Mary #34

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34

When Mary pulled out of the driveway she decided she would go to the store and pick up a few things. 

When she was going in the store she heard “Hey, Mary.”  It was Elizabeth’s sister. 

“Hey back at ya’.  How are you doing?”

“It has been kind of crazy, hasn’t it?  First Mitch dying and then finding out that Liz has breast cancer.  I don’t know how she’s surviving.  I know she’s happy your here.” 

“I am too.  I haven’t been home yet since she went with Donna.  Have you talked to her?” 

“Yes, she called me after her appointment.  I’m very concerned for her and frightened.  You know my granny died from breast cancer?  I’m not working at the salon tomorrow because my kids have a half a day.  Eliabeth wants me to cut her hair at her house.  I’m going to be picking her up in the morning.” 

“Oh, I guess I didn’t think about her losing her hair, that long beautiful blond hair.  I can’t imagine what that feels like.” 

“Me either.  Tomorrow she has to go for some kind of chemo training and then she’s going to look for a wig and scarves/hats.” 

“Isn’t she rushing it a little?” 

“I don’t think so from what she said not too long after she has her first treatment her hair will start falling out.” 

“Oh.” 

“Well, I have to get home and get my kids to bed.  I’ll see you” and off she went. 

Mary walked around the store.  She picked up some bottles of wine, a couple more gallons of ice cream and some cookies.  She went and checked out.

On the ride home, all she could think about was Elizabeth losing her hair.  She would have to prepare herself for what it was going to look like.  She had never seen a bald woman before at least not in person.  She never liked being around sick people but she would just have to figure a way to deal with it.  After all, it wasn’t about her it was about Elizabeth.

She pulled into the driveway and got the bag out of the car.  She unlocked the door and all was quiet in the house. 

She looked around for Elizabeth and could see her parent’s bedroom door closed and Lulu lying in front of it.   She turned the light on in the kitchen and immediately saw a note on the table.  She put the bag down and looked at the note.  "Mary, I was exhausted when I came home and I went to bed.  I’ll see you in the morning.  Don’t worry I’m okay.  Elizabeth.."

Mary put the stuff away, opened a bottle of wine, poured herself a glass and sat on the couch.  Was Elizabeth really okay?  Lulu came down the steps and jumped up so Mary could pet her.  Mary turned on the TV and petted Lulu. 

Her phone started ringing and when she picked it up she heard “Mary?” but her voice sounded like she’d been crying. 

“Sadie, is that you?”

“Yes, I’m sorry to bother you with everything that’s going on but I didn’t know who else to call.”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s the worst possible thing.  I’m losing my job in a couple of days and the hotel is going into bankruptcy.”

“What, how can that be?  I never heard anything like that before I left.” 

“Well it is.  They are putting a lot of people on lay off.   Everyone is so scared.  The word is don’t expect to ever be called back.”

“Oh no” Mary said rather loudly and saw Elizabeth coming down the steps. 

“It’s good I’ll at least be able to collect unemployment but I don’t know how long I’ll be able to afford my apartment.” 

“This is really unbelievable.  I wonder why no one’s called me yet.  I wonder if I still have a job. I’ll have to call in the morning and see what’s going on.  Do you have any money saved?”

“I have some but it won’t last forever.  You know there aren’t a lot of jobs out there.”

“Yeah, I know.  I could live in my apartment for a good long while but I don’t know what I would do with myself if I couldn’t find another job.”

“I won’t keep you.  I just had to get it out.  Call me tomorrow and let me know what you here, okay?”

“Okay Sadie, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.  Bye.”

“Problems” Elizabeth asked.

“Yeah, that was my friend that I work with.  She told me the hotel we work for is going into bankruptcy.”

“Wow, that’s terrible.  Do you think you’ll lose your job?”

“I don’t know but if I do I will get a severance package which is more than Sadie will get.  How are you doing Elizabeth?”

“Fine, I was getting up to go to the bathroom and I could hear your voice so I thought I would come down for a minute.  I’m so exhausted but I wanted to tell you I’m going to my house tomorrow with Jody.  She’s going to cut my hair.”

“That’ll be nice.  Why don’t you go back to bed?”

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”

“Yeah, I’m going to go to bed myself.  Good night.”      

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