Chapter Thirty

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Chapter Thirty

 

12 Years Earlier

1990

Lake City, LA

 

Karen sat beside her brother on the old bench under the shade of Melinda Weeps. This had been their Sunday ritual for as long as she could remember. After attending first mass at Our Lady Queen of Heaven with Momma, she and Kristopher would spend the afternoon relaxing under the curved branches of the old live oak tree with Abby, their nanny.

Today was Abby’s birthday. She wore a pretty flower-print dress that she had made herself. Her many bracelets and bangles clanged together as she filled their cups with homemade iced tea.

“How old are you?” Karen asked. Abby was a Cay-jun, which Abby had once explained meant she was part Indian and part Acadian. Karen thought it was silly that it wasn’t spelled the way it sounded, and had no idea what an Acadian was. It sounded like a race of aliens. Kristopher said Acadians were just Canadians who had migrated south, like birds did in the winter.

“Make her guess your age,” Kristopher interrupted before Abby could respond.

“If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking, duh,” Karen said.

“Calm down, chillun,” Abby replied with a smile. “Today I turn sixty-eight.”

“Quick, Karen,” Kristopher said. “How much older than you is Abby?”

Karen looked at Abby’s wrinkled skin and black hair (she confessed to Karen that she still dyed it) and thought she must be a thousand years older. Karen knew it was a simple math problem and after doing some quick figuring said, “That’s easy. I’m six, so that means Abby is sixty-two years older than me.”

“Very good, kiddo,” Kristopher replied.

“And you’re fifteen, so she’s...umm, fifty-three years older than you.” Karen stuck out her tongue at her brother and he tried to snatch it out of her mouth. Karen evaded him and took another sip of the delicious iced tea.

A sharp rustle shook the limbs above them and a few leaves fell into Karen’s cup. “Aww no,” she whined.

Kristopher jumped up to investigate.

“What is it?” Karen asked.

“Probably just a squirrel or the wind,” Kristopher reported, unable to find the culprit.

“Or it could be Isaac,” Abby said.

“Isaac?” Karen and Kristopher asked, almost in unison.

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