The Family Across the Street by Nicole Trope
18
Gladys
Gladys turns out the chocolate chip muffins, inhaling the sweet, dark smell of the cocoa and melted chocolate chips. She gently breaks off a corner piece, burning her fingers a little, and blows on it. When she feels it’s cool enough, she pops it into her mouth. It’s delicious, just the right amount of moist and chewy but with a little bit of crust around the edges. Chocolate muffins are one of her specialities.
She puts one of the muffins on a plate to give to Lou for his tea and keeps the broken one for herself. The rest she arranges on a green plate with a pretty white doily underneath. No matter what Katherine is going through, there’s no way she’ll refuse a plate of muffins. Gladys admires her work, loving the way the colours work together.
‘Just dropping these muffins off at Katherine’s,’ she calls to Lou.
She opens her kitchen back door before he has a chance to answer and walks out of the house and around the side to the front gate. The heat is a thick blanket, settling over her shoulders, as the cicadas scream. She immediately begins to perspire but she walks quickly, hoping that Katherine will invite her in.
At Katherine’s front door she rings the bell and takes a deep breath. She will just leave the muffins if they won’t let her in, but she’s sure this time the door will be opened.
She waits for a few minutes and, when nothing happens, she rings the bell again and then she calls through the door, ‘Yoo-hoo, just dropping off some of my famous chocolate chip muffins.’
Feeling somewhat silly, she steps up to the timber front door and puts her ear to it. She can’t make out any sound but it is a very thick door. She steps back and waits again. Next to her the marigolds in their large pots are wilting in the heat. Poor things,she thinks. They need some water.
She decides she will press the bell just one more time and then, if no one comes, she will give up and leave the muffins at the side of the door. She shakes her head a little, annoyed that she has not thought to cover them. If she leaves them on the floor, the ants will get them, and already large flies are buzzing around her head. It’s probably too hot to leave them anyway. She will just have to take them home and try again later. She reminds herself that the muffins are a ruse to get Katherine to open the door. If she does, Gladys tries to think of questions that she could ask that would allow Katherine to tell her she needs help without actually telling her.
Do you need to see a doctor? I can call one for you, is the best she has come up with so far.
She presses the bell and waits another minute. Just as she’s about to give up, she hears the sound of the safety chain moving and the lock turning, and the door opens.