No Sensible People Chapter Seven (part 4)

Previous

Susie headed out straight from the cemetery, and I brought Jennie back to the house. We cleaned up the dinner mess and played a couple games of Parcheesi. I told Jennie if I won, she would have to help me clean the
garage, but if she won we would go to the store to buy the makings for banana splits. We played two games, and we both won. We decided to do both things.

I picked up a few other things at the store besides the ice cream stuff; pancake mix, sausage, frozen pizza, salad mix and Western dressing. I wanted to have plenty of food while Jennie was around, but I ended up heating the
stew again for supper. Jennie sat on a stool in the corner of the kitchen while I worked.

"Susie's really cool," she informed me.

"I'm glad you like her, Jen," I said. "Thanks for getting her to come out here. It was nice to see her, and it was good to have her at my place. I got to be the host, I didn't feel so much like a little boy."

Jennie giggled. "You're not little," she said, and then she got more serious. "Taffy, why do you stay in Leifton?"

I took a deep breath. "Oh, Jennie, Susie doesn't have you pestering me now, does she?"

"I'm not pestering," she said. "I'm asking."

"I guess it's because Leifton's the only place I've ever lived. Besides, everyone I really care about either leaves or dies. Sometimes I think I'm cursed or something. Maybe it's better to stay out of the way."

Jennie nodded as if she understood. "Same for me," she said, "maybe I'm cursed too."

I was horrified. I dropped what I was doing, went over to where Jennie was sitting, and looked her in the eye. "Don't ever say that," I told her. "You're not cursed. You are a full blown blessing if I ever saw one. You're the
only thing in this world that makes any sense anymore, Jennie."

Jennie jumped off the stool and gave me a hug, a big hug. I was surprised and pleased. She was starting to let go of some of the unnecessary boundaries Molly had set for her. "I never wanted to leave you," she said.

"I know, Sweetie," I told her. "I know."

Jennie gave me a lantern that she said was from both her and Lucy. She said she had helped in the yard, but didn't think she had done enough to say it was only from her. It came in handy when we were working in my
garage and in the yard. Jennie didn't seem to mind helping, she had always liked helping Nate, and by the time we were done the garage looked about as good as the inside of the house.

"The place looks good enough to sell," I told Jennie, "But I'm not ready to yet. It's not a good idea to make big decisions when there's too much going on, especially if you don't have to. Maybe in the spring I'll figure out
what I want to do. I don't know if I'll stay here or not, but if I do go, I'll let you know where I am."

Jennie seemed pleased that I was thinking about leaving Leifton. Susie had been right, there wasn't a lot there for me anymore. Leifton was the kind of town where people either hooked up and stayed put right after high
school, or took off somewhere to find their wings and their lives. If I were to go out looking for a new adventure at this point in my life, I'd be about ten years behind everyone else. I always thought that I would be one to hook up
and stay put, but that all changed when Lucy left. Molly and Nate needed support, and my mom got sick. Ten years had gone by in a whirlwind and a blur, and suddenly I was sitting in my little house all by myself in the middle of nowhere.

The next morning I took Jennie to church. It was her first time in a Lutheran church. Molly had always taken her to the Catholic Church. Occasionally, Nate would attend a Lutheran service at the same time they were at Mass, but he had never tried to suggest that Jennie come along.

"It's called picking your battles, Dennis," he would say.

I didn't know how he did it, although I probably would've converted for Lucy if I'd had the chance. I didn't believe in worshiping the saints, or confessing my sins to a priest. I believed in an approachable God, and a forgiving one.

Jennie was a little uneasy about attending, but I reminded her that her Daddy had gone to the same church when he was a kid, and he turned out to be a very good man.

"I met your daddy in church, remember? When we were little kids."

"But I start Catholic school tomorrow," she said.

"I don't think anyone will mind, Jennie," I told her. "It's the same Bible; Genesis through Revelation."

That eased her mind somewhat, and she decided Lutheran Church for one Sunday was better than missing all together.

Susie came to pick Jennie up around 6 p.m., and once again, she didn't want to go. Susie reminded her that she was going to start school, and she wanted to make sure everything was ready. I told her I would try to make it out to Minneapolis some time before the end of November. Susie thought it was a good idea, and suggested that I stay with her over Thanksgiving, provided I could get the time off work and I could tolerate her flowery decorating for a couple days.

"You can't bring anything that's made a pit stop at the taxidermist's," she instructed.

"I'll have to think about it then," I told her. "All those flowers and I can't even compensate with dead animals. It's gonna be a tough call."

Susie slugged me in the shoulder, and I gave both her and Jennie a hug goodbye before they were off on the road to Minneapolis.

Next section

No Sensible People on Amazon

My Lulu Store