Chapter 8

Nora had been gone about five minutes but it almost seemed like five hours. I was pacing restlessly in my bedroom. At that point, I realized that I wasn’t an invalid and had no reason to confine myself to my bedroom.

I descended the stairs to my living room and sat in my armchair. Turning on the TV, I idly flipped to the local channel. The reporter who had waylaid us at the hospital was on air. She was still talking about the bobcat story.

Apparently a male bobcat had also been captured in the same area and they were saying that the bobcat family had been reunited at the sanctuary. I chuckled at that naive characterization of wild creatures.

When I was a boy, I’d lived on a farm in the Santa Ynez valley area and we had cats in our barn. I remember how a Tomcat had ravaged some kittens that a tabby had just given birth to. I was the one who had to bury them. Those were domesticated cats.

The reporter continued to talk about the bobcats and repeated the story about me again. She gave a glowing description about how I had heroically rescued two girls from the bobcats. As reporters went, she was quite thorough and had all the facts about me right.

However, what she said next, knocked me for a loop. She began to talk about how I had come to be a resident in the area after a great personal tragedy after the death of my first wife! She then proceeded to rehash the entire hit and run accident.

When she ran pictures of Megan’s car at the crash site and a smiling still picture of Megan, I lost it. Tears began to fall from my eyes without my volition.

I held my head in my hands as best I could despite the cast on my left hand and allowed myself to be consumed by grief. I was very startled when someone hugged me and began to rub my back gently.

Nora had returned and was now perched on the right arm of my chair and trying to comfort me. “I’m so sorry, Larry.” she whispered. I put my arm around her and squeezed in acknowledgment. I wasn’t in any condition to speak.

I don’t know how long we stayed that way. She was rocking me gently when there was a knock on the door. Nora gently disengaged from my arm to go answer the door. It was Linda who barged in with two large bags.

She was saying something to Nora when she stepped in and saw me and abruptly stopped mid-sentence. I turned my head away, somewhat irritated not to have a chance to compose myself and clean up before being seen by someone who I didn’t know all that well.

Nora steered Linda into the kitchen where they busied themselves emptying the bags of food that Linda had brought over. But I could hear the urgent whispered conversation even though I couldn’t hear the words.

I got up and went into the downstairs restroom and running some warm water in the sink, began to splash my face. Turning off the faucet, I reached for the towel when I was surprised by someone wiping my face. Nora had noticed what I was doing and hurried to help.

I was both irritated and grateful at the same time. Everyone had been treating me as a helpless invalid for some reason. I could have probably managed all by myself albeit with a little difficulty.

But truth be told, it felt nice to be waited on by a bunch of gorgeous women. I forced a smile on my face and got an answering one from Nora. “Feeling better?” she asked. I just nodded. “Good!” she said. “Linda has brought lunch for later but right now do you want some coffee?”

“It’s too hot for coffee.” I said. “How about some lemonade?” I suggested. Nora smiled and nodded encouragingly giving my shoulder a sympathetic squeeze. We walked into the kitchen and I greeted Linda. She responded without mentioning anything about what she had seen.

Grateful for her discretion, I pointed out the ingredients to Nora and finally picked up a basket and took them both into the backyard to my lemon trees.

As I headed out, I picked up my medium-sized step-ladder with my right arm and hoisted it onto my shoulder before they could protest. I walked over to the back of the garden where the fruit trees where and I placed the stepladder.