Chapter 2 - The Cracks in Marlene’s Performance
Aunt Helena began asking questions after finding Owen asleep beneath the kitchen table.
It was nearly eight in the evening. The apartment was cold, the refrigerator was empty and Savannah was washing formula bottles in the sink.
“Where is your mother?” Helena asked.
Savannah kept her eyes on the running water.
“She went to the store.”
“How long ago?”
“Not long.”
Mateo looked up from the couch.
“She left before lunch.”
Savannah closed the faucet.
Helena’s face changed.
“Savannah?”
“She needed to meet someone about work.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Helena picked up her phone.
Savannah stepped in front of her.
“Please don’t call her.”
“Why not?”
“She will be angry.”
“At me?”
Savannah did not answer.
Helena slowly lowered the phone.
“Has she left you alone with them before?”
“It isn’t really alone. I’m here.”
“You are sixteen.”
“I know how to take care of them.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Savannah looked toward the children.
Mateo was watching her carefully. He had learned to study her expression before speaking, as though she were a weather report that could warn him of storms.
“It happens sometimes,” Savannah admitted.
“How often?”
“I don’t count.”
Helena stayed until Marlene returned after midnight.
The moment Marlene saw her sister, she began performing.
She carried two grocery bags containing snacks, soda and one frozen pizza.
“I was trying to find extra work,” she explained. “Savannah knew exactly where I was.”
Helena looked at Savannah.
Savannah stared at the floor.
“See?” Marlene said. “Everything is fine.”
After Helena left, Marlene placed the groceries on the counter.
“You embarrassed me.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You did not have to. You stood there looking pathetic.”
“I was just washing bottles.”
Marlene stepped closer.
“Your aunt wants to break this family apart. Do not give her a reason.”
Savannah swallowed.
“There wasn’t any formula left.”
“I bought some.”
Marlene removed a small container from the grocery bag.
It was not the brand June normally used, but Savannah said nothing.
“You should be grateful,” Marlene continued. “Some mothers would have given up. I stayed and raised all of you.”
Savannah wanted to ask who had raised whom.
Instead, she prepared June’s bottle.
The next morning, Helena was waiting outside Savannah’s school.
She did not accuse her of lying. She did not demand answers.
She handed Savannah a card with her address, phone number and apartment entry code.
“You already know where I live,” Savannah said.
“I know. But I want you to carry this.”
“Why?”
“Because sometimes people need permission to leave before they realize the door was never locked.”
Savannah placed the card in her pocket.
May you like
For weeks, she did nothing with it.
Then the school counselor asked why she had missed forty-three days of class.
