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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
32
My cell phone woke me early Sunday morning. Aunt Letty.
“Hello?” I whispered.
“Are you all right, honey? I got your message.” My aunt’s familiar husky voice made me want to cry. But I made myself swallow hard a couple of times.
Letty said, “Tell me what’s wrong.” I heard Letty flick her lighter and begin to smoke.
I poured out the entire story, except for anything John had confided to me. I dared not risk having Aunt Letty blurt something out to Mom or Dad that would give John away, for Mom would tell his parents. And I could skip explaining about Trent because Letty already knew I’d been stupid enough to sleep with him.
At the end of it, I heard Letty blow out a stream of smoke. She said, “Dear Lord, what a mess. I’m so sorry this happened, honey.” A rattling of papers. “I’m scheduled to fly back to Charlotte August 9th. But I’m done teaching this class July 21st. Let me see … I can probably be on a plane to Albuquerque by July 25th. That’s a month from now.”
“Sounds good.” I wanted to dance around the room and hide under the covers at the same time. Seeing Aunt Letty would be wonderful, but it meant a guaranteed family fight. But I’d enjoy watching Letty rip Pastor Andervender to shreds with her sharp tongue.
“You did the right thing by calling me,” Letty said. “I don’t like the sound of this supposed miracle healer one bit—reminds me too much of that quack your parents let mess with Henry. Can John keep his dad away from Henry for a month?”
“Maybe. Andervender has made no attempt to heal Henry for over a week.”
“Good. With any luck it’ll stay that way until your parents come to their senses. They usually do.” Letty’s voice rose in anger. “Does Victor know that man called your ex-boyfriend?”
“No.”
“You must tell him. Your dad needs to know how his new ‘pastor’ operates.”
“Mom’s really set on being with Gena.”
“I’m sure.” I heard Letty light another cigarette. “Victor’s never been much for anti-Jew talk, or punishing teenagers for mistakes he made himself.” Letty cackled. “Ask him about his freshman year in college … anyway, be cautious around these First Beginnings people.”
“I am.”
“I’ll be there as soon as this damn class is over.” Letty coughed, long and gasping. When she got her breath back, she said, “I think this ‘Pastor’ Andervender has a screw loose. It’s not your fault his behavior is awful, no matter what anyone at that crazy church says.”
Letty’s words comforted me. But the sunlight outside my window had gone from weak to bright. I checked my clock. “Aunt Letty, I hate to end this call, but Mom and Dad will be waking up to get ready for church soon.”
“I’ll call Victor next and say I wanted to ask how the move went. Call me if anything changes. I love you.”
“Love you too.” I hung up.
************** End of Part Two. 32. *****************
It’s been a pleasure making this journey together, L.M.
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.
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