19 hits on Friday! Thanx for coming back, everyone! "Sherri? What happened?"
"What did they tell you?"
"They said something about your grandmother. What happened?"
"She died. Last night," her sister finally told her.
"I visited her as much as I could. I couldn't stand to see her suffer."
"She looked good on Tuesday. She was so happy." Sherri said.
"I hated seeing her in a convalescent home. I hated watching her suffer. I'm glad I visited her."
"Do whatever you have to. Cry, if you need to." her boss told her.
Don't tell me when I can cry, Debbie wanted to say.
She looked at the box of Kleenexes.
"I have to go to the funeral. It's on Monday."
"Don't think about work. You get three days off. Now, what do you need to do? Gloria will call for a car to take you home. Can you find out the train schedule?" Her boss spoke rationally.
"Couldn't the car take me to Connecticut? Too expensive?" She looked her boss in the eye.
"Yes. You can put your train ticket on my card," her boss offered.
"Wait. My friend, Liz. She's downstairs in a restaurant. Which train should I take?"
"Now, you have to pack. How long will that take? Then, there is the traffic. Do you think it would be wise to make the 6:00?"
"I'll have to take the 7:00. They're unreserved. I don't need your card."
"Do you have money?"
"Yes. Thanks," she looked her boss squarely in the eyes.
"I'm gonna run out of here," she said.
"Hey!" Mike called out to her, but she passed him.
She ran into the restaurant.
"My grandmother died!" Her voice gave way as she told Liz and Dave. "Sorry to involve you in my tragedy."
"That's OK," they smiled in understanding. Their calmness was soothing.
"A car is coming to pick us up. We have to get on the 7:00 train. I have to make a phone call. I'll meet you back here."
The blond girl on the phone bragged about her partying.
"I have an emergency," Debbie said.
The girl hung up in annoyance.
"Gotta go. She's got an emergency," she said and walked off.
"The car will be here any minute. You're supposed to come down with the card?" Debbie, in her hurry, tried to be polite to the secretary.
"Meet me at the elevator bank," Gloria said.
She arrived in the elevator.
"I'm sorry! Are you alright?" she said.
"Yeah. I expected it."
"Well, she gave a lot of love and she lived a long and happy life," Gloria said, putting her arm around Debbie, although they had only met yesterday.
No....nooo! You don't even know her! Debbie wanted to say. But Gloria was only trying to comfort her.
"It's alright. She was 83." Debbie shrugged her arm off. Gloria was taken aback slightly.
"I'm just glad she's not suffering. My pain is over," she explained.
"I don't have parents so I don't have to go through that," Gloria confessed.
You don't? Debbie looked at her. "Life is full of pain," she said.
Gloria presented the card to the driver. Debbie went to find Liz and Dave.
"Tell everyone I'm alright. Not to worry about me. Don't tell anybody if they don't ask!" Debbie instructed Gloria.
Now she knew what it felt like, what to say. She had not known what to say to her friend Liz when her father had died last March.
"I can't believe it. You were looking forward to visiting me for so long," she said to Liz.
"It's OK. I can come another time," Liz said calmly. "I'll go to my mother's tonight."
"She'll be glad to see you."
She was so thankful when Liz respected her silence and then would chat with her when the mood came over her, in the car to her apartment, where she packed, on the train home, which she had always taken alone in the three years since she had moved to New York. To make it big someday, as a writer. Not to be a secretary forever.
"They charge twenty five cents for these postcards," Liz said from her seat behind Debbie.
"Those cheap bastards! They should pay us!" Debbie giggled, as she looked at the picture of the Astor Riviera Cafe, as she thought of the rude waiters in their tuxedos. Two guys looked up from their seats...
(Well, well, the more things change, the more they remain the same! Right, L?)
