The child tentatively pointed to a bottle shaped like a duck. “That one, maybe.”
Julia took it from the shelf.
“No, that one.”
She replaced the duck, reached for a fairy princess bottle on the top shelf and unscrewed the cap. Holding it down for Katie to smell, she said, “What do you think?”
Katie sniffed. “It smells good.”
Julia tested it. “Wow, sure does. I think I’ll buy it. Nothing makes me feel better than a good long soak in tons of sweet-smelling bubbles. How about you?”
Katie hunched one slight shoulder. “I never had a bubble bath.”
Julia disguised her shock by loading her basket with other items from the shelves. “Then we’ll definitely have to remedy that. We’ll buy some of these kitty-cat soaps, and one of these pink spongy things and this shampoo.”
Julia set the basket on the counter while Mr. Pope filled her order. “We still have a few minutes,” she said to Katie. “Want to have a drink?”
“Okay.”
They went to the soda fountain and Julia helped Katie onto a stool. While she waited for the clerk to take their order, she ran her hand along the smooth Formica surface where, over her lifetime, she’d enjoyed hundreds of vanilla Cokes. Nothing had changed at Pope’s ice cream and drink fountain. The mirror behind the shelf of soda glasses still had a crack in it. The chrome napkin holders still gleamed. Straws dependably popped up when a customer lifted the lid of the heavy glass dispenser.
And almost as predictably, Julia’s past came flooding back. She vividly recalled when she and Tina were kids, three years apart, and they’d sat on these very stools, sharing a drink and laughing about something that had happened at school. Or when they’d left the matinee at the Glen Springs cinema and waited at Pope’s for their father to pick them up. Or years later, when they’d been sitting here during Julia’s sophomore year at Riverton College and the dashing new professor from the English department had stopped at the pharmacy to pick up a few things for his grandfather who lived at the top of Whisper Mountain.
When Cameron Birch had spotted his student at the fountain, he’d come right over to say hello. Although tongue-tied with nervous excitement at seeing the handsome Professor Birch right here in her hometown, Julia had somehow managed to introduce him to Tina without stumbling over both their names. And that night she’d gone to Tina’s bedroom and gushed to her sister about how gorgeous his hazel eyes were, how intelligent he was and how she couldn’t sleep at night because he’d taken up permanent residence in her mind.
And a week later, the larger-than-life Professor Birch showed up at the cabin behind Cora’s General Store to pick Tina up for a date. And everything changed.
“What can I get you?”
Julia looked up at the young man behind the counter. “Two vanilla Cokes,” she said, and smiled at her niece, whose eyes were the same beautiful blue as her mother’s. She handed Katie a straw. It was too late for her to make amends with her sister, but she prayed it wasn’t too late for her and Katie.
AN HOUR LATER, Julia parted the bathroom curtains. Glorious late morning sunshine sparkled on the tile floor and porcelain claw-foot tub. She looked over her shoulder at Katie, who stood silently watching her. “Isn’t that better? Sometimes, like on a day like today, I really hate those curtains.”
Katie shrugged. “I guess.”
Over the last days, Julia had noticed that Katie often responded to direct questions without emotionally committing herself to the answers. I suppose…I guess…Maybe… These were the responses Katie gave when asked her opinion. It was as if she qualified every answer so she could amend it quickly and simply if circumstances indicated she should. Julia wondered what had made her so unsure of herself. Growing up, Tina had always displayed more than her share of confidence. Apparently that trait hadn’t been passed down to her daughter.
Julia turned on the tap and tested the temperature of the water flowing into the tub. She reached behind her back. “Hand me the bubble bath, sweetie.”
Katie took the bottle off the vanity and passed it to Julia.
“Unscrew the cap,” Julia said.
“No, you do it. I don’t think I’m going to take a bath right now.”
Julia complied, filling the cap with liquid and pouring the entire amount under the faucet. Frothy bubbles spread over the water. “Look how beautiful,” she said. “I think you should add another one.” She handed the cap to Katie and was relieved when the child stepped close enough to the tub to pour in the contents.
Julia swished her fingers through the bubbles. “You have to feel this, Katie,” she said. “It’s like touching air you can see.”
Katie reached forward, poked a couple of bubbles and then scooped a small mountain of them into her hand.
Julia stood. “You know, I could be the first person to enjoy this bath, but I rather thought you might like to be.”
Katie made a fist, shooting bubbles into the air above the tub. “I don’t know…”
Interrupting her, Julia said, “But if you go first, I have a really big favor to ask.”
Katie’s eyes widened. “What is it?”
“Well, we just got Grandma’s favorite lady’s magazine in the mail and I want to read it. I realize that we girls like our privacy when we bathe, but since the light in the bathroom is the very best in all the house, I was hoping you’d let me stay in here with you and read. I promise to be very quiet.”
Katie looked from Julia to the rising water. Her eyes showed a bit of sparkle, just enough for Julia to hope the bubbles might be working some magic. “It would be okay if you want to,” she said after careful consideration.
“Great!” Julia pulled a magazine out of the basket Cora kept in the bathroom and sat on the commode lid. “Why don’t you undress, and I’ll just start reading.”
Fifteen minutes later, most of the bubbles were gone and Katie had been scrubbed clean with the exception of her face and hair. “I think I’m done,” she announced.
Julia looked up from the magazine. “Almost.” She picked up the bottle of children’s shampoo from the side of the bathtub and flipped open the lid. “Still have to wash your hair, don’t you? And I haven’t finished this article.” She reached for a plastic cup she’d brought in earlier. “Can I wet your hair with this?”
Katie nodded, but her eyes widened with the first sign of alarm. “It’s going to be all right, sweetie,” Julia said.
Katie closed her eyes tightly and threaded her hands between her knees. Bending her head forward, she said, “Hurry, okay?”
Julia leaned over the tub and poured the first cupful over Katie’s head. Water sluiced down her forehead and the sides of her face. Katie trembled but remained silent. Julia slowly emptied the contents of another cup, decided Katie’s hair was wet enough and reached for the shampoo.
Katie began to scream. Her face more than a foot above the water, she cried that she couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe, that she was drowning. Each frantic word was punctuated with shrieks of sheer terror. Her panic ripped through Julia. She dropped the cup, grabbed her niece and lifted her partway from the tub. “It’s okay, sweetheart.”
Katie reached up, wrapped her arms around Julia and held on. She buried her face in the crook of Julia’s neck. With bathwater soaking her skin and clothing and her own tears mingling with her niece’s, Julia crooned words of comfort into Katie’s ear. “I’m so sorry, sweetie. You’re going to be all right. I won’t let you go.”
Moments later, the cries subsided. Katie sniffled loudly. “Do we have to wash my hair?”
Julia drew a normal breath. “No, we can wait for another time. But when we do, we’ll do it another way. If you look up at the ceiling, not at the tub, the water will run down your hair and your back, not into your face. I promise you won’t feel so scared.”
