Richard awoke in degrees and turned over, nearly falling out of bed. He was startled alert and then confused by the narrow mattress. His bed wasn’t this small. The room also smelled different. A warm hand closed over his, on top of the covers. Richard opened his eyes to Harriet’s concerned gaze. “Are you alright? We got scared when you […]
Both paramedics passed the sitting room with an empty stretcher, walking it out to the ambulance. The siblings saw this and looked to one another uncomprehendingly. Rachel smiled nervously. “Look at that, mama didn’t even need to go to the hospital. They must have gotten her stabilized. I guess it was just a false alarm.” Joshua and Richard brightened. That […]
Reverend Mother’s children were not allowed to see her, after she went into respiratory arrest. Huddled together in the hallway outside of her room, they caught only glimpses of the nursing home staff trying desperately to revive her, each time the door opened and one of them rushed in or out. Rachel attempted to intercept and question several of them. […]
Sundays were family days in the Blackshear household. It had been that way, since the siblings were small children. The day started bright and early with a light breakfast, then it was off to open the church and prepare it for the services. In Reverend Mother’s absence, her adult children continued the practice, each automatically attending to duties they had […]
The morning after the fire, Reverend Mother called home three times. Samentha avoided the calls. Now that the job was done, Reverend Mother was most likely attempting to get her to visit so she could use the spirit whistle to force Samentha back into the recesses of Harriet’s mind. No good deed went unpunished. The reward for Samentha’s hard work […]
Samentha sat in the rental car on the parking lot of the nursing home housing Reverend Mother and quieted her thoughts. Before proceeding, she wanted to make sure that Harriet hadn’t broken through her mental defenses. There were certain things she didn’t want Ms. Goody-two-shoes to see. It always took solid concentration to completely block things from Harriet’s consciousness. After […]
Reverend Mother was so experienced with the spirit whistle, she could tell from Harriet’s body language the moment that Samentha took the reins of Harriet’s consciousness. By the time the nursing home staff came bursting through the door, Samentha had already seated Harriet’s body comfortably next to Reverend Mother’s bed. The two of them feigned ignorance about the shrill noise. […]
Harriet waited for what felt like an eternity, while her call went through to the psychiatrist’s office. The receptionist was cheerful but brisk, cutting off Harriet’s explanation of why she needed to see her psychiatrist right away. The earliest available appointment was two weeks away. Harriet’s demands to speak directly to the psychiatrist went nowhere. “She is in with a […]
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