Page 51 of And Still Her Voice
I felt a change in the road. I stared out the window and watched my world slip further away.
***
After breakfast in a Boise diner, I stepped into a phone booth. This time, I tried the operator and asked if there were any new listings in Glendale under “LeMar.” She said, “Nothing, except for a Magdalena Le Mar in Monte Vista.”
My sister!
Maggie answered the phone after two rings. “Maggie. It’s me.”
“Anna!” she said, and, suddenly, acombination of familiarity and homesickness blendered my insides.“Are you okay? Where are you?”
“I’m fine. In Idaho.”
“Where? What’s in Idaho besides potatoes?”
Maggie always joked—we all had to—but this time I couldn’t help but laugh and then quickly sombered, “How’s Dad?”
“I guess he’s fine. You can’t really see the scar,” she said.
“How about Mom? Is she there? Can I talk to her?” Hearing the muffled sounds in the background, I braced for her to lambaste me.
“She doesn’t want to. She says you made your choice. You really hurt her this time,” Maggie said as a flash of guilt rushed through me. “Anyway, what about you?”
“I’m okay.” I switched gears to tell her a little about what I’d been up to.
“You’re lucky, you got away,” she said. “Monte Vista is as far away as we got.”
“Monte Vista? What are you talking about?”
“Dad got really bad.”
“Because of the knife wound.” My voice shook. I wanted to cry.
“Who knows?” Maggie said. “Supposedly, it all started way before you left. Mom said we couldn’t stay anymore. He really wants us to come back, but Mom says it’s not safe. He promises he’ll change, but now he’s in debt up to his ears. He owes so much money.”
“To who? For what?”
“He lost his job, so besides the regular bills to live, I don’t know. The credit people kept calling, so that’s why the phone number was put in my name, to put them off until we could figure something out. Now, we’re all squeezed into a tiny apartment.”
“But the house was paid off long ago,” I said.
“Apparently, he borrowed against it so I’m not sure how much of the loan is left.”
Grandma would no longer stay silent. “After all the pain and suffering I endured to save that place!”
“What are you talking about, Anna?” Maggie asked. “How’d you save the place?”
I cleared my throat, warning Grandma to stay quiet.Growing up, Maggie had seen and heard me talking to myself, but had never understood my bizarre behavior and I’d been warned by my parents not to talk about it. Again, it had been hard for me to explain and I wasn’t about to try again now.
“It would just be really sad if we lost the place. Is there anything I can do? Are you okay?” I said, stifling Grandma.
“I’m okay just waiting until I can make like a banana and split myself.”
“I got a job working at the Bank of America. I’m also saving up so I can move the hell out of here.”
I laughed. “That’s great, but you’re only fifteen.”
“That’s not what I told them,” Maggie said. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
