The Haunted - Jessica Verday [66]
I didn’t want to tell her, but I wasn’t sure how many more thumps my poor toe could take.
“Amelia,” I replied.
“You’re not still contagious are you?” She leaned away from me a little and put the cane in between us as a buffer. Like that would do any good.
“Contagious?”
“I heard you had that disease, the momo.”
Does she mean mono? Mom’s still telling that one, huh? I coughed. “I don’t know. The doctors say they can’t be sure, but the weak”—I forced myself not to smile—“and the elderly are highly susceptible. I should probably go,” I said. “I wouldn’t want to be responsible for you getting sick from being around me.”
“Bah,” she said. “I’m an old lady who has lived her life. If the good Lord says it’s my time to go because of the momo, who am I to argue? Stay and keep me company.” She clamped a bony yet surprisingly strong hand on my arm, and it took everything I had not to shake it off. “So tell me, girl, Abigail Amelia, what grade are you in school? Seventh?
Eighth?” she said.
“I’m going to be a senior.”
“Aha! A senior, eh? What college are you going to?”
A slight panic welled up in me, but I tamped it down. I could totally handle this. “It’s still early yet, and I’m gathering information.”
“Couldn’t get in to any of them, eh?” she cackled.
“No!” My temper flared. “I haven’t applied to any yet.”
“You better get on that, girl. Time’s a-wasting. I’m sure lots of hardworking kids are already making their plans.”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t matter. With my plans for my shop, I don’t really need to go to college.”
Her hand tightened on my arm at the same time the thump came.
“What?” she squawked. “You’re not going to college? What kind of plans are those?
Everyone in this family has gone to college, and by George so will you.” She exhaled heavily.
“I don’t even know what kind of nonsense this is.”
My arm and foot were stinging now, and I was mentally cursing out Mom with everything I had. “I never said I wasn’t going to college. I’m going to take some business courses, and my mind isn’t definitely made up… definitely… yet… ,” I finished weakly.
She made an angry sound and opened her mouth, but a swarm of people started to descend upon us from the house. Mom was leading the pack of distant cousins or something, and they were all talking excitedly.
Mom smiled at us. “I see you’ve met Abbey, Lurlene; I’m so glad,” she said loudly.
I grimaced at Mom and silently promised her payback with my eyes.
“That’s right,” Lurlene said. “I know about the momo, but I decided to risk it.” Worry flashed across Mom’s face, then disappeared just as quickly. “Yes, it’s such a… terrible… disease. We’re just glad that Abbey’s doing so much better now.” Her eyes pleaded with me to play along, and I was forced to stay where I was.
Not the least because I still had a velociraptor claw attached to my arm.
The cousins came and crowded around us, making me feel even more boxed in. “We were just discussing Abigail Amelia’s future plans,” Lurlene told them. “Seems she’s not going to college.”
Mom’s face pinched. “Oh, well,” she said. “Nothing final has been decided. It’s still early yet… and you know kids!” She gave a fake laugh. “Always changing their minds from one minute to the next.”
Gee, thanks, Mom.
She turned to me. “Abbey, why don’t you go find your uncle. There’s something that he needs to talk to you about.”
She didn’t need to tell me twice. I pried Lurlene’s hand off my arm and moved my legs away from striking distance of her cane. Mom drew her into a discussion about a recipe for egg salad as I stood up and walked quickly to the house.
Uncle Bob was in the kitchen, standing by the fridge. “Hey, Uncle Bob,” I said. “Mom told me you wanted to talk?”
“Yeah, I wanted to ask you something, Abbey.”
“What’s up?” I took a seat at the small table next to the fridge. “How’s the ice cream biz? I never got the chance to tell you that I’m sorry I had to bail on you.” Uncle Bob cleared his throat. “It’s busy. Which