Mystery to Herself
A Short Story
Mystery to Herself, A Short Story, reveals the hidden trials of Evelyn Song, a main character in the new novel OldTown Brothers Born. While deciding what to do about an unexpected job offer, Evelyn is confronted with another woman’s crisis. Her response reveals the answer she was looking for.
Few people understood Evelyn Song. In some ways, she was a mystery to herself. But that thought wouldn’t solve today’s problem. She sat at her desk at the back of The Children’s Garden Daycare Center, long after the last child had left. The owner, Mrs. Dana Dillane, had retreated with the reminder to “Just think about it.” Thinking about her boss’s offer was all Evelyn had been doing for the last two hours.
A crimson sun hovered just above the horizon, painting the front room in a rosy glow. Bright yellow walls, decorated with a mural depicting a garden filled with fruit trees, charming animals, and smiling children playing on a green lawn dotted with flowers, wrapped around the front picture window.,
On the south end, miniature bookshelves were packed with illustrated story books, activity books, colorful counting and alphabet books, song books, and so much more that the overflow had been stacked on top in neat piles. Dolls and trucks, blocks and Legos, bouncy balls and foam balls, play pens, a changing station, colorful little tables with matching plastic chairs, and three soft toy boxes stood in readiness at their proper places for the next day’s invasion.
Evelyn tapped a nearly empty disinfectant bottle on her desk, while germ-ridden paper towels were stuffed in a disposable bag by her feet. The final cleanup was always a chore, but not a hard one. She had grown to enjoy it—working in peace and quiet, setting everything just right, imagining how tomorrow’s children would make happy memories here. A safe, welcoming home-away-from-home. Cleaning each evening and occasionally helping out during the day was the reason she had been hired in the first place.
Her elder sister’s pale pink face flashed in her mind. Susan had started working here shortly after college and loved it. Her plans to one day take over the center changed drastically when a certain Mr. Martin from Texas came along and swept her into his oversized heart. Covering for her sister was a long-standing habit, and since she had just graduated from college with an English major and no immediate plans, filling in as a “helper” until Mrs. Dillane could find a replacement wasn’t much of a challenge.
Nine years ago!
The fact that she had just been offered the position her sister had always dreamed about shouldn’t have upset her. But she realized with a bit of chagrin that she had just cleaned every toy within an inch of its life, taken every book off the shelves, and then lined them up from shortest to tallest, knowing full well that size didn’t matter to the pint-sized people who grabbed them by the armful and dropped most of them as they toddled across the room. Why didn’t she just go home and make dinner?
Alone? No Martin to carry me off…
Susan had moved to Texas, and their mother had passed away seven years ago. Her dad lived in a nursing facility paid for by a generous retirement from Boeing. His engineering talents were long gone, as was most of his memory. She visited him every Saturday morning, often bringing a book and reading aloud, while he dozed fitfully and asked her the same question repeatedly. “When’s Carol coming?”
Evelyn didn’t answer that his wife was long dead. It only made him sad. She doubted he knew who she was anymore. He certainly looked bewildered whenever she mentioned her sister Susan.
A knock on the window startled her. The spray bottle flew from her hand, and she tripped over the bag of spent towels.
A face pressed against the window, peering in. The knock repeated, louder this time.
Gathering her courage and whatever self-respect she had left, Evelyn darted to the door and, after unlocking it, swung it open. Her tone wasn’t friendly but that couldn’t be helped. “Yes? What do you want?”
“Oh, Evelyn! Thank goodness. I was so afraid everyone was gone, but I had to try.”
At barely five feet, Sandy Rodriguez was one of the most petite people Evelyn had ever known. But the woman’s spirit made up for what she lacked in physical presence. Her little boy, Juan, inherited her mother’s sweet nature and his father’s daredevil attitude. She shook her head, trying to convince her heart that there was no reason to overreact when a parent showed up so late at the center.
“Is everything okay?” A sweep of her hand clarified that her world consisted of a clean and perfectly arranged room. “I was just about to leave.”
Sandy practically forced herself inside, flapping her hands like a distressed bird. “Juan’s stuffed tiger—the one his dad gave him for his birthday, have you seen it?”
Daylight faded into twilight, and Evelyn blinked, trying to recall where she had last seen it and wondering why it mattered now. “Oh, yes, it was stuffed in with the books. I put it…” Where? She looked at the woman who was acting as if a silly toy meant the difference between life and death. She sighed. Some parents do go a little overboard. “Well, no worries; Juan can get it in the—”
“He was hit by a car.”
Evelyn froze.
Sandy reached out and grabbed Evelyn’s arm, her whole body shaking. “He’s going to be okay. Just a side swipe that knocked him down, but he has a broken arm. Jessie is with him now. But he kept crying for his bear, and I figured you might not remember Jessie, so I came instead.” She wiped tears from her cheeks and struggled to catch her breath. “You know how hard we work, and you never get mad when I’m late. This place means the world to us…that Juan has a safe place when we can’t be with him.” She wiped her face with her hands. “Sorry! I’ve just been so tense and scared since it happened.”
Evelyn didn’t think through her next actions, but she knew to the core of her being that they were the right ones. She enveloped the tiny lady in her arms and rocked her as she would have rocked one of the little ones that cried for comfort.
Her body shaking with each heart-wrenching sob, bottled up fear and grief poured from the exhausted mother.
After Sandy took a cleansing breath, Evelyn led the woman to the back toy box where a brown bear wearing a bright red shirt and blue jeans perched contentedly on the back of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Sandy laughed as she snatched up the bear. Then she hugged it. Then she hugged Evelyn. “Thank you!”
As they walked to the door, Evelyn heard herself speaking words that she hadn’t realized she could say. “Mrs. Dillane plans to retire next year, and she offered to sell this place to me. I’m thinking of accepting.”
Sandy hugged her again. After hurrying out the door with the bear clutched to her chest, the little woman who loved her son with every fiber of her being disappeared from view.
Evelyn gathered up the bottle and paper towels, put everything in its proper place, walked out the door, and locked the door for the night. As she strolled under the night sky, she hummed to herself.
As long as she loved the people in her life, she was never alone.
One mystery was solved.
On a special note, this will be the last short story until autumn. This spring and summer, I will be writing my newest novel, OldTown Brothers Born, and working on a new children’s book, the sequel to Wise Home. I am also expanding my reach by connecting with more bookstores and libraries, human-to-human.
A. K. Frailey is the author of 21 books, a teacher for 35 years, and a homeschooling mother of 8.
Make the most of life’s journey.
Novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction inspirational reflections are available as eBooks, paperbacks, hardcover, and as audible books.
https://www.amazon.com/author/akfrailey
BUY HERE
“One of the strengths of the collection is the author’s ability to create an entire world in just a few pages, leaving the reader wanting more. The stories are compact and move at a brisk pace, yet are filled with drama and excitement.” ~Gina Mitchell
BUY HERE
“Many of the stories are very moving. Some are humorous. And they are all well written.” ~McEvoy
BUY HERE
“The collection features imaginative science fiction stories from the OldEarth and Newearth worlds that reflect on humanity’s path while shining a light on opportunities and dangers. The stories vary in tone and theme to explore different aspects of the human experience.” ~Amazon
For a complete list of books by A. K. Frailey, book trailers, links, and reviews, check out
A. K. Frailey’s Books Page
For translated versions of A. K. Frailey’s Books, check out
A. K. Frailey’s Translated Books
https://www.amazon.com/A.-K.-Frailey/e/B006WQTQCE
Photo https://pixabay.com/illustrations/ai-generated-playroom-mother-infant-8446727/