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Show 24-6 jumbled and confused. I knew Mother was upset and that Father was worried. Before he left us at the hospital, he reached back to me where I sat between my grandparents, patted my knee and told me to take care of Mother. How was I to do that? Was it such an awful thing that she had done to speak out in church? She said she wanted no part of the monument but the minister had asked for comments. I wished again I could see Andrew and talk to him about it. Maybe I could reach him by phone. But I wasn't sure how to do that and wasn't sure I could tell him over the wire. I needed to see his face to be able to talk to him easily. Finally, I put on my heavy sweater against the afternoon chill, called Fidelio and took a long walk down around the school and the park, past, Darby's house and then home. As I came down our street, the lights were coming on and as I came up the walk I could hear Mother playing the piano. The walk had chased out my own sadness and filled it with the damp, fresh air and so I could concentrate on the map of Europe I had to draw and the arithmetic problems I had to work. About six, Father called to tell us he was ready to come home. Mother and I drove through the cool evening, leaves crunching under the tire wheels. The hospital looked warm and friendly as we waited in the parking lot, and I thought maybe I was wrong about the men being cold and lonely there. Maybe now for them this place was like my home was for me. When Father got in the car, he kissed both of us. He smelled like the hospital, the smell I always associated with him, the alcohol, sharp and clean. We drove home again, and I felt for a moment like we three were alone in the world, safe here, snug in the close dark car. I wanted to drive on across the flat country outside town and never stop. But then we turned in the drive, the house lights were on, Fidelio was barking and I was glad to be home. |
