The Last Cadillac Read Online Free PDF Page B

“I’m big now.”
    â€œWe can take whatever you want.” I looked around thebedroom. She had her own bathroom, and the leaded glass windows in her room looked out on pine trees, lilac bushes, and a wide sloping lawn on the corner lot. I sat on the edge of her mahogany four-poster bed that had a pink and green chintz duvet, with curtains to match. This will go real well in Florida. Oh, what were we getting ourselves into? What was I getting myself into?
    Little Sunshine put one finger firmly in her cheek. “No, I don’t think we’ll take that big bed. But Tigger, Pooh, Eyore, and Peter Rabbit are all going to Florida.” She threw herself in the corner of some twenty furry creatures and nearly disappeared. I made a mental note to remind myself once again—it was never enough—that this was not just my move. It was also theirs—Dad, Little Sunshine, and Tick.
    Tick, my son, was traveling light. He’d already moved his special pile—a pillowcase full of Legos, and his Axis and Allies game—to the condo to wait out the transition.
    â€œMom, this is how I roll,” he said.
    Wherever did he get such minimalist ideas? I was just glad, because he certainly was growing up in a family with baggage of all sorts.
    The auction house hauled off the Welsh sideboard and the buffet. Out went all the wedding gifts and things that reminded me of the marriage, including the Wedgwood with strawberries and vines, the federal-patterned sterling, all the crystal, china, ceramic mugs and pitchers from Germany, the paintings and the twelve-by-fourteen oriental rug that covered the parquet in the dining room. I got thousands for all of it, and it went into the bank for my move to Florida. I think I got ripped off, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to get on with it.
    Hubby didn’t get—nor did he ask for—the house oranything in it. The only items I returned to him were tied into a dirty sock—all the jewelry he’d given me: two diamond rings, aquamarines and amethysts, gold and silver, rings and chains and stuff I never wanted to see again, because all of it was payment for the pain he’d inflicted. I was especially glad to part with an amethyst and diamond ring that reminded me of a black eye. Mine.
    I didn’t care a whit about any of it, not even to this day—swear on a stack of bibles and on my grandmother’s grave. It was time to start over, clean.

4
SAIL ON
    I stood guard in front of the bottles of pills on the medicine shelf in the kitchen and made sure Julia didn’t try a fast one. She hadn’t gone to the doctor for more pills, and I was keeping Dad off medication for the time being, much to Julia’s professional consternation. The further Dad got from Amytriptiline and Melaril, the Prozac and the Paxil, the better off he seemed to be. After a clean spell off the pills and on a good diet, he was sleeping better. I didn’t know if it was the lack of medication, or the fact that he wasn’t staring at my dying mother all night in that hospital bed. It was hard to tell, and I didn’t ask because I didn’t want to upset him. He was content. That was all I cared about for now. We were still only weeks from her death, but I could see the regimen taking effect. His color was brighter, and we were all clearly looking forward to The Adventure.
    Except for my siblings. Lucy, Julia, and Jack still came up with ideas to keep Dad from going with me. They looked into assisted living communities—there was only one decent one in the area, and the waiting list was a year long. They wanted him to take turns living with each of them. Jack wasstill looking for a Polish maid—to replace me. I let the idea of taking Dad to Florida simmer for a week or two. They never did ask me if I was happy about the idea of taking Dad to Florida, and I’m glad they didn’t, because I truly had mixed feelings. I was not going to bring it