Finished, I plugged the inhaler into my nose, once in each nostril, and inhaled deeply. I had an almost instantaneous physical reaction. I was flooded with warmth, a condition somewhat akin to a hot flash. And I felt a mild tingling in my extremities. But these symptoms lasted no more than a minute or two. Then I went down to the garage to drive Greg Barrow back to Rustling Palms Estates.
We were almost home, chatting of inconsequential things, when Greg said,
"Would you drop me at the Seven-Eleven, please, Marleen. Mabel phoned and wants me to pick up a quart of milk.
I'll walk home from there."
"Of course, darling," I said. "But there's no need for you to walk home, I'll wait for you, sweetheart."
He turned slowly to look at me. "There's really no need for you to wait," he said. "I'm sure you're anxious to get home."
"No problem, " I said gaily. "Herman is taking a client to dinner tonight, and Tania and I are just having a salad. No cooking to do, so I'll be delighted to wait for you, dear."
He said nothing more until I pulled into our driveway.
Before he could get out of the car, I grabbed his arm, yanked him close and kissed his cheek.
"Have a wonderful, wonderful evening," I said. "And sleep well. I love you, Greg."
"Thank you," he said faintly, and hastened away.
Tania was downstairs, setting the table in the dining nook.
"Hello, you beautiful thing!" I caroled. "You look so charming in your jeans and T-shirt. Give Mother a great big kiss."
She complied but then drew away to stare at me. "You okay?" she asked.
"Never felt better in my life," I said, laughing. "Give me another hug," Herman came downstairs, showered, shaved, and dressed for his dinner.
Well, don't you look handsome!" I cried, embracing him. "I married a movie star!"
He pulled away to inspect me. "If I didn't know better," he said, "I'd say you had a few."
"Love your jokes!" I said. "Just love them! Oh, honey, hurry home as soon as you can." I looked around to make certain Tania couldn't hear.
"Sweetie," I whispered, "you and I are going to have such fun tonight.
It's been a long, long time, but tonight we'll make up for it. I love you, Herm."
"Yeah," he said. "Sure." And he left hastily.
I heard myself chattering nonstop during dinner. But before it was finished, I became so sleepy I knew I had to get to bed before I collapsed into the salad bowl.
"Mommy is going to take a nap," I said brightly to Tania. "Now you finish your dinner like the angel you are, and I'll come down later and clean up. I love you, sweetheart. Love you, love you, love you!"
I managed to get upstairs but I was too sleepy to undress.
I fell atop the bed fully clothed and was instantly asleep. I never did go downstairs to clean up the kitchen, and I wasn't aware of my husband coming home. I slept for twelve hours.
All my dreams were colored mauve.
I got maybe ten phone calls a month, at the most, and three or four of them were usually wrong numbers, Late in May my phone rang one evening, and I couldn't imagine who it might be unless the cops were calling to tell me my nutsy brother was in the hoosegow and needed bail.
But it turned out to be my niece, Tania, and I laughed.
"Hiya, honey," I said. "It's good to hear from you.
Behaving yourself?"
"Of course I am," she said, very primly. "I called to thank you for that book you gave me which you autographed."
"My pleasure," I said.
"Did you read it?"
"Yes, I did. I liked Tommy Termite-he was funny-and I think you should write another book about him."
"I'm happy you said that, Tania, because that's exactly what I'm doing.
In the new book Tommy meets a girl termite and falls in love." , III "That's very nice," she said approvingly, and then she was silent.
I began to get a little uneasy.
"Everything all right?" I asked.
"Uncle Chas," she said finally, "will you do me a favor? A big favor?"
"Of course I will, honey. What is it?"
"Could you send me some money?"
I was startled. I was sure the kid got an allowance, and I wasn't certain if Marleen would approve of my giving cash to her daughter.
"How much do you want, Tania?"
"A lot."
"How much is a lot?"
A hundred dollars?" she said hopefully. "I really need it."
That was a stun. "Can you tell me what you need it for? "
"It's a secret," she said.
At first I thought she might want to buy her mother or father an expensive birthday present, but then I recalled both their birthdays were in November.
"A secret?" I said. "Well, you can tell me. I promise not to repeat it."
"Not to anyone?"
"Not to a soul. Scout's honor."
"Well, " she said slowly, "I want to give it to a friend."
"Oh?" I said. "Boy or girl?"
A long silence, then, "Boy."
"What boy?"
"Just a boy," she said.
Now I was really concerned. If she had said she wanted to buy a birthday present for a boy, that would have been okay I guess. But I didn't like the idea of her giving a hundred bucks to some nameless boy.
I had visions of some kiddie extortion racket going on here.
"I'm not asking you to give me the money, Uncle Chas," she said earnestly. "I want to borrow it. I'll pay you back, really I will."
"You don't want to ask your mother or father for it?
"I can't," she said miserably. "You're the only one I can ask."
I hate dilemmas like that. I mean I loved Tania and thought she loved me. More important, I thought she trusted me. I couldn't betray her secret, not even to her parents. Especially not to her parents. That would, I knew, be the end of my niece's love and trust.
"Tell you what, honey," I said, "I'll give you the money but-"
"Lend," she repeated. "Lend me the money."
"Okay, I'll lend you the money, but I don't want to mail it because it might get lost or your parents might open the envelope.
Why don't you tell your mother I phoned and invited you to have lunch with me on Saturday. Tell her it will be like a party, just you and me.
She can drive you out here and then go shopping or something, and then pick you up later. And while she's gone, I'll give you the money personally. How does that sound?"
"I don't know," she said doubtfully. "Maybe she'll want to stay for lunch, too."
"Nothing doing," I said. "This party is just for the two of us. If she gives you a hard time, have her phone me. Okay?"
"All right, Uncle Chas," she said. "I'll call you back and tell you if I can come."
I hung up, not certain I was doing the right thing. But I had the definite feeling that something was troubling Tania, and I didn't want to risk compounding the problem with no questions asked and her parents kept in the dark.
I used to be a man of action-a brainless man of action. I loved track and swimming, fancied myself a world-class miler, and didn't do too badly in the freestyle. I was a real jock and even had dreams of the Olympics. But, of course, all that was when I had legs.
While I was in the hospital and after I got out, I acquired the habit of thinking-something I had never done much before.
And this may sound screwy to you, but I discovered thinking can be as addictive as alcohol or nicotine. You can just surrender to pondering, and time passes before you know it and you lose all sense of where you are and what's happening around you. Talk about reverie!
Thinking can be very seductive. You can dream, fantasize, create all sorts of wild and wonderful scenarios. A lot of my thinking had no relation to reality or-according to Cherry-to what I perceived as reality. But I found it pleasurable. It was still a new world for me, and I never ceased to wonder at the depths of thought. I hadn't yet gotten to the bottom.
Now I spent at least a half hour thinking about Tania's request for a hundred dollars and envisioning a dozen different plots that might account for it. You may say I was wasting time, but I didn't think so.
I believed there was a crisis of sorts in that kid's, life, and my actions might help solve it or make it worse.