Must Read Well by Ellen Pall

Author:Ellen Pall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bancroft Press

NINE

After three hours straight of grading my students’ papers that night, I started The Bell—might as well, since I had it. I woke the next morning looking forward to reading the “dilly” Anne had mentioned, but when we met in the kitchen, I found her making tea instead of coffee. She turned to me and raised a warning hand.

“Get thee behind me,” she said. “My throat is sore and my nose is...well, my nose is simply not itself, and neither is my energy. So I’m going to take this tea and get right back into bed for the day. You might as well go out if you like. We won’t be able to do any reading till tomorrow, if then.”

“Thanks. I do have to go to the office later, but I won’t be there too long—maybe two or three hours.” That would give me plenty of time to get uptown, teach, and return. “I’ll be here till two-thirty and back by six at the latest. So if I can do anything for you, just let me know.”

“What you can do for me is keep a distance away from me. The last thing we need is you losing your reading voice. You’re a valuable commodity, Ms. Miller.”

With that, she took herself and her mug off to her bedroom and shut the door. In spite of her suggestion, I remained indoors until I had to leave for school, in hopes that she might rally and want me to read after all, or even just do something useful for her. I wanted to help her, not only to bolster our relationship (I admit that crossed my mind) but out of ordinary human kindness. I locked myself into my bathroom, just in case Marta popped into my room, and sat on the toilet looking again through the journal I’d hidden under the sink. I’d been tired when I read the end of it and thought I might have missed something. But no.

Resigned, I uploaded the pictures I’d taken of the pages to my computer, then thought of nipping across the hall to replace this notebook with another. But I was too afraid; Anne—or Marta—might materialize at just the wrong moment. So, feeling uncomfortably like the frightened child I had once been, I returned it to its hiding place under the sink and turned my attention to finishing up what I needed for class. I ate a solitary lunch while continuing to read The Bell. As it turned out, I hadn’t read it before. It was good, as always, to be in Murdoch’s company, though I didn’t think it one of her best.

Anne appeared around 1:30 and went into the kitchen to make herself some toast and more tea. Hearing her, I joined her and offered to help in any way I could—heat up some soup, or at least carry the mug and plate to her room. I had noticed that her steps seemed even less confident than usual today, and besides, at her best, she could carry only one thing at a time.

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