Soul Cages – Part Two. Broken Masks. 26.

I hope everyone is having a good week. Here we go with this week’s section from Part Two of Soul Cages (PG-13).

Soul Cages

 L. M. May

Copyright © 2011 by L. M. May

Published by Osuna Publishing

This story is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, dialogue, and locales are either drawn from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, and locales is entirely coincidental.

Part Two. Broken Masks

26

Mom stayed in her bedroom while Henry and I ate lunch with Dad in the kitchen. After Dad left, the two of us unpacked boxes filled with DVDs to put on the DVD shelves in the living room.

When the doorbell rang, I looked through the peephole to find John standing there. “Wait a moment,” I called out, “I have to get a key.”

I knocked on Mom’s closed bedroom door.

“Tell them to go away,” Mom said.

I opened the door and stuck my head in. Mom was lying down on the bed, a wet washcloth over her eyes, as she listened to the Gospel of Mark.

“Mom, John’s here. I need your key to let him in.”

Mom sat up, the washcloth falling to her lap. She grabbed her keys from the nightstand, and hurried down the halls to unlock the front door while I followed.

“What are you doing here?” Mom said to John.

“I’m here to help out, like you and Mr. Hawthorn asked.”

“But didn’t Gena…” Mom paused in thought. “Ah, I see.” She nodded to herself. “Come on in. If you could do me a favor and help unpack today? Bring boxes labeled ‘dining room’ from the garage. You can leave your tools here near the front door.” She grasped my arm and maneuvered me into the home office.

I noted that no evidence of a fight remained—Mom must have cleaned up the office before getting Dad.

“Go ahead and start,” Mom called sweetly to John. “I just need to speak to Marian for a moment.”

Mom shut the door and locked it. “Consider yourself lucky, Marian. They’re obviously not going to tell the children about your sordid past. I want you on your best behavior around any kid from First Beginnings, or I’ll have you grounded for the entire summer. Do I make myself clear?”

I bit back angry words. “Yes.”

“Good.” Mom unlocked the door. “Since Henry’s boxes are all unpacked, you can work on getting yours done this afternoon.”

I stayed put. “I promised Henry if he did well this week—helped out, didn’t tantrum—I’d take him early to the park today.”

“It’ll be hot as an oven out there!” Mom grimaced. “But since Henry is expecting it, go. But I don’t want you hanging out with what’s-his-face … Ben or any other guy. In fact, take John along too.”

“I don’t think John would appreciate being made my chaperone.”

Mom flicked a hand in annoyance at me. “Albuquerque can be a dangerous place. You and Henry will be a lot safer if John goes along. He can drive you in his truck since it’s so hot.”

************** End of Part Two. 26. *****************

If you are reading this after December 30, 2013, you should be able to click here to go to the main information page of Soul Cages to find Part Two. 27.

Soul Cages is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Smashwords, iBookstore, Kobo, and other e-bookstores. A print edition is now available on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and through independent bookstores either in stock or through order (ISBN-13 is 978-0615870465).  Links can change over time, so click here to go to the main page for Soul Cages if any links don’t work.

Until next time, L.M.