A Lady Under Siege(16)

“Can you do it?” Jan asked.

“Yes of course. I’ll be up half the night though.”

“Don’t kill yourself over it.”

“I have better reasons to kill myself,” said Meghan. “Though I’d rather kill Seth right now.”

That started a whole other conversation, and by the time she hung up the phone, and went to the kitchen and looked at the clock, she realised with a shock thirty minutes had passed. Betsy. Through the backdoor window she could see her daughter happily bounding up and down in the air. Up and down, on what? A trampoline. She opened the door and took in the sight of her neighbour Derek watching her daughter from his back yard. His elbows rested on top of the fence and he was drinking beer from a can.

“One, two, three, go for it, Bets!” he shouted encouragingly.

Betsy did a full forward somersault and landed on her feet. Her face was flushed with excitement and pride as she rebounded skyward.

Meghan called out, “Betsy!”

At the top of her trajectory, Betsy met her mother’s gaze. Her body froze, and completely forgetting herself she came down hard, catching her feet on the metal edge of the trampoline. It pitched downward and catapulted her—she frantically waved her arms and legs for balance, but in an instant she’d been projected like a missile, head first onto the lawn, crash-landing in a full-on face plant of the kind that wins prizes on Funniest Home Video shows.

Meghan raced over to her in a panic. “Are you alright, are you alright?” she cried out, but Betsy was already pulling herself to her feet. She batted her mom’s helping hands away, shouting, “I’m fine. I’m fine! I’m not hurt at all.”

“Let me look at you.”

Betsy felt her lips. “I’ve got grass in my mouth,” she said. “But it really didn’t hurt.”

“Grass and dirt,” said Meghan. “All over your face.”

“Think they used pesticides on it?” Betsy asked.

“I don’t know,” said Meghan.

Derek piped up. “Nah, the last owners never used anything. They just left it, more or less. They were really old, sweet ancient people. Deaf as posts, both of them—the ideal neighbours for me. Then he died and she had to go into a home.”

“Derek gave me the trampoline,” said Betsy excitedly. “Do you like it?”

“No,” said Meghan, bristling at the idea that the two of them were on a first name basis. “It’s old and decaying and I’m sure it wouldn’t pass safety standards.”

“But it’s fun!” Betsy protested.

“It’s dangerous. I don’t want it.”

“Did Daddy leave? You told me I could do anything I wanted once you finished your talk.”

“He left, and yes, that’s true, I did say that, but—”

“Then I get to keep the trampoline,” she trumpeted. She sang it over and over, like a victory song. “I get to keep the trampoline! I get to keep the trampoline!”

“We’ll see,” Meghan told her. “No promises. Go inside and get your face cleaned up, and let me talk to our neighbour for a minute.”

Betsy ran into the house. Derek took a final swig from his beer and dropped the empty into the dirt behind him.

“I see you two have made fast friends,” she said coolly.

“Lovely girl. Full of life,” he answered.

“Yes, she is. And the key to that is to let her win some battles sometimes. I wish I didn’t have to let her win this one. But I’m afraid I do.”

“Excellent plan,” said Derek. “Compromise is essential to civilized life. Without it we’re just animals.”

Meghan let that pass without comment. She was tempted to say, Yes, and speaking of animals, last night I saw you rutting like one. But the way he looked down at her over the fence put her on the defensive, as if he were the judge and she the one on trial, when it should have been the other way round. She stood as tall as she could and said, “You weren’t very civilized last night.”

“Was I rude?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Then I’m sorry. I don’t remember it all that well.”

“You were yelling at me in my window.”

“I was responding to someone yelling down at me, as I recall.”

“But I wasn’t rude. You were.”

“And I’ve apologized. I was inebriated, so I wasn’t myself. Except that I usually am inebriated, so I guess I was myself. In any case we did kill the noise and put out the party lights, just for you, more or less. I hope you got back to sleep?”