Rose Dreams about Pearl

 

Rose Dreams about Pearl

The wind came up during the night. The howling had roused Rose from a disturbing dream in which her sister was floating over her bed. A storm was running up the coast. It would rain tomorrow.   She had to pee but she didn’t want to get out of the warm bed.   Across the room Pearl’s bed was covered with a rosebud print spread that matched the one Rose had kicked to the floor as she wiggled around trying to get comfortable.  Pearl’s bed was pushed up against the windows. The wind caused the forsythia branches to scrape against the glass.  

In the dream Pearl had been calling to her. “Come with me, Rose. I don’t want to leave you behind.”  It was the same dream she’d had every night since Pearl had run away.

 

It would have been easier on everyone if Pearl had died. They could have had a funeral. Irene could have dressed her in her new lavender dress and fixed her hair. They could have laid her to rest and found some peace themselves. But she wasn’t dead. She was just gone. When she and her Mama had gotten home from church the house was empty. At first they thought Pearl had just gone out for a walk but when she hadn’t returned by dark they began to worry.

* * *

“Mama. Her suitcase is gone and so are some of her clothes.” Rose had not told her mother about the bloody sheets she had found hastily covered with the bedspread. She had quietly stripped the bed and hidden the sheets.

 

Days passed with no word from Pearl. When Benjamin came home he gave no explanation for his absence and offered no theories on where Pearl might have gone. Rose thought he seemed even more sullen than usual and she was taken aback by his lack of concern for their sister. “Benjamin, I don’t understand you. Pearl is missing and you act like you don’t even care.”

 

“I have my own family to worry about, don’t I? Besides, she’s not missing. She’s just gone and run away. What’s so hard to understand about that? She just got tired of this damn creek. God knows I’ve thought often enough about running but I couldn’t get far on one leg, could I?” He laughed the humorless laugh that always raised hackles on the back of her neck.

Rose studied her brother. She had lived with him for eighteen years but he was still a mystery to her.

Reviews

[piggy]

She ran off with a wonderful dude and lived happily ever after without you.
Just thought you could do with a happy ending. Good job