Unbreathed Memories by Marcia Talley Read Free Book Online

sludge-crawling, big-mouthed, mud-eating worm.
    I found Scott in the bedroom holding a glass of water for Georgina, who sat on the edge of the bed in her nightgown, knocking back pills. In another thirty minutes she’d be a zombie. Good luck getting anything out of her then, Sergeant Williams! I told Scott the police needed to speak to him again. I didn’t say about what. Then I skulked away to hide out in the TV room with the children.
    “Hi, Aunt Hannah.” Sean looked up as I entered, but Dylan’s eyes remained glued to the TV set where an armada of cartoon tanks was flattening an invading army of robot mice. The sound track was deafening.
    “What’cha watching, kids?” I shouted.
    “Some stupid boy show.” Julie had laid Abby aside and was using blunt-nosed scissors to cut pictures out of an old National Geographic magazine. At least I hoped it was an old one.
    “Can I help you, Julie?”
    “Grown-ups don’t like to cut out.”
    “This grown-up does.”
    She grinned and handed me the scissors. I was in the middle of trimming neatly around the whiskers of a satin-eyed baby harp seal when my brother-in-law’s voice exploded behind me.
    “You are not going to take my wife with you!”
    The children, lost in their own worlds, appeared oblivious.
    “I’ll be right back, kids.” I backed out of the den, pulling the folding doors shut behind me.
    Georgina and Scott stood in the hallway just outside the kitchen. Still in her nightgown, Georgina shrankagainst the wall while Scott stood protectively between his nearly comatose wife and Sergeant Williams.
    “I’m afraid we are, sir. You may come with her, if you want.”
    “If I want? Of course I want! And I’m going to call my lawyer, too.”
    “That is your prerogative.”
    Scott faced Georgina, took her by the shoulders, and spoke to her softly. I didn’t hear what he said. My sister nodded mutely. With Scott’s arm around her, they shuffled into the bedroom, emerging five minutes later with Georgina dressed in a loose-fitting pair of tan slacks, a red cable-knit sweater, and clean, white tennis shoes. His hand rested lightly on her back as he guided her down the hall.
    Suddenly Scott seemed to notice me. At first he looked puzzled and I panicked, thinking it might have occured to him who was responsible for Sergeant Williams changing her mind about questioning Georgina at the police station. But the puzzlement quickly evaporated, to be replaced with wide-eyed distress.
    “The children!” Scott’s face was flushed; he wiped his forehead with his hand. Tears pooled in his eyes. “What about the children?”
    I rushed to his side. “Scott! Don’t worry. I’ll take care of the kids.” I hugged him hard and he clung to me, breathing heavily and raggedly into my hair. He kissed my forehead. Then he kissed Georgina and watched, grief-stricken, as she was escorted down the front walk to the officers’ car. He followed in his burgundy SUV, reversing out of the drive in a spray of gravel and squealing tires.
    I watched from the front porch, the door standing half open behind me, until both vehicles disappearedover the hill at Church Lane. When I turned, Dylan and Sean stood framed in the doorway. “They’re taking Mommy to jail!” Dylan wailed. His brother’s lower lip trembled and he, too, burst into tears.
    “That’s nothing,” Julie proclaimed, elbowing her way between the boys. She laid her cheek against the sparse fur of her toy rabbit. “Abby’s been to jail hundreds of times.”

chapter
4
    “Julie! Where’s your hairbrush?” I was helping the children pack a few of their belongings and had given them each a plastic grocery bag from Giant to put them in.
    “I want my suitcase,” declared Dylan.
    “Me, too. The red one.” Sean slouched in the doorway of the bedroom he shared with his brother, pouting.
    “I have no idea where your suitcases are, kids. Besides, we’re just going to be gone for a little while. Maybe only one