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NOLA KNOX
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Once inside the house, Nola went down to the basement and moved the junk from in front of the door to her workroom. When she stepped inside, she breathed a sigh of contentment. Using Nick’s blood that dripped on her shoe, Nola prepared a small tube. She would get it to Maggie later today. She retrieved the pen with the dot of Nick’s DNA from her pocket and put it in the refrigerator that hummed in the corner of the room. Nola had plans to use that sample for something else. Reluctantly, she stepped back into the main basement area and looked around at all of her mother’s garbage. She had lived like this for way too long. Maybe it was time to reclaim some of the space for her own things.
She walked over to where she had hidden most of her collection. She moved the box filled with Christmas decorations and lifted the lid of the large plastic container that held dozens of small boxes. She dug around until she found the particular box she was looking for. It was smaller than you would think. When you peeled away the skin, muscle and tendons, when you lifted the organs from the cavities where they were nestled, what was left behind seemed so inconsequential. Bones and teeth. Smooth and bleached. Not white like the skeletons that are displayed in science classrooms. More like the color of an old lace tablecloth.
Back upstairs Nola quickly changed out of her clothes, stained from Nick’s bloody nose, and then went back outside. Colin was loading the final sculptures into the U-Haul and his dad was standing on the front porch watching their progress.
“Thanks, guys,” she heard Colin Kennedy say to his friends. “I got it from here. The buyer will help me unload them when I get to Willow Creek.” He waved goodbye and spied Nola standing on her front step and came toward her.
“Oh, wow,” Colin said, giving Nola a wide grin. “You changed your hair. I like it.” Nola fingered a strand of her hair, the curls flattened into submission. “Our paths finally cross,” he said. “I’ve been back for six months and I think this is only the second time I’ve seen you. What are you, a vampire?”
“Ha,” Nola laughed. “I just work all the time. I took a few days off to deal with some personal matters.”
“How’s your mom doing?” Colin asked soberly. “I heard about the fall.”
“She’s holding her own,” Nola said, her face falling. “She just needs time to heal. Hey, are these yours?” she asked nodding toward the U-Haul. “Pretty impressive.”
“Thanks,” Colin said. He was actually blushing, Nola thought. “I just sold them. I’m heading off to deliver them now.”
“Congratulations.” Nola smiled. The gesture felt foreign on her face. The chitchat that fell from her lips sounded unnatural even to her own ears. “How are you going to celebrate?”
“I hadn’t even thought about that. With Dad, I have to stay pretty close to home. We’ll probably grill out or something. Have a few beers.”
“Alzheimer’s?” Nola asked. “I remember my mom saying something about it. I’m sorry.”
“Dementia, actually,” Colin explained. “So far, he can tell you about anything that happened decades ago but he has no idea what he ate for breakfast. Hey, I’ve got an idea.” Colin’s voice brightened. “Come over for supper one of these nights.”
“Oh, I don’t want to be a bother,” Nola said half-heartedly. This was going to be easier than she thought.
“Yeah, but you’ve got to eat,” Colin said. “And you are over at that house all alone.”
“It has been a little lonely over there without my mom around,” Nola admitted.
“Come on, I just sold my sculptures. This is big and this is how I want to celebrate.” Colin lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “And honestly, I love my dad but it would be nice to have a fresh face around the house. We can share adult children living with their parent horror stories. How about tomorrow night at six?”
“Okay then,” Nola finally agreed. “Tomorrow night.”
“Hey, Mr. Kennedy!” Nola shouted. Henry turned his head toward her voice. Nola stepped past Colin. “It’s Nola Knox,” she said. “You remember me, don’t you? I grew up next door.” She stopped at the bottom of the porch steps.
Henry narrowed his eyes and looked her up and down. “You’re the one who chopped the heads off all our peony bushes,” he said leaning dangerously over the porch railing to get a good look at the top-heavy pink-and-white blooms that line the side of the house.
“Guilty.” Nola held up her hands in defeat. “In my defense I was only nine at the time.”
“Why’d you do it?” Henry asked gruffly.
Nola shrugged. “I guess someone must have pissed me off.”
Henry laughed. Nola peeked over at Colin. He looked pleased.
“Dad, you ready to go?” Colin asked. “We’re delivering the sculptures to Willow Creek today.”
“I don’t want to go,” Henry said, gripping the handrail tightly. “Where’s Leanne?”
“This is her afternoon off. Come on, Dad,” Colin urged. “It’s a horse farm. It will be fun to see the horses, won’t it?”
“I don’t want to go,” Henry repeated stubbornly.
