Getting Gertie Out

It’s summer vacation. Lanta Cross is sixteen and at odds with Bernadette, her adoptive mother. She’ll do anything to get away from home and out from under Bernadette’s considerable thumb. Already working one part-time job at a local café, Lanta takes another at Saint Catherine’s Elder Care Facility. At first it appears her duties are something she can do blindfolded -- wheeling residents to and from activities, cleaning up their messes, and mainly staying out of the way of the LVNs and the administrator, Ms. Andrews. During her first week at the home, Lanta meets and befriends an elderly lesbian resident, Gertrude Weiss. They bond quickly. Yet not everything is what it seems at St. Catherine’s. When Gertrude’s journal full of her thoughts about her late partner goes missing, the abuse begins. Gertrude’s meals are late and cold. Her seemingly friendly roommate asks for a transfer to another room. As the harassment escalates, Gertrude’s physical and emotional health deteriorates. Lanta and her mother must pool their resources and work as a team to save Gertrude’s life before it’s too late. Will they be in time?

Paul Alan Fahey · Urban

Not enough ratings

22 Chs

Chapter 20

Mmm. I could grow to like this stuff.

She winked at me.

What? She’d offered before

I winked back.

“You’re off tomorrow at St. Catherine’s and working at the café, right?”

“Just the breakfast shift. Then I’m home.”

“Tell me a little about the Thursday afternoon schedule at St. Catherine’s.” She took her glass back and sipped from it.

“I haven’t worked beyond noon. Oh, one time last week till almost two P.M. or so.”

“But you know what usually happens.”

I ran to my room and brought back the weekly schedule. “Looks like it doesn’t seem to change much from week to week. See for yourself.” I ran my finger across the P.M.s. “Today was a couple of crafty things; then a group exercise on Wednesday where they toss around a big plastic ball in a circle; a special show this Friday. A bunch of elementary school kids are doing something with hand puppets. But nothing exciting on Thursday unless you consider an ice cream social at one P.M. a big deal.”

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