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the owner of these garments. I found her sprawled across my mother’s bed, dressed only in a thong, with her spiked hair sticking up like a rooster’s feathers from the pillow. Stella ran in ahead of me, jumped on the bed, and sniffed the pillow as if she was identifying the species of this mysterious stranger.
    “Go away, cat,” Tattie said in a husky voice as she sat up and wrapped the top sheet around her shoulders. She lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply. I should have told her not to smoke in my mother’s room, but I didn’t.
    “Do you need to call your mother?” I asked.
    Tattie gave me a sleepy smile. “Don’t worry. She won’t even have noticed I’m not there.”
    It was no secret to me or half the town that Tattie’s mother was a big drinker. She tended bar in a bowling alley and was prone to oversampling what she served.
    “God, I feel like I smoked four thousand cigarettes last night,” Tattie said, coughing and rubbing her eyes. “Maybe I did.”
    I pulled the drapes open to let the sun in, looked out the window, and sighed.
    “What are you so down about? High school is finally over—we’re free at last.”
    “Yeah, sure, everything’s great. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and my mother is missing.”
    “Gawd, I’d be thrilled if my mother disappeared,” she said.
    “Yeah, well, I’m almost out of money, and I don’t know when my mother is going to show up.”
    “You need some money? No sweat, just have a garage sale and sell some of this stuff.” She waved her hands, gesturing at all the stuff in the room.
    I was taken aback. “What do you mean? Sell our furniture and clothes? I can’t do that. What would my mother think when she came home and found I had sold all her things?”
    “Hey, that’s what she deserves for leaving you busted. Anyway, if she comes back, she’s going to understand you had to sell the stuff. If she doesn’t come back, it won’t matter.”
    “My mother will be back,” I barked at her.
    “Okay, relax, don’t freak out. She’ll be back,” Tattie said, backing off. “Then take some clothes down to one of thosesecondhand clothing stores. I hear Couture Closet will give you cash on the spot if you have really good stuff.”
    I looked inside my mother’s bulging closet and thought that maybe Tattie was on to something. Maybe I could even sell a few outfits I didn’t wear anymore.
    After taking a shower, I drove Tattie home. I came back determined to choose some stuff to sell. But once I stepped inside my mother’s closet, I was immediately overwhelmed by the familiar scent of her White Shoulders perfume. Standing there, she seemed so close that I expected to turn around and find her behind me. I stroked the soft cashmere of her favorite navy blazer, the one she wore to work on so many mornings. Her silky blouses with those ridiculous bows at the neck were hanging there too. If she would just come back, I would never make fun of them again. If she’d just come back, I’d be a perfect daughter. I would. I really would.
    I grabbed her satiny blue bathrobe and slipped it on over my clothes. It was as close to having her arms around me as I could get. Tears, the same tears I had been fighting to hold back for days, began to trickle down my cheeks and then turned into a flood. My heart hurt so much I didn’t think I could bear it. I sank down on the carpet and bawled like a baby—a baby who wanted her mother and couldn’t find her.
    Finally, I pulled myself together and escaped to the bathroom. I had barely managed to wash away the evidence of my tears when the doorbell rang. It was Nicole.
    “Where have you been?” she said in an exasperated tone, plopping down on the sofa. “I must have called you a dozen times.”
    “Oops, sorry. I was going to come say good-bye. I thought you’d be busy packing. The plane leaves in just a few hours.”
    “I’m not going,” she replied.
    “What?” I was stunned. “Have you lost your