Week Thirteen - All Was Not Well in the State of Maine... (Spring 1988)
61. Uprising
Seated at the kitchen table and studying for her 8th grade finals, Jill wasn't really listening to her father as he chatted on the phone with Rob until he said something about a doctor's appointment in relation to her mother. Then she frowned and looked up, knowing full well that it'd been more than a doctor's visit. Her frown deepened when she realized that her mother was standing there, signing furiously at him in ASL, frustration written on her face.
Jill's mouth dropped open in shock at the sheer amount of non-verbal swearing going on. If her mother had been able to speak, she was sure that her father wouldn't have been able to outright ignore her the way he was.
62. Negotiate
Staring out at the school building with her classmates milling about in front of it, Jill hesitated and glanced back at her aunt. "Aunt Aislinn?"
"Hmmm?"
"Rob doesn't know yet. About Mom. Dad refused to tell him." She paused, moved to open the car door, then hesitated again and frowned. "Something about the first year being the hardest? Whatever that means."
Aislinn nodded slowly, but her expression stayed neutral. "We'll call him together, then, all right? Tomorrow."
"Okay."
63. Convince
"And Jill?" She waited for the teenager to glance at her again. "I'll be back after school to pick you up."
Jill shook her head. "I can walk to Eastern Maine, and you have clients."
Aislinn smiled. "My clients would understand if I brought you along, and you like house showings."
Jill sighed. "But Dad..."
"And we will take him dinner and make him go home tonight, too." She nodded to the school building. "Now go embrace the normality of finals, all right?"
"Normality of finals? There is no such thing!"
"There is today!"
64. Overthrow
They'd been home for twenty minutes from having dinner with her Aunt when she heard the crash of a glass breaking and then something heavier falling in the kitchen and rushed to see what happened. Standing in the doorway, she stared at the sight of her father pulling himself to a sitting position, his skin a pasty yellow-white. "Dad?"
"Phone," he gasped out and she quickly brought the cordless to him.
"What number?"
"Ambulance," he whispered, pain written in his tone.
She stared at him again, then nodded and did exactly that, calling her friend Mandy's father's work number from memory.
65. Unite
The teenager she found when she got to her sister's house was utterly silent and seated on the front steps with a Paramedic seated next to her while officers went in and out. She squinted at the Paramedic for a moment in non-recognition, and then realized that she knew him. "Trevor?"
The man glanced up at her, frowned, then nodded and returned his attention to Jill, whispered something to her that caused her to look up. And then she was running to her and hugging her. Aislinn blinked, startled, and looked to Trevor for answers. He nodded to the house and shook his head.
Standing there on the front walk, all she could do was hold on to her niece.