Speculos

Chapter Two

We pull up to a little cottage house so covered in plants and flowers that it's nearly invisible. The bird baths and milkweed make it a hot spot for tons of birds and butterflies alike. It's like the eye of the storm that is my life. My personal safe haven.

Ruby walks out wearing a tie dyed shirt and bell bottom jeans. You'd think it was Halloween, but it's November 2nd. This is how she dresses all the time. Her silver hair is styled into a spiked pixie cut. She is tall, like, duck to get into the house tall. I honestly have no idea how old she is, she never ages. She just is, like Will Smith. Her willowy figure is easy to spot, walking down the long gravel driveway to meet us.

"Hey kiddo." She smiles at me through the rolled down window. Finally a pair of eyes that don't scream 'pity' look down at me. I hop out of the car and grab my bag. Genuinely happy to see me, she wraps me in a hug and waves the sheriff away. "She's in good hands!"

"The best!" I laugh, agreeing wholeheartedly.

"Ya'll stay outta trouble this time." The sheriff shakes his head, it doesn't take tingling spider senses to know that the "Good Behavior" ship has already set sail... without us on board.

"Yeah, yeah," Ruby huffs as she hits the car twice and starts toward the house. I grab my duffel and awkwardly hug Sheriff Mulligan from the passenger seat, before heading after Ruby.

"See you in a few days. Hey, you keep an eye on her!" Mulligan yells towards us.

"I will!" Ruby and I yell in unison, before we look at each other and erupt into a fit of giggles and awkward walking side huggedness. We get to the solid oak door, and it is still painted bright red from my bored phase last summer.

 A solid reminder about an important life lesson: never say "I'm bored" around Ruby. I turn the worn brass handle and push, and push a little harder... then kick it... and still it stares at me.

"It sticks a little," Ruby shrugs. She looks me over once with a curious gleam in her eyes, before returning her attention to the door. I expect her to go full on linebacker to get the dang thing open, but she finds its sweet spot and with one little tap opens the door with a victorious grin. I roll my eyes.

We walk into the house, the cozy darkness an immediate comfort. Some people might find it a bit eerie. The walls are covered in built-in shelves... and Ruby's taste in décor is a little eccentric.

She is Doily's resident expert on all thing macabre. The shelves are lined with things she's collected in her travels all over the world. I study the shelves... I spy with my little eye, jars filled with little plants and things I cannot even begin to identify, African tribal masks, framed butterflies, wooden clogs, hats from all over the globe, and some rocks and pebbles spread around the room for good measure.

We could probably find Waldo in here somewhere.

My bare feet squish into the plush oriental rugs on the floor, as I lean back into the well worn leather couch a take a deep breath. I hug a pillow to my chest and close my eyes.

"Okay," Ruby says as a pillow flies across the room and smacks me right in the middle of my forehead. Her face is all innocence as she sits on the other end of the couch. "Spill."

"Ow!" She just stares at me, waiting for my dramatics to end and the next act of the soap opera that is my real life to begin. "DWI."

"What? You know that means 'driving' right?"

"Oh, I almost forgot... add on grand theft auto. Although it hardly seems fitting to call it grand theft auto, it was more like 'old beater borrowing... sans permission.'" I'm not sure why I always defend my mother, even when her actions were so beyond defending. Loyalty may look like a good thing, but I'm starting to see the downside.