356: Lorna was enjoying ...
Herb ’n’ Lorna, Chapter 15 continues
Lorna was enjoying herself, seated at the center of a group of calculating women, working on a soap carving — it depicted the woman who had requested it in the passionate embrace of Gary Cooper — when Herb’s call came through. She and Herb decided that she should arrange to return home at once and that Herb should wake Ella and tell her the awful news.
Herb stood in Ella’s doorway for a while, just watching her sleep and listening to her deep, untroubled breathing. He sighed and stepped to the side of her bed. He sat on the edge and put his hand on her shoulder.
“Ella,” he whispered. “Ella.”
She stirred, but she didn’t wake up.
“Ella,” he said, so softly that Ella would have had difficulty hearing him if she’d been awake, “something awful has happened, and I have to tell you about it.” Ella stirred, stretched, and turned her head slightly, so that she almost seemed to be responding to him, but still she didn’t wake up. “Buster is dead, Ella,” Herb said, so quietly that Ella didn’t stir at the sound of his voice. “It’s terrible, terrible. I called your mother in Maryland. She’ll come home right away. She should be here tomorrow night, so we only have to get through tonight and tomorrow without her. Then she’ll be here, and she’ll — ”
Ella stirred again. She turned onto her back, and she rolled her head away from Herb toward the window. Herb held his breath. He could feel his heart pounding, and in the quiet of the room he seemed to be able to hear it. He waited. Ella didn’t open her eyes.
“She’ll know what to say, what to tell you. She’ll know what to do.” He put his hand on Ella’s cheek. “You can’t let this get the best of you, Ella,” he said. “You can’t let it — destroy you. You have a way of taking everything too hard. This isn’t the end of the world. You still have Bert.” He sighed. Oh, God, he thought. I hope I can come up with something better than that when she’s awake.
The telephone rang. It startled him. He stood suddenly. Ella cried out and sat up in her bed.
“It’s all right. It’s all right,” he assured her. He reached out to her, held her shoulders. “It’s all right, Ella. It’s only me.”
“What’s the matter, Daddy?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”
“I — ”
“The phone’s ringing.”
“Yes. It’s — ”
“Is it our ring?”
“I don’t know. I — I didn’t pay attention.”
“It is. It’s our ring. You’d better get it. It must be important.”
“It’s probably your mother, Ella. I have to — I’ll be right back.” Herb backed out of the room, and he dashed down the hall to get the phone.
[to be continued on Monday, October 10, 2022]
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