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Paddle Your Own Canoe
Chapter 13


“DEE!”  The voice coming over the phone was without question coming from someone who was anxious.  “This is Genita!”

“Yes, Genita.  Are you all right?”  Dee knew she wasn't.

“Has your mother called this morning?”

“No.  As a matter of fact, not.”  Dee wasn't too worried. Her mother was ninety years old, but she had a way of keeping a lively life style.  No telling what had gone on over night.  Genita was a retired business woman who was of her tribe and, of course, always felt obligated to worry over the elders.”

“Well, you better call her.  She was very upset and scared last night. She called me and I called 911.”

“OH  dear!  What happened?”  Dee was waiting for no telling what now since 911 had been called.   She knew Genita was not so frivolous as to call them over nothing.

“That woman who was staying with her to help her?  Well she got  got drunk!  Your mother was really scared. I don't know why she didn't call you.”

“Oh she was ashamed to call, probably.  She knew we didn't want that girl to stay with her.”

“I'd better call her right now.  I'll talk with you later.  Thank you so much for calling me.”  Dee was anxious to get off the telephone. She was more than a little peeved. They all had tried to discourage their mother from using that particular girl, but she, of course, was not in a habit of letting her children  tell her what to do.

“Mother, are you all right?”

“What?”

Dee knew her mother's need for wanting to be able to live alone and take care of herself.”   “Genita called me.”

“Oh yeah!  I'm all right.”

“Genita  told me Twila got drunk last night?”

“She shore was.”  Dee's mother wasn't going to give out any information without being quizzed.

“She didn't try to hurt you did she?”

“Oh no!”  The older woman was carefully thinking things through as she had done all her life.

She did not want to live with any of her children,  hated apartments, and the doctor told her a rest home wasn't for her either.  The comfortable living quarters  her younger daughter bought for her was exactly what she wanted.  It was an older bungalow and was a bit like their old ranch home except that it was much smaller. The structure  was located in among the older   residential dwellings  where the people she had always known throughout her life had lived.   For some reason the area gave her a feeling of security.   That plus this homey place  was like the one she and her husband  enjoyed when she was youthful.

The problem was that she did have a heart attack at one time and it wasn't a good idea for her to stay alone, thus the live-in girl.  The problem as to having a girl who was a   recovering alcoholic meant nothing to their mother.  The girl was a distant relative.  She needed a place to stay and she was good to the older woman.

“You know, Mother, I didn't agree with your having that girl, right from the start.  I was worried she would slip off the wagon.”  Dee knew better than to express her displeasure to a great extent.  Her mother was aged but she wasn't stupid  or easily intimidated.  For once her mother was more contrite. She wasn't at all ready to defend her decision.

“Oh, I know.  But, I thought she was doing so well.  She is related to me too, you know.   I couldn't just turn my back on her.”

“I doubt that she is that desperate.  She probably could teach us a thing or two about survival.”  Dee knew she best not say too much.

“Are you feeling all right?  Do you think you need to go in to the doctor?”

“I'm okay.”  The older woman was clipped in her speech and definite in her reply, which made her daughter believe she  was fine.

“I'll come in there as soon as I can get away here.”

Dee hung up the phone and called her sister.  “What can you tell me about last night, Mother and Twila?”

“Do you have at least and hour?''   Dee's sister was chuckling.


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