Interruptions Read online

Interruptions

  By

  Bea Cannon

  Interruptions - Published By:

  Bea Cannon

  Copyright 2013 by Bea Cannon

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed herein are imaginary, and any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.

  License Notes:

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval without permission in writing from the author.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Contains some profanity and violence

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Other Works by the Author

  About the Author

  (back to top)

  Chapter One

  I THOUGHT I HEARD A SCREAM. IT WAS hard to be sure with the shower running and hitting me in the face so I turned it off. I listened. Bam! Bam! What the…? Then, another shriek. That sounded like Annamae!

  I jumped from the shower, grabbed my big bath towel and rushed to the door, suds running down my face from my wet, half-shampooed hair. My foot hit the edge of the trash container by the sink, knocking it over and scattering used paper towels, dental floss, and all the other stuff usually found in the bathroom trashcan. I also bashed the hell out of my right pinkie toe and went hopping out the door trying not to slide as I ran down the hall to Annamae’s room.

  I threw open her door, my adrenaline filled heart flapping like a crazed hummingbird and my pinkie toe throbbing with pain. I was trying to hold on to my towel as I blinked the shampoo suds from my eyes. Water was pooling around my feet and beading up on the hardwood floor.

  Annamae was squatting in the corner by her small dresser, shoe in hand, beating the crap out of something on the floor.

  “What…what happened?” I panted, holding on to the door and my towel. I scrubbed my face down one lifted shoulder trying to clear my eyes of suds.

  “I got it, Mom!” she exclaimed triumphantly, rising to her feet grinning fiercely, shoe in hand.

  “Got what? Girl, you scared the mess out of me! What were you screaming about?” I peered over trying to see what she’d “got”.

  “The spider! A big one, too! It was just sitting there glaring at me, and I clobbered it with my shoe!” she said with satisfaction as she went and hopped up on her bed, her pajama legs scrunching up around her skinny calves. I noticed she’d gotten off one hole when she buttoned her pajama top, and the collar stuck up on one side and the bottom was uneven.

  “Mom, get rid of it for me?” she asked, her eyes going pitiful as only a nine-year old’s with a cute elfin face could. She’d kill a spider but was too squeamish to clean up the mess.

  I sighed, my heart rate slowing down. I was relieved it was nothing, but annoyed at having my shower interrupted. I limped over and grabbed some tissue from the box on her dresser.

  “I hope you know I broke my toe getting in here to see what was killing you,” I growled. Still trying to keep my towel in place, I stooped down to wipe up the spider.

  ….And saw she’d murdered the shit out of a small clump of hair.

  Girl needs some glasses, I thought, shaking my head as I straightened back up, holding the hair clump in the tissue.

  “Want to see it?” I asked, smiling. I knew she wouldn’t want to, so I sat on the bed beside her and held out the tissue.

  She shrieked and scooted further up on the bed away from me. “No! Get that thing away, Mom!” she cried frantically.

  “Annamae,” I said calmly, “Look at what you “killed”, Sugar - a piece of hair!” I was trying my best to keep my face straight.

  She paused in her frantic movements. “Huh?” She scooted back down and leaned forward to peek - cautiously - at what I was holding. She sagged with relief - but I saw some disappointment there, too. That girl liked to kill spiders. She hated them.

  “Mom, I swear it looked like a spider to me!” She sighed. “I thought I was getting a big, juicy one, too.”

  “Don’t swear,” I admonished hypocritically.

  Okay. I do swear - occasionally - just not out loud around her. Most of the time.

  “Sugar, I think we need to get you to the eye doctor’s. This isn’t the first time this happened. Remember when you poured an entire shaker of salt on that piece of gummy bear out on the patio thinking it was a slug? Or smushed the pea that rolled down under the table in the kitchen last week because it looked like one of those beetles that live down by the creek?” I lifted an eyebrow at her.

  “Aw, Mom! I don’t need glasses. I just looked at it too quick.” She propped her chin in her hands, leaning forward to verify it actually was hair, and not a spider.

  “No, you’re going, all right. I’ll call and make the appointment in the morning. You’re going to make me kill myself running to see what’s wrong when you scream like that, and what if something is actually wrong but I’ve gotten used to you going off about things like this, and decide not to come?” My toe pulsed angrily. I hoped it wasn’t broken.

  She gave an unhappy shrug, and sighed. She knew she was going to the eye doctor’s no matter how hard she protested. And there would be no reprieve by going to her father. Not when I used that tone of voice.

  I was getting chilled sitting there in my damp towel, and my hair was still dripping. I was also getting Annamae’s covers wet. I stood.

  “Time for bed, Sugar. I’m going to finish my shower and dry my hair.” I stopped, thinking. “Did you finish your homework? You’ve got that thing you were supposed to do on the computer for tomorrow --”

  “I finished that, Mom. I already printed it out, and it’s in my bag,” she said as she pulled the covers back and slid under them. She pushed her full little lips out at me in a cute pucker.

  “Gimme a kiss. I promise not to hit any more inanimate objects tonight,” she added sheepishly. She’d been learning new words, and liked to throw them out there when she could.

  “Okay.” I leaned over and gave her a kiss on the chin as her kiss hit my nose. Sweet kid. Love her to death but she surely can’t see. I tucked the covers up around her, and twirled one of her pigtails. “Goodnight, Sugar.” I limped back to the bathroom to finish my shower.