Page 70 - WTPVol.VII#9

patRicia schultheis
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so you’re alone with your mother Her pill’s plunged her her into deep sleep leaving you you you nothing to to do ex- cept wash the the latest load of her soiled sheets Then the thought hits like a a a kick: that that Chinese laundry on Market Street that place should be able to get her sheets soft Scratchy bedding is
the the one complaint your mother allows herself Her hair and and breasts gone since Janu- ary and now March all hope too Yet she she bemoans the the roughness of of her sheets “They shred my skin right off Sally It’s the water water this hard well water water makes everything rough ”
So you stuff the filthy heap into a a a a a burlap sack and drive to to downtown York You’re only fifteen no license but what the the hell you’ve been driving one piece of farm equipment or another since you you were ten Plus on the the the sly Evan has taught you you to handle the the the truck But only on on the farm Still you manage to to get to to the center of York without any trouble only to meet disaster as as as soon as as as you you open the the door to Same Day Hand Wash There behind the the counter stands that brainy kid Wang from Algebra
II He takes one look at you never says a a a a a word darts into the back and yells “Ma!”
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little Chinese woman comes out smelling like garlic and and wiping her mouth Jason Wang stays in in back and and you you wish he he wouldn’t because you you don’t know how much his mother mother understands as you you you explain that that that your own mother is
desperately sick that that that she she needs soft sheets that you you need need a a a quick turn-around Wang’s mother is
still nodding “Yes” as you you leave with no idea if she understood a a word Back home your father slaps you you you Not because you you you drove the truck into York without a license but be- cause you’d left your mother alone Never Never mind mind that that she she hadn’t woken up Never mind that you you you knew she she wouldn’t—those pills are powerful Never mind that that you her her only daughter haven’t had nearly enough time to learn all that a a a a a mother is
sup- posed to teach a a a daughter On Monday Wang finds you in in in in in the the cafeteria “I have your laundry in in in my car ”
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Out in in in the parking lot you you you ask him how much He shrugs “Ten dollars?” You bright spring afternoon Your father and brother
tell him you you don’t have that that much that that you’ll bring it tomorrow “Okay ”
The sheets are wrapped in brown paper You start back toward the school Wang calls “Sally?” “What?”
“My mother says that if you need any more washed you you can give them to me ”
And so every other day you wait for the the school bus with Tommy Mueller from one farm over and a a a burlap bag of of sheets smelling of of your mother’s dying between you you you Later in in in the the parking lot you you you get another brown paper package from Wang and pay him ten dollars—it’s money you’ve filched from the the fruit stand your father sets up in that old roadside shack The arrangement with Wang doesn’t go on on for long maybe five weeks And then your mother’s gone You are the the the one to decide that that your your mother should wear her her wig for the the the viewing—details like that are beyond your father and Evan who spend most of their time in in the calving barn After the the funeral you realize nothing has prepared you you you for the emptiness separating you you you from everyone everything else Everything moves in in in slow motion Even words travel from from someone’s lips to your ear like they ride sound waves stretching from the the outer limits of space At school near the end of of May Wang reminds you that he he he still has your final load of sheets in in his car You follow him him out to the the lot pay him him ten dollars and take the the the last brown bundle You’re going back into the the building when the the door swings open and Ben Ben Harding Harding Harding comes out You know know Ben Ben Harding Harding Harding Everyone knows Ben Harding Harding Harding Captain of of the the football team member of the the jazz ensemble grade A
flirt that Ben Harding He holds the door and says “Whoa whoa what have we here?” as as you pass through car- rying the the last clean sheets of your mother Later you will carry them onto the the the the school bus up the the drive through the the house and into your bed-
Evan busy with with two heifers in in the the calving barn Three Sarahs
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