The phone rang and Molly picked it up. “Hello?” the mother
of eight said into the phone. “Yes, this is she…Oh! Hello, MarLinda! How are
you?” The woman’s voice carried through the nearly empty house, the inhabitants
finding other things to do on the beautiful summer morning.
“A
show? Of course…please tell me more.” Molly continued speaking to her friend
unaware that her third child lurked just behind the shadows of the hall.
“This
weekend? Let’s just see what we’ve got going on…” Molly, with cordless phone in
hand, walked around the semi-cluttered counter to the refrigerator where a
simple piece of paper lay stuck to the metal surface of the fridge with the
help of a colorful magnet. The words: “Performance Calendar” was lovingly drawn
with a pink Sharpie across the top of the slightly blemished paper.
“Good
news,” Molly proclaimed. This weekend looks free for us! If we can make it, I can’t wait to see
you and Dan and the kids!”
Molly
kept speaking and Nicki emerged from the hall to interrupt her mother.
“Mom,”
Nicki said using a voice reserved for times when the 23-year old wanted
something from her mother. “Can I please borrow the car?”
Molly
placed her hand over the phone’s microphone and whispered, “I’m on the phone,
sweetie…”
Undeterred,
Nicki continued. “Will you be long?”
“I
don’t know…I’m talking to an old friend and I’m booking a gig in St. George.”
The
words stopped Nicki cold.
“St.
George? What gig? When?” This time Nicki’s sense of consideration for her mom
and her mom’s friend disappeared.
“MarLinda,”
Molly said somewhat embarrassed. “I'm sorry MarLinda, can you hold please?
Thank you...” Molly lowered the phone, her hand stopping any noise from
reaching MarLinda. “Nikki, I can't talk to you now because I'm on the phone.
The show—if we do it—is in St. George this Saturday. I haven't decided yet if we
can do it.”
The
reason for the change in Nicki’s demeanor became apparent.
“Mom,
you know Brad's family is going to their cabin this month sometime. He's asked
me to go with them—remember? I told you about that.”
Molly
gave her second-oldest daughter a look she had given her many times over the
past two decades.
“Now
Nicki,” Molly said in a stern but gentle, motherly manner. “I’m not sure if I
want you to be going out with Brad…I’m not sure his intentions are honorable.”
Nicki
pondered how best to respond to her mother’s obvious spot-on observation. Just
as Molly was about to bring the phone back to her face, Nicki’s 12-year old
sister Ashley came into the room.
“Brad’s
a jerk!” Ashley said letting the other women in the room know she had heard at
least part of their conversation.
“Oh,
little sister…once you become a woman, you’ll understand what love is all
about.”
“I’m
not a woman yet, but I’m old enough to know he’s a jerk.” Ashley grabbed an
apple from a fruit bowl and left the room.
Nicki
turned her attention back to her mother, the person in possession of the
coveted car keys.
“Honey,
Molly said. “Why do you need the car?”
“Brad
just called me from work and he wants to take me out.”
“Take
you out, huh? Doesn’t he just need a ride somewhere?”
Nicki
looked down. How did her mother know so much, she thought to herself. “Maybe,”
Nicki said shyly.
“Nicki,
doesn’t Brad work as a car salesman?”
“Yes,”
Nicki said, pretty sure she knew what her mother was getting at.
“And
don’t the car salesmans get to drive the cars they try to sell?”
“Usually
yes, but hitting five deer in four days in downtown Salt Lake City isn’t as
unusual as it sounds…”
“Uh
huh…” Molly said. “I’m going to stop you right there. Where does he need to
go.”
Nicki
hesitated, unsure whether or not to proceed. Somehow she knew her mother had
figured it all out anyway.
“He’s
got to go see…a taxidermist.”
“Alright,”
Molly said finally raising the phone and digging into her pant’s pocket to
retrieve the car keys. “But no deer carcasses in the trunk—I’m not going through
that again.”
An
instant after the keys made their appearance, Nicki snapped them up. “Thanks
Mom!” she said and she kissed her mother on the cheek almost hitting the phone.
With keys in hand, the young woman vanished out of the kitchen and through the
front door.
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