Back across town Geraldine (Gerri) Gutfreund was annoyed at her mom she had liked her old school. She had made friends there but once again her mothers job came first. She also wished that someone else was taking out the garbage tonight, it was heavy. It was not like she played football like those boys who had been shouting after her on her way back from school this afternoon. She didn’t tell anyone about it her mother would have just overreacted as usual. She sometimes thought that her mother had forgotten what it was like to be her or her sisters age as it had been so long.
The former Gary Meadows walked back inside the house that he had once owned to avoid the woman that was now his mother and prepare for school the next day, not that she knew that only a week earlier, this had been the Meadows house. The Meadows no longer existed. Gerri was wondering why her mother kept buying her skirts and expecting her to be something other than she was...a girl who liked sports, who got along better with boys. She had Michelle if she wanted someone who liked pink. Girls didn't have to be girly. Her mother was tough as nails. Gerri saw her mother, despite being mad at her right now, as Mary Poppins. Serious on the outside, but whimsical on the inside. Unfortunately, whenever she got a new job, it was always serious Mom who was in control.
She found her mother in her bedroom. "Mom?" She said, surprised to see her sitting there. She moved closer.
Katherine suddenly gave her a hug. "You know I am sorry that we had to move again," she said. "But..if I do a good job here...I could end up with a permanent position."
"Why do they keep giving you temporary jobs...?"
Katherine sighed. "Because I've helped turn around many schools in the state...and each time they claim they need me somewhere else. If they pass me over again then transfer me" she shook her head. "I don't know what I'll do, but I will have to do something. It is hard on me too. But it only a few days until the weekend, and maybe the three of us can go to services."
Gerri made a noise. "You always make me wear a dress."
"I don't make you wear one to school..." The woman tried to smile a bit. "I'm sure all of the other girls your age will be dressed uncomfortably as well. You can bond over the experience."
"Fine.." she said.
"Besides, you know your grandparents will ask if I didn't take you at least sometimes. And your grandmother is already mad at me for marrying your father."
"What? Why?"
"I think if a woman was sent down from heaven to her doorstep specifically for her son, she would still be skeptical she was the right one," Katherine said, honestly. "And I was definitely not what she expected. But...she came around...mostly." Katherine sat there quietly for a bit, feeling close to her daughter...her baby. She needed that right now. She had been on edge all week.
