as the days go by

Had it only been five days since she'd been here? It felt like five months and no relief in sight.

Ellie cooked a whole chicken in the crock pot. There was no seasoning on it. And the baked potatoes she microwaved weren't much better with a little of Mrs. Dash on them. The shriveled green beans didn't have any taste, either.

"See, what its like when you get old." Aunt Maggie left it at that.

"What did you like to eat when you were my age?" Ellie thought it might be a start to get her mind off dinner.

"Don't get me riled," Aunt Maggie grumbled. "I don't want to talk about it. Anyway, a funnel cake will never be the same for me."

"Sounds good."

"Well, you're not getting one. Doubt you'd eat ham and red eye gravy on cornbread."

"Sounds disgusting."

"It wasn't." At that point they ate in silence. Ellie managed through. She so much wanted chicken tenders. Even her Dad's chicken curry sounded good. And she knew all he did was take roasted chicken from the store and mix it in a sauce of curry and sour cream.

"Well, tell me about my Mom." Ellie said later as she was cleaning up. "You said you were going to tell me something, about her." Ellie thought it was as good as anytime to pry.

"Your mother?" Aunt Maggie looked stumped as she was trying to help. Ellie took the dishes from her and ran the hot water with the soap.

"Yeah, Ray Ann, my mother." Was this an act or did she just suddenly forget?

"I better take my blood sugar test now." Aunt Maggie informed her.

Ellie sighed. She guessed she'd have to help with that too. She felt like stomping around. This was really ridiculous. Why were old people this way?

She washed dishes and wished she had corn chips to snack on. She was starving. After she rinsed the dishes she found her Aunt sitting on the bed in her Aunt's bedroom staring off into space.

"I'm gonna die." Her words were serious. By the look in her still blue eyes, it was if she were already seeing ghosts.

"Its OK, you're still here." Ellie sat next to her and noticed her pricked finger was bleeding now for the test. Elli took care of the diabetic blood sugar test with ease, by putting the stick test strip next to a drop of blood then put it in properly to see what the meter read.

"Its only 137. That's not bad," Ellie sad.

"Not good, either." She murmured.

"You want me to test mine?" Ellie asked.

"No."

Ellie put the diabetic stuff away.

"I really wish you'd tell me about my Mom." Ellie wiped away the blood on her finger with a tissue. "It sounded important."

"It might be." Her voice was dull.

"What happened?" Ellie sat back down next to her on the hard bed.

"She might have been a little older than you," Aunt Maggie's head wobbled. "Maybe I should wait."

"I'm sixteen." She would be tomorrow. She wondered if her parents would remember, or were they wrapped up in Lisa's life and they'd forgotten.

"She might have been seventeen." Aunt Maggie wouldn't look at at her. Ellie kept wishing for chili cheese Fritos, but she wouldn't be finding those in here among the clutter of books and Avon bottles.

"Seventeen?"

"She had a baby."

"Yes, she had Lisa then me."

"She had your brother too."

"My brother?" Ellie didn't sound shocked. "He didn't fall out of swing or anything, because we covered this yesterday when you told me the very beginning of Days of Lives." She didn't believe that either. It had nothing to do with the characters on the soap opera now.

"No, I don't think so. I can't remember him ever falling out of swing."

"I see, so she had my brother when she was seventeen. You're sure?"

"Positive, because they wouldn't let her graduate when they found out so she moved down to Llano and stayed with some friend down there and finished school. You could go to school there. Then she went off to college."

"Did she take the baby with her?"

"No, he's here."

Ellie felt a chill. What did that mean? Did she bury him under the floor boards? Just then Clyde, the Maine coon, rubbed up against her leg. Ellie jumped off the bed.

"Well, where is he?" Ellie rubbed her arms.

"What?"

"You know? My brother? Where is he?" Ellie looked at her as if she needed some facts. A picture perhaps. She could only think of one person, and he was driving up in the driveway.

"You don't have a brother." She snapped.

"You just said I did." Ellie stared back hard at the old woman.

"Hello," the familiar voice was at the screen door. It opened then banged shut. Ellie hugged herself then.

"Where are you girls?"

"In here," Aunt Maggie's voice carried.

Ben leaned against the doorway of Aunt Maggie's bedroom.

"What are two up too?" His smile was smart and there was something about the blue in his eyes that just caught Ellie off guard. She had the same blue.

"Nothing." Ellie caught her breath.

"Not a damn thing," Aunt Maggie said.

Ellie faked a smile.

"You, are always up to something, Aunt Maggie." Ben chuckled.