excerpt
“What are you doing in those clothes, Rachael? You look like a
hippie.” The words had only just left his mouth when he realized that
was exactly her intent.
Looking up at him, she giggled. “We were danshing. It wash … it
wash fun.” Her head fell back onto the sofa and she closed her eyes.
Ronald could not bring himself to move from where he stood staring
at her. He had rescued Rachael from many scrapes, or worse, but
this time he was at a total loss. What could he do with her? She was
drunk, that much was obvious. Ronald had seen the signs before but
never, God forbid, in his own family. He had the overwhelming urge
to sit down and cry. Taking a tight rein on his emotions, he leaned
over her, took her arm and tried to pull her to her feet.
“Don’t you dare go to sleep. I’ll make some strong coffee, then I’m
taking you home.” Let Morley and Tyne deal with her; this time she’s
gone too far.
“Let me sleep, please Ronnie,” she begged.
In her plea Ronald heard again the cries of a little girl – lost, cold
and near death in a frozen wasteland created by a prairie blizzard.
Hesitating for only a moment, he said, “Okay, you can sleep it off in
my bed. Come on, I’ll help you upstairs.”
“Oh no, you won’t, Ronald. She’ll sleep down here for what’s left
of the night.”
At the sound of Aunt Millie’s unusually stern voice, he swung around.
She was standing in the doorway of the downstairs hallway. Gray hair
formed a cloud around her pale face. One hand clutched a terrycloth robe
around her ample bosom; the other hand held out a long flannel nightgown
and a blanket in the direction of the startled girl on the sofa.
“Get out of those clothes and put this on. You’ll stay on the sofa
tonight, young lady. Ronnie needs his sleep. I’ll talk to you in the
morning when you’ve sobered up.” Millie Harper turned abruptly
towards her bedroom.
Manolis Aligizakis 