Chapter 13: Vengeance Is Mine

A Silent Calling

Four people had been hospitalized.

Seeing the woman just beyond his reach, there was only one thing Ryan could do. He stripped and dove into the water, gasping air into his shocked lungs. It took longer than he expected to wrestle the body onto the shelf of rock that jutted into the water. The ledge was a good foot above the surface and the water was deep. He had nothing to brace himself against as he pushed the girl up. But he didn’t give up. As soon as they were both on the ledge, he practiced all he had been taught in lifeguard training, forcing the water from her lungs and continuing artificial respiration until he felt her thready breath and heartbeat. Shannon lay at the edge of the quarry looking down on him. She talked him through the process, relaying instructions from the 911 operator. She dropped the blankets to him. He stripped the wet clothing off the young woman and warmed her with his body.

Suffering from hypothermia and exhaustion, Ryan was kept in the hospital as his mother sat next to him all night.

Shannon was released to her parents early in the morning after being given a sedative for shock. She had seen an attempted murder, a kidnapping, and her boyfriend nearly drown while trying to rescue a woman from the frigid waters of the old quarry. Nothing but sleep and gentle caring would heal her.

Rena Lynd was in a coma. Apparently, her arm had hit the ledge on her way into the water, shattering the radius. Shannon guessed that it had taken at least fifteen minutes from the time Rena went over the edge until she was breathing again. The 911 call confirmed that it had been longer but no one knew if or for how long she had been technically dead. Doctors were more concerned about her unresponsiveness and were unsure why she was alive at all. Blood tests showed high amounts of RDH in her bloodstream, the chemical she had spent so much time in rehab purging just a month ago. No one sat beside Rena’s bed.

“I don’t know what to say, Gee,” Dr. Poltanys said as they followed Karen’s gurney into the room. Aides carefully transferred her to the bed and made sure everything was correctly connected. A mask kept her breathing. Fluids were administered by IV. She was intubated to keep her air passages open and prevent her from swallowing her tongue. Gee moved to her side and held her hand as soon as the nurses had cleared a path. He looked back at Poltanys.

“What happened to her? Was she drugged?”

“In a manner of speaking. It appears she was forced to eat nuts. There were traces of the nutmeat still in her mouth and stomach. The chemical levels in her bloodstream are off the charts. Gee, I don’t know why she’s alive. Our best estimate is that the nuts had been in her system for at least eight hours before we got her here. There’s nothing we can do. The antidote won’t touch it this late in the game.”

“Nuts? She ate more than one?”

“I’m pretty sure she did. Maybe as many as half a dozen. She’s comatose, Gee, and I don’t know if she’ll ever wake up. I’m sorry.”

“I love you. I love you, Karen. Please stay with me. Come through for us.”

Sunday had passed as had most of Monday with Gee sitting at Karen’s side. Jonathon and Jessie stood beside him talking softly. Finally, they each laid a hand on his shoulder.

“This is an intervention, Gee,” Jessie said softly. “Karen is not coming back to us with you sitting here smelling like you do. You haven’t eaten since Saturday morning. You haven’t bathed for longer still. Your clothes are caked with dirt from struggling through the wild wood. I think the only reason you’ve been allowed to stay is because Dr. Poltanys is afraid of you. Or afraid of his nurses.”

“Gee, you have to take a break. You need food, a bath, clean clothes, and sleep. It’s not an option any longer. You have to go home and get refreshed.”

“I can’t leave her. Not like this,” Gee cried. “I can’t leave her alone.”

“I’ll stay,” Jessie said. “Gee, she is not alone. Neither of you are. You haven’t even acknowledged your visitors. We practically had to force our way into the room with you. I will be with her and I will call you if there is any sign of change.”

“The doctor says she’s stable. You can’t help her by making yourself sick,” Jonathon said, pulling at Gee to get him to stand. Gee sighed and bent to kiss Karen’s forehead.

“I’ll be back soon, love,” he whispered. “I’ll take a shower and shave, then you can wake up and we’ll have breakfast. Okay? Okay. I love you.”

Gee stumbled after Jonathon as Jessie settled into his chair and held Karen’s hand.

Jonathon was concerned when Gee did not come back downstairs for dinner after his shower. He waited with the basket of broasted chicken he’d picked up from the broasterie. After eating a piece, he decided to check on his friend.

Gee was sprawled out on the bed, a blanket pulled half over him, sound asleep.

Jonathon called his wife and told her he’d be with her as soon as he cleaned up the kitchen.

Gee was disoriented when he woke up. He reached for Karen and she wasn’t there. Opening his eyes to the empty spot beside him in bed, the events of the past three days flooded his mind and tears sprang to his eyes. He hurried through his morning routine, thankful that he had at least made it through his shower the night before. He carefully shaved and dressed before going downstairs in time to hear the doorbell. Rerouting himself from the kitchen to the front door, he opened it to find Wayne Savage waiting.

“Wayne. Hi. I was just...”

“ ... on your way to the hospital. I figured you’d be ready by now. I’ll drive,” his friend said.

“How did you know?”

“Word travels fast. Jonathon called me last night. He and Jessie were there until about midnight.”

“Karen was alone?”

“No. Jo Ransom came in to sit with Karen. She’s still there, but the poor girl is probably exhausted. I ... uh ... told her I’d drive her home this morning. After you get there,” Wayne said.

“Jo was there alone all night? We should get going.” Gee grabbed his rose hickory walking stick from next to the door. Somehow, he’d missed having it with him since he left the house so hurriedly on Saturday.

“Well ... not exactly. I met her at the hospital Sunday. You were pretty out of it, so you might not remember all the people who were there to see you and Karen. Anyway, Jo and I got to talking and ... well, we went out to dinner last night and then Jonathon called and Jo insisted on going to the hospital and I just stayed to ... you know ... keep her company. I left the hospital about half an hour ago to come get you.” Wayne was clearly a little embarrassed about seeing Jo Ransom socially and spending the night with her in Karen’s room, though Gee could not imagine why. It was exactly the kind of thing he would do himself.

“It took half an hour to get here from the hospital?”

“No. Uh ... careful where you sit. There’s a cup of Birdie’s coffee in the cup holder. She sent along some breakfast for you. Said something about you knowing what she puts in it.” Wayne turned a puzzled look to Gee.

“Mmm. French toast. Must have mixed chicken blood with the eggs.”

“Gee?”

“You know, voodoo magic. Oh, this is good. I don’t remember when I ate last. And she included bacon.”

They rode the rest of the way to the hospital in silence as Gee ate breakfast and drank his coffee, thankful for the friends he had made in Rosebud Falls.

“I’m back, sweetheart,” Gee said as he bent over Karen to kiss her forehead. He’d gone straight to his love before greeting Jo and missed the greeting she gave Wayne.

As Gee bent next to Karen, his hickory stick leaned into the bed and touched the back of her hand. Her hand grabbed the stick with such force that it was nearly jerked from Gee’s grip. Karen took a huge gulp of air, her eyes flying open. She stared ahead, gasping, her hand trying to reach the tube in her throat.

“Call the doctor!” Gee yelled, fumbling for the call button by Karen’s head. She convulsed and gasped for air, throwing her head from side to side. A nurse pushed Gee aside, but he could only move a foot away. Karen continued to clutch the stick that he still held.

Ellie rushed into the room and assessed the situation as she tried to calm Karen from the other side of the bed. She carefully reached across and held Karen still while she removed the tube from her throat. Karen moaned through her frantic gasps, finally calming as she looked around and eventually looking at Gee’s walking stick held in her hand.

“What do we have?” Dr. Poltanys demanded crisply.

“Patient is awake and responding to her surrounding,” Ellie intoned. “Intubation removed as it was causing her distress. She seems to have calmed. Heart rate is slightly elevated, but blood pressure has returned to normal.”

Poltanys examined Karen’s eyes, still locked on the stick.

“Karen, can you hear me? Look at me.” Karen’s eyes snapped up to look at the doctor. “That’s good. Let me just check your pupils. A bit of a shock to wake up with a tube in your throat, wasn’t it? That’s better now.” His voice was calm and soothing as he continued his examination of her responses. She tracked his finger as he moved it in front of her face and raised a hand to point at the mask that covered her nose. Poltanys carefully removed it. “How are you feeling?” he asked gently.

“Uh ... Drunk.”

“That’s an interesting way to describe it. You’ve suffered the same kind of overdose that Gee did a few weeks ago. You remember Gee, don’t you?” Poltanys said. Karen’s heart rate and blood pressure monitors appeared to stabilize as she looked over at Gee.

“Love.”

“I love you, Karen,” Gee responded. She smiled.

“I hurt. All over.”

“Let’s get you something for pain. You took a pretty good beating along with everything else.”

“Dragged me by the hair. Like a caveman.”

“I’m sorry to say you lost a bit over your left ear. But you were punched, too.”

“Hit me when I wouldn’t eat the nut. Then he shoved it in my mouth and poured water down my throat. Need water.”

Ellie held a straw to Karen’s lips and she took a sip to soothe her throat from the rawness of the tube.

“He made you eat a nut!” Gee said. “Oh, Karen! You lived through the nut.”

“Seven. He named them as I ate them. After the first one, I just chewed and swallowed. I knew it wouldn’t make a difference after one. I would be just as dead.” Karen’s eyes squinted together as Dr. Poltanys directed Ellie regarding the painkillers he wanted administered. “I’m alive.”

“You’re alive, Karen,” Poltanys said. The other nurse left and Ellie was back with a handheld recorder. “Karen, how many nuts did you eat?”

“Seven.”

“He named them?”

“One for each Family. ‘This is Roth,’ he said. ‘This is Nussbaum.’ He cracked the nut and shoved the meat in my mouth and I ate it. I feel a little dizzy.”

“That’s the painkillers kicking in. Feeling better now?” Poltanys asked.

“Better. Still drunk.”

“That might take longer. Can you let go of Gee’s stick now?”

“Don’t want to. He’s still talking,” Karen said. Her eyes drifted closed and she sighed. “Says I need to sleep now.” With that, her breathing evened into the regular breaths of sleep.

“I’ll be damned,” Poltanys said. He continued to look at the young woman and shook his head. “I’d suggest you just stay with her for a while and let her hold your ... that.” He shook his head again. He looked at Ellie and then at Wayne and Jo who continued to watch from a corner of the room. “We are all going to try hard ... not to make jokes about that.” Poltanys left the room and after Ellie gave Gee a quick hug, she followed the doctor. Gee busied himself smoothing Karen’s hair with one hand while his other drifted down the hickory stick to cover her hand.

“I guess that settles that,” Jo said with a little giggle.

“What?” Wayne asked.

“The succession. I’m sure not going to eat a nut. I just ... I can’t believe what I just saw,” Jo said.

“He said ... the grandfather said ... he was trying to reach me but couldn’t find me until you touched me with a part of him,” Karen whispered to Gee after she’d awakened and had been checked over once more. “I have to ... visit ... the Family trees.”

“Family trees? Genealogy?” Gee asked.

“Oh. No. Every family has a rose hickory. It is on their estate. The Roth Family tree is next to the river in front of Ben’s mansion. Poltanys is in the middle of the Hilltop Retirement Village where their original home stood. I’m not sure about the others. But every Family has a tree,” Karen said.

“I saw one. Collin Meagher said the nut he ate came from the tree in his yard.”

“Of course. That would make sense. The nuts I ate came from the wild wood. The one you ate, from the grandfather tree in the Forest. But every Family has a tree.”

“Karen, my love, are you still feeling ... um ... drunk?”

“Yes. No. It’s different than that. I’m still feeling connected. I’m not completely certain what is real and what isn’t. I look around and see my study at home and then I blink my eyes and see the hospital. You ... were a little drunk when you ate a nut, too,” she said.

“I didn’t think of it exactly that way, but I knew about vision quests.”

“How?”

“I ... Karen? I was ... on a vision quest when I came here. It was...” he squeezed his eyes closed trying to recall this remnant from his past before it slipped away again. “I was to go home. To here.”

“Do you remember anything else?”

“No. Just that I needed to come home. And here is home. Rosebud Falls.”

“We’ll figure this out, won’t we?” Karen asked.

“I think we know what we are supposed to know. I don’t think it was my memory. I think it was grandfather tree telling me I’m home.”

Interrogation

Gee awoke lying next to Karen in her hospital bed Wednesday, much the way she had joined him when he was injured. They lay with the rose hickory staff between them, both gripping its smooth surface. Julia was gently nudging Gee awake.

“I’m sorry to disturb you,” the nurse said softly. “It’s going to be a busy day and you both need to be prepared.”

“Don’t leave,” Karen moaned. “We were just about to make love.”

“Karen?” Gee whispered. “You should wake up, sweetheart. Um ... we’re in the hospital, not at home.”

“Oh? Oh!” she said as her eyes flew open and took in their surroundings. “Um ... Forget what I said, okay?”

“Must have been a good dream,” Julia laughed. “Okay, you two. Dr. Poltanys and Dr. Gaston want to run a series of tests this morning to determine if you have all your faculties, Karen. You seem to fade in and out a lot. I’m afraid it’s going to be a rigorous morning. Then ... the DA is not satisfied with the interview you gave the sheriff yesterday. She wants confirmation that you are cognizant of your surroundings and can answer questions lucidly, then she wants the whole interview again. Preferably without talking to grandfather tree.”

“This is going to be a miserable day,” Karen sighed. “What do I have to do first?”

“First, you need to let go of Gee’s walking stick. He needs to go home and shower and shave so he’s as fresh and able as you are. You are going to get a shower and scrubs so you don’t need to do the physical tests in a gown. Maybe Gee could bring some sweats back for you.”

“Where are my clothes?”

“Uh ... honey, when we found you, you were ... naked on the bare wood floor of a shack in the woods. I don’t believe anyone found your clothes.”

“Was ... was I raped, too?”

“Dr. Poltanys should be taking these questions,” Julia said. “A rape kit was part of the standard procedure for the condition you were in, though they had a lot to deal with Sunday morning. I can tell you that it appeared you’d been violated but there was no DNA evidence.”

Karen turned her head to Gee’s shoulder and cried.

“I’m sorry we have to go through all this again, Miss Weisman,” Sheriff Johnson said. Detective Oliver had joined him for the questioning and Gretchen LaCoe sat next to her. “We’re just looking for a clue. Who would have wanted you dead?”

Karen snorted. “Do you read my articles in the Mirror? Offhand, I’d say there are about five hundred suspects accumulated over the past two years. That’s what? One out of eight people in Rosebud Falls?” They sat at a conference table in the hospital which was better than the proposed bedside interview. Karen would be far more comfortable, though, if she was dressed in a suit instead of sweats. And if Gee was with her. They’d insisted on a private interview.

“Let’s start with why you were at the quarry,” Johnson said. “Earlier, you said that Rena Lynd called you. Can you describe the call?”

“She was distraught. I had to ask twice who it was. She was crying that she couldn’t hide any longer. She was hungry and scared.”

“Did she say who she was hiding from?”

“Just ‘them.’ I was concerned for her safety and she wanted me to meet her at the quarry, so I dashed off a note to Gee and drove down there. The gate at SSG was open, so I just drove in,” Karen said. The sheriff made a note.

“Why didn’t you call the police if you thought there was a woman in distress and in danger?”

Karen sighed deeply and looked at the sheriff and detective with an eyebrow raised. “I’m an investigative reporter. My first thought is always to protect my sources. And she begged me to come alone. I falsely assumed there would be time to call in reinforcements if I discovered they were needed.”

“We’ve always tried to have a good relationship with you and the media,” Detective Oliver said.

“I know, Mead. I’ll think twice before I walk into that kind of situation again.”

“You say you didn’t see the man who attacked you, but you were alerted to his presence by Rena. Did she recognize him?” Johnson asked.

“She seemed to. And she was frightened of him. Before I could turn around, though, he’d slapped something across my face that made me faint. I screamed ... or I thought I did. Now I think it was Rena who screamed.”

“Do you have any idea who it was? Did you recognize the voice? See anything about him?”

“I know who I want it to be,” Karen said. “Rena told me she loved him and he didn’t have to drug her. I think the only person she could have been describing is the preacher at Calvary Tabernacle. When her chaperone from rehab, Liz, spoke to me about the church, she indicated that Rena was totally infatuated with the preacher.”

“Both of those, sadly, are hearsay. Unless Rena recovers and can positively tell us who pushed her over the edge, we have no evidence.”

“How is she?”

“Unchanged. She had nearly as high a level of RDH in her blood as she had when she was brought in after the incident at the market,” Oliver said. “Dr. Gaston said that the shock of hitting the ledge and the cold water may have helped her purge her stomach, but it was too late to purge her bloodstream. He believes the coma is a direct result of the overdose.”

“So, you want control of the Family so badly that you’d go to this extreme,” Leah snarled at Karen later in the afternoon.

“Leah, I didn’t choose this.”

“Silence, both of you,” growled Benjamin as he leaned shakily on his cane next to Karen’s bed. As far as Karen knew, it was the first time the old man had been outside his mansion in five years. “Leah, if you want to challenge her, you know what you have to do. As of this moment, Karen Weisman is The Roth.”

“I’m angry, but I’m not stupid,” Leah said. “I’ll sign over all the accounts and powers of attorney you’ve given me as soon as she is out of the hospital.”

“No, Leah,” Karen said. “Please. You are managing everything on behalf of Ben, please continue to manage it on my behalf. I didn’t plan for this and I didn’t prepare for it. Please help me help the Family.”

“Really?”

“We’ve known for years that you didn’t have anyone to take over after you,” Ben said to Leah. “I know you love your sons but putting the Family leadership into any one of their hands would mean the end of the Family. I concur with Karen. You’ve done a good job. This isn’t about your ability, but what comes after.”

“Please continue as administrator of the Family estate. I reviewed all the records after you gave me my share of the Forest and your decisions and votes have always been right on. I’ll sign my one share back into the pool. I was also impressed with the way you have managed the real estate. The Family business is in good hands under your management and maybe by the time you want to retire, you will have trained me, or my heir, well enough to take over,” Karen said.

“I have nothing against you, Karen. I thought at one time of adopting you and making you my heir,” Leah said. “This was just so sudden.”

“Tell me about it,” Karen said.

“Gee,” Leah continued, “over the past few years, I have used my own resources and those of my husband to acquire a stake in SSG of forty-seven thousand shares. At the annual meeting, my attorney discovered what a paltry influence that has. I would like you to take the proxy for my shares and continue to vote your conscience to the benefit of the City and the Forest and the Family.”

“I’ll do my best, Leah.”

Trick or Treat

“You have to go now,” Karen said. “Everything you need is in the pantry. I stocked up a week ago. I can’t stand the idea of all the children coming to the house and you not being there to hand out treats.”

“I can’t believe there are that many children in our neighborhood,” Gee laughed.

“There aren’t. But I let it slip to Ms. Tomczyk that you would be handing out Halloween treats and she sort of let it out to the parents who bring their children to the Bookhouse. Um ... word might have gotten around the school, too.”

“Oh my. I’d better get home and get ready.”

“Gee!”

“Hello, my little buddy.”

“Tick-r-teat!”

“You bet. Do you have a trick for me?” Devon’s eyes got big and he turned toward his Mom and Dad a few steps away.

“I sing!” he exclaimed happily. It was the ABC song and Devon got all the words right and some of the tune. Gee happily gave his little friend a chocolate candy bar.

“Oooh. You give out the good stuff,” Marian said.

“What do I have to do to get one of those?” Nathan laughed. Gee reached in his bag and threw a candy bar to each of his friends.

“That’s because you are accompanying my best friend,” Gee said. He called the parents close. “Watch out for him. Especially around here. I don’t think the attack on Karen was the last gambit in throwing the annexation vote,” he whispered.

“Is this ever going to end?” Marian asked. Nathan took his son’s hand.

“After Tuesday, win or lose, there will no longer be a reason for all this tension. I hope.”

“Is that why you are sitting outside instead of opening the door when the bell rings tonight?” Nathan asked.

“Yes. It lets me see who is approaching and I can watch the kids on the street.”

“Well, yours is the only house on this block and we aren’t going to stay in this neighborhood. We just wanted Devon to see his Gee.” Marian said.

“You know I’ll do everything in my power to protect him,” Gee said.

“And all the other kids of our City. Thank you, Gee,” Nathan answered.

A group of six kids, all dressed as hickory shakers were headed up the drive.

“You’ve got a fan club,” Marian laughed as they left.

Kids dressed as shakers, foresters, and even in their normal picker clothes seemed to be a prevalent theme among the trick-or-treaters. He was glad Karen had stocked up with a huge supply of candy bars. He wasn’t sure there would be any left at the end of the night. Several kids sang the hickory song when Gee asked for a trick. One group—led by his little nemesis, Sally Ann Metzger—screamed and fell down on their shaker poles, mimicking Gee’s fall from the tree. Gee repeated his warning to all the parents and chaperones who escorted kids to his door, but he didn’t spot any unusual activity on the street that signaled danger.

The last group of kids to approach his house, just before he decided it was time to turn off the lights at nine o’clock, were teenagers. They were dressed in more elaborate costumes than most of the younger children wore. Gee recognized several popular superheroes and comic characters among them.

“Do you ... uh ... allow teens to trick or treat here?” the lead girl asked as she was pushed forward by her boyfriend. They were dressed as Wonder Woman and Captain America.

“When someone comes to my door in great costumes like yours, I’m happy to give you treats. Have you guys had fun tonight?”

“Yeah. There are only a few houses we know that allow teens. We took a chance on yours, Gee.”

“Uh ... Gee...” Captain America said. “Shannon and me ... We were the ones who saw that girl go over the cliff at the quarry. I’ve never been so frightened. We figured out what our real responsibility was, though.”

“Ryan figured it out and made me call 911 while he saved that woman’s life. It’s made us all think, though. I was afraid to act because I didn’t want anyone to know that Ryan and I had run off to make love. He showed me that no matter how embarrassing, we have to set aside our personal fears to do what’s right.”

Gee laughed. “Your quick action probably saved two lives. Come on, guys. Have a seat on the ledge and tell me what you’ve all been thinking.” They milled about and eventually the dozen or so teens all had a place to sit and a candy bar. Another of the teens spoke. He was dressed in a Superman outfit and Gee didn’t think the muscles were padded.

“I’m Viktor, Mr. Gee. You know me and James from basketball. We ... well, some of us are from Rosebud and some from Flor. But we all figured out how brave Ryan and Shannon had to be to go to the police and face the anger of their parents. We all knew they were going steady, but no one would ever out them.” Shannon buried her face against her boyfriend’s chest in embarrassment. “Anyway, after they did what they did, we got together and decided we needed to be brave like them. Like you.”

“Like me?”

“We’ve all noticed. You just do what’s right, no matter what. We’re going to do that too,” a very tall young woman dressed as Elastigirl stepped forward.

“You tell, ‘im, Stretch.”

“Must you do that, Dash?”

“You could only be Luke and Colleen Zimmer’s kids. Right?” Gee asked.

“Yeah. I’m Alyson and the imbecile is Barrett.”

“I’ve played basketball with you, too,” Barrett added.

“And how are you being brave now, Alyson.”

“I’m standing up.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve always been ashamed of ... my height. I’ve been the tallest girl in my class since kindergarten. I hate it. But I’m going to stand up straight. I’m six-one and I don’t even like sports. I can’t get a date and I don’t care anymore. I’m going to stand up and be proud.”

“Hey, wait! I’ll date you. I thought you’d like shoot me down.”

“You’d date anyone, Viktor. Is there anyone else in our class you haven’t taken out?”

“Yeah, but um ... maybe you’re who I’ve been hunting for.”

“Give it a shot, Alyson!”

“Um ... well...”

“How about being my date to the dance after the game Friday night,” Viktor said.

“Really?”

“Hey, we just all agreed to start being brave. I’m bravely asking you out in front of all these people. Don’t shoot me down. Please?”

“Um ... Okay. The dance. I’ll wear flats.”

“Not on my account. I love looking up to you.”

“Okay, so you guys have all decided to be brave. What’s that really mean?” Gee asked the kids.

“Well, what Ryan and Shannon did was brave. What Viktor and Alyson just did was brave. I guess being brave means stopping being afraid,” Barrett said.

“I’m afraid almost all the time,” Gee said.

“But...”

“Having courage doesn’t mean not having fears but it’s about not letting them stop you from doing what’s right. It’s watching out for each other and for your community. Let your ideals guide you instead of your fears.”

“Wow. Thanks, Gee. Um ... I guess we just wanted you to know that we ... and there’s more than just those of us standing here ... We’ve got your back,” Ryan said. Gee shook hands with each of the dozen kids, knowing that he wasn’t alone as champion for Rosebud Falls.

Karen did not return home with Gee for the rest of the week. He sat with her in her room, but she didn’t want to go outside at all. He picked up a new cell phone for her Thursday. He told her about his encounter with the teens on Halloween and that produced the first genuine smile that he’d seen.

“I’m getting better,” Karen said. “Really, Gee. I’m just so frightened sometimes. But these kids got the right message. I’m going to do the right thing.”

“God! If there was anyone braver than you two, the world couldn’t stand it,” Julia said as she fussed with Karen’s bedside and helped her apply a little makeup.