Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 by Claudia Hall Christian Read Free Book Online Page A

Sandy said under
her breath. “Why don’t you change into some regular clothes and
I’ll meet you up front? I’ll call school. Bring your uniforms so we
can get them fixed.”
    “ Ok,” Noelle
said.
    Sandy went to get her shoes and waited for
Noelle in the front room. She pressed her hand against her eyes to
keep from weeping herself. She wondered if she should call Noelle’s
therapist. Not that the therapist did any good. Clearly, Noelle had
thought she was fat for a long time. No, the therapist wasn’t going
to help.
    Sandy had no idea what might help. Noelle
came out in jeans and a cute top. The little girl had washed her
face but there was no disguising the swollen blotchy mess that her
tears had created.
    “ Let’s find Mrs.
Valerie.”
    Taking the uniforms from Noelle, she
followed the girl down the stairs.
    ~~~~~~~~
    Monday midday — 12:12 P.M.
     
    On her first day back to work after the
trial, Honey decided to go home during her lunch break. She wanted
one last check of the pantry before she and Jill went shopping.
Wheeling through the kitchen, she saw that Jill had posted Honey’s
dinner schedule on the wall. Tonight’s welcome home dinner for
Delphie was roasted chicken, baked potatoes and a salad. Sandy was
making rolls and Blane was bringing by one of his amazing
cakes.
    Honey smiled. Everything was working out
perfectly. Jill and Sandy treated her like she was one of their
friends. Last night, Valerie introduced her to everyone as her
sister. For the first time in Honey’s life, she was a part of
something, a family.
    She wheeled herself into the pantry to check
supplies.
    And gasped.
    The pantry that had been nearly empty last
night! Somehow, someway, the pantry was now full. There were even
three boxes of Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries. Last night,
there was not a Crunch Berry in the house. In fact, Jacob went to
Walgreen’s to get some after he, Mike, and Blane returned from
Midnight Hockey. MJ helped them finish the box before coming to
bed.
    No Crunch Berries in the house last night.
Not one.
    Now, three unopened boxes sat on this pantry
shelf.
    Wheeling as fast as she could, she sped to
stairs. She hooked herself into the stair lift and rode down to the
basement. She plopped herself into the sport wheelchair that waited
for her there. She sped to their temporary apartment.
    Even though the kitchen was set up for
standing people, MJ had worked all weekend to create a manageable
arrangement for her. Now, everything was mostly accessible to her.
Yanking open the cabinet, she saw…
    More Crunch Berries.
    Her pantry was full of real food and Crunch
Berries.
    “ What the hell?”
    ~~~~~~~~
    Monday afternoon — 1:35 P.M.
     
    “ I wonder if you could help
me with something,” Sandy said to Valerie.
    Valerie had gone into such a graphic
description of what happens when you throw up food that Noelle and
Sandy were thoroughly disgusted. To remedy their green looks,
Valerie insisted on treating them to a girl’s day.
    They had taken Noelle’s uniforms to the
tailors and bought Noelle some pretty undergarments and flattering
clothes. They even stopped to eat from the ‘roach coach’ with Nash
and Teddy. They were now on their way to get a pedicure at the
Woodhouse Spa.
    “ Sure.” Valerie turned
right on Seventeenth Avenue.
    “ I have this ten thousand
dollar check that I got from my father’s life insurance,” Sandy
said. “But I can’t cash it because my bank will put a hold on it
for six days. Jill said she could cash it but they would hold it
for three days.”
    “ And you need the money
now?”
    “ I need the money now,”
Sandy said. “I’m putting my condo on the market and…”
    “ You’re putting your condo
on the market?”
    “ The kids want to move out
of state,” Sandy said. “That suits me as well.”
    “ What about
Aden?”
    “ The Social Services lady
said Daddy will see us in the summer if he stays out of jail,”
Noelle said from the back seat of