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“Welcome to your home
away from home,” Trish blithely remarked.
Vera examined the room
and its contents. “I’m hoping you put fresh linens on the bed?”
“Did that right before I
went to pick you up.”
“Uh-huh. Well, I guess
it’ll have to do until my own furniture arrives.”
Trish frowned,
remembering her mother’s earlier comment on the phone. “What furniture are
you talking about? There’s no room in here for any more furniture.”
Vera motioned toward the
bed. “That bed’s too small. I won’t get any decent sleep on that tiny
thing.”
“It’s a standard double
bed.”
“But it’s not
my bed. I’m
used to my queen-size bed and my mattress. When it arrives, you’ll have to
move this one out and move mine in. Same for that TV.”
Trish felt her blood
pressure beginning to spike. “What’s wrong with the TV?”
“I want
my
TV in here.”
“What’s wrong with this
one? It’s a forty-inch flat screen.”
“Mine is a sixty-inch,
and high definition. I’ll go blind if I have to watch TV on that dinky
little screen.”
“When your furniture
gets here, what are you going to do with the rest of it?” Trish asked.
“I guess I’ll have to
rent a storage facility. We’ll move this furniture in with the rest of it
when they unload my own belongings.” Vera waved at the pictures and photos
on the wall, along with the personal items Shelby had left behind. “You’re
going to have to pack up all this stuff, too, and put it somewhere.”
“Those are Shelby’s
belongings.”
“I know they’re
Shelby’s, but she’s off to college, and this is my room now. Tomorrow,
when we find a place where I can rent some space, we’ll pick up some boxes
to pack it in.”
“Tomorrow’s Sunday.
Can’t it wait until Monday?”
“Guess I have no choice,
do I?” The woman grabbed one of the suitcases and tossed it onto the bed.
“Which bathroom is mine?”
“The one across the
hall.”
“The last time I was
here, the one across the hall didn’t have good water pressure…unless
you’ve replaced the shower head.”
“No, Mom. We haven’t
replace the shower head.”
“Then I’ll have to use
the other bathroom until you do.”
It took every effort to
keep herself from lashing back at her mother, but somehow Trish managed to
keep herself reined in. “The other bathroom is the master bath,” she
calmly informed the woman.
Vera replied with a
shrug. “So?”
“It’s in the master
bedroom.”
“So?” Unzipping the
suitcase, she tossed another demeaning look at her daughter. “Why are you
standing there trying to start an argument with me? Shouldn’t you be
fixing supper about now?”
Turning on her heel,
Trish marched out of the room, but instead of going to the kitchen, she
headed outside to let her husband know the conversation that had just
occurred. She was almost out the door when she heard her mother yelling
out to her, “Where am I supposed to hang my clothes? There’s not enough
room in the closet for my clothes!”
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