Chapter 4

Only three passengers got off the train. One was an elderly man and the other two were a stunningly beautiful young woman holding the arm of a plumb middle age woman. As soon as Elizabeth saw the young woman she knew that she was Anna. Even though she had not seen her for a very long time she was struck by her resemblance to her mother who had been Elizabeth's sister.

While Anna's luggage was being unloaded, her nurse explained to Elizabeth what she was to expect from Anna. She could eat by herself once the spoon was placed in her hand; she could also attend to her bodily functions by herself as long as she was directed to the toilet. As for dressing and undressing, she had to be helped, and of course Elizabeth was not to expect her to talk. At best, she could only hope that Anna would once in a while obey a command that was repeatedly given to her.

The nurse was not yet finish giving instructions when the train whistled three times then slowly began to move on the track. As soon as the nurse was back on the train, she bade farewell to Anna with her hand - getting no respond from her - and she was soon out of sight leaving both Elizabeth and Jimmy in a state of shock, standing on the station's platform.

Anna was dressed in a very expensive looking dress with matching shoes, and with her shoulder length, light brown hair neatly combed, she looked a lot like the rich lady she was. By looking at her standing very still, it was impossible to tell that there was something wrong with her. Jimmy simply couldn't take his eyes off her.

Never in his life had he seen so beautiful a woman. Her large green eyes looked straight ahead as though she was waiting for someone, but Jimmy soon learned that it was usual for her to be staring thus. Elizabeth finally took her niece by her right arm and she guided her to the waiting taxi while Jimmy and the taxi driver were busy loading the many suitcases in the trunk as well as on the top of the cab.

Anna needed a lot of attention around the house. For one thing she had to be constantly watched. She could be sitting quietly in a chair one minute, then seemingly for no reason at all she would get up and simply remain standing in front of her chair or she could walk to another part of the house or even try to go outside. Of course, if someone was around whenever this happen, it was not a complicated matter to gently guide her to a chair or to accompany her for a walk outside. It was also important that she was often allowed to walk outside the house so that the muscles of her legs could be kept in good shape and during those long walks it was always Jimmy who accompanied her.

Just a few hundreds yards at the back of the house, was a large wood made up of many different kind of trees such as pines, elms, maples and so on. It was not a very dense wood as is the case with most mixed trees forests, thus it was most pleasant - not to mention dangerous of getting lost in one didn't know his way around - to walk in the many trails that crisscrossed everywhere. In the summer it was always cool in the wood, and Jimmy knew every square foot of the region having spent his childhood playing there.