The Family Tree by Sheri S. Tepper Read Free Book Online

cook-housekeeper, and I’m sure your momma can hire one for you. So, I’m going to be moved out when you come home.”
    He stared at her, or right through her, such a cold stare it set up an icy shiver inside. “But I’m used to you. You serve a purpose! I won’t allow it.”
    Words left her. Who or what did the man think he was? More important, who did he think she was?
    “I’m sorry you feel that way, but I really feel it’s best, for both of us.” Bland, meaningless, nothing words.
    He didn’t say anything more, just turned back to his private vision on the blank wall, leaving her with a shiver in her gut that stayed with her all the way home. Polly took one look at her face and said she’d help her pack. They spent the evening and all the next day packing everything that belonged to Dora, searching out every little thing, going through every drawer, every shelf, even though almost everything she owned was in the bedroom she’d used. The way Dora felt, just gathering up her things wasn’t enough! She cleaned every room in the house from ceiling to carpet; she scrubbed the bathroom; she changed the sheets on the bed and put the used ones through the washer. She emptied the lint trap in the drier and took the garbage out, then she vacuumed everything three times and threw out the vacuum bag.
    “What are we doing this for?” Polly asked. “You think he’ll conduct an inspection?”
    Dora laughed, a little hysterically. “I don’t want anything of me left here, Pol. Does that sound crazy?”
    “No hair? No toenail clippings?” Polly laughed. “You think he’s going to make a little doll and stick pins in it?”
    Dora sobered up. “Let’s just not leave any evidence I was ever here. Right? No skin flakes. No glass with my lipstick or fingerprints. No…no nothing.”
    “You do think he’ll put a hex on you!” Polly started to laugh, but stopped when she saw the look on Dora’s face. “What, Dory?”
    Dora shrugged. “Let’s pretend it’s symbolic, like a way of erasing the past.”
    Her expression said, don’t ask; Polly didn’t. They polished everything as they left each room, leaving the keys on the kitchen counter and going out by the kitchen door. As they were driving away, Dora remembered her secret key, the one she’d hidden in the trellis as a spare. Jared didn’t know about it. Jared wouldn’t approve. People who were properly organized didn’t need spare keys.
    Never mind. Let it stay there.
    They took a motel housekeeping unit where they could spend the night, and where Dora could stay until she found a place of her own. All that night she turned and half wakened and turned again, trying to get comfortable. Thoughts of Jared were like cracker crumbs in her bed, itchy and annoying. At last, along toward dawn, she fell asleep, only to be wakened a couple of hours later to take Polly to the airport.

2
Opalears Tells a Tale
    “T he sultan wants you,” said the eunuch.
    I looked around to see who the eunuch meant. In the pool across the courtyard a clutch of concubines was playing a desultory game of ball. Half a dozen wives reclined on their royal divans in the high, screened balconies along the wall. A slave gang was scrubbing the tiled floor under the drowsy eyes of a slave-mistress, but I, myself, was the only person near the eunuch.
    “Me?” I faltered, hearing the word come out as a squeak.
    “Opalears, daughter of Halfnose.” The eunuch didn’t actually yawn from boredom, but he very nearly did, keeping his lips barely closed, so the longer teeth at the corners of his mouth showed, very white and sharp.
    “Now?” I said, squeaking again.
    “Now.” He turned and slunk away, leaving me tottering behind him, not sure what to do next.
    He looked over his shoulder. “Come on, girl. Don’t dither.”
    “But, I’m not…not…” I gestured hopelessly at my untidy self, halfway between fixing snacks in the kitchens and sorting linens in the laundry.
    “He doesn’t