Minnie Goes to Heaven (89)

(a novel continued)

Mary seemed to relax once they bit into their burgers. “I don’t remember A and W food being this good,” she said.

Her parents, however, weren't thinking small talk. They had endless questions floating through their brains. ‘Lord show me what to say,’ prayed Minnie. ‘Lord give me wisdom,’ prayed John.

They both waited as they chewed on their papa and mama burgers which didn’t taste as good as they remembered.

“So, what is it you want to know?” Mary said.

“Everything,” Minnie said.

“Whatever you want to tell us,” John said.

Minnie looked at John. He seemed so wise.

Mary also looked at her father. “I want to tell you everything, yet I don’t want to tell you anything. Basically, I want to forget the whole thing, as if it never happened.”

“Maybe some counselling?” John said.

“With who?” Minnie said.

“I don’t know if I could handle that.” Mary’s lip quivered.

“Well, just rest for a few days. Things won’t seem so overwhelming once you get some rest.” John said.

Mary did look worn out—more worn out than she appeared at Christmas.

“Were you...did you get punished for what we did at Christmas?” John asked.

Mary nodded. “I don’t want to talk about it.” Her lip quivered again.

“Okay,” John said.

“How about, we go away for a few days—a road trip or something? The snow is mostly melted already. Or we could go to a resort somewhere. Eat and sleep and sit by the pool.” Minnie said.

“You two could go,” John said. “I'm just too busy with the greenhouses right now.”

That’s how Minnie and Mary ended up slathered in sunscreen in lounge chairs beside a pool in Mexico. On about day three of the seven-day vacation, Mary opened up.  “You might not believe this Mom, but it wasn’t all bad there. We had some really fun times, especially at the beginning. Those kids I was taking care of were so cute. They were adorable. I loved it there...at first anyway.” Mary got quiet.

Minnie heard, ‘wait.’ She looked at her daughter—her daughter with the pensive, ‘if only’ expression. Minnie waited. She actually pushed her teeth down on her tongue so that the thousand questions in her heart wouldn’t pop out. She closed her eyes.

“Mom, are you sleeping?”

“No, honey, I’m not.”

“Don’t you want to hear what I have to say?”