Broken Tears 18

Sorry for the delay. I will have new chapters about once a week.
Broken Tears 18

Melody opened the door slowly to go into the house. She did not know if Caroline was walking Grace or if she had taken some pain medicine and was a little drowsy. She walked into the living room and peeked to see if Caroline was reading or taking a nap. She thought that something smelled peculiar. It did not seem that there was anything cooking on the stove yet.

“Caroline. Caroline. Are you here?” She heard no answer from Caroline or Grace for that matter.

“Well I guess I am in luck. She is walking Grace before dark like I asked her to.” she whispered to herself. She turned on the outside light to the front door so that Caroline would know that she was home and the area was safely lit. She walked though to the hall closet and carefully put the package in the back behind some Kleenex boxes that she had recently bought.

As she turned around she finally got a stronger whiff of the gas that had been leaking out of the stove from the kitchen.

“Oh my! There’s a gas leak here. I don’t see Caroline. Maybe Grace is in the backyard and Caroline is in her bedroom.” She felt her stomach get into a big knot and rushed into Caroline’s room. Caroline’s bed had been made and there was the glass of water and the bottle of pills on the bedside table. The lamp on the table was off. In the aquarium the light was off but the fish were swimming around waiting for their food. Caroline’s funny bedroom slippers were next to the bed. Caroline’s school books were neatly piled on her desk. The room felt cool and unused.

“I can’t imagine where she could be and “ cough, cough, “ I don’t think I should” cough, cough “stay here myself.”

Melody closed the door to her daughter’s room and picked up her purse as she walked out of the living room. She closed the door but forgot to lock it. As she hurried to the car, she tried to recall the names of her daugher’s friends who she could contact. She knew that one of Caroline’s friends Katie Savakis was a few blocks from her house. The parents had carpooled a few times when they had to stay late for band practice. Katie was one of the best flute players in the district and also had gone to some competitions for piano. Whenever there was a solo contest, Katie and Caroline were a great team that won first places in the last two years.

Melody got into her car and backed out of the driveway. She headed off to Katie’s house to see if Caroline was there or had even talked to her that day.

As Melody drove away, Caroline had been sitting with Mrs. Shelton, she had noticed the UPS truck that had stopped in the street and soon drove away. She had been more concerned with Mrs. Shelton’s condition than where the truck had gone. When Mrs. Shelton began to breathe more normally, Caroline remembered that she needed to call the gas company.

“Mrs. Shelton, if you are doing better now, I would like to call the gas company.” she said as she stood up.

Mrs. Shelton nodded her head and continued to try to focus on relaxing and sending positive thoughts to the baby. “Yes, Caroline. I’ll just sit her for a few more minutes. And then I think I’ll call my husband to come home a little early.”

“Okay. I might have to stay with you until the gas company sends out it’s repair crew but I can help you until they arrive.” Caroline went into the kitchen make the phone call. She was impress with the response of the company who said that they would be at her house in ten to fifteen minutes. As she was hanging up the phone, she remember that her mother would be there soon and she had to leave a note to warn her mother to not go into the house. She would also include the fact that she was next door with Mrs. Shelton.

“I made the call but forgot that mother would soon be home. Do you have some paper that I can write a note on to let her know that she cannot go into the house because of the leak?”

Mrs. Shelton nodded okay and pointed to the desk where she had personalized notepads. The notepads had the picture of flowers all around the border. Caroline wrote a quick message and left to put it on her door. As she left she saw that Grace had sat down quietly in the corner and arose to follow her.

“No Grace. I want you to stay here. I’ll be back.” Grace still continued to come with Caroline.

Mrs. Shelton smiled at the fact that Grace wanted to go out with her friend.

“I guess she will be going to obedience school soon.” Mrs. Shelton observed.

“Well only if we keep her. We are fostering her now, but because she noticed the gas, I am going to urge mother that we need a good dog like Grace.”

“I would too.” Mrs. Shelton tried to stand and felt that her balance and strength was good enough for her to go to the kitchen to make the call to her husband. “I’ll just call my husband and then sit in the kitchen to finish the carrots.”

Caroline walked out of the house. She had not noticed that her mother had driven down the street and turned the corner to go to Katie’s house. As she walked up the sidewalk, she noticed that the outside light was on.

“Hm. I don’t remember that I turned on the outside light.” She began to walk slower and stopped at the front door. She slowly put the note on the door at eye’s height. As she did so, the door glided open.

“Oh now I do remember closing and locking the door. This is not right. Grace” as Caroline turned to talk to Grace she saw her lovely dog going across the yard and chasing the squirrel that she had seen earlier. The squirrel began to jump from tree to tree and Grace went with her.

“No Grace. Come back!” Caroline shouted.

Grace seemed in a lovely world of her own. She saw another squirrel across the street and ran after that one too.

Caroline closed the door and ran after her naughty dog. This time Grace was again going to be in the dog house.