Jane's Cardinal

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

New Ideas

Every sound made the house feel hollow. Cheyenne decided to stay more manual this time staying by my side. We both anticipated my mother rushing to not so friendly "greet" us at the door. Dishes moved around intensely in the kitchen. Maybe she didn't hear us. I elbowed Cheyenne to say something since my mouth was so dry. All she did was slightly move over. "great" I thought.

"Mom?" I eventually hollered. I clenched on to Cheyenne's arm flinching for mom's yell I knew was coming. Dishes clashed into one another being placed down, and the faucet stopped running.

"Girls?" Aunt Tina's voice was the only one I heard. "Come on let's go!" The urgency in her voice was frightening. She swung a jacket off the coat rack and spoke hurriedly. "Your grandmother is in the hospital, Jane." The apprehensiveness of the air I was breathing in caused me to choke. Where am I again? My mind is blank.

"Come on Jane buckle up!" Aunt Tina's words raced through my ears. I instantly snatched my seat belt and snapped it in. I checked on Cheyenne in the back seat whose forehead was creased with concern. Her sympathetic eyes reflected my shock. If the earth's axis shifted an entire one-eighty I wouldn't have noticed. Not at all did I even conceive the darkness of the sky till we pulled into the hospital parking lot. When the elevator light flickered I remembered where we were. Right, we're at the hospital. Linda was the first thing I thought about since we left home. The reason Linda entered my mind? It was just strange to wonder upon reason of death. Not that I contemplated my grandma's death, but that if she did die I knew she'd be off to heaven. Linda on the other hand, if she did in fact take her own life, let's just say it doesn't look good for her. "Go on in. Your mother is inside." Aunt Tina loitered at the door with Cheyenne.

"Jane my sweetie." Grandma's voice mimicked a frog. The exhaust in her movement to reach for me gave me guilt for not fleeting to her. She interpreted my expressions. "Just a heart- attack my dear." She spoke delicately. My mouth dropped. "What's the devil going to do? Threaten me with death?" She chuckled. I cracked a smile in accord with her scorn. With everything released in ease at the moment I decided now in front of grandma would be a good time to bring up that I had invited someone over for dinner.

"Hey mom." She gave me a 'what could you possibly want right now' look. "I might have invited that homeless guy over for dinner tomorrow night." Her body imitated a diva. Still it felt wrong to give the poor guy such a title. "Sorry, everything happened so fast." I looked at my silent mother's eyes once again. "Ok, ok, I'll tell him it's not a good time. I apologize." Her eyes bounced to the ceiling. I really did want to meet this man walking up and down our dirt path. It would be a relief. So I think.

"Oh come on Melanie. Fix the poor man a supper. You should be proud of your daughter showing such compassion." Thank you Grandma. But I knew what my mom was worried about, how dangerous he might be. "Give the guy a chance." Grandma's doll-like eyes were irresistible.

"Alright, but Jane please don't be so easy to trust people. They are not all," my mother stumbled "Just not all safe." I concurred nodding. Mom pat me on the shoulder and we said our goodbyes.

The next morning was the date for our church to be cleaned. Getting out of the bed my legs were not corresponding with my brain. Somehow though I did manage to trample down the stairs. I combed my hair putting it half up half down (as always) arriving in the kitchen to seize a muffin on my way out.

"Jane!" Cheyenne called right as I stepped through the front door. I backed up to hear her clearly.

"Yes?" I answered.

"Can I let Maralah out of her cage?" Oh my! I almost forgot about her. How could I do that?

"Yeah yeah go ahead. Can you feed her for me as well? Her food is underneath the bathroom sink." She waved bye. "Thank you!" I howled.