South of Superior - Ellen Airgood [37]
“Hey, Miss Stone, guess what?”
“Call me Madeline. But what?” She was taking small steps to match Greyson’s and holding his hand at the street crossings, but she realized she hadn’t been paying much attention to him really. She wondered at his equanimity.
“Did you know that gravity holds people down onto the earth and it’s also the same thing roads are made of?”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, it is. I learned about it on television. The holding-people-down part. The road part I figured out for myself.”
Gravity, gravel. Well, he was close. “I see. That’s very smart of you.”
“Yes. I am pretty smart, people say so.”
They walked along quietly for a little while. Madeline tried to figure out something intelligent to say. “So what’s your favorite food?” she finally asked.
“Mr. Garceau’s meat lover’s pizzas, those are the best.”
“Do you eat there a lot?”
“Yes. Whenever my mom has enough tips, we go. She loves to eat at Mr. Garceau’s. She works at the bar, you know.”
“I did know that. Does she like it?”
“It’s okay. She says when guys hit on her it’s annoying, but it’s not too bad Unless they’re really drunk.” Greyson hopped over a crack in the sidewalk, then looked Up at Madeline with an expression that was both sunny and knowing.
“Oh,” she said. “Well, I suppose.”
“Yep. She says, ‘What the Hell are you gonna do?’ Oops! I’m not supposed to say Hell, she says so.”
“Better not, then,” Madeline said, feeling sad.
“Okay. Don’t tell, okay?”
“Okay.”
“She has to come home late and she smells all smoky and sleeps in Until noon, I don’t like that part. It makes her tired, working there.”
“Yes, I imagine so.”
“She’s a nice person, my mom.”
Madeline squeezed his hand. “She must be, you’re such a nice kid,” she said, and he smiled somewhat smugly.
Gladys and Arbutus were as pleased as punch when Madeline brought Greyson in. They fawned over him and fed him cupcakes and milk and Gladys played hangman with him. “Blue moon” was one of her mystery phrases. “Power Ranger” was one of Greyson’s. Gladys ended Up hung on that one.
Randi didn’t show Up Until after dinner. There was a quick tap at the kitchen door and then it opened. “Okay if I barge in?” she said, and did without waiting for an answer.
Greyson bolted across the room and jumped into her arms. “Hey, little man!” she cried and gave him a squeeze and a shower of smacky kisses that made him giggle.
Madeline stood with her arms crossed, watching.
“Thank you so much,” Randi said. “You’re a peach to look after Grey.”
“It’s after seven.”
“Oh, I know, time just disappears, doesn’t it?”
“Apparently it does. You said forty minutes.”
A puzzled look flashed across Randi’s face, a look that wondered why Madeline was being so churlish, especially in front of her little boy. Hadn’t she enjoyed him, did he deserve to be made to feel like a burden?
“He wasn’t a bit of trouble,” Gladys declared. Arbutus chimed in, “No dear, not a bit. You bring Greyson by any time, we’re always glad to see him.”
“He was fine,” Madeline said. “He was great. But you’re very late.”
“Oh, gosh, I got sidetracked. You know how it is.”
Madeline gave her a fake, angry smile because she didn’t. She did not approve and she didn’t mind if she showed it. She assumed she and Gladys would be in solid agreement for once. “That certainly is one feckless girl,” she said after they’d gone.
“Randi?”
“Yes, Randi, who do you think? She just left her child with me for the day, a complete stranger.”
“Greyson is a dear boy, and you’re hardly a total stranger.”
“I think I am, and besides, that’s not the point.”
“It didn’t hurt you a bit to look after that child, he’s no trouble.”
“That is not the point. He’s no trouble, she is. Big trouble.”
“Randi’s young, that I will grant you. But she’s not a bad girl.”
Real anger boiled inside Madeline. “How can you say that? She treats him like—like a spare jacket or something. He’s an afterthought. Why do you stand Up for her?” She banged a dirty pot into the sink.
“She’s a child,” Gladys said, her eyes skimming the newspaper