Free Broke: by Kaye George Page B

died in, they got in together and had a long soak.
    "Is Marshmallow gonna use this tub?" Drew asked, trying to imitate the way Immy squirted water up from her fist.
    "No, silly. We'll use the hose outside like we always do." She sprayed water at Drew's neck and they both giggled.
    "Well, is he gonna sweep wif me?"
    Immy had to ponder that one. At the single wide, he had slept beside Drew. But how would Marshmallow get up the stairs to the bedrooms? He was too big to carry upstairs.
    "We can make Marshmallow a nice bed downstairs," said Immy.
    Drew's defiant scowl should have prepared Immy for the storm to come. When she insisted Drew go to sleep on her cot in her new room, Drew howled like she was being tortured. Immy glanced at the windows that needed caulking and hoped that the neighbors wouldn't suspect her of child abuse.
    Immy finally gave in . Drew's cot was easy enough to carry down the staircase. Immy put it next to the couch. Drew curled up on it happily, Marshmallow on the floor beside her within stroking distance. Within minutes they were both asleep.
    But Immy paced the kitchen, trying to figure out what a good parent would do. Probably not leave her child to sleep alone in a strange house for the first time with no one n ear. Especially since Immy had no idea who would be invading next.
    Reluctantly, Immy hauled her pillow and some bedclothes to the stiff, hard couch. Surprisingly, she fell asleep within seconds too. She'd worked hard that day.
    ***
    At first, Immy didn't know where she was. A streetlight shone through a window that was , surely, in the wrong place . She blinked , then remembered she was in her house. Her own house! S pending her first night on the couch. But what had awakened her? She pushed the button on her cell phone and checked the time in its glow . Two-twenty-two. She glanced at the cot.
    Drew! Drew wasn't there!
    Immy shot up, then heard a voice.
    "I can tell my Mommy," Drew said, not whispering, but speaking softly , as if to someone next to her . "She can help you."
    Help you? Immy was damned if she was going to help any more housebreakers. Marshmallow was missing, too. Maybe he was protecting Drew. Immy, glad she'd worn a heavy nightgown, tiptoed toward Drew's voice. She found her in the kitchen. Immy paused in the doorway to see who else was there.
    The lights were out, but enough moonlight streamed through the large windows to clearly s how her that Drew and Marshmallow were alon e in the large room. Who was Drew talking to? Was she sleepwalking? She never had before.
    "But maybe she can," Drew insisted. "My Mommy can do lots of things."
    Was someone hiding somewhere? Or was she talking to that damn Hoo ty ?
    "A'wight. Later alligator ."
    Then Immy thought she saw a faint shimmer, just inside the back door. Its glow pulsated twice, giving it an indistinct but vaguely human shape. Immy blinked and shook her head. When she opened her eyes the apparition was gone. She must have imagined it. She was so weary.
    Drew turned and ran toward Immy.
    "Hi Mommy."
    "Drew, what are you doing out of bed in the middle of the night?"
    " Marshmallow woke me up cuz t he nice lady wanted to talk to me."
    "Um, what nice lady?" Hoo ty , as near as Immy could ever figure, was not a lady, but a small boy, about Drew's age.
    "The one that lives here."
    "I didn't see anyone, Drew. Are you sure you didn't dream about that?"
    " Marshmallow seed her, too. The lady said she's glad we're here. There's somebody she doesn't want to come here, but she didn't tell me who."
    Immy peered into the gloom of the kitchen again. Nothing. No one.
    "Drew, you need to go back to sleep. You were only talking to Marshmallow. "
    "But I told her you would help keep the bad mans out."
    "Yes, sugar, I'll keep the bad mans out. All of them." If I can. " Now , you go to sleep."
    Just great. She was supposed to be getting rid of the ghost, not helping it.
    In the morning, Immy wondered if she'd dreamt the whole thing. The vision she'd