I Am My Sister's Keeper

Based on a true story...a vignette in its entirety, Part 1 of a trilogy from my unfinished manuscript This October.


It was 1:30 a.m. and the lingering affects of caffeine found Eileen still wide-awake and restless in her bed. The TV was glaring back at her, making ugly faces with every click of the remote. Earlier that evening, she’d settled in with a pot of coffee, essays to read and papers to grade – yet another uneventful night in her apartment since Ellis died in Iraq two years ago. Eileen never dreamed she’d be a widow at 48, and the single life was a whole nother kind of animal in the year 2006. The jury was still out, but Eileen preferred the state of a-l-o-n-e at the moment.

In the midst of the droning noise from the blue screen, the phone rang. Startled, Eileen squinted at the phone to see her caller ID – it was Veronica. “Hey girl, what’s up, why you up so late?” Eileen yawned as she sat up and plumped her pillows behind her back.

“Leenie, my car is at a Motel 6 in Hollywood, and I need a ride to go get my car back!” Veronica exclaimed.

“Excuse me? What did you say? Your…car…is…WHERE?” Eileen said, grabbing her glasses off the nightstand and turning on the lamp.

“Girl, he took my car saying he was going to drop something off over a friend’s house. Said he’d be back in 30 minutes – THAT WAS AT EIGHT O’CLOCK!! Girl…I…”

“Ronnie, go slow. So Bernard borrowed your car and said he’d be back in 30 minutes?”

“Umhm..”

“And that was at 8:00 p.m.?”

“Yep.”

“Now, how do you know where the car is?”

“Girl, the Internet! I was lying on the couch watching TV and realized how late it was. No call from Bernard, so I called his cell. No answer. It wasn’t turned off; he just let it keep ringing! I was worried at first. Then something told me to get on the Internet and check his credit card account-“

“Shut up girl! What?”

“Yeah I did, girl! And come to find out that he bought some chewing gum at a liquor store on Main Street at midnight, and then he checked into a Motel 6 on Sixth Avenue at 12:30 –I got the address and the directions on Mapquest, girl. I need a ride! It ain’t goin down like that!”

Eileen’s thoughts raced as she held onto the phone and Veronica’s words. It had been eight years ago when she and Veronica became friends at work. They’d hit it off immediately – another blessed addition to Eileen’s circle of women friends. Veronica was sweet, sincere, caring. She came with no hidden agendas, and the only problem with Veronica as far as Eileen could tell was her obsession with Bernard. They were living together again. Once married, then divorced, they had an on-again-off-again relationship that pre-dated Eileen by some eleven years. And Bernard had been abusive both physically and emotionally. However, by the time Eileen came on the scene, Bernard had calmed down quite a bit and had stopped the physical violence against Veronica. He’d had some anger management classes, but Eileen always attributed his newfound sanity to the fact that Veronica’s two grown sons from a previous marriage swore to kill him if he ever laid a hand on their mother again, and told him so. But his carousing and drug abuse did not cease. It seemed to get worse.

There was no doubt that Veronica’s love and devotion to her man was true, but Eileen’s impatience with that style of living always made her seem harsh and critical of Veronica. Most of the sista/friends of the circle saw Veronica as a foolish, desperate woman. But they loved her. Eileen came to realize that she had to change her attitude about Veronica’s life – it was Veronica’s life after all. So, as long as Bernard wasn’t beating on Veronica, Eileen stayed out of the mix and made herself available to hang out whenever Veronica was free, and only gave her opinion when she was asked. There was too much good in Veronica to let their friendship drift away. She was the genuine article in Eileen’s definition of a friend.

“Did you hear me, Leenie? I need a ride to go get my car back!” Veronica’s voice was breaking as she gave way to tears. Eileen snapped back into the present, looked at the clock, it was almost 2:00 a.m.

“It will take us an hour to get there. We have to move fast!” Eileen spat out as she jumped out of bed, pulled her nightshirt over her head and rushed into the bathroom. “You be ready to walk out when I pull up, ok?”

“Ok, girl…thanks” Veronica sighed.

“And you best be thinking about what you’re going to do after he finds out the car is gone. You know once he realizes what really happened to your car, his ego won't stand for it. We gotta make sure you’re safe!”

“I know, girl, I already thought about that. I have an idea…”

“We’ll talk about it on the way there… see you in 10…”

“Love you Leenie girl…”

“Love you, Ronnie…”



Bridgette Alyce Wynn, © 2006