Chapter 2 - no chapter title yet

settling in - learning the dynamics of abuse; the details of mom's cancer; daughter's behavior becoming concerning

"Erin, wanna go to the library?"

"Okay." Erin rolled off the bed where she'd developed a camp of sorts, laptop in front of her and empty bowls that used to contain cereal stacked on the floor next to the bed, one containing an apple core gone brown.

"Please take your dirty bowls back upstairs, okay?"

"I will. Do I hafta do it now? Right this second? I want to take a shower."

"No.." Anne sighed, "not right this minute." Even though she knew that if it didn't get done now, it would mean another reminder by the end of the day. But she didn't feel like pushing it. Getting out of the house with her daughter in a good mood was far more appealing. 

Anne loved that Erin loved books. And loved that she still allowed her mother to read aloud to her. It was a special bond they had, and lord knows they needed some special time together these days. There had been too much change all at once, threaded through with uncertainty and trauma. Anne could tell Erin was working hard to cope with it all. She was irritable, angry, sad, confused and probably felt betrayed by her mother, same as Anne felt. Maybe they could find a book that had a character going through some deep family crisis and found meaningful healing along the way. Yeah right. But one can hope. 

Anne climbed the steps past the landing at the front door and on up to the top level of the split level home. Devil's Architecture, she always thought. Why on earth did her parents buy a split-level for their retirement? Now, more than ever, it was clear that stairs and the elderly do not mix.  "Hey, Mom. So are you good? Need anything before we leave?"

"Well yes, I'm fine. Can you just hand me my glass of water?" Her mother looked sad but resigned. Anne felt a little guilty for not offering to take her. But that would involve getting Mom down the steps, into the car, then down the the stairs inside the library and Anne just needed time with Erin alone. Sorry, Mom, she thought to herself. You're on your own for a few hours.

Erin's shower didn't take too long, since she wasn't yet into the preening and assembly line of products yet, and so it wasn't long before they were sitting in the Escort heading towards downtown Wenatchee. It took all of eight minutes to get there and pull into a parking space under the large oak trees lining the circular turnaround in front of the building.

Reviews

[Baize Lux]

This is the paragraph where Anne is talking about how she loved that Erin loved books: "Too much change too fast, and all of it threaded through with uncertainty and trauma.". I think it needs to be: "Too much changes too fast, and all of it was threaded through with uncertainty and trauma."

It sounds better to me.

[Dae]

Ok, thanks...I'll take a look at it. I appreciate the feedback of where things don't flow or make sense. Thank you for taking the time to read it!

[Baize Lux]

You're welcome! Glad to be of Insistence!

[Dae]

Aw crap. I've been writing on this chapter for the last half hour and the webpage froze, and I lost all the changes. I guess I need to be writing in a document and copying and pasting here. Crap crap crap.

[Baize Lux]

Oh, no! That sucks! That might be a good idea.

[Baize Lux]

That reminds me... Did you get the read request I sent you?

[Dae]

ACK! No, I didn't. Well, yes, I did, but I didn't get a notification of it, and haven't been to the "home" page on here so I didn't see it till now.

I will read today, but I gotta go to work now! :)

[Baize Lux]

Okay! I sent it last night while you were offline, but I figured I'd check!

[Dae]

Always good to check! :)