“A what rat? Wait. You know what, never mind.” She dismisses me and returns to her show.
With nothing better to do, I stay there and watch it too.
When Bree arrives a little later, she lies down on the floor in front of us. “Did you guys hear someone’s coming over?”
“Who told you?” Ann asks.
“Mom. Didn’t she tell you?”
“No.” Once again, Ann looks mad at being left out of the loop.
“Well, did you get off the couch today?”
“I’ll have you know,” Ann replies calmly, “that I reread Anne of Green Gables today. The whole thing. One day. You’d be lucky to get through half that much.”
“Yeah,” Bree chuckles, “because it would totally put me to sleep.”
Ann’s face turns a little pink. “Can you just be quiet? I’m watching a show.”
Bree jumps to her feet. “This is totes lame. I don’t want to start my summer vacation sitting around watching a sappy soap opera. Cade, did you see Dad bought a new garbage can?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I was thinking, before it gets all dirty and stuff…you want to see what it’s like rolling inside it down the hill at the park?”
“Aye, aye! The big hill, or the little one?”
“The little one is for sissies,” she says. Then under her breath she adds, “It would be perfect for Ann.”
Ann pretends not to hear.
Ten minutes later we’re at the top of a fifty-yard slope. I climb inside the can and hold on tight as Bree gives me a shove. As she lets go, she shouts, “Bon voyage, sucker!” Thirty yards later my head is ready to explode from the spinning.
Ten yards after that I cry out for help.
As I reach the flats at the bottom of the hill and begin to slow, I try—unsuccessfully—to stick my nose out for some fresh air, but it’s too late. With the entire world still doing flips in my head, I puke all over myself. Twice.
Bree comes running down the hill behind me, laughing so hard that it brings her to tears.
Mom doesn’t think it’s funny at all. She gasps when I walk through the back door a few minutes later and step into the kitchen, drenched in my own mess. “What happened?”
“Rough seas,” I say stoically as I wipe my mouth on my sleeve. “Went down with me ship.”
Then my odor reaches her nostrils. “Oh goodness, our guest will be here in ten minutes! Straight to the shower, young man. Double time! And don’t come out ’til you smell like a rose.” As I make my way down the hallway, she calls out once more. “Put your clothes outside the door, Cade. I’ll start a load before anyone catches a whiff of you.”
Once I’m good and clean, I wrap a towel around my waist and stroll into the hallway. I haven’t gone two steps from the bathroom when Bree yells, “They’re here! They’re here!”
“Who’s here?” I shout back, picking up speed toward the front door.
When I come around the corner of the entryway, Bree has her face pressed against the window. “Dad and the guest!” she says with such excitement that her hair bounces with each word. “I saw them pull in.”
The first thing Mom sees when she joins us from the kitchen is my towel around my waist. “Cade, what are you doing? Go put some clothes on! You can’t just waltz around half naked.”
At the same time, Ann appears from the basement, stopping one step below the landing. “No doubt. Cover up that scrawny white body before you blind us all.”
“I will,” I mutter, “After I see who it is.”
There’s only room at the little window near the door for one person, so Bree gives us a play-by-play of what’s happening outside. Well, she tries, but what she says is not very helpful. “OK, the car door is open…wait…who needs one of those? It kinda looks like…no, can’t be. Oh, there they come…still coming…closer…Is that…? Yes, it—No…is it?” There’s a long pause—longer than it should take for someone to walk from the driveway to the front door. Bree finally turns around. “Mom, is that who I think it is?”
“Tell us who, already,” demands Ann.
A second later the front door swings wide open. In the doorway, standing behind a four-wheeled walker, is an old woman with funky reddish hair, dark sunglasses that hide half her wrinkly face, and a pink sweater.
“Welcome!” Mom exclaims. “Come in, come in!” She joins the old woman at the door and reaches over the walker to give her a hug.
“Oh, my little Emily! How are you, darlin’?”
“Good, good. I’m just happy you had time to come see us. Can I help you with anything?”