Page 19 of Booth

“Ms.McFarlan, do you have your mother’s paperwork?”Pulling it out of her oversized backpack, she handed it over to the other women.“Oh, you’ve filled it out.Thank you for that.That’ll save us a lot of time today.”

As she went over the paperwork that explained why her mom wasn’t working, and how much she made on social security.Which wasn’t all that much because her dad had been the breadwinner until he up and left Mom when she’d gotten sick five years ago.She’d not spoken to him or seen him since.

“Honey?”She looked at her mom with a smile.“We’re finished.Are you all right?You seemed to have taken a sleeping pill there for a bit.”She asked her what she’d missed.“Nothing much.Only I qualify for the food card for six hundred dollars a month.That’s all.”

They were both so excited, but they held onto their excitement until they could get to her car, and no one could hear them.That was a great deal more than she had been providing her mom monthly for food, and she couldn’t believe it.Six hundred dollars a month would see her mom through the entire month, too.

After getting everything in the car situated and put back in the envelopes that they’d been in, Doone took her mom home so that she could rest.The card would come to her registered mail tomorrow, and she needed to make sure she was at home to get it.The fact that it was starting so soon had her giddy.

“I’m going to get myself some of those fruits that I like so much first thing.”She asked her why she wasn’t getting them already.“They’re expensive and I can’t eat but a little bit of them on account of them being so rich.”Mom looked at her from the couch that she’d been lying on since they’d gotten her home and asked her if she’d mind taking her to the store tomorrow.

“It just so happens that I’m off both jobs tomorrow.I don’t know how it happened, but I’m going to think of it as a gift.We’ll go to the store and get you all that you want.”She said that she still had to be on a budget.“Yes, but I think you’ve been doing without for a while now, and you can get some ofthe things that you’ve missed out on because of the price.I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more, but this is wonderful.”

“You’ve helped me out more than I can ever repay you for.”She told her that she was her mom.I am, but I’m also smart enough to know that you’ve been working a great deal of overtime and that second job so that I could eat what I needed to eat.”

Because of the little bit of blood that she’d been given when they’d only given her a year to live, Mom had been saying that she didn’t want to be that sick again.Instead of listening to her or Mae about the blood and what it did for her, Mom took it to mean that at any time she could be ill again and would die.Neither of them wanted that.So in order for her mom to feel good about what a great thing she’d had done for her, she let her go on thinking whatever she wanted.It was good that she was eating healthy and exercising.It was also good that her mom had a better outlook on life than she did.But with this nice boom, she was going to be able to spend quality time with her mom rather than rushing around getting her appointments met or set up so that she could live a good life.

While her mom napped, she made sure that there were things on her list that she was going to need to get tomorrow, other than groceries.Then she read over the paperwork that came with her home to make sure that they were getting the right kind of groceries instead of getting to the line and paying only to find out that they’d gotten the wrong kind of things that didn’t qualify for.It did seem relatively easy to get sidetracked with the card, but the instructions were easy enough for her mom to use.

Since she had worked the overnight shift, Doone wasn’t supposed to be in until midnight tonight.Lying in the recliner that had been in their home when her mom had had one, she closed her eyes.She only worked the third shift because it gave her an extra buck fifty an hour more than working days.Doone was going to try her best to get on days so that she could be at home in the evenings more with her mom.She was all she had in the world and wanted to spend as much time with her as she could.

“Doone, honey, your phone is going off again.”She looked at it and saw that it was from the hospital, and they more than likely wanted her to come in early again.“Let me get to bed to rest, and you can have the couch.I don’t suppose it occurred to you to go into my bedroom and have a nice nap, did it?”

“That’s your bed.”Picking up her cell phone, she answered it before it went to voicemail and said her name.When they asked her if she could come in three hours early, she told them she would.That would be perfect for her to butter someone up about her getting on days.Plus, this check came in on the same week that she had to pay her own rent, and it would go a long way in giving her just a little extra to have lunch with her mom, she thought.

She had about six hours before she had to be at work, so she decided to lie down on the couch to get in a nice nap.Getting comfy on the thing was nearly impossible because she thought the sucker was older than she was.Maybe she’d be able to afford something newer for her mom now that she wasn’t buying her groceries anymore, and that would be good for her.Mom hadn’t had anything new since she’d moved into the housing three years ago.Mom deserved it more than anyone she knew.

Chapter 10

Booth was going to miss his brothers while they were gone on the cruise.Cullen had been reluctant to go, but Falkner talked him into it.They’d be gone until after Christmas, but they had their link that they could use when he missed them enough to need to talk to them.They were going to hold off on the holidays until they returned, and everyone was all right with that.To see Europe this time of year would be fantastic.He was going to take Dee on a nice cruise in the summer.

Now that he wasn’t working, it felt good to make plans for the day and the months coming up.He felt like he’d been freed, something that he’d never thought of when he’d been teaching.Just yesterday, he slept in until seven-thirty and felt good about it all day.Today, he had plans to go shopping for candy that he and Dee were going to hand out.The two of them had even gotten themselves costumes to wear when they did it.

He’d been playing with the decorations in the yard since Thursday and thought that he’d had them looking really good.If the number of kids coming by to see them was any indication, he was going to have to be handing out candy for hours after the time that they were supposed to stop.Not really, but he was looking forward to having a good time this year.

“I’ve been thinking about this holiday.Do you guys always go all out, or is this year something special?”He asked Dee why she asked.“I saw that your brothers have been decorating too.Like it’s some kind of rivalry between the four of you.”He laughed.

“Not that I’m aware of, but I did hear that Dallas was going to town to shop for some blow-ups like we have.This will be epic if we make it some kind of competition this year.I know that my parents have been going around telling who had what in their yards.”Dee nodded but looked confused.“This is fine, you know.A little healthy competition is good for the soul.”

“So long as we win, I don’t care.But we have some stiff competition from your brother Waylon.His hardware store looks like a haunted house.I don’t know that we can go that far.”He told her that they could.“Yes, I knew you’d say that, so I ordered us a huge pumpkin.It’ll be here tomorrow.Also, costumes for us to wear.As I said, it’ll only be healthy if we win.Otherwise, I’m going to have to beat your brothers at Thanksgiving.We should take an inventory now so we can get them in before Christmas and Thanksgiving.”

“I love the way your mind works, love.”He finished putting the haunted tree together and was headed for the house when Dee told him that lunch was ready.“I wanted to tell you that I’ve heard from the board about my classes.As you can imagine, they’re none too happy with me quitting like I did.They said that I owed them at least a year’s notice.I’m not going back.I hadn’t realized how burnt out I was until I got some time off.It’s been revealing to me, too, that I’m not stressing about not going back either.I think it’s because of you and the rest of the family supporting me the way that you have.”

“I’m less stressed as well.I love your family, but I wanted to spend time with you all the time.I know that sounds selfish, but I don’t care.I love having you around all the time.And I think that your family does as well.”He said that he’d already heard from Faulkner and Cullen about how much fun they’re having and are glad that they can just contact him when they want.“Good for them.I know that Cullen got talked into going, but I think he needed to get away, too.It’ll be good for the two of them.Besides, who wants to go on a cruise on their own?This way they can have fun together.”

After lunch, he did what Dee suggested and took an inventory of what they had left in the barn.He found a lot more Christmas than he’d first thought and was excited to be able to get it out.There was a Santa that stood all by himself, plus there was one in a sled that he thought was filled with little elves and packages.There were little boxes that still had the tags on them that had never been taken out of the box, too.Some of them were Halloween even.

When it started getting dark out, he made his way into the house.Dee had come out to talk to him a few times, and he loved being near to her too.When she told him that dinner was ready, he expected to grill out, but they were having a hearty soup and homemade bread.The perfect combo for the cooler weather.After dinner, the two of them sat in the living room to watch a preseason game on television.This, he thought, is the way to be a wealthy man.

“I have no worries.”Dee told him that was good.“No, you don’t understand.I couldn’t have done what I did today even if it were a weekend.I’d have to be grading papers and fixing assignments.I love this being a man of leisure.”

“How long before you need to get out and do something again?You Dixons don’t strike me as being the leisurely type of men.Even the women are busy all the time.Did I tell you that I have to bake a hundred dozen cookies to take to the school for some reason?I would love to see Amy or one of the others baking cookies.But I’m going to do it.Bake them all by myself.”He told her good for her.“You might not say that when you see just how many a hundred dozen cookies are.I know that it’s twelve hundred cookies, but that just seems like a great many of them if we’re all making them.”

“They do it for the exchange.You’re to bake twelve hundred cookies all the same.”Dee asked him what that meant.“You keep a dozen of your cookies for yourself, then you trade your other cookies for someone else’s cookies.Until you have twelve different kinds to set out at Christmas.I don’t know that they don’t set them out for Thanksgiving, too, but that’s what you do with the exchange.It’s kinda fun.Mom’s been doing it for years.And she always has the best cookies out at Christmas and beyond.My favorite is Mrs.Amber’s chocolate chip ones with walnuts.I don’t know what she does with them, but they’re chewy from the first bite until the last.I could eat an entire dozen of them on my own.”

“I’ll have to remember that.I don’t like walnuts in my cookies, but I’ll bake you some for the house while I’m slaving over baking twelve hundred others.”They both laughed when he tickled her.“Your mom is making no bakes.I don’t understand why she has to make them on a cloudless day.”

“Humidity.If there is too much humidity in the air, they don’t set up.You don’t bake them, but do some kind of mixing with oats and chocolate that makes them get firm enough to eat.I love those too.”He laughed.“I think I have a bit of a sweet tooth like my grandpa Simpson does.He loves this time of year when the women start baking cookies and pies.”

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