“Something like that.”
“What did you guys have planned, besides the nasty?”
Nick adjusted the brown striped pillow with silver accents beneath his head. “We were going to order a pizza and watch a movie on Netflix.”
“Oh that’s perfect! Madison loves pizza and movies on Netflix.”
“Dawn of the Dead,” Nick said flatly.
Silence took the line. “Nick, come on, dude. She’s seven. Ya gotta do this for me or Kathy is going to hate you.”
“She already does!”
“That is not true,” Matt said calmly.
Nick switched the TV back to golf and sat up. “What about mom?”
“Busy.”
“Kathy’s mom?”
“Even busier. Come on, Nick. I’ll owe you big time.”
Nick let out a tired breath. “Alright.”
“Sweet! We’ll drop her off at six with Toy Story 3 and money for the pizza.”
Nick’s eyebrows dipped. “Toy Story 3?”
“Who is it?” Madison asked, her hand on the front doorknob.
A slight pause followed. “It’s Summer,” came muffled from the other side.
“Let her in,” Nick said, still holding down the couch.
Madison unlocked the deadbolt and opened the large red door with both hands.
“Well hello there,” Summer said, stepping inside and smiling at the little freckled-faced girl staring back at her. She glanced over to Nick, puzzlement flickering across her face.
“Summer this is my niece, Madison,” Nick said, sweeping a hand out towards his niece.
“Hi Madison.”
Madison smiled bashfully and trotted out into the kitchen. Summer watched her go and then turned to him narrow eyes.
“I’m sorry. My brother and his wife got tickets to Taylor Swift at the last minute, so I’m doing him a favor by letting her spend the night.”
“Oh wow,” she said, taking off her long black coat. “I guess I didn’t know you had a niece.”
“Well, you do now!” Madison piped in, skipping back into the room with a chocolate chip cookie already missing a bite.
“Hey, quit eating all of those cookies,” Nick snapped, pointing a finger at her.
Madison stopped chewing just long enough to stick a tongue out at him.
Nick’s eyes thinned and she began laughing. He sprang off the couch and Madison bolted down the hallway, shrieking as her sneakers squeaked on the hard wood floors. Nick pulled up and casually walked back into the living room “Works every time.”
“I’m not scared of you!” Madison yelled from the spare bedroom across from his.
“You should be! I know Brazilian jiu-jitsu.”
“Looks like you’re going to have a full house tonight,” Summer whispered, planting a kiss on his lips. “Hope you have room for one more.” she smiled, pulling a pink toothbrush from her purse.
“We might be able to squeeze you in. Let me check the books,” he said, pulling her close and kissing her again.
“Ewe gross!” Madison cried, running past them and burying her face into the couch.
He pulled away. “Don’t get crumbs on that couch or you are going to be sleeping in the closet again.”
Madison laughed and turned around, producing a cookie covered tongue this time.
Nick frowned. “Okay, I’m going to be sick.”
Nick tipped the pizza guy and shut the front door. “Alright, who’s hungry?”
Madison’s hand shot into the air.
“No one? Guess I’ll eat the whole thing myself then.”
Madison pursed her lips and folded her arms across her pink hoodie with the word Colorado printed in white letters across its front. “Uncle Nick!”
He smiled and set the pizza box next to some paper plates and napkins on the coffee table. “Did you wash your hands?”
Madison nodded, eyeballing the pizza box.
"That a girl," he said, opening the lid to reveal a cheesy sausage and mushroom pizza, glimmering in warm grease.
Madison stared at the pie and licked her lips. "My teacher makes us wash our hands every fifteen minutes at school, but we mainly only use hand-sanitizer."
Nick placed a thin slice on a paper plate and set it in front of her. "Hand sanitizer?"
Madison scooped up the pizza and nodded, chomping into its pointed end. "They have dispensers all over the school, even on the playground."
"Seriously?" he asked, setting a slice in front of Summer.
Madison nodded while chewing with her mouth closed.
"When I was a kid, you know what we used for hand sanitizer?"
She shrugged.
"Dirt."
Madison cracked up like it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard.
"If you got a cut on your knee, we just rubbed a little dirt in it," he said, taking a seat on the couch next to Madison.
She giggled again. “That’s so gross, Uncle Nick.”
“I love your pretty red hair,” Summer said, gently stroking Madison’s long strawberry locks.
Madison blushed but kept her jaws grinding. “My mom has the same color.”
“Does she? Are you sad you didn’t get to go see Taylor Swift with her tonight?”
Madison shook her head. “I’m tired of Taylor Swift.”
Summer and Nick both cracked up.
“Who do you like now? That beaver kid?” Nick asked.
“It’s Beiber, and yes he’s my favorite.”
Nick arched and eyebrow and cast a sideways look at Summer. “That’s too bad.”
“So do you work in a bank?” Madison asked, glancing up at Summer.
Summer smiled. “I sure do.”
“What do you do there?”
“Well, I handle different kinds of commercial accounts.”
“Oh,” Madison said, bored and ready to move on to the next subject. “Is Uncle Nick your boyfriend?”
Nick’s eyes doubled in size.
Summer threw her head back and laughed, covering her mouth with her hand.
For a moment, Nick could have sworn he saw her milky complexion start blushing. But then it was gone. “Madison, don’t start talking crazy talk. You wanna spend the rest of your life locked up in a straight-jacket?”
Madison laughed and bounced against the back of couch.
“Your Uncle Nick is pretty crazy, isn’t he?”
Madison nodded and swallowed. “Is summer your favorite time of year or something?”
Summer laughed, trading glances with Nick over Madison’s head. “Yep, I don’t like the cold.”
“Me neither,” Madison concurred, taking another bite.
Nick looked from Summer to her steaming cup of coffee. “You sure you don’t want a Coke or a beer or something?”
She shook her head and carefully sipped the hot coffee.
He cocked his head. “That is so gross,” he said, mimicking Madison.
Madison laughed like he had just told the funniest joke in the world and started choking. The smile on her face quickly dissolved into a look of sheer panic. Nick sat up and began patting her on the back as her eyes watered. She tried inhaling but the air held onto the edges of her mouth, refusing to go down. He slapped harder. Summer set her plate down and sinuously wrapped her arms around Madison’s midsection, clasping her hands together into a fist over her bellybutton. Nick hastily set his plate on the coffee table with a loud clank. Madison’s eyes bulged while the color in her face drained. Her breath hitched as she gasped for air that wouldn’t come. Nick’s heart pounded. The one time she spends the night and she was going to end up dead.
Summer jerked her fist back but Madison kept choking. Summer contracted again and this time Madison gagged and sent a piece of sausage flying over the coffee table. It hit the shiny wood floor and slid to a stop in front of the narrow TV stand. Air rushed back into her small lungs with a long wheezing sound. She coughed and drew in another breath that felt like it could move furniture.
Nick sat there with his eyes almost as wide open as his mouth.
Summer turned her around and examined her pasty face. “Are you okay, sweetie?”
Madison nodded, tears already making a break for it down her freckled cheeks.
“Here, take a drink of your pop,” Nick said, handing her a can of Coke.
She gulped down a few chugs and then let out a long, rolling burp.
“Are you okay?” Nick asked, sitting on the edge of the couch.
She nodded with a hearty sniffle and carefully set the can back down.
“Holy cow, you scared the heck out of me,” he said, brushing red hair from her scared little face.
“I thought I was going to die,” she sobbed.
“Hey, hey, you think we’re going to let that happen? No way, kiddo,” he said, shooting her a big smile.
She sniffed again and Summer handed her a napkin to dry her tears.
“Now, if you would have gotten pizza on this rug, that would be a different story,” Nick told her.
Madison laughed lightly and coughed a few more times with her hand covering her mouth.
Nick turned to Summer, his jaw still hanging in the air. “How did you do that?”
She looked down to her hands and smiled. “I was a lifeguard for two summers in high school.”
He returned his attention to Madison. “Well, maybe Uncle Nick is going to have to get something stuck in his throat soon, cuz that looked pretty fun.”
Madison giggled and inhaled another deep gulp of oxygen. “So, are you two going to get married?”
Nick and Summer traded an awkward glance.
“Okay, time for Toy Story 3!” he replied, grabbing the remote.
Chapter Three
At least his grandma’s screened in front porch was dry because it was coming down in buckets out there. Nick couldn’t remember ever being here at night before and wanted to make this quick. Lightning flashed outside like an old fashioned camera, temporarily lighting up his grandma’s rocking chair and the potted plants taking up too much space around the edges of the crowded porch. Thunder followed with a deafening crack, shaking the old house on its foundation. He flinched and peered through two small square windows above the heavy knocker on the front door. For a ninety-three year-old lady who couldn’t see worth a damn, she had the worst lighting in the world on in there.
The door was unlocked. It clicked open and creaked inward. The smell of moth balls, mice poop and old lay greeted him as he scanned the dimly lit living room.
“Grandma?”
The deluge of fat raindrops pelting the worn out shingles was his only response. He left the door open and crept across the threadbare carpet, past the darkened fireplace, the old upright piano with yellowed sheet music, and her favorite hunter green recliner. Over the years, her rear end had left its imprint in the dry vinyl, causing cracks to run through it like a burned out wasteland. The house’s smell grew stronger the further he went, making his nose wrinkle. Slowly, he lumbered into the spacious formal dining room that he could never recall eating a single meal in. Not even a lone Thanksgiving dinner. Lightning flickered across the room’s long wooden table and chairs, briefly revealing a thin layer of dust covering all of the old books, owl figurines, and other junk littering its surface.
He stared into the empty kitchen and turned to the darkened hallway leading to the bedrooms. “Hello?”
A boom of thunder rattled the windows, making him jump. He glanced back to the open front door. It called to him. Leave now before it’s too late.
When he and Matt were younger, their mom dragged them over here every Sunday after church to take their grandma grocery shopping. Sometimes there would be no sign of her like this and their mom would make them stand by the front door while she went and made sure her boys weren’t going to stumble upon a three day old corpse. He wanted to go stand by that door now, but his mom was gone and this was his responsibility now.
In the hall, he looked to the right, barely able to make anything out until the lightning pulsed again, revealing an empty bathroom and spare bedroom buried in junk. He turned to the left, towards the master bedroom at other the end of the long hallway, plastered with peeling wallpaper. A sudden clap of thunder shook the pictures hanging on the walls. When the lightning flashed again, a black and white photo of his deceased grandpa was staring right at him. Nick looked away and noticed his grandma lying on top of the bed covers in her favorite red dress with white polka dots, her arms folded across her chest in a pose much more fitting for a funeral than a good night's sleep.
He stepped closer and wished he hadn’t. Her eyelids flipped open. She stared at the ceiling without moving. He swallowed, feeling like he had just ingested a piece of gum. His mouth opened to speak but nothing came out. Quietly, he took a step backwards and the floorboard creaked. A burst of lightning punctured the windows, highlighting his grandma’s perfectly styled white hair. Slowly, she sat up and rotated her head in his direction. Her eyes pierced him like he was an intruder. He inhaled sharply and tried to retreat but his body had turned Jell-o. Her face twisted in anger as she rose from the perfectly made bed and began drifting towards him, her pantyhose covered toes lightly scraping along the floor. Another explosion of thunder shuddered across the worn out floorboards, jolting Nick from his foggy daze.
He dashed across the dining room into the living room. The front door was still wide open. Halfway to it, the thin carpet peeled into folds under his wet sneakers. He ran harder but the carpeting had come free from the wood flooring beneath. He glanced over his shoulder. Lightning lit up his grandma, leisurely floating into the dining room behind him. Her saggy arms reached for him like he was still a little boy. Like he had just gotten off a merry-go-round at Lion’s Park and was still dizzy from all the spinning.
Lazily, she gravitated towards him, her mouth hanging open. It looked like she was moaning but other than the thunderstorm pounding the night outside, there was no sound. He turned back around and a jarring clap of thunder made him wince. His eyes found the front door again. He sprinted for it, but only ran in place. Just a little further, he begged his legs. But it was too late. Prune-like, clammy fingers found the back of his neck and squeezed. Nick threw his head back and screamed.
His eyes snapped open in the murky darkness. He gasped for breath but it took a few seconds to come. The outline of the ceiling fan slowly came into focus, his chest rising and falling. The quiet hummed inside his ears as he tried to recall if he had screamed out loud or not. He took another deep breath and slowly released it, turning to see Summer lying sound asleep next to him. He dropped his head back into the pillow and rubbed his eyes. He hated that dream, which was more than likely the result of a guilty conscience after stealing quarters from a change dish on his grandma’s desk. As a kid, he had a nasty little video game habit he supported anyway he could.
He exhaled another long breath and considered peeking at the alarm clock, but dropped his eyelids shut again instead. Summer mumbled something and rolled over against him, causing his eyes to pop back open. He listened for anything intelligible but she grew silent. The alarm clock’s blue glow called to him. He fought the urge to look, guessing it had to be close to five-thirty in the morning. Maybe even six. The suspense of it all was too much to take. He frowned when he saw it was only a quarter after three. His head returned to the pillow and he inhaled sharply when his eyes landed on someone sitting in the armchair across from him. Someone watching him. He squinted, his heart increasing its rhythm.
“Madison?”
The orange glow from the streetlight outside washed across her blank expression.
He peeled the sheets back and got out of bed. “What’s wrong?”
She stared straight ahead, looking past him. Nick didn’t recall Matt saying anything about her sleepwalking, a subject they had just broached.
“Come on, let’s get you back into bed, sweetie,” he said, gently ushering her from the chair. An image of her suddenly
lunging for him and sinking her teeth deep into his jugular shot through his cloudy mind. Instead, she quietly slipped out of the chair and let him lead her down the hallway to the spare bedroom. She shuffled her bare feet across the wood floor like a slow moving Romero zombie and climbed into bed without uttering a single word. Nick shook his head, watching her begin breathing deeply with her eyes closed.
Back in his bed, Nick’s eyes combed the room. His grandma floated through his racing thoughts, just like she had done in his nightmare. The one he dreaded almost as much as the crusty nursing home she lived in today. She deserved better and he felt guilty for not stopping by to visit nearly as much as he should. Madison’s glassy eyes suddenly pushed those thoughts down, triggering a cold shiver to wiggle its way through his entire body.
Summer stumbled out of the bedroom in another one of Nick’s favorite t-shirts, this time a black one that read WW(picture of a hockey mask)D? in white letters. Amy had given it to him for his birthday last year and anytime someone would ask him a question while he was wearing it, he would point to the shirt and say, “What would Jason do?”
“What time did you wake up?” she asked, scratching her nappy head and glancing at Headline News on the TV.
“Couple hours ago,” he said, even though it had been over three.
“Why? Couldn’t sleep?” she yawned.
He shook his head, dark circles encompassing his puffy eyes.
She dropped onto the couch next to him. “Was it because of me?”
He smiled. “No, I had this crazy nightmare about my grandma.” His eyes dropped to the steaming Columbian brew in his mug and then rose to glance down the hall. “So I wake up, already completely freaked out from this dream, and Madison is sitting in the chair across from the bed,” he whispered.
She studied him with thin eyes and let out a surprised laugh. “What?”
“Yeah, just sitting there staring right at me,” he said, shaking his head. “Sound familiar?”
Her brow wrinkled. “Well aren’t you just the object of affection lately?” she said, reaching out and smoothing his ruffled bed-head.
Cold Summer Nights Page 2