For Keeps (Aggie's Inheritance) (31 page)

Pleased as punch at the impressive sounding prayer she thought she’d delivered, Kenzie very primly bade everyone goodnight, and with mincing steps, made her way to the stairs. The room erupted in unfortunate laughter when, looking back over her shoulder to see the effect she had on her audience, she tripped and landed on her posterior. Tears of mortification combined with wails of misery until Tina hurried down the stairs, scooped her up, and tried, unsuccessfully, to carry her up the stairs.

“
Sorry, kiddo, you’re just too much of a big girl to carry.
”

“
They laughed at me!
”

“
Kenzie, you were putting on quite a show. Of course, they did. If you don’t want people to think you’re goofing off, then you have to be sincere about serious things like prayer…
”
Tina’s voice faded as she led the embarrassed girl up the stairs and into her room.

“
Well, that was original,
”
Libby commented with a last chuckle at the memory of the unusual heavenly petitions.

Aggie scooted over closer to Luke’s chair and patted the couch.
“
Come watch with us.
”

The woman began to demur, but something in her son’s face changed her mind.
“
What are we watching?
”

“
For Me and My Gal
. It’s almost over. I’d suggest starting over, but I think Luke would kill me.
”

Luke snatched up the remote again, and punched the menu button. He found the option for the beginning and clicked.
“
Never say that I hate musicals, Aggie. This is one of the best I’ve ever seen.
”

With a girlish sigh, Libby pulled a throw pillow from the corner of the couch, bunched it under her arm, and curled into the opposite corner from Aggie.
“
I haven’t seen this in so many years…
”

Aggie says:
I know you’re probably not home yet, but I wanted to thank you for taking the kids to the pool and out to dinner. Having a few hours to myself really refreshed me.

Libby says:
Well, I knew I was a nobody, but I didn’t realize just how much.

Aggie says:
Huh?

Luke says:
Just dropped mom off, and she had me come in and help put a few things away. I saw your ding and had to tease you.

Aggie says:
Well, you’re right. That was really ungracious of me. I’m tired and not thinking very clearly.

Luke says:
Mibs, don’t. I was just joking. It wasn’t a rebuke. I knew what you meant.

Aggie says:
You’re right. I seem to be a little out of sorts tonight.

Luke says:
I should have gone with them so you could have peace

and quiet.

Aggie says:
Nah, watching movies with you is fun.

Luke says
: Uh, oh. Mom’s ready for me. She’ll be here after she tells me what to do. She’s good at that, you know. She’s had my lifetime to perfect it.

Aggie says:
Oh, you’re going to be so busted when she sees that…

Luke says:
Sees what?

Luke says:
I am not Luke. Hmph.

Aggie says:
He closed out, didn’t he?

Libby says:
What is my Luke up to now?

Aggie says:
He was saying something about how you had a lifetime to perfect how to tell him what to do.

Libby says
: Oh, he did, did he?

Libby says:
Traitor

Libby says
: My Luke is being very naughty.

Aggie says:
He’s hanging around with bad influences.

Libby says:
You’re hardly a bad influence, Aggie.

Aggie says:
Who says I meant me? I was thinking of Cari and her unrepentant kicking.

Libby says:
Please tell me you wrote that down somewhere.

Aggie says:
My journal is upstairs, but I’ll try to remember.

Libby says:
I’ve taken to keeping a computer document open to type out the funny things the kids say when they’re at my house. I print them out and send them home with their mothers so they can have a record of it.

Aggie says:
That’d work. My laptop is usually open on the counter for recipe reference, email, chatting with my mom, or music playing.

Libby says:
I hadn’t thought about music on mine. I’m still in the dark ages of CD players in a stereo system.

Aggie says
: Tina considers me
“
dark ages.
”
I don’t have an iPod or any other
“
i
”
product.

Libby says:
I’ll have Luke show me how to put some of my favorites on the laptop. That’d be better than blasting music from one end of the house to the other.

Aggie says
: True. Anyway, I know it’s really late. I didn’t mean to keep you. I just wanted to thank you for taking the kids tonight. I really appreciate it. It was nice to relax, watch a movie with a friend,
and not have to fear the silence from the rest of the house.

Libby says
: Oh, yes. The silence. That is one of the most terrifying
“
sounds
”
to a mother’s heart. Well, I am glad you and my Luke got to rest. I was half-afraid you’d con him into working, and you both need the time off.

Aggie says
: Libby, do I expect too much out of him? He’d tell me, wouldn’t he?

Libby says:
Mom showed me your question. I’d tell you, Mibs. As you’ve seen, when I need to be gone, I am whether it’s more work or a day with Rodney or fishing with Chad. I’ve done them all this summer, so we’re good.

Aggie says:
Thanks. Well, goodnight. I’m going to bed before it’s too late to bother.

Libby says
: Night, Aggie.

Losing Her Marbles

Friday, August 29
^th

Lost in what seemed to be a recurring bad dream, Aggie heard the cries of children and groaned.
“
Why don’t people keep an eye on their children?
”
she muttered as she rolled over.
“
If I ever have children
--”
That thought dragged her, mentally kicking and screaming, from that wonderful world of somnolence into the world of consciousness.

“
Cari! Lorna! Where are you?
”
She threw back the covers, her eyes gritty enough to make it impossible to see clearly, and stumbled from her room and to the stairs.

Two little girls, looking absolutely adorable in their new nightclothes, regardless of, or perhaps because of, the grumpy looks and tears streaming down their faces.
“
Aunt Aggie, we’s feels awful.
”
Cari, as usual, spoke for both girls.

“
Well, come curl up with me in my bed
,
and we’ll all feel better in no time.
”
Aggie hoped to settle them enough to doze for another half an hour or so.

The moment they hit the sheets, each girl curled up against her as if they’d feel better the closer they were. The extra body heat was stifling. Summer was the wrong time for early morning snuggles under the covers. Just as she decided to get up and get them some breakfast, she realized that it wasn’t just their proximity. The girls were over-warm.

“
Aunt Aggie, I scratch.
”

“
You scratched yourself?
”

“
No,
”
Lorna shook her head a little gingerly.
“
I scratch. My tummy scratches.
”

“
Oh, it itches?
”

The girl’s forehead furrowed.
“
Well, I itched it some, but it doesn’t help.
”

Laughing, Aggie corrected the child’s terminology.
“
No, sweetie, your tummy itches and you scratched it. Itching is when it’s irritating and feels funny. Scratching is what you do to try to stop it.
”

“
Ok, then I itches and scratches isn’t helping.
”

“
Well, let me see it.
”
Aggie prayed they hadn’t found poison ivy or something equally contagious. The last thing the kids needed before starting school on Tuesday was a nice case of poison ivy.

Sure enough, a rash covered their little bellies, the upper parts of their arms, and the upper parts of their legs.
“
Oh, no! What have you guys been into?

Indignation darkened Cari’s face.
“
We’s hasn’t been into anyfing! We’s been asweep!
”

“
But yesterday. What did you do yesterday?
”
Aggie examined them closer, trying to see what they could possibly have.

“
We played wif the puppies, went swimming, and had ice cweam.
”
The child’s recent ability to pronounce the
“
th
”
sound a
ppeared to have evaporated over
night.

“
Well, I don’t know what this is. It could be a heat rash, I guess. It didn’t cool off much last night…
”
Frustrated, she crawled from the bed again.
“
You two stay right here. I’m going to go get Tina. Maybe she knows.
”