ARR 1988 - Flipbook - Page 17
way. The alley was cleaned up, the trash gone, the cans neatly stowed
against the building. "Too late," she moaned. "And no pick-up till next week.
I'm stuck with you."
She thought fleetingly of just tossing the plant out the window and
letting it lie in the alley until next week's pick-up. But her landlady Mrs.
Rapin ski might go out in the alley and see it there; if she looked up, she might
figure out where it came from. That wouldn't do. Mrs. Rapinski was still
mad at her for tossing a beer can out the window at some rowdies last week.
She had warned Mary B. to behave herself. If Mrs. Rapinski got mad
enough, she might just kick her out of the apartment, and then what would
she do?
"It's all your fault," she said crossly to the plant. "And I have other
things to do so you'll just have to wait."
She busied herself getting ready and was soon eager for the day's
venture into the world. She put on her winter coat, not only for warmth but
for the feeling of security it gave her. She could wrap her coat tightly around
her in case of a sudden change in the spring weather.
Before leaving, she completed her morning ritual. Picking up the
rosary that lay in front of Scotty's portrait, she prayed for all the souls in
Purgatory and then made her supplication to the Blessed Virgin. _"Mary,
Mother of God, protect me on my day's journey into the wilderness. Care for
my little home while I am away. Keep me from muggers and rapists. Watch
over me while I am crossing the streets," and, she added with a mischievous
wince, "Please bring me home safely if I am staggering drunk."
Her ablutions finished, she threw a kiss around the room to include all
the statues and pictures and said, " Goodbye all. I'm off. Be good and don't
make any noise." She almost forgot the plant but then she went to her
kitchen and mixed up the same mess of vitamins she had made up for
breakfast, put it in a cup of leftover coffee, and mashed it into a glutinous
mass. Then, lifting up the withered leaves, she mixed it with the soil.
She checked the three locks on her door and walked down the long dark
hall, the two flights of stairs and let herself out the front quickly ,just in case
Mrs. Rapin ski was lurking about to jump on her for some misdeed she may
have committed and forgotten . At the Social Security office she asked if there
had been an increase in her payments; there had not been, but it never hurt
to ask. She stopped at the dimestore for a small box of chocolate-covered
candy; at the grocery store for ajar of instant coffee. The price had gone up
on the coffee again and she swore softly as she dug in her change purse for
the extra pennies.
"Always up," she moaned softly to herself. "Why don't the prices ever
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