Soul Control by C. Elizabeth Read Free Book Online

to my ear. “I know this is difficult, Adina. However, I need you to be strong.”
    Mom quietly burst out crying. My first response was to walk out there, but something about the way he spoke to her made me stop.
    “Shhhh, Adina, I hate to see you cry.”
    Her voice was muffled. “I know.”
    The soothing voice said, “It’s been just as hard on me, being away from you. But it was the only way, you know that.”
    She stuttered the words. “I-I know.”
    Then he abruptly said, “I must go. We’ll see each other soon.” There was a pause and something that sounded like...a kiss?
    “Bye,” Mom whispered.
    There was no sound of a door opening or closing, nothing except the kitchen light turning off. I closed my door quietly and crawled back into bed. Who was John? And why was he visiting Mom so late?
    I smiled. It seemed Mom may have a boyfriend, but what did he mean ‘it was the only way?’ The thought that he was married popped into my head. Nah! Mom would never be a mistress. Hmm...it seemed we had our very own mystery happening. Wouldn’t it be great if both Mom and I had boyfriends at the same time? Yay us!
    I couldn’t imagine how I was going to sleep, but sleep I did.
    ~ * ~
    While Mom set about making poached eggs, the memory of the mysterious Mr. John was eating at me. I had to know. “Who’s John?”
    Mom dropped the spatula. “Um, what do you mean?”
    Interesting reaction .
    “Mom, I heard you talking to him last night, and why was he here so late?”
    “Saydi, it’s rude to eavesdrop like that!”
    The fact that her defenses went up alerted a little more suspicion. “It wasn’t intentional. I had a bad dream and wanted a glass of water.”
    She ignored me.
    “Well?”
    “He’s just a friend who works in a different country and when he’s able to stop in, he does.”
    “Ohh!” I exaggerated, funning with her.
    “That’s all it is, Saydi! Nothing more!” she yelled with dark mad face , as I had come to call it. It was the one that meant it was the end of the discussion, and very likely the topic would be tossed into the ocean of never to be talked about again . Knowing that, I changed the subject and began to tell her about the dream.
    “It wasn’t really what happened that was so odd, but rather the feeling around it. Mom, it was almost like being terrorized. Time was against us in every way. I remember even hearing my heart and I don’t know how that could be with the amount of wind.”
    The muscles in her back tightened, then shuddered. “Wind? How much?”
    “It was like a huge windstorm! Your hair was flying everywhere, and there were waves on the swimming hole... I’ve never seen that before. But it was funny, because the wind was whirring around like crazy, yet I couldn’t feel it.”
    She silently put my eggs on the toast and put it in front of me. “Hmm, interesting,” she said as she sipped her tea, avoiding me.
    “Oh yeah!” My outburst made her jump slightly. “There was a deer there, too. I think that’s what I was supposed to capture. I’m not sure why, but that’s what it felt like.” I shook my head and said more to myself, “It was weird.”
    Mom looked past me, deep in thought.
    “Mom?”
    “Mm.”
    “Whatcha thinking about?” I prompted, shoving some egg and toast in my mouth.
    She turned and looked at me like she just realized I was there. “Huh! Oh, sorry... A deer.” She was lost in the distance again, then turned to me and smiled. “Well, it’s only a dream, honey. Do you feel better now that you’ve talked about it?”
    Nodding, I took a big drink of milk.
    “Good. Now hurry, I’ll drop you off at the store. I’m going to see Father Lacombe this morning.”
    Mom was always meeting with Father Lacombe. She ran the choir and because she was an accountant by trade, Mom did the church’s books for them on a volunteer basis. Not only that, she worked from home for three huge corporations in Saskatoon out of her office in the corner of her