Just Me - M J Marlow (reading strategies book .txt) 📗

Joseph caught my arm and looked at me in concern. “No more work for you, Sweetness,” he said sternly as he saw the weariness in my eyes. “As for me, I have to get on patrol to make up for that long lunch.” He kissed me on the forehead and I saw an expression in his eyes that puzzled me. It was gone so quickly that I knew I had to be imagining it. Joseph was my friend. He did not have any romantic feelings for me. “Lock up tight tonight, Maggie,” he said as he turned away. “If you get any more of these kind of gifts, call me at once.” “Thanks for lunch, Joseph,” I nodded and shut the door behind him, locking and latching it. I moved through the house and made certain every door and window was fastened tight. When I finally went into my bedroom three hours later I froze as I saw a single black rose resting on my bedspread. A note was wound around it and tied with a black ribbon. My fingers were shaking as I picked it up and pulled the note free. ‘They hid you well, little girl,’ the note read, ‘but I know where you are now and I am coming for you.’ I dropped it and backed away. This was not happening to me! I wasn’t anyone that maniacs would target. I was just plain bookish Maggie Mason. Why was this all happening to me now? I stumbled back and knocked the phone off of the table in the hall. I was picking it back up when I saw a figure standing on the balcony outside my bedroom. He was clothed all in black and his face was hidden. He raised a knife and drew it across his own throat and I screamed and backed into the corner, my arms wrapped around my knees. “Maggie, honey,” Joseph said gently as he came towards me. He’d been in the driveway coming to check on me when he’d heard me scream. “What is it?” I could only shake my head and whimper. He went into my bedroom and came out with the second gift. I would not look at it. “I think you’d better stay somewhere else tonight. I’m calling Ruth.” He dialed a number and his sister was on the line. “Sis. Maggie has been getting some disturbing gifts tonight. She needs our guest room.” He smiled. “I knew she could count on you, Ruth.” He crouched down in front of me and raised my eyes to his. “Talk to me, Maggie.” “You’ll think I’m nuts, Joshua,” I said softly. “I couldn’t possibly have seen what I think I saw.” “Tell me anyway,” Joseph prodded gently as he picked me up in his arms and jogged across the back yard and crossed the bridge over the stream to his brother-in-law’s property. When I did he didn’t tell me I was nuts. He nodded and looked angry and concerned. He saw the tears in my eyes and laid his hand on my cheek. Ruth was opening the front door and her concerned look put a halt to my imagination. “Here she is Ruth.” “You take her up,” Ruth nodded as she saw how pale I was. “I’ll get my bag.” “Ruth will give you something to help you sleep,” Joseph said as he set me down on the bed in the guest room. “I’ll send Abner over to fix the door I broke.” “Was…wasn’t your key there?” I asked him. I had a key placed in a spot only the two of us were aware of for emergency use. “I have to admit, Maggie,” Joseph said honestly, “that when I heard you screaming the last thing on my mind was wasting time looking for the key. I only knew I had to get in there to help you.” He looked up at his sister who was looking quite shocked at his admission. “I need to check out the balcony and the grounds before I go back to work.” “I’ll take good care of her, Joey,” Ruth assured him. He kissed me on the forehead and took off. “I’ll get you a nightgown and robe, Maggie,” Ruth nodded, “and run you a bath. You’ll feel better after a nice warm bath.” I heard her move off but I just sat there staring. A moment later I heard the water running. I just could not seem to function yet and I loved Joseph and his sister for coming to my aid. She got me up and helped me undress and get into the tub. She put a bell on the rim of the tub. “If you feel another panic attack coming on, ring this bell. All right, Maggie?” I think I nodded, but I could not be certain. Somehow I managed to wash my hair and body, the movements on auto-pilot. I found myself standing on the rug outside the tub with towels on my hair and around my body, but that was it. I could not make myself move another step. And then I was on my knees, sobbing as if my heart was breaking. “It’s better than numb, Maggie,” Ruth said as she helped me up and into the nightgown. She sat me down in front of the vanity table and combed out my hair for me. Then she got me into the bed and put the bell in my hand. I clung to it tightly and she stroked my cheek and got out her bag. “I was afraid to give you a sedative earlier, you were so deep in shock. But this should help you relax and allow you to get some sleep.” She fixed the needle and gave me the shot. I looked away as always; I hated needles. “That’s a champ,” Ruth said and stroked my arm. She had been my doctor ever since she had come back to town five years ago and knew about my phobia from personal experience. “I’ll be just next door if you need me.” “I feel like such a baby,” I whimpered as the ice continued to ease around my mind and body. “Someone is probably just playing pranks on me and I’m acting like the heroine in a Gothic novel.” “It’s better to treat these things seriously, Maggie,” Ruth said as she watched me carefully for any adverse side effects. “Joey will treat it that way. He has a soft spot for pretty copper-haired bookworms.” She saw me looking for him and hid her smile. “He’ll find out how the man got into your home.” I knew I had to be dreaming that comment about his soft spot. Joseph North would never look at me twice with all the pretty women in this college town. I drifted off and dreamed of him and in my dreams he came into my room and pressed a gentle kiss on my forehead and murmured assurances to me. He would make certain no one would ever hurt me. It was a very pleasant dream and I woke up feeling much better about things. I got dressed and went downstairs wondering why I smelled pancakes. I was a cup of tea and a piece of dry toast kind of breakfast eater. There hadn’t been a cooked meal at this time of the day since Uncle Craig had died five years earlier. Then I remembered that I wasn’t in my home. I shivered as I put my clothes back on and went downstairs “Good morning, Maggie,” Ruth smiled as she turned from the griddle when I entered her kitchen. “How many?” “I’m not real big on breakfast, Ruth,” I started to protest. She made a face at me and I knew I was in danger of a lecture about my eating habits. “Two, please.” She smiled then and the lecture was averted. I could see her twin sons out in the back yard marching around with sticks over their shoulders. Ruth followed my gaze and smiled. “Their Uncle Joseph told them you needed protection,” Ruth laughed. “They’ve been out there since he left this morning.” She looked at me pointedly. “He said to tell you he’ll be back to check in with you at lunchtime.” “You’ve raised some very special sons there, Ruth,” I smiled and shook my head. “There’s homemade syrup?” I asked in astonishment as I saw the pitcher on the table. “When did you get up, Ruth?” “I’m used to being up early,” Ruth smiled as she slid two pancakes off the platter onto my plate. “I am the town doctor after all, and I have to make certain the twins got a proper breakfast. Daniel would just hand them a box of cereal and leave them to forage. I love the man dearly but he can be so absent-minded about things.” Daniel Armstrong, Ruth’s husband, was also the town mayor. She looked at me critically. “You’re still far too pale, Maggie.” She slid onto a chair and put three pancakes on her own plate. We ate in an easy silence that five years of friendship had formed. “This is nice. You should come visit me more often. No screaming kids, and no spilled milk. It’s heaven.” “You adore your kids,” I laughed with her. “I wish…” I quieted and held my thoughts to myself. Ruth didn’t want to hear about my unfulfilled dreams. I picked at the pancakes and she frowned. “I’m sure they taste fine, Ruth. I just don’t have much of an appetite.” I sighed heavily. “I have to stop listening to those old voices, that’s all.” I cut into the pancakes and took a bite, sighing in pleasure. “These are good!” I looked down at my thighs. “And see, no extra poundage anywhere in sight.” “You were told that old lie, too?” Ruth laughed. “Mine was my Mom. Yours?” “Sister Clarissa at Holy Angels,” I said softly. “She made it sound like anything we put in our mouths would lead us straight to obesity and gluttony. A lot of skinny children came out of the orphanage while she was in charge of the kitchens.” “Some people can cause a lot of damage trying to be kind,” Ruth said softly. She was five years older than her younger brother and had been attending medical school in Boston when I had come to Briarton. “How old were you when you were placed in the orphanage, Maggie?” “About seven years old, I think,” I replied. “I used to wonder why no one wanted me,” I remembered the old hurt of watching other children being adopted while I remained behind. “I guess I was a homely kid even then.” What are you talking about?” Joseph’s voice sounded from the hall door. I squeaked in fright and turned towards him, knocking over the orange juice glass. “Clumsy, maybe,” he smiled gently as he got the paper towels and mopped up my mess; “but not homely.” He took my chin in his hand and turned my head from side to side. He shook his head. “Nope,” he said with a warm smile on his face; “anything but homely, Maggie Mason.” “I think your brother needs his eyes examined, Ruth,” I laughed self-consciously as Ruth got a wet paper towel and went over the places he’d just mopped up. “Any leads on those ‘gifts’ I’ve been receiving?” “It’s only been eight hours, Maggie,” Joseph replied. “Even a crackerjack lab like ours needs a little time to process the information it’s given.” “How old are you?” I laughed at my friend. “Crackerjack? Who talks like that?” “I do,” Joseph tweaked one of the curls framing my face. “It’s Saturday. Do you have any plans for today?” “No, I…” I started to reply and then had to groan. “Maxine set up a meeting with a researcher from Minnesota at six p.m.” I had to go home and get the preliminary information together for the man. I felt faint