Her Mother’s Grave

Chapter Four

JOSIE – SIX YEARS OLD

“Hey, JoJo, want to play a game?”

Josie heard her mother’s words drifting down the dark hallway of the trailer, slithering under the door to her bedroom. The red crayon she clutched in her right hand froze, hovering over the coloring book her mother had given her earlier that day. She hardly ever gave Josie presents, so Josie had taken it and run off to her bedroom, closing the door and spreading out on the floor with all of her crayons before her mother could think about taking it back. She had already colored four full pages.

“JoJo,” came the voice again. “Mommy wants to play a game.”

Josie stared at the half-colored flower beneath her hand. Her mother rarely wanted to play games. “Coming,” she called back.

She stuffed her crayons back into their box, closed her coloring book, and snatched up her small stuffed dog, Wolfie. Racing into the living room, she found her mother sprawled across the lumpy brown couch. Across from her, the television played a newscast on mute. Dust motes floated in the late-afternoon sun that streamed through the windows. “JoJo,” her mother said in a sing-song voice. “Come closer.”

Josie took a step forward. “What kind of game are we going to play, Mommy?”

Soft laughter carried through the air. “The kind where we see how fast you can get me a beer from the fridge.”

“Oh.” Josie knew from experience it was only seven steps from where she stood to the fridge. Her mother always put her beer cans on the bottom shelf so Josie could reach them easily. Sometimes her mother counted off the seconds as Josie raced back and forth to the fridge, but not today. As she handed her mother a beer, she saw the belt loose around her upper arm, and on the couch beside her, a blackened spoon, a lighter, and a needle. Josie never asked what these things were for, but they made her feel funny inside. She was staring at the small dark scab in the crook of her mother’s elbow when the trailer door burst open behind her.

Wolfie fell from her grasp as she turned to see a man standing in the doorway.