touches on a variety of dishes. Once her sister had committed to coming home for Thanksgiving Mary had decided to make all the favorite dishes their mother had made when they were younger. It was going to be too much food for just the six of them but then there would be leftovers to carry them through the weekend.

“Hey sleepy head. Coffee is made.” Mary greeted her sister as Helen entered the kitchen, gesturing toward the coffee pot she knew her sister would be looking for. “How did you sleep?”

“Better than I have in weeks.” Helen said opening a cupboard door, searching for a coffee mug. “Looks like you have been busy this morning. Need a hand with anything?”

“I’ve got it under control. At least for the moment.” Mary said.

Helen nodded, poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down on one of the stools next to the butcher-block table Mary had in her small kitchen.

“I can at least keep you company while you slave away putting together what looks like a fabulous feast.”

Mary focused on the ingredients she was measuring into the bowl in front of her not sure why she was feeling uncomfortable with her sister in the house. True it had been a couple of years since they were last together, but that shouldn’t have changed their relationship that much. She could feel Helen sitting behind her and shifted her position at the counter to where she could see her out of the corner of her eye. Helen looked more rested this morning, but there were still dark circles under her eyes and her face wasn’t as tan as it usually was. It seemed the casual approach to fitness and health Mary embraced worked better than latching on to the latest craze in improving your health Helen had been spouting.

“You look just like mom.” Helen said. “My fondest memories are of the three of us in the kitchen. Remember when mom would bake bread. We had our own small loaf pans and she would give us each a small bit of the bread dough to knead. We always seemed to end up covered with flour.”

“I remember how good the bread was at lunch time. In the summer we would have a picnic out in the backyard with warm fresh bread, along with cheese and fruit and fresh squeezed lemonade to wash it down with. I haven’t made homemade bread in a long time. There just doesn’t seem to be time for that kind of stuff these days.”

“Life does get busier as we get older doesn’t it?”

Mary’s oldest daughter, Becky, came into the kitchen, interrupting further conversation. She gave her aunt a quick hug and opened one of the cupboards to pull out a box of cereal. She didn’t say a word to either woman while she poured cereal into a bowl and pulled the milk out of the refrigerator.

“Good morning.” Helen said, addressing her niece.

Becky looked around after she finished pouring the milk. “Morning.”

“I’m surprised you are up so early.” Mary said. “Your brother and sister are still in bed.”

“I heard dad get up and thought I would see if you needed any help.” Becky said carrying her bowl of cereal over to the dinning room table.

Mary was quiet for a moment while she washed her hands at the sink, having Helen around certainly changed things around here. She could not remember the last time Becky had offered to contribute to any family function other than her unwilling presence.

“Okay then. When the two of you are done with breakfast you can pull out the good china and linens and get the dinning room table set. It’s just going to be us for dinner, but I thought using the good dishes would be nice.”

The day passed quickly with everyone eating too much, everyone except Helen. Mary couldn’t help but notice her sister’s slight appetite. She remembered Helen’s love of good food, it was one of the reasons Helen became fanatical about exercising. She loved to eat and keeping active let her indulge her taste for delectable cuisine. The small portions seemed out of character and Mary filed the thought away for questioning her sister when they were alone. 

After dinner and the dishes cleaned up, Tom urged everyone, including his reluctant wife, out to the back yard for a friendly game of touch football. It felt good to be out in the crisp autumn air after spending the morning in a hot kitchen cooking and eating more than she intended.

Her participation in the game was more of a run to a spot, stand there and then run back to the line of scrimmage to wait for the next snap of the ball. It gave her time to watch her family, to enjoy the unusually warm November day, with the call of geese headed south overhead and the crackling of leaves underfoot. Then her ten-year-old son, Ryan yelled for her. She looked back at where he stood, football in hand, looking like a young John Elway before he launched the ball toward her. She gave a squeak as she watched the oblong ball come at her and in self-defense raised her hands, catching it to her utter surprise.

“Run.” Ryan shouted.

Still in amazement that she actually caught the thing she looked up at her family charging toward her. She turned, picking up speed as she made the effort to cross the invisible goal line stretching between the corner of the garage and the far edge of the vegetable garden before she could be tagged. Just as she thought she was going to make it, her sister caught up to her. In a throw back in time to their younger years Helen threw her arms around Mary, tackling her to the ground.

“Tag.” She said grinning at Mary.

Mary’s first reaction was to laugh back as the soft grass cushioned them where they lay, their arms tangled, their hands grasping the ball. She breathed in the smell of the dried grass along with the scent of decay, the scent of things newly dead bringing to mind the smell of a dead mouse caught in a trap under the basement stairs. She looked deep into her sister’s eyes noticing, not for the first time, since she had picked her up at the airport the lack of sparkle in them.

Helen disengaged herself from Mary and stood up. She raised her hands above her head, dancing a victory dance as the rest of the family ran up to them. There were hoots and hollers and some dissention on whether or not Mary had gotten the ball across the goal line before Helen tagged her.

Mary climbed to her feet handing the football over to her daughter. She stood watching Helen not sure what was wrong with her sister, feeling a growing sense of unease. She noticed the sun low in the western sky. A shiver ran up her spine and she rubbed her arms in an effort to dispel the chill.

“Hey, anyone for pumpkin pie?” She called out. “It’s getting too dark to see the ball, much less see where the goal line is.”

Cheers answered her question as she turned toward the house with the others following. Mary felt an urge to get inside the house and out of the growing darkness in the yard. The increasing reports of people becoming unstable with grotesque changes in their appearances, disappearing from their homes during the day only to return in the night to attack their family and neighbors had her uneasy about being outside after dark.  It seemed prudent to go inside before the sun went down.

Pros and Cons of living in an Oak Forest

Pro - You can rake all the leaves into the forest instead of picking them up.



Con - You have to rake twice a year, fall and spring.

Fool

Only a fool chooses sides without hearing both sides of the story.

Sisters Part 3

A warm welcome by Mary’s family followed by a light supper and Helen, at Mary’s urging, settled into the guest bedroom earlier than she would normally retire. She felt the tensions of her life slip away as she settled into the comfort of the pliable guest room bed. The rural home of her sister felt strange to her city adapted senses. How long had it been since she had experienced this level of quiet and peace? She asked herself. But there were subtle differences in her sister’s home too, shutters on all the windows, which Mary’s husband closed up as the sun went down, reinforced steel doors with heavy duty deadbolts had replaced the decorative wooden front and rear doors scavenged from an old farm house and her niece Becky had gone out of the way to show her how easy it was to pull the ladder down to gain access to the attic leaving her with a sense of uneasy vigilance underneath the harmony and warmth her sister exuded. 

She smiled in the dim light of evening as she thought about her nieces and nephew, they had been so young the last time she saw them and now, here they were fast becoming adults ready to take on the world.

Helen closed her eyes, luxuriating in the comfort of the old bed and sank into the deepest sleep she had experienced in a long time. The moonlight slipped through the window where the curtains gapped, throwing a soft streak of light across the floor ending at the bottom of the door. In the hallway could be heard the subtle swish of stocking feet on the carpeted floor. They came to a halt outside the bedroom door. The click of a key turning penetrated the quiet and the sleeping woman shifted in her bed before settling back into the depths of slumber. A moment of stillness pervaded the room and then the stocking feet whished away from the closed door.

In her sleep Helen mumbled about protecting her family, about keeping herself away from others, shaking her head back and forth until she woke herself and opened her eyes. She frowned at the dark ceiling above her unsure in the first moments of transition from sleep to wakefulness of where she was. Restless from the vague, distressing, fragmented dreams fading from her consciousness she rubbed her damp forehead and considered getting up for a glass of water. Everything was quiet, unmoving in the stillness of the late hour as a swath of luminous moonlight climbed up the door marking the passage of time. The slumbering house soothed her unease and she drifted back into a dreamless sleep.

Sisters Part 2

The day before Thanksgiving Mary drove out to the airport to pick up her sister. The sun was shinning on the stubble fields of harvested cornfields she passed as she made her way from her rural small town home to the outskirts of St. Paul.  Everything was mellow in the afternoon sunlight as she followed the interstate looping around the Twin Cities to the Minneapolis International airport. Alone in the car she listened to her choice of music, singing along with the songs she knew without having to hear the groans and moans of her family as she sang off key. She had decided to come by herself to pick up her sister to give them a chance to reconnect on the ride back to the house before her three children commandeered their aunt’s attention.  

Mary arrived at the terminal and joined the stream of cars lined up like cattle in a stockyard making their way into the airport to pick up or drop off friends and family. She inched forward watching for her opportunity to ease over lane by lane to the curb while scanning the crowded walk for her sister. She spotted Helen standing next to one of the support columns for the roadway overhead, her luggage resting on the ground next to her.

Mary pulled in as close as she could get and placed the car in park, popped the trunk and got out, greeting Helen with smiles and open arms taking in with one glance Helen’s gaunt face, her cheekbones standing out in sharp relief against her pale face, her eyes deep and so dark it was hard to tell they were a dark blue instead of brown. She embraced her sister feeling the hard, sharpness of bones underneath too little flesh.

“Welcome home, it’s so good to see you.” Mary said making her voice warm and friendly, struggling to keep her growing concern in check.

“It’s good to be here. I’m already glad I came. There is so much craziness going on out on the coast, it’s a relief to be away from it all.” Helen said. There was an undertone of nervousness Mary hadn’t heard in her sister’s voice before.

After Helen’s luggage was stowed in the trunk Mary slammed the lid shut with a finality that made her sister jump.

“Everything okay?” Mary asked.

“I’m fine.” Helen said plastering a fake smile on her lips. “Let’s get out of this chaos.”

Mary arched an eyebrow, nodded and turning headed toward the driver’s door. She slipped in behind the wheel as Helen climbed in the passenger’s side. Mary secured her seatbelt and reached out to turn off the radio.

“Wait.” Helen said. “I want to hear this.”

The sisters sat listening to the news report of an assault from the night before. A man was attacked as he left a restaurant. He was wrestled to the ground and bitten several times before the assailant was pulled off of him. Both men were taken to the hospital where the victim died from complications stemming from the bite wounds and the assailant from an undisclosed medical condition.

“There have been a growing number of incidents like this back home. The news made it sound like it was a local thing, and not to worry. One of my colleagues got sick the other day and came after me. Fortunately one of the lab technicians heard and helped me wrestle him to the ground and restrain him. It’s this new mutation.” Helen paused. “I can’t really talk about it, but if this is the same thing, it’s spread a lot farther and faster than we’ve been told.”

“This is the fifth assault reported in the last week.” Mary said. “There hasn’t been any official reports of attacks elsewhere. But I have heard rumors, stories of attacks as far away as Chicago. My friend, Carol was telling me about her sister’s neighbor, the sister living in Chicago. How he went crazy and nearly killed his wife. Carol’s sister said it was the result of a contaminated flu shot. But Mike, Tom’s friend who works with Carol’s sister’s husband said the neighbor hadn’t got a flu shot and it was some kind of virus mutation that is making people sick and violent. It’s a crazy world, you just don’t know what to believe.” She shook her head and with a small laugh said. “Tom has his own outlandish ideas and now keeps his shotgun loaded and close at hand.” 

She flipped the radio off and the signal indicator on, checked her mirrors, and eased away from the curb and the jumble of cars.

“Anyway, I’m glad you are here. The kids have done nothing but talk about your visit. For Becky this visit is really exciting, she wants to know all about California. She has been looking at colleges out there. I know she has a couple of years left before she graduates, but she has her heart set on joining her aunt out on the coast.” Mary said. She had been taken back at the sight of her sister. There was a lack of vigor about Helen that had never existed before. Mary had always seen her sister as a boundless source of energy, always on the go, always planning something to do and doing it.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the kids, to having some down time.” Helen said as she gazed out the car window. “It’s been a tough few months and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any easier for awhile. I’ve been spending all my time at the lab and I have to admit not taking very good care of myself. I know. I know.” Helen said holding one hand up to stop Mary from commenting. “Which is why I haven’t said anything to you about how I have been feeling, because I didn’t want to hear any lectures. At least I didn't want to hear any from my baby sister. I guess its true what they say, what goes around comes around.” Her voice, sounding drained and hushed, faded away leaving the inside of the car quiet as Mary considered her sister’s words.

“Well, you’re here and can let all that stuff stay on the west coast. We’ll have you feeling like your old self in no time.”

Sisters Part 1

Mary sat at her dinning room table with her cell phone pressed against her ear. Late afternoon sunlight streamed through the glass of the patio doors, danced across the oak table and bathed the floral arrangement in the center of the table in a warm glow. Her laptop sat open on the table in front of her, the screensaver cycling through pictures of her family while she gazed out at the birdfeeder mounted on the deck railing.  The sight of a rotund squirrel sitting on the railing with a sunflower seed in its paws captured her attention, letting her sister’s voice fade into the background. His whickers quivered as he cracked the shell and devoured the nut inside. At the approach of another squirrel he charged, scolding it with a loud chattering. Mary grinned at the antics thinking how like her older sister the squirrel was. 

“Did you get your Flu shot?” The sudden question brought her back to the conversation.

“No, not yet. I have been really busy with work and the kids.” Mary said.

“You should, you know. The main strain going around this year is reported to be serious.”

“I know. I just… I don’t know… I’m not sure. Is it really necessary to get one? I mean I haven’t been sick in years and, well, how safe is it? I’ve heard stories about people getting the shot and not being the same afterwards, having reactions that were life changing.” Mary said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. Dead silence from the other end of the phone was her sister’s typical response to her resisting her sister’s advice. She could see Helen tapping the toe of her stylish shoe and tightening her lips as she waited for Mary to give up arguing. “I’m just not sure I want to risk it.” She continued in a fading effort to stand up for herself.

Through out her life Helen had corrected her, her grammar, her style of dress, even the way she walked. Now with the aggressive ad campaigns promoting an annual flu vaccination Helen had added one more item to her list of things she should be doing.  Mary clenched her teeth together in an effort to avoid an argument with her sister as Helen launched into another lecture. Instead she focused on the riotous cacophony of fall color beckoning to her, calling to her to come out and play in the sun before the night settled in.

She felt a deep longing to bathe in the warm sunshine, filling her senses with the dusky fragrance of slowing growth as the yard and gardens settled in for the winter ahead. She lost track of her sister’s voice flowing from the phone in a seemingly non-stop prattle about how important it was to take better care of herself. She wondered, how much better care could she take of herself than spending time outside, breathing in the crisp, clear air of autumn, putting her flower beds to rest and listening to the faint rustle of small creatures under the fallen leaves as she raked them off the lawn? Get more exercise, eat healthy and by all means get a flu shot. She had heard it all before, it made sense and yet, she found herself resisting the pressure to change her habits, not convinced any of it would make much difference in the long run, not buying into the hype.

Mary straightened up as she realized the voice on the other end of the phone had gone silent. She thought back to what she last remembered her sister saying and with an effort to appear as if she was paying attention she spoke with the last thought she had.

“Besides, aren’t there others that need it more than I do? They only make so much of the vaccine.”

“Not really paying attention, are you?” Helen said with a laugh. “Still the same old Mary lost in a world of your own, unwilling to conform to the rest of society, unwilling to listen to anything I say. You should think of those around you. The easiest way to stop the spread of the flu is for everyone to get vaccinated each year and besides, there is enough this year for everyone. It is safe and those stories are just stories, if there was any truth in them it would be all over the news.”

 “I’ll think about it. I suppose it isn’t such a big deal. It does sort of make sense. I, just, well it’s not a hundred percent protective and I’m not big on getting vaccinated when it might not work.”

“Not going to give it up, are you? Okay I’ll let up on you.” Helen said, shifting the topic to a more neutral area. “How are Tom and the kids? What’s happening back there in the Midwest?”

Mary found herself opening up with the shift to neutral territory and started sharing all the trials and joys of having a teenage daughter, a soon to be teenage daughter and a young son obsessed with football, bringing laughter back into the conversation.

All too soon Helen started making the ‘I need to get going, I have too many things to do and not enough time to do them in’ statements that heralded the end of the phone call.

“Say, why don’t you come out for Thanksgiving?” Mary asked before her sister could make her final good-bye. “It’s been a few years and the kids would love to see you.”

“I’m not sure I can get away. There is a lot going on right now. We’ve identified a new mutation of the flu virus and are scrambling to find out how virulent it is and how effective the current flu vaccine is.” 

“Oh come on, a break will do you good. Come out for Thanksgiving. We can go to the Mall of America on Black Friday, hit all the sales, like we did before you moved to the coast.”

Silence instead of further argument told Mary that Helen was considering the invitation.

“Helen, come out for the holiday. It will be just the six of us. Nothing big, but with all the trimmings.” Mary paused waiting for her sister’s response. “It’s been, what, five, six years since you were last home. Come out and take a break. Isn’t that part of what you are always lecturing me about, how important it is to exercise, eat right and get enough rest.” Mary tried to make her comments light hearted so as not to raise her sister’s ire, but underneath her words was a real concern for her sister. Throughout the conversation Helen hadn’t sounded as much like Helen as usual. She sounded tired and not as enthusiastic about her life, even her lecturing had been softer and not as forceful.

“Okay. I’ll book a flight out.” Helen said. “It will be good to see you and your family, to catch up on life in the Midwest and yes I do need a break, I have let work consume me these last couple of years and could use time away.” The sound of her voice had regained a bit of the spirit Mary was familiar with and she felt her worry fade. After all Helen would have told her if something was seriously amiss. They ended the conversation and Mary clicked off her phone. She gazed out the window without seeing anything, her mind racing about all she needed to get done over the next two months.

Mistakes

You can't undo the past,

But you can mend the future.