by Sarah Kapit
She needed a true distraction. So she marched upstairs to the bedroom, where she found Caroline sprawled across the bed, eyes fixed to her phone screen.
Lara frowned. This sight had become quite common in the Finkel household—perhaps too common. Who was Caroline texting? Whenever Lara asked, her sister replied “a friend.” Like that was somehow informative.
When Caroline caught sight of her sister, she made a face and shoved the phone underneath a pillow. As if she was afraid that Lara could somehow see it from seven feet away. The whole thing was so bizarre, it made Lara want to read her sister’s texts even more.
Maybe she could concoct some kind of a plan to tear Caroline away from the phone so she could take a little peek. Just to check up on her sister and make sure she wasn’t in trouble. True, Lara couldn’t imagine what Caroline of all people could possibly be doing to make trouble. But there was no harm in checking, was there? It was practically her duty as the big sister.
She just needed to do something. It had to be big enough to draw Caroline away from the room without the phone. Maybe . . .
The sound of very angry voices pierced through the hallway. Lara’s body jerked.
Instinct prompted her to glance over at her sister right away. A frown-shaped wrinkle popped up on Caroline’s forehead. Lara’s own mouth drew into a matching frown at the sight.
“It’s Dad and Ima,” Lara whispered.
“I know,” Caroline said, switching over to her tablet quickly.
Even though Caroline soon turned back to her phone, Lara knew her sister was bothered by the ever-louder noises coming from down the hall. How could she not be?
One minute passed, then two. The voices continued, and Lara’s heart started thumping at an alarming rate.
This kind of thing just didn’t happen. Not to Dad and Ima. Lara wouldn’t have believed it was happening, except for the simple, undeniable fact that it was happening.
She needed to do something. Lara nodded at her sister. “Let’s go.”
Caroline didn’t question it. She just clutched her tablet to her chest and joined Lara.
It was time to do some investigating. Even if Lara wasn’t quite sure she wanted to know the conclusions of this particular investigation.
Lara did her very best to keep quiet while she tiptoed down the hall. As she and Caroline drew closer to the master bedroom, Ima’s voice got louder.
Lara’s heartbeat quickened further, reverberating throughout her entire body. Trying to ignore the unpleasantness, she crouched by the closed door. She didn’t care about not looking suspicious. She needed to hear every single word. Once her left ear brushed up against the wooden door, she stopped moving. Next to her, Caroline did the same.
“. . . yes, now Lara knows,” Dad was saying. His voice hadn’t yet reached Ima levels, but the note of annoyance punctuating his words could hardly be missed.
“I cannot believe you forgot to pick the children up from school,” Ima told him. Even on the other side of the door, Lara could feel angry vibrations radiating from her mother.
“I don’t know how many ways I can possibly tell you that I feel terrible and it won’t happen again. I promise.”
The responding sniff caused Lara to wince. “Your feeling terrible does not change the fact that our children—and my sister’s child too—could have been badly hurt as the result of your negligence.”
“Oh, come on.” Dad’s voice jumped to a higher pitch. “I messed up, but you’re exaggerating. They were fine. Lara’s smart. She can take care of things okay.”
Normally such a compliment would have made Lara glow. Instead, she just felt . . . she didn’t even know what she felt.
“Anyway, none of this is going to matter,” Dad continued. “I’m going to find a new job and everything will be good again.”
“Will you?”
Ima’s voice was almost too quiet to hear. As Lara registered her mother’s meaning, she let out a cry against her will.
Surely such a sound would prompt Dad and Ima to leave their room, finally. Lara almost would have welcomed the discovery.
No one came.
“Well, what’s that supposed to mean?” Dad asked finally.
For a long time, Ima did not say another word. Lara could hear her own heartbeat trying to escape the confines of her chest, and she felt sure that Dad and Ima could hear it too.
Another glance over at Caroline revealed a stream of tears running down her cheeks.
Ima let out a long exhale. The air itself almost seemed to hiss.
“I don’t want to argue with you,” she said. “I just want to solve the problem so we can move on with our lives.”
“I told you. I’ve got this under control. I’m applying for jobs. I’ll get one of them. Everything will work out. And then we can move on with our lives.”
Funny, how different the words sounded coming out of Dad’s mouth instead of Ima’s.
“Okay,” Ima said. She didn’t sound happy, but neither was she particularly upset.
A teeny-tiny ball of hope sparked up inside Lara. Maybe all of this . . . stuff . . . wasn’t the end of the world. Maybe everything really would work out, just like Dad said. Maybe . . .
“You don’t believe me.” Dad’s words cut through the wooden door and Lara cringed on reflex.
“We do not need to have this conversation right now. We’re not accomplishing anything.” Ima’s neutral tone had disappeared.
“Just like I’m not accomplishing anything, right? I’m the useless one. Again.”
It was undeniable. Dad had started to yell. At the harsh sound Lara’s fingers immediately embarked on a frantic dance outside of her control. She could hear Caroline whimper next to her. As the older sister, she probably ought to lead Caroline back to the safety of their bedroom. But she absolutely could not stand the thought of being cooped up in there, knowing that just two doors down Dad and Ima were . . .
No. It was better to stay here. At least then she’d know for sure what was going on. Even if that knowledge hardly brought comfort.
Ima’s clipped words snapped Lara’s attention away from her sister. “There is no need to read so much into everything. I did not say any of those terrible things.”
“You don’t need to say it,” Dad said. “I can feel it in the way you look at me. How you always ask me about how looking for a job is going, as though you’re expecting me to fail.”
Barely contained tears punctuated his voice, jolting Lara to her very core. She didn’t recall seeing her father really cry. Ever. Even at Grandpa’s funeral, he’d only gotten a bit watery around the eyes.
Then Ima spoke again, and her anger was so thick, Lara could practically feel it. “But I didn’t say it. This is just you blaming me for your insecurities. Again.”
Lara gulped.
Muffled words came through the door, but Lara could no longer devote her full attention to deciphering them. Instead she observed, with no small amount of horror, the unwelcome sight of Benny bouncing down the hallway. He went straight for the observation spot Lara and Caroline had so carefully staked out.
Lara silently willed her brother to be quiet and just pass them by. But she might as well have wished for a snowstorm in Seattle in the middle of August. It just was not going to happen.
“Hey guys!” Benny said. Goodness, did he really have to talk quite so loudly all the time? “Whatchya doing?”
“Nothing.” Lara didn’t dare speak too loudly. Still, Benny needed to understand that he absolutely could not just come over here and talk at a typical Benny volume right now. “Go away.”
Lara thought her words sounded properly stern, but it might not be enough. Benny had an odd kind of immunity to sternness, especially when it came from her.
“It doesn’t look like you’re doing nothing!” If anything, Benny’s voice had gott
en several notches louder. “It looks like you’re spying. On Dad and Ima! Wow! Are you guys spying?”
“Of course not,” Lara replied, but even she knew there was little to no conviction in her voice. “We’re just . . .”
She trailed off as she tried and failed to come up with a remotely decent excuse.
“Just spying! Spying!” Benny repeated.
Lara didn’t bother denying it.
With a few crashing footsteps, Benny jammed himself in between the two sisters. Lara couldn’t quite believe that Dad and Ima hadn’t already come out to check on the commotion and give all of them a talking-to.
She leaned back against the door, not bothering to keep quiet. There wasn’t any point to it.
Usually, Benny had a unique talent for only paying attention to the things he wanted to bother with while blissfully ignoring everything else. He was sort of like Dad in that way. Still, Lara knew the very instant he finally started tuning in to what was going on inside the bedroom. She would have known it even if he hadn’t blurted out a word that he most definitely was not supposed to say. Ever.
“Shut up,” Lara told him.
Ima had somehow managed to ignore Lara and Caroline investigating—okay, spying—by the door and Benny trampling into the situation. Yet she would not—perhaps could not—ignore the sound of Benny exclaiming a Very Bad Word.
The door swung open, revealing Ima’s fierce scowl. Her dark hair had fallen out of its usual neat bun, and red circles rimmed her eyes.
Lara stared. Ima wasn’t supposed to cry. It was one of the basic rules of the universe. Then again, Dad and Ima also weren’t supposed to yell at each other.
“Benjamin, please do not use that word in my presence again. Or out of my presence, for that matter.” Then she turned to Lara. “And you, Lara Ezter! Perhaps you might explain what exactly you’re doing outside of my bedroom?”
Georgia Ketteridge always had an excuse ready when she got caught eavesdropping on important conversations. But Lara Finkel’s brain went completely blank as her mother’s eyes bored into her.
“I was . . . we were . . . I mean . . .” she attempted.
“They were spying on you!” Benny said. When Lara glared at him, he shrugged. “What? I was just telling the truth.”
Lara almost snorted. If everyone told the truth, there’d be no need for spying in the first place. Clearly, things had changed around here. And not for the better.
Ima only sighed. “I suppose you heard our discussion, then.”
“Yes,” Lara said. “We did.”
Although she was bursting with questions, she couldn’t bring herself to say anything more.
“Well. I am very sorry you had to hear that,” Ima said. “You shouldn’t have. Now. Everyone, please return to your bedrooms for some quiet time before dinner.”
Lara did not dare to contradict her mother.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
UNSWEET DREAMS
LOCATION: House, 7:00 p.m. (approximately)
EVENT: Dad and Ima had a really bad fight.
QUESTION FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION: Why do people who love each other hurt each other so much?
For Lara, going to sleep wasn’t an easy task at the best of times. And this most certainly wasn’t the best of times.
She rolled over and glanced at the glowing red lights of her alarm clock. It was 2:43. She sighed. That left her with hardly any time at all before she’d have to wake up and drag herself to school.
Dark as it was, she couldn’t see her sister. But Lara guessed that Caroline was still awake in her own bed. She just had a feeling.
“Lina-Lin?” Lara said in a loud-ish whisper. Caroline was a notoriously heavy sleeper, so it shouldn’t disturb her if she really had managed to fall asleep.
A grunt came from the next bed. Lara had been right.
Soon, Caroline’s computer voice spoke. Caroline had turned the volume down on her tablet, but the room was quiet enough that Lara had no problem making out the words.
“Are Dad and Ima going to be okay?” Caroline asked.
Lara winced. Her sister certainly hadn’t wasted time on trivial matters. Generally, Lara appreciated this, but after today’s events she wouldn’t have minded a little useless chatter.
“Of course!” she told her sister. She hoped very much that she sounded sufficiently confident. Caroline had enough to worry about without throwing their parents’ marriage into the mix.
“How can you be sure?”
In truth, Lara was not sure at all. But she couldn’t share that with her sister. Her mind raced to find a lie that sounded at least a little bit true.
“Because it’s just one fight,” she said finally. It was the best she could do. “People don’t . . . you know . . . because of just one fight.”
Lara did not mention the fact that Dad and Ima rarely fought at all. Or that this particular fight was way scarier than any other fight she could recall. Caroline probably knew that already.
“I guess you’re right,” Caroline responded after a pause. As usual, her computer voice gave nothing away about her state of mind.
“We should try to go to sleep,” Lara said. She had no desire to discuss the subject further. Hopefully, Caroline would get the hint.
Caroline didn’t answer. But about ten minutes later snores came from her side of the room.
More glowing numbers changed on the clock, and still Lara could not find sleep. Finally, she decided to get out of bed. Lying there clearly wasn’t accomplishing anything. If she had to be up, she could at least enjoy a glass of milk.
Lara tiptoed out of her room. She didn’t think anyone else was up—how could they be?—but she didn’t want to risk causing a disturbance. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs, she slipped toward the kitchen. But when she reached the door outside of the den, Lara paused. A sliver of light poked out from underneath the door. As she drew closer, Lara heard laughter.
She opened the door to find her mother, sitting on the couch watching an old-timey show on TV. The volume was on low, but she could still hear the fake laughter punctuating every line.
Ima turned toward her. “What are you doing here, Lara-bear?”
“I couldn’t sleep.” Lara tried to sound casual. As though finding her mother watching sitcoms in the middle of the night was a regular occurrence.
With a weary sigh, Ima beckoned Lara toward the couch. “I suppose I have an idea of why that might be.”
Lara plopped down on the middle cushion and curled herself into a human-sized ball. Despite the many thoughts and fears gnawing at her mind, she could not think of a single thing to say. So she just said “Yeah.”
“I apologize for not telling you sooner about your father’s . . . situation,” Ima continued. “I wanted to tell all of you from the very beginning, but he . . . well, never mind that. You know now, and I want to reassure you that we’ll be okay. I make enough money for us to get by.”
Nodding, Lara did not bother to inform her mother that she’d known about Dad’s “situation” long before this afternoon. “Okay,” she said, her voice rather smaller than usual.
“Okay,” her mother repeated. “We are going to be okay. We’ve gotten through hard things before as a family and we can do it again.”
Lara didn’t say anything more. She wasn’t sure what words could do right now.
She should probably go back to bed. But she didn’t want to. Instead, Lara started rocking herself. Back and forth, back and forth again. Her movements matched the strokes of Ima’s hands across her back.
Somehow, it all made her feel just a little bit better.
Eventually, Ima pulled Lara forward and planted a soft kiss on the top of her head. “I think it is time for you to go back to sleep.”
And so Lara retreated to her room. Yet it would be quite a while until
sleep arrived.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
IN WHICH THE INVESTIGATION RESUMES
Lara had never officially closed the Case of the Gross Brisket. And one question kept nagging at her: Why did Dad lose his job? After her parents’ fight, she absolutely had to know. Obviously, she needed to continue the case. If she could just figure that out, then maybe everything would be okay again.
First, she needed to review her notes. Lara pulled out her detective notebook and went back to the very beginning. Caroline glanced at her from the other side of the room, but Lara ignored it. She needed to focus.
“Are you still doing fiasco business?” Caroline asked.
She had spelled out the word rather than the acronym when typing out her question. Quite generously, Lara ignored the mistake.
“Maybe,” she said.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. We shouldn’t get involved in Dad and Ima’s business. Besides, what else is there to investigate?” Caroline asked. “We figured out why Dad is upset.”
Lara scowled. Georgia Ketteridge would never drop a case if there was still a huge question hanging out there. She would try to figure everything out.
“I decide when FIASCCO’s cases are closed. It’s still open if I say it is. And I say that I want to find out why Dad lost his job.” Lara said her words firmly. After a moment, she added, “Besides, I don’t know any other mysteries that need solving.”
“What about Ima’s brooch? It’s been missing for a week now. Don’t you think that should be investigated?”
Huh? What brooch? Then, Lara remembered. Ima had lost her special brooch and was asking everyone to keep an eye out for it. Lara resisted the urge to roll her eyes. That was hardly the kind of case worthy of FIASCCO.
“She probably just left it in a box somewhere. Or loaned it to Aunt Miriam or something.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Why don’t you try to find out?”
Lara sighed through gritted teeth. “Because it’s a really boring mystery! I told you, I’m going to take care of things with Dad. If you’re so interested in Ima’s brooch, you find it.”