The Time Keepers

Chapter 46

CHAPTER 46

K ATIE ’ S MORNING HAD STARTED OFF POORLY. E VEN BEFORE SHE stepped outside the house, she sensed it was going to be a really, really bad day. Her mother had broken the yolk on her fried egg and refused to make her a fresh one, instead calling Katie wasteful and ungrateful. Plates were angrily slammed on the table, and no one lifted their glasses of orange juice to drink. Molly looked down at her bowl of cereal as though she was silently in prayer. Minutes later, Katie’s father swept in, downed a cup of coffee, oblivious to the tension between his wife and eldest daughter, blithely kissing all three cheeks before heading out the door.

The slain egg now lay untouched. A sloppy white-and-yellow amorphous mass. Katie knew she’d soon be engaged in battle over whether that egg would end up in her stomach or in the waste bin. Clearly, it was going to be just that kind of day.

Grace looked over at her daughter and felt herself reaching her tipping point. All week Katie had been frustrating her, and now she found herself beyond exasperated with her eldest daughter. Katie had slipped her red swimsuit into the washing machine, instead of washing it in cold water in the sink, and subsequently ruined an entire load of everyone’s clothes. “Katie Rose, I expect you to finish that egg,” uttered Grace between gritted teeth.

Katie rolled her eyes and stabbed at the egg before moving it around the plate. Something happened between the two girls because suddenly Molly cried out, “Stop kicking me!”

Why did everything always have to be a battle with her eldest daughter?

The noise of the children bickering was the worst sound of all. Grace threw the pan into the sink. “Next time, Katie you can make your own breakfast! I was making meals for my sister and brother from the time I was seven years old.” Her face flamed red. She was glad Tom had left already so he didn’t have to witness her coming undone like this. Her fingers gripped into little balled fists. Would it be so terrible to reach for the rolling pin just to make Katie realize how angry she was? She reached for the drawer, but the inside was jammed with spatulas and slotted spoons. A single can opener. Where was that rolling pin when she really needed it?

“Mom, I’ll eat the egg.” Molly pulled the plate to her corner of the table. In a few minutes it was gone.

With her mother’s palpable irritation in the air, Katie got up from the table and slyly hit her sister on the side of her arm. She did it just because she could, and somehow it made her feel slightly better. And while she knew it was juvenile on her part, if she were going to be cast as the bad daughter, she might as well go all out.

She was tired of having such a Goody Two-shoes for a younger sister, particularly as she had her own problems that no one else seemed to care about. Her period had arrived two days early and that had been just one more thing to put her in a bad mood. She loathed putting a bulky pad in her swimsuit and then having to cover it up with a baggy pair of shorts. The weather report had predicted temperatures above ninety degrees for that afternoon and she already felt sticky thinking about herself roasting outside on the lifeguard tower. Feeling bloated and irritable, Katie stormed off to the garage to retrieve her bicycle, only to find that the chain was dangling off the rear.

She fiddled with the chain, but, after several minutes, couldn’t get it back on the tracking despite her best efforts. A wave of frustration rose inside her and Katie gave the bicycle a little shove. As it fell, the sound of the metal hitting the garage floor was loud enough for everyone in the Golden household to hear.

“What is it now?” Grace asked as Katie emerged in the kitchen. She had been scrubbing a frying pan in the sink and enjoying a few minutes of calm. She turned off the faucet and looked at her daughter standing blankly by the mudroom door.

“Mom—my bike’s broken!” Katie’s voice was a painful mixture of teenage anger and selfish desperation.

“What happened to it? You didn’t mention anything yesterday when you got home.…” Grace looked up at the wall clock. It was already seven thirty and Katie was supposed to be at the club by eight. She knew what was coming even before her daughter said it.

“Can you drive me?” She heaved herself over the counter, pleading to Grace with great dramatic affect.

Grace wanted to tell her no. Her anger had dissipated, but it was still there. Like an oven that was still warm, even after the heat had been turned off.

“I can’t be late, Mom. Janet already wants to take me off the Wednesday shift and give it to her niece!”

Grace pulled off her dishwashing gloves. “I’m very sorry this happened to your bike, but putting the word ‘please’ in front of your request would really go a long way.”

Katie’s eyes rolled. “Fine, Mom. Please …”

Grace shook her head in disgust. Every day her daughter grew more insolent. She had refused to even come over to say hello to B?o and Anh the other day when Grace brought them to the club. Katie’s focus seemed only to be on making enough pocket money to be able to go out with her friends or to save up for a pair of designer jeans that insulted Grace with their ridiculous price tag.

What was next? Katie asking her for a new bike? Grace had already firmly made up her mind that she was going to tell Katie that they expected her to put some of the money she’d earned toward a newer model if she didn’t want to keep having to repair the old one. The girl needed to realize how lucky she was to have the life she enjoyed. The last time Grace went to the motherhouse and brought some homemade muffins, despite their very limited grasp of English, every one of the Vietnamese refugees already knew the words please and thank you . Was it so much to ask that her daughter to do the same?

Grace pulled a dishcloth off the hook and began drying the frying pan. She could feel Katie’s impatience rising off her skin like steam.

She waited for a beat. Then another.

“Mom!”

“If you wait a second and change your tone, young lady, I’ll throw on some clothes and drive you.”

“I’m sorry, Mom, please!”

There were more than enough clocks in the Golden household for Grace to realize she needed to move quickly so Katie wouldn’t be late.