27
Mary got up and slowly went to the room. She opened the door and Elizabeth was lying
with Mitch on the bed. Mary went up to
her putting her hand on her shoulder and said, "I'm so sorry.”
Elizabeth got up out of the bed. She reached back and grabbed the prayer shawl and put it around her shoulders. They walked to the door and Elizabeth took one last look and walked out the door.
Elizabeth got up out of the bed. She reached back and grabbed the prayer shawl and put it around her shoulders. They walked to the door and Elizabeth took one last look and walked out the door.
Mary guided her down the elevator and to her car. All the while on the drive back to the farm,
neither of them spoke. Mary pulled in
the drive and helped Elizabeth out. They went
into the house and Mary could feel her shaking.
"Are you cold? Would you like a cup of coffee?”
"Are you cold? Would you like a cup of coffee?”
"That would be good.”
"Why don't you go sit on the sofa and I'll be right in.”
Mary brought the coffee in and handed it to Elizabeth. Lulu jumped on the sofa right onto
Elizabeth's lap.
"Lulu, I haven't seen you for a while" and she gently patted her. Lulu purred. They sat for a long while not talking.
"Lulu, I haven't seen you for a while" and she gently patted her. Lulu purred. They sat for a long while not talking.
Then Mary said, "Are you still cold? I could start a fire.”
"I'd like that. That's
one thing Mitch always had to do. I
never did learn to start a fire.”
Mary got up and got the fire started.
Mary got up and got the fire started.
It was getting late and
Mary could see that Elizabeth was getting more tired. She said, "You want something to eat
before bed?”
"No if you don't mind though I might lie down for a while on
the sofa.”
"That's okay, go ahead.”
Elizabeth lay down and covered herself with the shawl. Elizabeth immediately fell asleep. Mary got up and turned the lights off in the
living room and kitchen. She put the
afghan on Elizabeth and sat on the chair staring into the fire. Mary dozed off.
"Mary, Mary" Elizabeth said. "Why don't you go upstairs to bed? It's
3:00 in the morning.”
"Huh" she said.
"Are you going up to bed?”
"No, I'm a little hungry.
I thought I would scout out the kitchen.
I could use something sweet to eat.”
Mary said "You still like chocolate? I've got some chocolate chip cookies and we
could have some milk.”
"Now you’re talking my language" Elizabeth said.
They both went in the kitchen.
Mary got the cookies out and the milk.
Elizabeth went to the cupboard and pulled two glasses out.
"I see the glasses are still in the same place they were when we were kids.”
"I see the glasses are still in the same place they were when we were kids.”
"Yeah, Ma doesn't look like she changed much in all these
years.”
They sat at the table drinking their milk and eating cookies.
"It's so good to have you home Mary. I missed you so much over the years.”
"It's so good to have you home Mary. I missed you so much over the years.”
"Me too.”
"They were taking Mitch to the coroner's. I'll have to call the funeral home in the
morning. He didn't want a funeral just
to be cremated. I told him I didn't like
that idea but that's what he wanted so that's what I'll do.”
"You know you can stay with me as long as you need to
Elizabeth.”
"Thanks Mary.”
When they were done eating Mary said "You want to go up to
bed now.”
"No, I think I'll just sleep on the sofa but you go up to
bed. You can't sleep on that chair all
night. I’m fine. Now go on.”
"Okay, but I'm going to bring you down a nightgown. It's best if you get out of those clothes for
a while" and Mary ran upstairs and brought a nightgown for her.
She left Elizabeth to get changed and went upstairs, put her
nightgown in and crawled into bed. Mary
fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Mary felt Lulu jump on the bed and opened her eyes. It seemed very bright and sunny. She looked at the clock and it was 10
already. She jumped out of bed and went
to see if Elizabeth was up.
When she was coming down the steps she heard noises in the kitchen
and knew she was up already.
"Good Morning" Mary said as she came into the
kitchen.
"I see Lulu listened to me and got you up. I made an egg casserole and it's about to
come out of the oven. The coffee's
ready.”
"Thanks, you must have gotten up pretty early.”
"I slept like a rock after the cookies and milk and got up
around 7. I thought we could use a good
breakfast and since you had a lot of eggs I thought I would make my famous egg
casserole.”
"Famous huh? I guess
I'll be the judge of that” and they laughed.
"I talked to the funeral director this morning and
everything's handled. They'll call me
when to pick up Mitch's ashes.”
"How are you doing this morning?”
"Surprisingly, well. I
don't know if I'm in shock or what. I
will tell you being here I think has helped me tremendously. I was thinking maybe later we could take a
walk in the woods. I've been thinking
about it ever since you mentioned it. I
would love to go back there again.”
"That would be fun.”
Elizabeth took the
casserole out and dished it up.
"Mary, tell me about your job.”
"Okay" and they talked about her job and ate.
When they were done they put the dishes in the sink and the rest
of the casserole in the refrigerator.
Mary said, "I guess you were right. Your egg casserole is fabulously famous. You want to go upstairs and see if any of my
clothes fit. Although you’re so thin, my stuff might be a little big on you.
That dress you were wearing isn't exactly made for the woods.”
"Believe me; I wasn't this thin when we went on
vacation" and they both went upstairs into Mary’s bedroom.
"I can't believe your room stills looks the same.”
"I know. Like I said,
Ma didn’t change anything.”
"Oh look, there's the angel I made out of corn husks for you
that one year for Christmas. I'm
surprised it held up all these years.
Let's see your clothes.”
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
No comments:
Post a Comment