[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
little. He was bald and used to wear red suspenders."
"Oh, those awful, awful suspenders of his. He had a couple dozen pairs. All
red."
She nodded, then Nana seemed to go inside herself for a moment or two. She
didn't talk about my grandfather very often. He had died when he was just
forty-four. He'd been a teacher, just like Nana, though he taught Math, and
she was English. They had met while working at the same school in Southeast.
"Your grandfather was an excellent man, Alex. Loved to dress up and wear a
nice hat. I still have most of his hats. You go through the Depression, things
we saw, you like to dress up sometimes. Gives you a nice feeling about
yourself."
She looked over at me. "I made a mistake, though, Alex."
I glanced over at her. "You made a mistake? This is a great shock. I'd better
pull over to the side of the road."
She cackled. "Just one that I can recall. See, I knew how good it could be to
fall in love. I really loved Charles. After he died, though, I never tried to
find love again. I think I was afraid of failing. Isn't that pathetic, Alex? I
was too afraid to go after the best thing I ever found in this life."
I reached over and patted her shoulder. "Don't talk like you're leaving us."
"Oh, I'm not. I have a lot of confidence in Doc Kayla. She would tell me if it
was time for me to start collecting on all my old debts. Which I plan to do,
by the way."
"So, this is a parable, a lesson?"
Nana shook her head. "Not really. Just an anecdote while we're taking this
nice ride in your car. Drive on, young man. Drive on. I'm enjoying this
immensely. We should do it more often. How about every Sunday?"
The whole ride out to Virginia and back, we never once talked about Nana's
procedure in the hospital the next morning. She obviously didn't want to, and
I respected that. But the operation, at her age, scared me as much as any
murder case could. No, actually it scared me more.
When we got back to the house I went upstairs and called Jamilla. She was at
work but we talked for nearly an hour anyway.
Then I sat down at my computer. For the first time in over a week I pulled up
my notes on the Three Blind Mice. There was still one big question I needed to
answer if I could. Big if.
Who was behind the three of them?
Who was the real killer?
Chapter One Hundred and Two
I fell asleep at my work desk, woke up around three in the morning. I went
down to my bedroom for a couple of hours. The alarm sounded at five.
Nana was scheduled to be at St. Anthony's Hospital at six-thirty. Dr. Coles
wanted her to be one of the first operations of the day, while everybody on
Page 136
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
the staff was fresh and alert. Aunt Tia stayed at the house with little Alex,
but I brought Damon and Jannie with me to the hospital.
We sat in the typically antiseptic-looking waiting room, which really started
to fill up with people around seven-thirty. Everybody in there looked nervous
and concerned and fidgety, but I think we were probably right up there with
the worst of the lot.
"How long does the operation take?" Damon wanted to know.
"Not long. Nana might not have gone in first, though. It all depends. It's a
simple procedure, Damon. Electrical energy is delivered to the AV node. The
electricity is a little like the heat in a microwave. It disconnects the
pathway between the atria and the ventricles and will stop the extra impulses
causing Nana's irregular heartbeat. Got all that? Don't hold me to it, but
that's fairly close to what's happening."
"Is Nana wide awake while it's happening?" Jannie wanted to know.
"Probably. You know your Nana. They gave her a mild sedative and then local
anesthesia."
"Won't touch her," Jannie said.
So we talked and waited, and fretted and worried, and it took longer than I
thought it should take. I tried not to let my mind wander to bad places. I
wanted to stay in touch with the moment.
I conjured up good memories of Nana, and they were a little like prayers. I
thought about how much she meant to me, and also to the kids. None of us would
be where we were without Nana's unconditional love, her confidence in us, and
even her needling irritating as it could be sometimes.
"When is she coming out?" Jannie looked at me. Her beautiful brown eyes were
full of uncertainty and fear. It struck me that Nana had really been a mother
to all of us. Nana Mama was more mama than nana.
"Is she all right?" Damon asked. "Something's wrong, isn't it? Don't you think
this is taking too long?"
Unfortunately, I did. "She's just fine," I said to the children.
More time passed. Slowly. Finally, I looked up and saw Dr. Coles coming into
the waiting room. I took a quick breath and tried not to let the kids see how
anxious and nervous I really was.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]