Page 4 of The Tattered Gloves
Who is the woman?
And how did she and my mother share a womb?
Although my aunt might look younger, it was only because, while my mother had been busy growing herbusiness, my aunt had been buying garden gnomes and planting flowers.
But they were, in fact, identical twins.
Or at least, that was what I had been told two nights ago when my mother informed me I was being shipped off to Sugar Tree, Virginia, to live with the woman. I didn’t know much about my elusive aunt, but as I stepped into the house, I realized she couldn’t be more different from the woman I’d just left.
“I know it’s not that much,” Addy apologized, looking around, “but it’s cozy and all mine. There are only two bedrooms. One I was using for a craft room, but I’m going to clean it out for you. I just need some time. So, for now, I’m going to have you sleep here.” She pointed to the couch. “I hope that’s okay. This was all a bit sudden.”
I looked at the cozy couch, pausing briefly before turning back to her. Swallowing nervously, I nodded.
“Okay!” she exclaimed. “Let me get some bedding. Why don’t you make yourself comfortable?”
Comfortable?
Right.
As she scurried off to find linens, I moved around the room from one corner to the other. Knickknacks and random little pieces of art were everywhere. Thinking of that song Ariel sung inThe Little Mermaidabout gadgets and gizmos, I swore, in that moment, I felt like I’d stumbled upon her underwater cave, only it was in my aunt’s living room.
Who in their right mind collects this much crap?
“I’m a bit of a crafter,” Addy spoke up.
I turned around to see her with her arms heavy with blankets and pillows.
“I’ve been single for years; decades, it feels like.” She laughed. “And I guess it gives me something to do in a town where there are literally no single men. Kind of pathetic, right?”
I looked back at the display shelf that housed everything from crocheted animals to stained glass before glancing back at her silently.
Because I had no words for that.
A life without men?
It sounded like heaven to me.
