Rain (Hudson 1)

"Suppose I want to stay over one weekend," she whined. "Where do I stay?"

"I only have four other bedrooms available, Alison," Grandmother Hudson said.

"It's not the same. That was my room. It will always have a smell now. I don't ever want to stay in it again," she declared and stomped out. She paused when she confronted us in the hallway.

"We heard what you said, Alison. You're pathetic," Brody told her.

"I'm pathetic?" She looked from him to me and then to him. Her smile was like a slice in her face, but wide enough to show some silver braces. "I'm ashamed I'm related to you," she told him and charged off. Imagine, I thought, what she would say to me.

As we reached the living room doorway, my mother appeared.

"Where are you going, Brody?" she asked, looking quickly from him to me.

"I was going to show Rain where I used to have a tree house."

"I'm afraid we have to leave soon, Brody," she said. "I thought we weren't going until four."

"We have to leave earlier," she said again looking at me, "and you should be spending more time with your grandmother."

"It's all right. I have some studying to do," I said. Brody looked very disappointed.

"All right," he said. "You know what, Ma," he said, "I think I'll come down to see Grandmother next weekend, and I'd like to go to Rain's play."

I could almost hear my mother suck in her breath. Her eyes lit with absolute fear.

"You can't come down next weekend, Brody. We're having the Samsons for dinner and Daddy wants you and Alison to be there because they're bringing their children."

"But their children are years younger."

"We'll discuss it later, Brody," my mother said with fear in her eyes.

"Okay, okay. But I'm coming to the play so don't plan on me being anywhere else that weekend."

"It's not going to be that great, Brody," I said.

"What did I tell you about being negative?" he said with a smile.

"Please come in and spend some time with Grandmother," my mother pleaded in a softer voice.

Brody nodded.

"Should I say good-bye now?" he asked me.

"Yes," I said. "Good-bye." I turned to my mother. "Have a nice trip home, Mrs. Randolph."

"Thank you," she said.

We held each other's glance for a moment and then I walked quickly to the stairway. I didn't look back.

When I got to my room, I closed the door and sat by the window gazing out at the thin line of gauzelike clouds that stretched lazily across the horizon. These people will always feel like strangers to me, I thought. What did Mama hope would happen? I never missed her as much as I did this very moment, I went to the phone to call her at Aunt Sylvia's. It rang and rang with no one answering. Disappointed, I sprawled on my bed and closed my eyes. Memories of Mama, Roy and Beni began to unspool across the screen of my mind. Some of them brought a smile. Sometimes, it's easier to dwell in the past, I thought. if we didn't have our memories, we wouldn't have a doorway of escape.

Just then there was a soft knock on my door. I sat up. What if Brody had snuck upstairs?

"Yes?"

My mother opened the door and stepped in.

"I just came up quickly to talk to you. I'm sorry about being so abrupt downstairs before, but... what happened between you and Brody?"