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

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22 Chs

Chapter 7

The fog, now heavy and wet, penetrated my thin hoodie and light pants and went straight to the bones. As for my companion, she wore a heavy sweat suit with a warm, wooly cap pulled down over her head and ears, definitely dressed appropriately for the weather.

We chatted as we walked along. I asked what we were selling.

“Fudge. We make it from scratch in the kitchen.”

“Do you sell a lot?”

“Sometimes. Today it depends on whether or not anyone shows. Brave the weather.’’ I felt her body shiver next to mine. “Locals don’t buy it. We make the tourists feel guilty.” She chuckled. “They must realize they, too could end up like us. Probably will. In time.”

“Is it such a bad thing, Ms. Weiss? Living at St. Catherine’s?”

“No,” she said. “It’s all right. I’ve adjusted.”

When we arrived at our spot, the driver—I learned her name was Maria—sat us together at a small table with two folding chairs. There were three other similar arrangements also peopled by twofolk per table.

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