advantage , give you trouble . I ’ m happy to help you out of trouble if I can , just I got to get myself ready . I ’ m slowed down these days .”
She didn ’ t understand what he meant , get myself ready , but felt he knew somehow what had happened at the rental , what was coming next , and what she would need to deal with it . The idea he ’ d seen this unfold before only deepened the tremors . She shouldered open the door to escape his long look at her .
“ Sure will be nice for you having the lawn in good shape again ,” he said . “ Pretty soon the evenings will be cool enough for you to sit out here and enjoy it . And I figure I can get this truck running better for you , too . I ’ m happy to help .”
“ It ’ s not necessary , Lonnie .” “ Most likely the carburetor making it run rough like that ,” he said . *
The phone rang during dinner that night and she let the old answering machine pick up . Her father ’ s voice spoke over a greater distance than time or space allowed — it didn ’ t make her miss him , not exactly , but she wouldn ’ t erase his greeting . He ’ d speak these bland directions forever .
95
The beep sounded . The caller ’ s voice rattled the plastic speaker in the office : “ Donald Hillsicker here . I ’ m calling to tell you I know my rights . You can ’ t come over here and harass my wife like that . If I hear that you ’ re coming round here again I ’ ll have a thing or two to say about it .”
The line clicked . Neda took her unfinished dinner to the trash . Thumbing through the pictures on her phone , the Hillsicker house didn ’ t seem like a place Neda had just been , but like something that belonged in a file , to be put away in a drawer . She was out of her depth , frightened , and except for Lonnie Cadell , alone . She needed to get herself back to school , back to the life she ’ d left home for .
*
The next day Neda opened her suitcase in one corner of the bedroom . The day after that she washed her dirty laundry and then folded and packed her clean