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Patsy made up one of the
few who had never mocked her over her mother.
    Several other locals came in, and the
foolishness went on. Eventually Mrs. Dupree departed to keep a
dinner date. Sunny settled into his routine, leaving Madeline to
check on other patrons.
    The shift was long, but Sunny paid well
and the company was good. Madeline realized a few years ago, she
was an entirely different persona at work; she knew her friends and
co-workers depended on her to keep everyone’s morale up during
working hours. The public could be rude, and after a few drinks,
the regulars could tax the strongest temper.
    She had worked for Sunny nine years,
had seen, and heard it all.
    When Madeline arrived home later that
evening, Brook had gone out to a movie with friends. She called in,
left a message, and was due to call back in a half-hour.
    Madeline hated keeping her on a short
leash, but the trust issue was iffy right now. After the second
call, she took a long bath.
    Brook made it home before
midnight.
    “ How was the movie?” she
asked, after Brook took a bath and reclined on her bed, fiddling
with the headphones she usually slipped on to listen to music that
Madeline hated.
    “ Fine.”
    After the chat with Gee Gee, Madeline
wanted to jump on the bed and hug her. Instead, she said, “I’m glad
you had a good time with your friends.”
    Brook’s gaze scanned her visually, and
then she shrugged.
    “ Goodnight,” Madeline said
finally, feeling a wave of hurt that she couldn’t reach her
daughter anymore. Hell, she felt a failure all the sudden. The
hostility made her stomach ache.
    She had waited for Brook to get to this
age so they could do more together. She had so looked forward to
her upper teen years, so that she could stop being so much the
disciplinarian and build a friendship that would grow, as they got
older. It didn’t look too promising.
    “ Night.” Brook slid the
headphones on and switched off the lamp.
     
    ~*~
     
    Madeline lay awake for hours, then
cried it out near daybreak, sleeping until Brook awoke her before
leaving with friends to go to the carnival.
    After muttering the usual groggy
admonitions, Madeline arose, took a shower, and then carried her
coffee out on the small porch. She had thrown on a pair of capris,
a lose shirt with short sleeves, and a pair of shoes Brook said
needed to be trashed years ago.
    On these rare days off, she was lucky
if she bothered to get out of her sleepwear.
    When the big custom van pulled in,
Madeline smiled and waved at Ruby Peyton. With curly brown hair and
silver gray eyes, the thirty-two year old artist was one of the
hand-full who had lived away for many years, before coming back
home to roost.
    Ruby still had a touch of California
hippie in her. She was one of Madeline’s close friends. Not to
mention, someone who knew her secrets. Ruby was someone she counted
on to shoot straight and knock her on her ass, or off it, when she
needed it.
    Ruby came up the steps, an answering
smile on her face. Madeline noted how the crocheted dress with silk
under-slip complemented her almond skin. She had a big scarf around
her waist. Only a woman as tall as Ruby would dare put layers
around her middle.
    “ Coffee?”
    “ Yep.” Ruby sat down in a
wicker chair and kicked off her toe sandals. “Got any
food?”
    Madeline spied a toe ring on the left
second toe Ruby’d made from silver. She wished she could look as
natural wearing something like that, as Ruby did, but Ruby had that
artsy look that could pull anything off.
    “ Doughnuts?”
    “ Bring the whole box.
“
    She laughed. “What’s up?”
    “ Besides the period from
hell? I think I’ll tell you later.”
    Madeline couldn’t wait. She hurried and
brought the coffee and doughnuts.
    The street was quiet. Her house sat on
the corner lot, near the woods. March remained cool, but the birds
sang, and after a hard winter, any sun was welcome. For a moment,
they simply exchanged a smile as the melodious sounds