November 17

Her father had noticed her there crouching underneath the tree looking in. He was always aware of when she stopped by but as his wife called his speech and memory into question daily, no one ever believed what he saw. Pop sat frustrated confined to his wheel chair after years of never sitting still. And so, it should not have come as a surprise to the family when his daughter, Abigail had left for a more glamorous life. Still, she should not have condemned them all and their embarrassing Latin American ways.

“Be proud you stupid girl” He had teased her growing up as she fiddled with her long curly hair. That had changed, that and so many other parts of her body. He knew he was dying, the looks in his families eyes made that more clear than the hours of testing done weekly at the hospital and more than anything, of course, he yearned for his family to come together in joy and reclaim their little starlet.

“Abby estas aqui”, he murmured as he was rolled into the living room. His wife looked up for a brief moment giving away her own longing to see her estranged daughter, but suppressed the idea. He had mumbled, she may have heard him wrong.

“What Pop?” She asked locking the wheels in place. The children were busy watching Sponge Bob and were annoyed by the interruption.

“Yo veo Abby… she is outside” His trembling hand moved from his lap and he tried to focus it to the window. ‘Of course now she was gone,’ he would like to continue saying but his wife had already dismissed him. She nodded and headed back into the kitchen hearing bursts of laughter coming from the table. Jeff was telling about the time they let their husky attack a yippy dog that had lived up the street.

Outside Abby’s cell phone began to ring. It was Richard, of course it was Richard. He had a keen sense of when she was doing something he would disapprove of. She thought about ignoring the call being in no real mood to answer his nagging questions; he would just keep calling.

“Hey Rick” She was passive aggressive but the nickname did the trick every time so there was no chance of her missing an opportunity to use it.

“Hello my dear. Where are you?” there was a loud base booming in the background. Richard was probably at a rehearsal.

“Just being a creeper”.