Page 9 of Ripped & Shipped
“Like Dad?”
She smiles a faint smile, but I can see the emotion behind it.
“I don’t know what I’d do without him. I just wish I could be more for him.”
“You’re everything to him.”
Her smile is sad, but sweet.
“I know.”
“And you still have the rest of your lives together.”
She nods.
We don’t talk anymore about my singleness, or her depression, or Dad. Instead, I fill her in on some events coming up in town. Mom usually stays home, barely ever leaving unless it’s for the evening walks that Dad insists she take with him most nights after supper.
We finish our lunches, and I take our dishes into the kitchen. Then I return to Mom, kiss her cheek, and tell her I’ll visit again in the next few days. I should probably visit daily. But tomorrow’s Wednesday, so I can’t make any promises.
CHAPTER5
Ella Mae
“What is on your face?”I ask Mabel when I walk in her door.
My seventy-plus-year-old neighbor is definitely hashtag-goals for senior life, but today, I’m wondering if she swallowed a few too many gulps of Listerine while swishing. She’s standing in front of me in her fuzzy hot pink bathrobe and matching slippers with what looks like compost on her face—it’s thick, and brown, and clumpy.
And is that … a flower petal sticking out near her cheek?
“Oh, heya, Ella Mae. Come in. Come in. This here’s my facial anti-aging mask.”
“It looks like dirt,” I tell her, honestly.
“Well, partly, it is.” She pauses, smiling.
A chunk falls off her chin and onto the carpet beneath her. She looks down, waves a hand dismissively, and smiles back at me.
“You put mud on your face?”
“Well, the gal on the YouTube said some sort of natural botox was found in hibiscus flowers. It’s better than the fountain of youth!
“And, dontcha know? I’ve got a hearty hibiscus bush right out back. It’s called the rose mallow variety. She said I needed the hibiscus powder—hers was all ground up like baby powder, but I figured the more natural, the better. So, I just plucked a flower and brought it in. Then I tore it up into little bits and chopped it on my choppin’ block for good measure.
“The next two ingredients for the mask were some sort of clay or other. And I didn’t have clay powder like the YouTube girl. I mean, who has that just sittin’ around unless they’re one of those potters? Right? So I got to thinkin’. I know my Ohio geology, and our dirt is mostly clay anyhow. So, I dug up some mud while I was out there gettin’ my hibiscus.
“Then I put all that in a cereal bowl. All I needed to do was add yogurt and … Well, the YouTube girl said some other oil. Rose or somethin’. But all I had was vegetable, so I put that in. Come to think of it, I’d think Crisco would do the trick in a pinch, but since I had the jumbo jug of vegetable oil, I used it. Gotta save the Crisco for my biscuits.
“Anyway, this here mask feels pretty amazing. Wanna slap some on and join me?”
“I have makeup on already,” I say, secretly glad of the fact.
“Well, next time.” Mabel smiles big, and the now-drying part of the mask cracks a little under her eyes.
“I’m guessin’ you won’t even recognize me in a few weeks with the way this is going to tighten up all the wrinkles. Won’t Walt just be tickled to have a girlfriend who looks so young at our age? I only wish I had known of this treatment when I was in my twenties like you. I’ve got plenty of the mixture left. I could put some in a tupperware and send it on home with you.”
“Oh, that’s okay. I have a clay mask I already use. Thanks, Mabel.”
“I shoulda’ figured you did, as pretty as you are.”
