The Family Tree Read Online Free PDF Page A

salivate.
    Dora was getting ready for work the following morning when she heard Jared yelling and ran to see what the matter was. He was standing on the stoop, his face pale and rigid with anger.
    “Damn, stupid chemicals, damn directions were all wrong, they’ll pay for this….”
    The rosebushes down either side of the front walk had turned a seared, ashen hue, and most of the leaves had dropped. The little round evergreens on either side of the stoop were a sick yellow. Most of the leaves hadfallen from the crab apple trees, too. The kill was so total that it looked as though someone had purposely sprayed everything with acid. Only the hankies of lawn remained untouched, green as ever, like plastic.
    The weed was still there.
    “Maybe the wind was blowing, Jared. The mist blew over onto the other plants…”
    He snarled, his teeth showing. “Don’t be stupider than usual, Dora. There wasn’t any wind. Not a breath. I wouldn’t have sprayed it if there’d been any breeze at all.” He reached for the offending weed, grasping it firmly, only to yelp in pain and drop it. “Damn thing has thorns!”
    He brushed past her, almost knocking her down on his way to the first aid kit in the bathroom.
    Dora stood rigid, suddenly burning with anger. “Watch out,” Dora snarled to the weed. “He’ll take the ax to you next. And then he’ll probably start on me.”
    The leaf tips stirred, turning toward her. She looked up, startled, seeing nothing else moving. There was no wind. Still the leaf tips turned, following her until she shut the door behind her and leaned against it, giggling helplessly. She was living in Weirdsville. The world was off its pivot, and old Jared was really shaken up, and here was Dora, doing nothing about any of it except giggle. It had been a long time since she had felt any emotion over Jared, and if she’d had to guess, she wouldn’t have guessed she could feel this half-hysterical disgust.
    Jared stomped out of the bathroom, his hand bandaged, almost yelling at her, “Since you seem to be unable to do anything around here, I’ll take care of the damn thing this evening. You said you were going out with your sister. How late will you be?”
    She actually opened her mouth to scream back at him, then clashed her mental gears and managed to keep her voice utterly neutral. “Not late. We’ll go to the Greek restaurant at the mall. We’ll probably walk over, it’s so close.”
    He turned on his heel and left, not saying good-bye, leaving her to let the rage seep away into her customary calm. For a moment there, she had almost told Jared what she really thought. That wouldn’t do. She wasn’t quite sure why it wouldn’t do, but she was certain that telling Jared anything about how she felt was a very bad idea. It was a lesson you learned, being a cop. Telling people what you really think is often a very bad idea indeed. As Grandma used to say, sensible people pour oil on troubled waters, not nitroglycerine.
    She and Polly did walk to the restaurant, leaving before Jared got home. They went out the front, where Dora explained the mostly dead landscaping and pointed out the weed, taller than ever. Polly looked at the weed with a good deal of interest and agreed that no matter what Jared had said, he had to have sprayed the trees and bushes to kill them like that.
    The avenue was only a block and a half away, and the mall was only six long blocks west. It had cooled off quite a bit and they strolled, enjoying the evening, stopping to buy some stockings for Polly, a blouse for Dora. They spent twenty minutes looking at shoes before going on to the Athena, where they had egg lemon soup and stuffed grape leaves and moussaka loaded with cheese. They laughed a lot, and drank wine and cried a little over old memories.
    “Milly killed herself, didn’t she?” Polly asked, as they were gathering up their purses and shopping bags.
    Dora’s mouth dropped open. “I told you…”
    “I know what you