Just Like Other Daughters Read Online Free PDF

had a handlebar mustache and one of his front teeth was chipped badly. I remember wondering if it had happened while fighting a fire. The firefighters in Port Chapel are all volunteers. This guy, and all of his buddies, risk their lives to save our houses, and possibly our daughters, for free.
    “I’m Alicia Richards.” I don’t release Chloe to shake his hand. “Chloe’s my daughter. Huan lives next door in our duplex.”
    “That was a smart thing you did there, son,” the fireman says. “Hardly any damage to the house because you were so quick to call.” He hesitated, glancing at Chloe, who was still hanging on to me, her fingers bunching my T-shirt. “This young lady’s very lucky she wasn’t hurt.”
    Then he looked at me and I could see it plainly on his face. I shouldn’t have left my mentally handicapped daughter at home alone. I was responsible for this fire. I knew Chloe couldn’t handle being left alone. If she hadn’t screamed, if Huan hadn’t heard her—
    Tears welled up in my eyes. “Can we go inside?” I asked.
    “We had to shut the main circuit breaker off. You need to get an electrician out here to rewire behind the microwave. I wouldn’t recommend popping the electric back on ’til you’ve had it inspected.” He pulled his fireman’s hat off and wiped his damp forehead with a clean white handkerchief he produced from his pocket. It was probably in the mid-seventies that day, but with all that gear, he had to be roasting.
    “Would it be okay if I just go in to get a few things?” I asked, thinking that Chloe would need her stuffed bear, Boo Bear, and we would both need a change of clothing in case we ended up having to spend the night at a hotel. Something I didn’t even want to consider. Chloe was already so upset; having to spend even a single night in an unfamiliar hotel room might unhinge her.
    Ultimately, I ended up paying an electrician time and a half to come out that evening and check the wiring. He had to replace something, but then he gave us the okay to stay in the house. In the following days, I called the claim in to my insurance company and made arrangements for repairs to the walls and cabinets, and splurged on new granite countertops. I argued with Randall over having left Chloe alone. He didn’t remember our conversation two days before discussing the possibility. Selective memory on his part.
    And I began looking for someone to stay with Chloe during the day when I had to work. It wasn’t so much the fact that she’d started a fire in the microwave trying to make popcorn (probably by setting it for an hour instead of a minute), but that when the fire started, her response was to hide under the kitchen table. In the same room as the fire.
    I told myself that maybe the day would come when Chloe could stay home alone. But that day wasn’t it.
    I had the summer off, but when fall came, I found a sitter willing to come to the house. Mrs. Jameson advertised that she sat for the elderly, but when I interviewed her, she said she had no problem with handicapped adults. Chloe disliked Mrs. Jameson from day one. She said Mrs. Jameson smelled funny, which she did. Chloe missed her schoolmates and was bored with Mrs. Jameson and the soaps she watched all afternoon. Chloe threw one fit after another until I did my homework and found Minnie.
    Minnie was a godsend. She provided the kind of structured environment Chloe liked and needed. They did crafts, watched movies, played music, and went on field trips. But all activities were on a strict schedule, with plenty of warning, which was perfect for Chloe.
    “Mom?”
    I glance at Chloe in the passenger seat. She’s pulling on the door handle. “It’s locked,” she says.
    I hit the UNLOCK button on my door and start to get out.
    “Mom. What are you doing? ” Chloe asks me, enunciating her last word very clearly.
    I get out of the car. “I thought I’d walk you in. Say hi to Miss Minnie.”
    Chloe’s IQ is somewhere