Driving Sideways

39.

"Where is crazy, Mommy?" Greyson asked, watching his mother drive into someone's driveway.

"Crazy is right around the corner..." Meredith sighed as she waited for a moment for the taxicab to pull out of the driveway. When the cab was on its way down the road, Meredith pulled out into the road and followed after it.

"Which corner, Mommy? Which corner is crazy around?" Richie asked.

"It won't be long..." Meredith said with a smile as she glanced to the boys in the rear view mirror and winked at them. "Why don't you two sit back and enjoy the ride we're taking."

"Okay..." Greyson smiled as he cuddled his Snuggle bear to him and looked out the window as Meredith drove.

Meredith drove after the taxi, traveling at a safe distance so that it didn't appear that she was following them. The boys sat in the back seat quietly watching the scenery pass as they made their way through the suburban streets of Seattle. They drove into a newer neighborhood, and eventually, the taxi pulled into the driveway of a small ranch style home. Meredith drove past it and down the road, pulling down a side street that ended in a dead end. Meredith turned around in the dead end and pulled the car to the side of the road, where they sat for several moments, with a fairly clear view of the house that the taxi had stopped at.

"What are we doing, Mommy?" Richie asked.

"We're just resting for a minute..." Meredith replied.

"Oh." Richie said, his brow furrowing as his mother seemed to be acting very strange. He watched her look out the window and waited for her to do something, when suddenly, she began driving again. "Where are we going now?" He asked.

Meredith pulled closer, watching her mother walk up the driveway to the house, she waited for the taxi to pull away before she approached the house slowly. She rolled down her window and watched as her mother rang the doorbell, a man came to the door. Meredith remained at the corner for a moment, watching the exchange as her mother talked to the man at the door, his demeanor seemed cold, and her mother's strangely was polite and kind. Meredith could hear her mother's voice straining slightly.

"Is that GG?" Richie asked.

"Hush..." Meredith whispered as they watched from afar.

"Mama... that's GG over there..."

"Yes..." Meredith whispered. "Hush, baby..." She whispered as she heard her mother's voice raise, not in anger, but almost a sad wail, her arm moving toward the driveway as if to indicate that she had been driven there by a taxi. The man's voice was becoming louder and when he finally stepped out onto the porch, Meredith recognized him. "No..." She whispered, shaking her head as she swallowed hard. She watched as the man approached her mother quickly, almost as if he was going to hurt her, and she watched her mother retreat. Meredith pulled carefully from the road she had been hiding at and pulled into the driveway where the taxi had pulled out. She watched the man angrily shout at her mother and her emotions got the best of her as she leapt from the car and yanked the keys from the ignition.

"Where are you going, Mommy?" Greyson asked nervously.

"I'll be right back... you boys stay here... Richie, watch your brother... just stay here, Mommy will be right there..." She said, pointing toward the lawn as she closed the door and rushed toward the altercation at the front door.

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"I knew that this was going to happen!" The man exclaimed as he stepped forward towards Ellis. "I knew that as soon as I handed that house over to you that you'd show up here, I knew it!"