Alice Bliss - Laura Harrington [16]
Alice listens outside the door.
“Did you get your orders?”
“Yeah, we did.”
“Where are they putting you?”
“F.O.B. Falcon. For the time being.”
“Where’s that?”
“Somewhere between Baghdad and Falluja.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“It should be pretty interesting, actually.”
“Still reconnaissance and surveillance?”
“And artillery.”
“I thought you’d be in engineering.”
“It’s the surge, Angie. They need boots on the ground.”
“Or transport. Or supply. Or security.”
“You get assigned.”
“What about rebuilding roads and schools and bridges and . . . Do they know you’re an engineer?”
“Of course.”
“Your CO. Does he know? Can you remind him?”
“It’s the army, Angie.”
“I know, but—”
“Write to me, sweetheart.”
“Okay.”
“Letters are like . . . You have no idea how important they are. Mail call . . .”
“Every day.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
“You’re my girl and I love you.”
“Come home to me.”
“I will. You know I will.”
The doorbell rings; Janna’s mother Joyce is at the door. Alice helps find Janna’s back pack and sneakers, the Shrek lunch box, and her jacket and sweater, and she even manages to say the right things to Janna’s mom, who is on her way home from her job at the cosmetics store at the mall and looks tired and a little frazzled.
“My feet are killing me, my cheeks are killing me, I’m so sick of smiling; I can’t wait to get home and have a nice cold beer. I probably shouldn’t say that in front of you kids, but a day like today? A beer is my one true reward.”
She and Janna head down the walk.
Ellie waves from the door.
“I’m gonna draw Daddy a picture right now.”
“Good idea.”
“I’m gonna draw Daddy a picture every day.”
“He’ll like that.”
“And send it to him. So I can tell him my story, little by little, day by day, like we’re on the installment plan.”
Ellie gets out her crayons and markers and paper and starts to draw right there at the dining room table with Alice beside her. Alice digs her math homework out of her back pocket and starts solving problems with one of Ellie’s pencils. They sit there, drawing and doing math, like they’re not hungry, like it’s not time for dinner, like they can’t hear their mother sobbing on the other side of the kitchen door.
“You want to take a walk?” Alice asks.
“Now? I’m hungry.”
“I know.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t leave Mom.”
“Just for a little while.”
“Okay.”
In the front hall they pull on jackets. Ellie steps into her pink boots and insists on finding the matching mittens to her pink hat.
Outside it’s colder and darker than either of them expected. At the end of their driveway they turn left and head away from their usual route to school on Baird Road. The sidewalks are covered with rutted, frozen slush. Ellie reaches out and takes Alice’s hand. They walk for a while, not saying anything, their breath puffing out of their mouths. Alice tries to make rings with her breath but can’t. Ellie tries snorting like a dragon to see if she can get steam to come out of her nose.
“Is it winter where Daddy is going?”
“Yeah.”
“Winter like this?”
“I don’t know. I think so.”
“Snow and everything?”
“I’ll find out.”
“I’m cold.”
As they turn toward home, Ellie trips and falls on the ice, hard. Alice picks her up before she can even start crying and feels something warm and wet on her neck.
“Is your nose bleeding?”
Ellie puts one pink mitten up to her nose, it comes away red, and she starts to wail.
“It’s okay, Ellie. We’ll get you fixed up at home.”
“My mittens!”
“They’ll be okay.”
“No they won’t!”
“I’ll wash them.”
“They’re my favorite ones.”
“I know.”
“Can’t you go any faster? Daddy can carry me faster.”
“He’s bigger than me.”
“And stronger. And nicer.”
“I’m being pretty nice right now.”
“Can I have ice cream for dinner?”
“Not that nice.”
Ellie gets heavier and heavier with every step. When Alice finally turns into their yard, she’s sweating and breathing hard. They get through the front door and head straight into the kitchen. Mom is long gone. No dinner preparations in sight. Alice sits Ellie right on the sink and starts to