Crystal Lies - Melody Carlson [66]
“But my laundry—”
“It’s all right,” he assured me. “I’m gonna be down here for a while. I’ll take care of it. You just promise me that you’ll take a nap.” He was guiding me to the door now. “But I can’t—”
“Don’t you worry about nothing, Glennis. Just go on up there and lie down and rest a bit. You hear?”
And so, feeling like a zombie or a robot with Jack holding the remote control, I trudged back up the stairs, lay down on the couch, and fell fast asleep.
When I woke up, I remembered Jack and the laundry. Surely it had been done some time ago. But when I opened my door, there sat my basket of meticulously folded laundry, with a folded piece of white paper on top. I took the basket into my apartment and picked up the paper, wondering if perhaps it was a bill for laundry services, but it appeared to be a note.
Written in blue ink and uneven handwriting, the note said,“The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Unsure as to the meaning of what I assumed Jack had written, I used a plastic magnet that Sylvia had given me at More-4-Less that said “We Save U More” to adhere this mysterious note to my refrigerator.
Then I put away the laundry, taking time to notice how neatly Jack had folded each piece, with such precision and care. But I did little else that day. It seemed that every ounce of energy I’d ever had was completely spent or lost or maybe even stolen. It was as if I had nothing left for anyone. Not even myself. I slept a bit, then wandered aimlessly around my little apartment. But time after time, I found myself standing in front of the refrigerator, not because I was hungry. I couldn’t remember what that felt like. But because I couldn’t quit staring at those words. Oh, I’d heard them before, but what did they really mean? What did they mean for me? Was it meant to be prophetic? Was Jack saying that God had given me Jacob and now he was taking him away? And that I should thank him for that?
Finally the long day was almost over. Sitting in my sweats, I curled up under a blanket to watch the eleven o’clock news, mostly waiting for the weather predictions since I was concerned about Jacob being homeless just when it was beginning to get really cold. And the forecast didn’t look good, with near freezing temperatures tonight, and colder tomorrow. How cold did it have to get before a person got hypothermia? Jacob was probably crashing at Daniel’s again. But suddenly I needed to know my son was okay. It wasn’t as if I planned on doing much actual sleeping anyway. And if Jacob’s car was parked at Daniel’s, I would at least know that he was sleeping someplace warm. Of course, there were other issues to worry me about that, but at least my son wouldn’t be dying from exposure. Still in my sweats, I hurried down the darkened steps, noticing again that the outdoor light was still out. Then I dashed over to the parking lot and into the Range Rover where I finally felt safe.
I slipped the key in the ignition and remembered how I’d never considered myself much of a night person before. I’d always depended on Geoffrey for any evening excursions. But, of course, that had all changed these past couple of months. Still, I didn’t want to think about Geoffrey just now. Maybe I was repressing things, or even in denial, but whenever thoughts of Geoffrey intruded into my otherwise muddled mind, I would push them far away. One has only so much room in one’s mind when it comes to madness.
I drove slowly over to Daniel’s duplex dump, looking both ways down all the side streets. But I didn’t see the Subaru anywhere. I even went by the Red Devil, but it had already closed for the night. I tried a couple of other spots where Jacob used to hang out, but my search seemed futile, and finally I had to give up and return home.
Feeling even more like a crazy woman for running around in the middle of the night like that, I tiptoed up the darkened stairs so as not to disturb