Henry's Sisters. Cathy Lamb

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      On our way into Portland I saw a windsurfer. He had a red and purple sail. He was whipping right along on the waves of the river. Away from struggles. Away from people. Away from life. Free.

      He was free.

      I wondered if he’d take a shift for me with Momma.

       5

       W e got Momma checked in to her room at the hospital. She didn’t like her room. (“It’s small. Dirty. I feel like I’m being housed on the inside of a vacuum cleaner bag.”) She didn’t like the hospital outfit. (“I will not wear this green sacklike monstrosity. Never. Bring me my pink robe.”)

      She complained of being hungry but she was not supposed to eat. (“I’m being starved to death. Starved. You girls can’t even get your momma fed properly.”) She didn’t like the nurse. (“The nurse is too thin. If I need help, she’ll snap like a toothpick.”)

      She didn’t like her doctors. “Too young. One is Mexican. One is Chinese. One is short. I need a tall, white doctor.”

      She told them that.

      “I’m sorry,” I said, raising my voice to a thundering decibel to block her out. “She’s always like this. Ignore it or go into therapy. The three of us have done both. Still, we’re all slightly insane because of her. Want to knock her out right now with a hammer to the head? Do you have a hammer?” I made a pounding motion with my hand. “I’ll do it for you.”

      The doctors’ eyes widened in surprise.

      Janie started to hum and rock. Then she whispered, “I am envisioning a peaceful place. My houseboat. On the river. Ducks. Birds. Charm. Quiet. I am in control.”

      “Shhh!” I ordered Janie. “Put her out,” I ordered the doctors. “Not my sister. My momma. Swing the hammer, cut her open, yank the ribs apart, and fix her ticker. If you keep her here for a few extra days, I’ll pay extra. Double even. Triple. Can she stay a month?”

      I crossed my arms over my chest as Momma squawked and announced I was ungrateful, poorly trained as a daughter, rebellious, and so on. “You’re already humiliating me, Isabelle.” She threw up her arms in the pink robe. “Humiliating!”

      I knew the doctors would never accept any extra money from me, but they whipped her out pretty quick, the stretcher rolled around the corner, and Cecilia, Janie, and I sagged against the wall, hip to hip.

      It was nine o’clock in the morning.

      “Is it too early to get drunk?” Janie asked.

      Cecilia grabbed her purse. “Nope. Not to me. Get your rears in gear.”

      We got our rears in gear.

      We left Momma’s room, then waited in the hallway for Janie to go back in, check we hadn’t left anything, and tap all the tables in the room four times.

      We heard her tapping.

      She smiled as she passed through the doorway.

      We were ready to go.

      “Did you smile?”

      We nodded.

      She made us go back through the doorway smiling.

      Janie always knows when we’re lying.

      The three of us found a breakfast diner about two blocks from the hospital, then decompressed in our own ways.

      Janie took the sugar packets out of the container and divided them into groups of four. She shook salt out of a container onto her saucer and divided the salt into groups of four. She muttered.

      When the waitress, a skinny girl with dyed black hair, sauntered over, I ordered coffee and toast and a round of beers.

      Cecilia ordered two breakfasts of eggs and bacon. The waitress raised her eyebrows at Cecilia’s order.

      “I overeat so you can feel better about yourself,” Cecilia snapped, hands crossed on the shelf of her stomach.

      The waitress cracked her gum. “Whatever. We got fruit y’know, you can order that, less calories…and all that stuff.”

      “I don’t want all that stuff. I didn’t order it, did I? Did you see me open my mouth and order a plate full of damn fruit?”

      “No, you didn’t. It’s a suggestion, don’t get your panties in a twist. A diet suggestion. Helpful, you know.” She dropped her gaze to Cecilia’s stomach.

      “Sexy, СКАЧАТЬ