Good Heavens (31 page)

I could see I wasn't making much headway. Then I thought of something. “Nancy, are you going to leave us way out here in the sticks where anything can happen—where one of these women can get deathly sick or break a bone or go wacko—and we have not anybody here trained for medical emergencies like that?”

She tried to wipe her eyes on a wadded up tissue. I had a fistful in my pocket and handed her a couple. “When Dr. Elsie is home, we can call on her, but she's in Vermont taking care of her sister. There's no telling when her sister will get better or die, one, so Dr. Elsie can come home. I know you got bills, but if you'll let me, I'll loan you the money you need until you graduate and can get back on your feet. We need you, Nancy—I need you. Won't you please stay on?”

She didn't answer but blew her nose and stopped crying. Finally, she said, “I'll think about it.” As I was going out the door she said, “Thank you, Miss E.”

Going back downstairs, I was pretty sure she was going to stay but I prayed to make sure.

I asked Ursula where Mr. Ringstaff was, and she said he and Lenora were taking a walk. “Oh,” I said. Then I remembered—Lenora and Martha didn't go with us to the country store. “Is Mr. Ringstaff staying for supper?”

“Yes. He has a surprise for us. By the way, while you were gone, Martha's husband did come with their daughter, and Martha has gone home with them.”

I was sorry I wasn't there to say good-bye, but things like that can't be helped when a body is going in all directions at the same time.

I went in my room to change clothes, but I couldn't decide what to wear. Finally, I put on the only decent Sunday dress I had, but as I looked in the mirror, I wasn't satisfied. I fished around in my jewelry box for some earrings Bud gave me. They probably cost him a fortune, and I was always so afraid of losing them I didn't wear them much. After I put them on I wondered if they looked right, so I stepped in the office and asked Ursula, “Do these earrings look all right with this dress?”

She said they did, but when I got back in the room I thought,
She's a poor one to ask
. I turned my head this way and that, looking in the mirror trying to decide.
Well, they are pretty, and they're the best I've got, so I'll wear them
. My hair was a mess and I didn't have time to use the curling iron, so I brushed it real good, scooped it up, twisted it in back, and fastened it in a kinda French
twist with my rhinestone comb. Bud always liked when I wore it that way.

The bell rang for supper; I gave the ears a spray of Chanel Number Five, took one more look in the mirror, and let it go at that.

While I was waiting in the dining room for the W.W.s, lo and behold, I saw Lenora come in the parlor on Mr. Ringstaff's arm! I felt like telling her to cool it. They hung around the piano, tinkling the keys before they came in the dining room. Both of them were smiling like they shared some joke. Well, at least Lenora was finally smiling.

Then the W.W.s came in. They looked surprised when they saw me. “Aren't those the earrings Bud gave you?” Mabel asked.

“Well, yes, I believe he did give them to me.”

Clara had to put in her two cents' worth. “And that dress—didn't you get that dress on sale last summer?” “I might have,” I said. They were embarrassing me.

How I got through that meal, I'll never know. When we finished eating, I asked Lenora in a nice way if she would mind helping in the kitchen while I entertained my guests in the parlor.

The W.W.s sat on the couch, and I gave Ringstaff the Morris chair. It was up to me to start the conversation. “Ursula tells me you have a surprise for us, Mr. Ringstaff.”

He smiled. “Albert, the name is Albert, Esmeralda.” That was nice to hear, and it wasn't wasted on the
W.W.s. They looked at him and me and then rolled their eyes at each other.

I said, “Okay, Albert,” pleased that it rolled off my tongue so easy. “What's the surprise?”

“Can you keep a secret?”

Thelma blurted out, “No, she can't! Esmeralda spills the beans every time.” Then she laughed.

That's a Yankee for you
, I thought.

Ringstaff laughed too. “Well, I've never found that to be the case with Esmeralda. The secret is, I've finished repairing the piano, but we'll wait until the ladies are finished in the kitchen before we play it.”

We talked on, mostly about plans for turning the garage into a canning room. “We'll have to put in a sink,” I said, “which shouldn't pose much of a problem since there are pipes in there that run up to the apartment. Lester Teague will know a good plumber. Then we'll need a stove, a fridge, and another freezer.”

Once the girls were through in the kitchen, they scattered—mostly to the front porch to light up again. Lenora came in the parlor. “Albert, it's time you told them.”

“I just did,” he said. “We're waiting for the ladies.”

“They won't be coming to the parlor,” she said. “They'll be going to the day room or up to their rooms.”

Good heavens, when did she get to be housemother?

“Well, I think I know how I can get them in here,” he said. He got up, made his way across the room, and sat down on the piano bench. He lit right into playing, his fingers flying all over that keyboard. It was a rip-roaring piece I use to hear on the Lawrence Welk Show, and it was great!

“That's the ‘Twelfth Street Rag,'” Lenora informed us. “Yes, I know that one,” I told her, as much as to say,
I didn't fall off a turnip truck, you know
.

Hearing that jazz, the girls came piling in from the porch. The only one I could see missing was Dora. She probably didn't cotton to piano music. The girls stood around the piano, leaning on it and getting a real bang out of watching him play.

Once he finished that number, he stood up and announced that now Lenora would play for us.

Well, she did. Without a sheet of music or hymn book or anything, she began playing soft music such as you hear on classic radio. “This is the ‘Moonlight Sonata,'” he told us. I didn't care for it myself. I don't think the girls liked it either. I
know
the W.W.s were bored stiff.

Lenora looked up at Albert, her eyes all misty. “The
spielart
is perfect.”

He smiled back at her. “I remembered the feel you like, Lenora, and I aligned all the moving parts to move freely yet with firmness to your touch so there'd be no side play.”

If nobody else was enjoying the music, those two were. When Lenora ended that number, he asked her to play something from Liszt. I think that was the name. She began playing another smooth, slow number. “Ah, ‘The Consolation,'” he said, all smiles. “No one can perform Liszt as well as you, Lenora. In a split second you change the mood and the phrasing.”

The girls were polite, but with Lenora into the second number, one by one they were slipping out of the room. Before Portia went upstairs, she came quietly over to where
I was sitting and whispered in my ear. “Miss E., now that Martha's gone, will you let me move into her room?”

“I'll see what I can do,” I whispered back.

I heard the screen door close and looked up to see Dora coming through the dining room into the parlor. She didn't stand near the piano or sit in a chair—she laid herself down on the carpet beside the piano, closed her eyes, and laid there like she was in some kind of other world.

The W.W.s looked at me as if to say,
What's wrong with her?
I didn't try to explain. A body has to be around Dora a while before you understand the way she is. In her case, lying on the floor listening to that slow music wasn't strange at all; she was probably hearing the wind and the rain in her holler, or seeing the moon rising, or whatever.

By the third or fourth long piece, the W.W.s and I had just about run out of politeness. They were shifting about on the couch as much as to say,
How long is this going on?
And I raised my eyebrows, which told them,
I don't have any idea
.

As for myself, I tuned out the music because I had other things to think about, especially Portia. I was glad she wanted to get away from Linda, but if Portia took Martha's place she'd be alone in that room. Chances were Linda would make her life miserable in there.
If Nancy stays, maybe I can get her to take Martha's place and let Portia room with Emily
. The more I thought about it, the more I liked that arrangement. After all, Portia and Emily were study partners, so it would make sense to have them room together.

As soon as Lenora finished playing the next piece, I
thanked her for playing, then excused myself and said it was urgent that I talk to someone. The W.W.s saw their chance to escape and, saying they had a big day coming up and needed to get to bed, they said good night.

That left Lenora playing, Albert sitting beside her on the bench, and Dora lying on the floor, soaking her soul in that highbrow music. Well, to each his own, I always say.

I found Nancy in her room. She had put away the suitcase. “I'm glad you're staying, Nancy,” I said and sat down on the bed. “I can rest easier with you here.” But I could see she was still upset.

“I'll stay until Dr. Elsie gets back. After that, I can't promise anything.”

“Okay,” I said. “Nancy, I have a favor to ask of you. Portia wants to move out of her room.”

“It's about time.”

“About time?”

Nancy gave me a knowing look. “Don't you know?”

“Know what, Nancy?”

“If you don't know, sooner or later you'll find out.”

I could see she didn't want to say anything more, so I asked her, “Since Portia and Emily are study partners, it would be nice if they roomed together, don't you think?”

“You want me to move, don't you?”

“Would you mind?”

“Don't ask me to move in with Linda.”

“No, not Linda. Would you take Martha's room?”

She agreed to do that. “I'll pack my things.”

I looked in on Portia to tell her what the deal was. Linda was in the room getting ready to take a shower. When she heard Portia was moving, she flew off the handle. “She's not leaving this room!” she yelled.

Portia stood up to her. “Yes, I am, Linda,” she said and started taking her things out of the dresser.

“You do and I'll—”

I called her bluff. “What'll you do, Linda?”

“You'll see,” she said and threw a brush across the room.

“We'll have none of that!” I told her. “Portia, Nancy's going to move in Martha's room so you can room with Emily. Since you and Emily are study partners I thought that would be nice. Why don't you ask Emily to help you move?”

“Okay,” she said and left to find her.

I sat down on the bed to talk to Linda. “Now, what's this you're going to do to Portia?”

“You don't understand.”