A Keeper's Truth Read Online Free PDF Page B

head in a
menacing pose. The threatening look is thrown off by laugh lines and tight
silver curls. She looms for dramatic impact then drops her hands to Abby’s
belly, spurring massive strings of uncontrolled giggles. Arms and legs flail
about haphazardly.
    “All
right, you two, that’s enough.” I playfully swat Abby in the rump. “Get ready
to head out, baby. It’s candy time!”
    As much as
Abby loves to be tickled, she loves trick-or-treating more, so she swiftly
slides off the couch and runs upstairs for her wings.
    Grams
collapses, taking Abby’s previous spot on the couch. “Her costume is adorable,”
she says. “Perfect choice.”
    “Abby
picked it out. You should’ve seen how excited she was when we found it.” I
can’t bear to repeat what she’d said at the time, Now I’m an angel, Mama, I
can visit Daddy. It took everything in me to keep from bawling in the
middle of Walmart.
    Abby
bounds into the room. “I’m ready!”
    I look and
my heart stops. She’s slipped Meyer’s hockey jersey over her costume.
    “Abby,
baby, what are you wearing?” I’m having trouble breathing.
    “Daddy’s
pajamas.”
    Meyer was
a die-hard Maple Leafs fan. Game days were pajama days. Always.
    I fall to
one knee beside Abby and pull her into my arms. I kiss her face. Grams has both
hands over her mouth.
    Abby
weasels out of my grip and stands back, tapping her wings on the floor. “So
Daddy can find me,” she says. “He likes candy.”
    “He . . .
does,” I whisper, gently working out the creases in the jersey with trembling
hands.
    Grams
rises from the couch and heads for the door. A bowl of candy waits beside the
pumpkin we carved before dinner, and Grams picks it up, visibly relieved to
find Gramps hasn’t made it to the door yet. Her eyes are red.
    I take
Abby by the hand and open the door. “Let’s go get some junk.”

 
 
    The moon
casts an eerie glow onto the street sparsely dotted with
kids fluttering about in their costumes. Most of the families out this early
have young children in tow, making their way from house to house. I park Abby’s
wagon so no one trips over it, waiting at the end of a long driveway while she
runs to the door. She skips, humming some muddled tune that sounds dubiously
related to the theme song for The Addams Family. I find this amusing. Abby’s
never heard of The Addams Family and I’ve never watched it, not even as a kid.
The show scared the bejesus out of me. And goodness knows my imagination didn’t
need any assistance on the horror front.
    A muffled
growl assaults me from the left and the cricket orchestra pauses in fear. I
hold my breath, suddenly tense, cursing the city for placing the streetlights
so far apart. Something snarls, and I search the trees where shadows come to
life, spinning gruesome scenarios through my mind. A figure jumps to my right,
roaring, and I tumble over the wagon.
    “What the
hell?” I scream as the man steadies me.
    “Gotcha,”
he says. His laugh is a garbled mess under the rubber zombie mask.
    Backing
up, I twist the wagon between us. I can’t see his eyes, but his smile can’t
hide behind the gaping mouth hole.
    “Thomas?”
    He raises
gnarly rubber gloves. “How’d you know it was me?”
    “You’ve
got teeth straight out of a dental advertisement. And the hoodie and shorts kinda blow the look.” Thomas removes the mask and runs a hand
through his hair, throwing reckless curls into absolute mayhem. I run the wagon
into his shins. “You scared the shit out of me!”
    Thomas
grins, shrugs. “Mission accomplished.”
    “You know
it’s October, right?” I point to the shorts then gather my sweater for warmth.
    “Broken
thermostat.” He watches Sofia lock hands with Abby as they cut across the yard
to the next house.
    I study
him, wondering, thanks to Karen, if he’s holding out for something other than
idle friendship.
    “What’s
new with you?” he says.
    Losing my
mind, seeing things. “Nothing