Grime and Punishment

food?“
    “Sure, every time I come here.“
    “Then come more often. Why do I have to drag you out to see me?“
    “It’s not you. I’d like to see you every day. It’s this place. The suburbs. All this—space. And tidiness.“
    “Too wholesome for you?”
    He laughed. “It’s true, I guess. A place like this doesn’t need a guy like me. I don’t give a damn about grass, and if I had a yard, everything would die for sure. But in the city, there’s always already a mess, a domestic disturbance, some slob I can try to straighten out. Sometimes I even do some good.”
    She walked him to his car by way of the kitchen and handed him two plastic containers with sauce and pasta and some foil-wrapped garlic bread. He set them on the floor of the front seat and gave her back the containers she’d sent stew and salad in the last time.
    “Janey, would you like for me to come stay with you until this is sorted out?“
    “I’d adore it, but I’d be overwhelmed with guilt at the amount of driving you’d have to do every day. You’d be on the road three hours a day. I’ve ridden with you, and I don’t think the Chicago highway system is ready for that. Besides, you’d probably go raving mad within a day and I’d have to find a good mental institution to put you in. It would cut into my free time.“
    “I could get a policewoman or private detective agency to send someone...“ he said, obviously relieved that she’d turned down his offer.
    “That’s all I need. A strange woman in the house. I’ve got a very strange one already who’s beating down the doors to move in.“
    “Thelma? Don’t you do it. The old bitch would chew you up and spit you out in a week. I’ll call you tomorrow with whatever I find out about your nosy cleaning lady. And, speaking of nosy—“
    “What?“
    “Don’t go interfering in this, Janey.“
    “What do you mean?“
    “All this talk about what you and your friend Shelley have figured out, and the business about VanDyne not being willing to tell you anything—that kind of butting in could be dangerous too. All you need to know is how to be careful and keep yourself out of any possible danger. Ignorance can be, and often is, safety.“
    “Then I ought to be about the most secure person in the world, Uncle Jim. There’s hardly anything I don’t know less than I should about. Keep an eye on that sauce or you’ll have to shovel it off the floor of the car.”
    She smiled and waved as he drove off, but when she went in the house, she grimly checked that the doors were all locked. She’d have to make sure the kids all had keys tomorrow and impress upon them, without being too scary, that they had to keep the house safe.

Twelve

    There was neither band practice nor cheer leader practice on Monday mornings, a small kindness Jane was sure the school board was unaware of or they would have promptly corrected it. She was able to get up at the usual time and still make a big breakfast. The kids were dumbfounded.
    “You don’t mean we have to eat all this, do you?“ Katie’s nose wrinkled.
    “Why not?“
    “I couldn’t walk around with all this stuff in my stomach. I’d feel like a balloon.”
    Mike’s reaction was cautious curiosity. “What’s this stuff?“
    “An omelet with bacon and sliced onions and peppers.“
    “In the morning? God, Mom! If I blew into my tuba with that kinda breath, I’d never get rid of the smell. Nothing personal, Mom, but it looks like barf, besides. Sorry.”
    It was Todd who put it all into perspective. He silently studied the omelet, the orange juice, the English muffins, the Canadian bacon, and said, “What’s wrong, Mom?”
    That was, of course, why she’d done it. She knew they weren’t breakfast-eaters. Back in her “good mother“ stage she’d cooked a hundred breakfasts that were rejected. She’d only done it today because she was scared. She had a sudden sense of how short life can be and how unexpectedly it can end. Now that she thought about it, the last time she’d gone on a breakfast binge was in the month after Steve died. What was it in her that fended off death and destruction with breakfasts? Send them to heaven on a full stomach? Good nutrition fends off the grim reaper?
    When she had them on their way, she phoned Shelley. “Wanna come have four breakfasts with me?“
    “Love to, but I can’t. I’ve got to jump in the shower, then I’ve got a dozen errands to do. Want to ride along for the first