She Got Away

Incidents, accidents, surprises and demises — Cheryl’s in over her head dealing with a family emergency

 

- A.M. Homes

When her sister, Abigail, called her at college and said, “You need to come home”, Cheryl asked, “Is this for real?”

“Yes”, Abigail said.

“Can I talk to Mom?”

“No.” “Is it Mom?”

“I don’t know”, Abigail said.

“What does that mean, you don’t know; it sounds like you’re not telling.”

“I really don’t know”, Abigail said. “You know how Mom always puts herself in the middle of things.” Abigail paused. “And bring good clothes.”

“You’re scaring me", Cheryl said. “Should I be scared? No one in LA wears good clothes unless...”

“I don’t know”, Abigail said again, “just come home”.

Abigail had done this before. The summer Cheryl was 13, Abigail made her come home from sleep away camp. Their parents had gone to Europe; Abigail stayed behind; she was 17 and supposed to be in summer school.

It was six months after their younger brother, Billy, died while they were visiting their grandparents in Arizona. Billy told them that a poisonous snake had bitten him; “Put a cold washcloth on it”, they said, and then he was dead.

“I need you to come home”, Abigail had said.

“Did the plane crash?” Cheryl asked.

“What plane?”

“The plane Mom and Dad were on?”

“No”, she said.

“I thought maybe it did, because you told camp it was an emergency. The camp director came and got me out of the lake.”

“Sorry”, she said, “I thought I told them you could call me back.”