Page 15 of The Mating Frenzy
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Seeingthe naked man at her special place near the forest had been the highlight of her week. Or perhaps even her month, or severalmonths.
He certainly had been handsome, and tender in the way he’d cuddled the mewling kittens. If only he hadn’t been condescending andpatronizing.
Her mother’s boyfriend was the same, and Ella wasn’t about to put up with it from a totalstranger.
Dread filled her. It was midday, and her mother should be alone. Stan worked during the day.Thankfully.
Once she returned home, her sense of doom increased. Ella parked her bike by the warped front porch, noting ruefully that the paint seemed to have peeled off the house even more than when she’d left earlier this morning to go to thelibrary.
But at least Stan’s battered red pickup truck wasn’t in the driveway. She wouldn’t have to force a polite smile, while seethinginside.
She lifted Darcy carefully from the basket and set her down and then removed the kittens curled up on the blanket. The cat ran up to the front door and turned to Ella with a look as if to say, “Please, must we goinside?”
“I know girl,” she whispered. “Some days, I feel the sameway.”
The front door was unlocked. As she opened it, it creaked as loud as an old man’sbones.
Her mother sat in the living room on the stained yellow and black plaid couch they’d found in a Goodwill store when they’d moved into thehouse.
“Ella, thank the powers that be that you’re home.” Her mother fanned herself with a copy of the latest gossip rag magazine she’dbought.
Ever since her father had died, Ella’s mother had struggled to hold herself togetheremotionally.
Nellie Princeton was barely 50, but her gray hair, pinched face and hunched posture made her look far older. Today she wore a plain yellow housedress, with snaps at the front. Her body was lean and spare, unlikeElla’s.
If I didn’t know I was adopted, I’d have wondered if my mother had an affair with the Goodyearblimp.
Such cynicism was beneath her. Ella was glad the television wasn’t blaring. Sometimes she wondered what Stan saw in her mother, and then remembered Nellie would put on cosmetics and nice clothing when he cameover.
“I’ll come talk to you in a minute,” Ella murmured, and she ran into her room. She set the kittens down, found a box and placed theminside.
After finding the eyedropper and warming milk, she fed the kittens. It was a painstaking process, but at last all four were dozing, content with the warm milk inside ofthem.
Then she called her friend Misty at the animal shelter, who promised to stop by and take the kittens and care for them. Misty was the one friend she could counton.
Darcy followed her as Ella returneddownstairs.
Nellie struggled to stand up from the too-soft sofa. “Let me make you dinner. You need to eat,honey.”
Ella thought of the weight she carried. “No, it’s okay, Mom. I’ll grab something at therestaurant.”
“That food isn’t good for you. At least let me pack you something.” Nellie headed into thekitchen.
Ella followed. She busied herself opening a cat of cat food and set it down forDarcy.
“Mom, don’t worry about it. I’ll eat atwork.”
She glanced at the pile of bills and sighed. “I thought you were going to write checks today, Mom. Some of those bills are due in twodays. “
“I forgot. I’ve been busy,honey.”
And then Ella spotted the box sitting on the counter. Her heart sank. She knew, even before speaking, whathappened.
“Mom, what isthat?”
Guilt flashed across her mother’s face. “I saw it on the television. It will make you young and pretty. I thought you could use the products, Ella, and I couldshare…”
