Page 20 of Healed
“Maybe he is watching a movie,” Daisy said.
“Not changing the channel so much. He just doesn’t want to tell me he’s not tired yet. So he just sits there all alone until he falls asleep.”
“You know what, Carson. I don’t think your dad is lonely because he’s got you. I think he’s very happy because he’s got you.”
Carson thought about it. “Maybe.” He watched everything going past through the darkness outside until Daisy finally pulled off the highway and drove them up a gravel driveway and into the woods. “You live in the woods?”
“Well, not exactly. I live in a house by some other houses, but this road certainly makes it look like we’re going into the woods, doesn’t it?” she asked.
“Yeah. It’s kinda scary.”
“It’s really pretty in the daytime. One day you’ll have to come see it in the daytime.”
“Okay,” Carson said, his little head on pivot as he tried to look forward through the windshield, then left, then right, all at the same time.
It wasn’t long before the lights on Kaid’s porch could be glimpsed through the darkness.
“Is that your house?” Carson asked, pointing toward the flickering lights through the trees.
“No, that’s my Uncle Kaid’s house.” Daisy kept driving until they cleared the trees and Kaid’s house was easily seen.
“Oh, I see it! Your uncle lives there?”
“Yes, and my other uncle and aunt live in that house right there, and my other uncle and aunt live in that one back there,” she said, as they very slowly made their way past Kaid’s, Avaleigh’s, and Maverik’s houses. She took a left, following the road and it was only a few moments before the other houses started coming into view.
“I see more houses!” Carson said.
“Yep. That’s my cousin, Jobe’s house, but he doesn’t live here anymore. And that is my Uncle Bam’s house, and that one,” she said, pointing to the only house on the right, “is my family’s house.”
“It’s pretty. I like the big stairs and the porch.”
“Me, too. It goes all around so you can sit anywhere on it you want to just enjoy being outside. We used to decorate it every year for each holiday.”
“You don’t decorate it anymore?”
“Not as much as we used to, but we decorate it a little.”
“I would decorate it all the time if I lived here.”
“You can decorate your house.”
“It’s an apartment. We got a lot of other people living in our building, too, and they don’t all like to decorate.”
“You could do your door.”
“We used to where I used to live, but we didn’t do it yet here.”
“I’m sure you will,” she said, pulling her jeep into her usual parking place in front of the house. “Okay, we’re home,” she said. She turned off the jeep and dropped her keys in her purse. “I’m going to come around and help you get out and then we’ll go inside. Okay?”
He was looking up at the warm glow of the amber colored lights in the fixtures on the porch. “Are your parents going to be mad because I’m here?”
“What?! Of course, not. Why would you ask that?”
“Because you didn’t tell them I was coming.”
“They won’t mind. They love kids. And anybody I bring home is a friend of mine, and they’re always nice to my friends.”
He just looked at her, his eyes wide.
