When You Go Away (34 page)

     But that was over, too, just like her life with Graham, her life with her children in the apartment, her fear that she was rotten, poison, explosive.  There was nothing more than this for the next year, her father and her, her children, her health.  People were helping her now, cared, even Graham in his own way.  Her family had saved her, after all.  She turned to Carl, wishing that her mother could see him now, a hero despite everything.

     “We talk about the whole thing
,” she said finally.  “Dr. Kolakowski helps me with it all.”

     “That’s great, honey.  I’m—I’m so happy.”  He adjusted his hat and wiped his nose, and Peri sat back deep in the Corvair’s old leather, the wind all around and in her.  For this second, she was
not scared
, even though the future was unclear, like the view of San Francisco from her father’s house on a foggy day, nothing but the tops of buildings and bridges visible in the swirls of white air, everything else only shapes she could imagine.

When You Go Away
             
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Jessica Barksdale Inclan