Joy Argento - Carrie and Hope Read Online Free PDF Page B

own problems handling all this. I think you’ve got the easy part, Gram, ‘cause, it’s really hard for the rest of us. Anyway, I wanted to tell you about that support group I went to. I have to tell you that I couldn’t stay at it. It wasn’t a good idea to go there. It just wasn’t what I needed, at least not right now. But I did manage to meet a new friend. You would like her. Her name is Hope and she was very nice. I really liked talking to her, and I think talking to her helped me. So the evening wasn’t a total waste.”
    Carrie leaned back in her chair and smoothed out the magazine in her lap. She let out a long sigh, and once again looked for an article to read to her grandmother. Nothing caught her eye so she put the magazine aside. She ran her hands over her jeans.
    “Gram, I don’t know what is wrong with me today. I guess I’m just feeling a little lonely. I’ve felt lonely plenty of times before, but I could always call you when I was feeing this way, and just hearing your voice would always make me feel better. I miss that.”
    Carrie got up and walked to the window. She looked out at the dull September day. It was a total contrast from the warm and sunny past several days. The feelings of loneliness crept in on the rainy days.
    Her thoughts once again went to the woman she had met the evening before. Carrie was sure that they would become real friends. It had been a long time since she met someone that she felt she clicked with, especially so soon. Carrie had friends, but she was picky about whom she spent her time with. She didn’t have any desire to hang out with people just to have something to do. Between work, art, and now her regular visits with her grandmother, she had plenty to keep her busy.
    There was something almost familiar about Hope, but Carrie was certain they had never met before. Maybe we met in another life . Carrie laughed to herself. She wasn’t sure she believed such things. There was something definitely different about Hope that set her apart from her other friends. Whatever it was, it drew Carrie’s attention.

     
    *****

     
    Carrie walked through the front door of her house. She passed through the living room and went into the kitchen. She threw the mail on the table before opening the refrigerator and peering in.   I need to go grocery shopping , Carrie thought. She checked the date on the packaged lunchmeat before deciding to make a sandwich for dinner. She grabbed the mustard before shutting the door with her hip, and set to work making her supper. Carrie usually had a refrigerator full of leftovers to choose from, but tonight it was slim pickings.
    She settled down on the sofa with her sandwich and a bottle of beer and turned on the television with the remote. She watched the national news as she ate. She turned the television off as soon as an entertainment gossip show started. Before her accident, her grandmother would have been glued to the television set. She loved to keep track of the celebrity news.
    Carrie took her plate and empty beer bottle to the kitchen and went to her bedroom to change her clothes. She emerged wearing an old tee shirt and a pair of well-worn jeans and continued on into her art room. She pushed the play button on the CD player. The room filled with the soft sounds of female voices, singing a variety of songs from the last three decades.
    The converted spare bedroom was filled with drawing tables, a large easel, and various art supplies. An old wooden table sat along one wall. Carrie felt like she found a treasure when she spotted it at the local flea market two years ago. She ran her hand over the stressed wood, loving every scratch, dent and imperfection. This was truly a table with character and a history.
    Carrie twisted the knob on a hooded lamp. A circle of light appeared and illuminated the still life set-up that Carrie had arranged the day before. She made a few small adjustments to the apples that sat on the old wooden cutting