The Entirely Fabricated Story of Lizzie Nickerson

Chapter 15

For the past several weeks, Indigo's mood was noticeably upbeat. She sang to herself (something about a tree museum) while extracting oil from hemp seeds on her oilseed press machine. She couldn't contain her enthusiasm for the Nashville Hemp Expo. She couldn't wait to make the scene with the groovy people (like-minded hempers) and learn the latest developments in the industry.

When Maribeth balked at accompanying her mother to the Expo, Indigo said, "We'll see," but with her daughter's persistent resistance to the idea, Indigo finally snapped. "Don't you lay your guilt trip on me."

"I'll probably be the only kid there."

"Well, you can't stay here all by yourself."

"Why not?" Maribeth replied.

"Because you're six years old."

"What does my age have to do with anything?"

"Six-year-old kids don't stay by themselves for a whole week!"

"How old do you have to be to stay by yourself?"

"Not six."

"If we had a dog then he could stay with me. A dog would solve so many problems."

"Don't start up again about getting a dog, man."

"I don't want to go to Nashville. I want to stay here."

"Don't you cop out on me. Start packing."

"Oh, geez. It's not fair. I'm gonna miss school and everything. Why can't I stay with Aunt Sonya?"

"Aunt Sonya?" A derisive laugh burst from Indigo's lips. "You've never even met her."

"I won't cause any problems. I'll just sit there and read like I always do."

"I haven't talked to Sonya since..." She shrugged. "Since I don't know when. She could have moved to Alaska for all I know. She could be dead."

"She's not dead."

"Listen. I'm not gonna go crawling on my hands and knees to my big sister just because you don't want to go to Nashville."

"Why do you have to crawl? Does she live in a tunnel?"

"No. It's just– Never mind. I'm not doing it."

"If you make me go, then you'll be mad at me the whole time and you won't have fun. Like you always say, "It's a buzzkill dragging your kid around all day." What's a buzzkill again?"

"I'm not doing this again, Maribeth. I'm just not. So just stop it!"

"You'd have a lot more fun without me."

Indigo couldn't argue that point.

No one would ever suspect that Indigo and Sonya were related, much less sisters. Though she was only two years older than her sibling, Sonya was far more mature. She was a responsible adult who worked from her apartment as a Remote Customer Service Representative for a national energy company. Some would say that Indigo was an energetic entrepreneur. Sonya regarded her sister as a kid in a woman's body who never grew out of adolescence. And here she was on Sonya's doorstep, asking to babysit her little girl, a niece she'd never met, for a week.

"She's no trouble," said Indigo. "She's a mellow kid. All she does is read. That's it."

Sonya offered a welcoming smile that had no effect on Maribeth's blank expression.

"Tell her, Maribeth. Tell her that you're no trouble."

Maribeth stared straight ahead.

"Tell her Maribeth or you're going to Nashville with me."

"I'm no trouble," she said quietly.

"I'm sure you're not," said Sonya.

"All you need to do is drop her off at school in the morning and pick her up at three."

"I have a job, Indigo."

"Well, we can figure something out. Maybe she doesn't need to go every day."

"Oh, geez," said Maribeth. Yes, I do. They'll mark me absent. And if you get marked absent ten times, you fail the whole school year. And I've already been marked absent three times."

"No, you haven't."

"Yes, I have. There was the time when you slept in, and the time we had to ride the bus way out to that hemp farm all the way up to Springdale–"

"That's enough." Indigo cut her off.

"And the time you thought it was Saturday. I told you it was Friday but you wouldn't listen. And I was right. It was Friday. It wasn't Saturday. Oh, geez. I don't know how you forget a thing like Friday. I mean there it is right after Thursday. Every single week. Right after Thursday is Friday. It's not a surprise like a leap year or something. It's a regular weekday. Wednesday, Thursday, then Friday. Yep, Friday."

She tugged her daughter's arm sharply. "I said that's enough, man." Indigo choked down her annoyance and addressed her sister with puppy dog eyes. "I'm really kind of up against it, Sonya. I already signed up as a volunteer and I'm going to meet a lot of awesome people in the business and it's really a chance to expand my consciousness and boost my career. I mean, you wouldn't understand."

"I understand," her sister said. "I do."

"I mean, I don't wanna screw up your schedule or anything. But if you could help me out, it would be majorly awesome."

"Okay? So when do you want me to pick her up? Or–"

"I leave in about four hours. Maybe three and a half."

"Oh." She noticed Maribeth tapping her little foot.

"I mean if you're cool with that."

"I wish you would have let me know sooner."

"Yeah, like Maribeth said. Sometimes I sorta lose track of time."

Sonya looked from her sister to the little girl and then back at Indigo. "Okay. Sure," said Sonya. Then to Maribeth, "Where are your things?"

"Her threads and everything are in her backpack." Indigo reached into her daughter's hemp shoulder bag. "Oh, I can give you some money for food."

"Don't worry about it," said Sonya.

"She doesn't eat much."

"I can see that."

Indigo produced a bar of hemp soap from her bag and handed it to her sister. "This is her soap. Don't let her wash with any of that poison. She has very delicate skin."

Sonya looked at the bar of homemade soap in her palm.

"Well, okay then. I gotta split," said Indigo. She kissed the top of Maribeth's head, raised the peace sign to her sister with a hearty, "Right, on," and then rumbled down the apartment stairs.

Sonya gave a polite wave and noticed that the little girl didn't even turn around to watch her mother depart. Her expressionless face was disconcerting, maybe even unnerving.

"So, come on in, Maribeth," Sonya said. "Don't be shy."

"I'm not shy," said Maribeth. "I'm just a weird little kid."