FICTION

JENNY

by Sandy Tritt

Mommy stuffed Timmy's clothes into the big suitcase and tied it shut with Daddy's belt. "We're going to visit Aunt Dottie," she said. Mommy sounded like she had a cold. Her eyes had red marks
under them and her lip was great big and her nose looked real funny -- big and brown and lumpy, like a rotten apple.

I picked Dumpy off the floor. Mommy needed to sew his fuzzy arm back on again. "Can I take Dumpy?"

"Of course, honey."

Daddy bought Dumpy for me at the Union Mission. Dumpy had big ears like an elephant and a long tail like a cat and was soft and fuzzy and pink like a bunny. Dumpy was my best friend. No matter
what happened, hugging Dumpy made me feel better. "What about Daddy?" I asked.

"Daddy's not going." She drug the suitcase to the door. "Hurry, Jenny. The bus leaves at two."

She bundled me up real tight and we walked to Timmy's school. I knew the suitcase was heavy because Mommy pulled it behind her and we had to rest every little bit.

Mommy parked the suitcase by the door inside the school and told me to stay there. The warm air made my cheeks burn and my fingers tingle. Mommy went down the hall and brought Timmy back. He was scared. I could tell because his lip curled like he was gonna get in a fight.

We walked for a long, long time. "Are we walking to Aunt Dottie's house?" I asked.

Mommy smiled. I liked it when Mommy smiled. "No, honey. We're going on the bus. We're almost there."

Soon I saw a big, gray bus. And then another and another. They had big dogs on them and they smelled funny. When I breathed the smell, my heart beat faster and I felt scared and excited. I waved at the people in the windows.

Mommy took my hand. "Watch where you're going, Jenny. You'll get run over."

Inside the bus house, me and Timmy sat on a long bench that had pieces of wood stuck to it so it looked like a bunch of chairs all lined up. I sat way back and my feet stuck straight out. I didn't care. My legs hurt and it felt good to sit.

Timmy found a water bug and pulled its legs off and watched it squirm. When he got tired of that, he dropped it in some old woman's coffee cup. I was glad girls didn’t have to do things like that.

Mommy sat next to me. She said the bus was late because it was snowing up North. I didn’t know why we couldn't ride one of the other buses, but Mommy said we had to wait.

So we waited and waited and waited. The street lights came on, but God forgot to hang out the moon and stars. Mommy said they were there, they were just hidden by the clouds.

When we got on the bus, Mommy pulled me onto her lap and Timmy sat next to the window. "I'm hungry," I said.

Mommy opened her purse and dug through it. She gave me and Timmy some crushed up crackers. Then she held me real tight and I felt safe and fell asleep.

When I woke up, the sun smiled through the window. My tummy growled and my throat hurt and I had to pee.

"We're almost there," Mommy whispered. Mommy never slept.

It wasn't long until I saw a bunch of buses, just like the one we were on, lined up like for a parade.
"There's Aunt Dottie," Mommy said. She smiled, but tears fell out of her eyes.

Millions of people stood around. I wasn't sure which one was Aunt Dottie until I walked down the steps and a pretty lady picked me up and hugged me. Aunt Dottie didn't wear a coat over her pretty red dress with tiny yellow and green flowers on it. When she walked, it swished and danced. I wished Mommy had a dress like that. I knew she'd look beautiful in it.

"Catherine," Aunt Dottie said. That's what she called Mommy. Catherine. "You're so thin. Have you eaten?"

I'm sure the kids are hungry," Mommy said.

I wondered if Daddy had eaten, and if he missed us. I missed him.

Me and Timmy got to sit in the back seat of Aunt Dottie’s big car. Timmy touched everything. He opened and closed the little silver things on the door handles and pulled on the straps until they
were tight and then let them go. I figured Mommy would holler at him, but she was too busy talking to Aunt Dottie.

Aunt Dottie's lived in a real house, just her and Uncle Ben and no one else. "Come on, sweetie," she said. "We'll make pancakes and you can help me draw faces on them." I liked Aunt Dottie.

Me and Timmy played outside the whole day. Timmy didn't go to school. We found some baby frogs and played with them until Timmy poked their eyes out with a stick. Sometimes I got mad at Timmy, but then I had to remember that Mommy said he couldn’t help it and he didn’t mean to be mean. She said that about Daddy, too.

We stayed at Aunt Dottie's house for two nights. I slept in a great big bed with Mommy, and Timmy had a room all to himself. But it got hot that next afternoon. We sat on the porch, drinking tea.

I heard Daddy's car and said, "Here comes Daddy."

Mommy's face turned white.

"Get inside, Catherine," Aunt Dottie said. "I'll call the sheriff."

"I'll talk to him," Mommy said.

I ran down to meet him.

"Get back here!" Mommy said like she was really mad, and I ran back to the porch.

Aunt Dottie pulled me on her lap. "It's okay, sweetie. You stay here with Aunt Dottie."

Mommy walked out to Daddy's car and talked to him through the window. Then she got in and they drove off.

"Lord have mercy," Aunt Dottie said.

Mommy never came back. Late that night, someone pounded at the door. I hid behind the couch 'cause I never got hurt when I hid there. I just wished I had Dumpy with me.

A tall policeman spoke quietly to Aunt Dottie and Uncle Ben. I couldn't hear what he said, but Aunt Dottie covered her face with her hands and cried real loud, like Mommy did when she and Daddy fought.

"What's going on?" Timmy said.

Some woman I didn't know took me and Timmy into the bedroom.

Timmy put his hands on his hips and said, "Tell me what's going on."

The woman hugged us and looked like she might cry. "You're going to be all right."

"Tell me!" Timmy yelled in the lady's face and then ran around the room in big circles.

But the woman just kept telling us we would be all right. My tummy hurt. I would have believed her more if she hadn't kept saying it over and over.

It was a long time before Aunt Dottie came into the bedroom. Her face looked like a red balloon that got blowed up too much. She put one arm around me and the other around Timmy.

Timmy pushed her away. "Tell me what happened."

"Come here, honey," she said and put her arm around him again. "Your Mommy . . ." Aunt Dottie breathed funny.

"They're dead, ain't they?" Timmy said.

I hoped not. Timmy's turtle got dead once and Daddy flushed him down the toilet.

"Your Daddy . . ." She stopped talking and made another funny noise, like a hiccup, only inside-out.

Timmy kicked the bed. "Tell me!"

"Your Mommy and Daddy are in heaven," she said.

"You're lyin’!" Timmy yelled.

Aunt Dottie wiped her eyes with a Kleenex and hugged me so tight I couldn't breathe. "They're in heaven," she said again. "In peace at last."

My heart hurt. I didn't know where heaven was, but it must not have been a very nice place if it made everybody so upset.

Timmy kicked the wall hard and the picture of Jesus and the little children fell. "You're lying!" he said. "They're not dead!" He ran out the door.

I looked at the broken picture of Jesus and hoped Mommy and Daddy were all right.

But Mommy and Daddy never came back. Aunt Dottie bought me and Timmy new clothes and took us to a big, fancy house. We went inside. I had never seen so many flowers before. Red flowers and pink flowers and pretty little white flowers. And people. Lots and lots of people stood around and whispered. Whenever they saw me or Timmy, they pointed and talked. They must have liked the new clothes we wore. Timmy looked all grown up in the black suit and red tie and shiny new shoes. And Aunt Dottie said I was beautiful in the pretty black dress that was fuzzy like Dumpy.

Uncle Ben tried to hold Timmy's hand, but he squirmed away and went to the corner and crossed his arms in front of him. He made designs on the floor with his new shoes.

"Be brave, honey," Aunt Dottie whispered and led me to a big white box with an open lid. She picked me up so I could see inside.

Mommy was there. Mommy was in the box. She wasn't gone forever to live with Jesus like Aunt Dottie said, 'cause she was there, sleeping. "Mommy!" I yelled. "Wake up, Mommy!"

"Mommy's in heaven, honey."

"No! Mommy's here! Wake up, Mommy!"

Aunt Dottie turned to go, but I grabbed onto the box.

"Let go, sweetheart," Aunt Dottie whispered. Her voice sounded funny and when I looked at her, she was crying.

"But Mommy -- "

"Come on."

I let go.

Aunt Dottie carried me to the bathroom. She put me in a fancy chair and sat on the floor next to me. "I'm sorry, Jenny," she said. "I'm so sorry."

I wondered what she had done that was so bad.

"You and Timmy will live with me and Uncle Ben . . ."

I didn't hear the rest of what she said. All I could think of was Mommy and how pretty she looked and why she wouldn't wake up. I hoped she got lots of sleep and felt better soon, 'cause I missed her and wanted her to take me home, so her and me and Daddy and Timmy could all live together again, and maybe Daddy wouldn't drink that stuff that made him mean and maybe Mommy wouldn't cry and maybe Timmy wouldn't hurt me.

And then, maybe, we'd all be happy.

* * *

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