Schuyler Square Day 38 Kirk Wants Mom to Move

Veronica leaned closer to the back wall of the garage to peer at the tiny figure. “It looks like a man,” she said.

“With blond hair. I have blond hair.”

Veronica straightened and smiled at her only child. “You and a few other million men,” she told him. “Did you think that you and Robert Redford had a lock on blond hair?”

“No, but that’s my favorite shade of blue too.”

Great. Now her weirdness was rubbing off on Kirk. “So?” she asked. “Mary Austin made this mural when you were still running around in Pull-Ups. What’s your point?”

“I don’t know but this whole mural makes me feel strange all of the sudden.”

Veronica knew the feeling. “How does it make you feel strange?” she asked.

“Like it’s telling a story about me or us. I don’t like it.”

“I don’t like it either,” Veronica admitted. Kirk was feeling exactly how she felt—like Mary Austin had somehow known about Veronica and Kirk and Ron. Well, it was possible that she had. After all, Mary had apparently been Ron’s new mistress after Veronica had fled from Schuyler Square. She probably knew a lot of things—possibly something that had gotten her murdered.

“So why don’t you leave it alone? Move to a different house or find an apartment but don’t mess with this stuff, Mom. It’s like how Grandma always said never to play with a Ouija board because you don’t know what you’re opening a door for.”

“Kirk, I’d love to move but there doesn’t seem to be anything else available at the moment. Unless you and Mindy want to let me sleep on the couch at your place.”

“You know you're always welcome but I don't think you'd like living with us, Mom. Mindy's pretty fussy and her apartment is tiny. Are you sure there’s nothing available?”

Veronica shook her head. She should know. She’d been combing the classifies and had already asked Ron if he could find her another house to rent but had come up empty. Ron pointed out that he was already charging her next to nothing for the house she was currently living in. The only other option was staying in a corporate condo that was way too accessible to Ron for Veronica's taste. Until she could find an apartment or a house to rent on her own she was stuck and as much as that didn't thrill her, it wasn't something she wanted to burden Kirk with. “Nothing I can afford at the moment. Look, we’re both making a big deal out of this when I’m sure it’s really nothing. Mary Austin was probably a little on the kooky side—she’d have to be to make a mural like this. I mean, can you imagine breaking all those bottles up and then gluing them onto the back of the garage? It’s borderline nuts.”

“It’s completely nuts,” Kirk replied. “There’s nothing borderline about it. Have you talked this over with…Ron?”

“No.” Veronica hadn’t had a decent conversation with Ron since moving back to Schuyler Square. Other than their brief encounter at the coffee shop, the rest of the times she’d spoken to Ron had been either completely businesslike or totally over-the-top emotional. The man exhausted her, pure and simple.


"So I take it he's not planning on taking me on a father-son camping trip?"


"Not yet. Kirk, I shouldn't have shown you this mural. It really has nothing to do with you." Veronica shook her head. "I probably never should have come back to Schuyler Square. It's too late to settle old debts."


"I don't know about that, Mom," Kirk replied. "Ron Schuyler is always going to be my dad. Personally, I think that's a debt that's way overdue."


Veronica felt chilled when she heard the anger in Kirk's voice. It had been a mistake to come back and she was afraid that her son was going to be the one who might end up paying for it.