Chapter 130: Hanna’s Dilemma

Monday, June 14, 1971

For the second time in two days, my berth became the scene of a mass of female flesh and emotions as the girls swarmed Adriana. This time, I was able to back away, standing propped against the door frame trying to catch my breath as I watched their joy.

“You really do love her,” she said from behind me.

“I really love each one of you, Hanna,” I thought without moving.

“I never in my life felt from Billy what I felt from you last night,” Hanna told me conversationally, without emotion.

“Then I feel sorry for Billy,” I told her.

“Huh?”

“I said, I feel sorry for Billy because he had one of the loveliest young women in Texas in his grasp, and let her go,” I explained. “Obviously, a very sick man!”

Hanna giggled as she slapped my still naked behind. “Would you like a cup of coffee?”

“Always,” I said turning around to face her.

“Don’t you want to put something on?” she asked.

“Never!” I said. “But I will this time, for you,” I said as I stooped to pick up my shorts from the floor. Then slipping them on, I followed her shirtless towards the Dining Car.

“I’ll be right back. I want to go get my camera,” Hanna said.

“How do you take your coffee?” I called after the retreating girl.

“Two sugars,” she called back over her shoulder. Then she disappeared into the Guest Wing.

I made our coffees and grabbed myself a bowl of oatmeal that Karla had placed on the counter for me and headed for a nearby booth.

I was halfway through the bowl of oatmeal when she returned, lugging an old Bell & Howell Super Eight. An eight-millimeter handheld film camera with the stick grip protruding below the camera. Since I was expecting something digital, I was mildly surprised, and had to stifle a chuckle.

As she spied my oatmeal, she said, “That looks good! I’ll be right back.” Laying her camera and notepad on the table, she stepped to the counter and retrieved her own bowl of oatmeal before resuming her seat across from me.

I sipped my coffee as I waited for her to eat. However, she was bubbling with excitement as she said, “Can we talk while I eat?”

“Be my guest,” I replied.

“I waited all day yesterday to talk with you, but you were always so busy. So now that I’ve got you, I hate to waste a second,” she said between bites.

“What can I do for you, Hanna?” I asked.

“Well, first, I want to tell you that I accept your offer,” Hanna told me with a grownup voice that was not in keeping with her natural personality. “I would have told you yesterday, but, anyway. I called the station and resigned. I’m afraid I fibbed a little because I told them I had an emergency and had to leave Houston. And that I wouldn’t be back for a while.”

“I hope that won’t cause your employers a problem,” I told her.

“Nah. I was just a two-bit junior reporter on the frilly stuff. I wouldn’t have even been at the premiere except that the usual reporter got so badly sunburned at the lake Saturday, she couldn’t even get into her gown. She looked like a lobster, and her face was all swollen,” Hanna laughed as she told me. “They only picked me because I had a nice dress and was not busy doing any other stories.”

I laughed at the verbal picture she painted. “Okay, then we’ll make yesterday your first day on the payroll. Be sure to tell Adriana and Vickie and they’ll walk you through the paperwork.”

“All right,” she said as she finished the last bite of her oatmeal. “I just love your train! And the food here, at least what I’ve had so far, has been great. But I can see that if I keep eating like this, I’m going to have to hop off and run alongside for exercise.”

That’s it! The train needed an exercise room, and I knew just the area to put it! I made a mental note to talk with Catherine about getting rid of the seats in the forward section of this car and replacing them with exercise equipment. I found myself trying to remember what was available in the way of equipment at this time.

“Ah, Michael?” Hanna said.

“I’m sorry Hanna. You just gave me a wonderful idea and solved a problem as well,” I told her excitedly.

“That’s, ah, good, I guess...” she replied.

“Good? It’s great! I’m going to remove those seats in the forward section and put in some exercise equipment!” I told her proudly.

“That’s good,” she said. “But can we get back to some things? I’m afraid someone will come and take you away from me any minute.”

I sensed the double entendre in her words and quickly scanned. She seemed to think that the other women had plans for our travel day. And they all involved me. Intimately.

“Hanna, I promise that I will not let anyone take you away from me,” I told the young woman.

“It’s not me they want to take away,” she giggled.

I sighed. When Hanna laughed, my soul laughed with her. “I would never want this girl to be sad, if I could do anything to prevent it,” I thought to myself.

“You wouldn’t?” Hanna responded before she could stop the words from coming out.

“You heard that?” I replied.

Hanna just nodded, still slightly entranced by the words, and the fact that she had overheard my thoughts. She had already experienced our ability to share our thoughts with her, but she understood that this time was different. I hadn’t MEANT to share them.

“Don’t panic, Michael” Nicky said. “After all, you had to have suspected you would have some connection with her.”

As god as my witness, that thought had not crossed my mind. Yes, I had been looking for somebody to make the documentary, and yes, I was attracted to Hanna. But I thought it was just her bubbly personality. And I had told Catherine to include her in the discussions in order to bring her more quickly up to speed on our family, without ever intending Hanna to actually become part of the core group. Now, I was forced to reconsider everything.

“Steady brother,” Grace thought to me. “We’ll be right there.”

I looked across the table at a waiting Hanna and shrugged as I said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“Know what?” Hanna asked. I could sense her concern that she might have made a mistake, but she had no idea what it was.

“Michael didn’t realize that you were one of us,” Grace told the older girl, as she and Nicky slid into the booth.

Hanna took only a heartbeat to figure out what Grace was saying.

“Oh!” she squeaked softly before her eyes went wide, then rolled up in the back of her head as she began sliding under the booth.

Quickly Nicky grabbed her, pulling the small girl back up into the booth.

“She’s out cold!” Nicky said. “DO SOMETHING, Michael!”

“ANNA!” I thought. “Come quick!”

A disheveled Anna appeared a few moments later, belting her robe as she ran up the aisle.

“She passed out,” Grace told her calmly, as Nicky got up so Anna could reach the unconscious girl.

Anna quickly felt for her pulse in her neck, telling Nicky to step into the galley and bring her a cold, damp cloth. Then she propped Hanna into the corner and began wiping her face with the damp cloth.

“Do we have any ammonium carbonate in the medicine kit?” she asked me.

I knew there was a medicine kit mounted on the wall somewhere in each car, so I immediately stepped into the galley to look for it. I finally found it and the smelling salts and brought them back to Anna. But, by this time Hanna had her eyes open. She looked up at me.

“I can’t marry you!” she cried and then the tears really started to flow.

Anna looked a question at me, like I had done something very wrong. Or very stupid!

“All I did was think, to myself, I might add, that I would never want to see her sad!” I said defensively.

“Yeah! And Hanna heard his thoughts,” Nicky said. “You know what that means!”

“Good grief, Michael, how could you do that to her?” Anna scolded. “Springing it on her like that. You’re supposed to be Mr. Sensitive!”

“Look. I’m sorry. But I swear. I had no idea,” I told them.

“Didn’t you offer her a job? And didn’t you bring her on the train? And didn’t you want her included in last night? And you’re telling us that you didn’t know, that she was one of the chosen ones?” Anna lashed out at me angrily.

I felt my temper flaring at her attitude. I took a deep breath, and then another, before I finally felt enough control to answer.

“Doctor Carter. I may be guilty of stupidity every once in a while. But I have never lied to you or any of the others,” I told her sternly, my voice measured as I struggled not to lose my cool.

Anna looked at me as she also struggled to keep from striking back.

“You are not a liar, Michael. I know that. It’s just that I, too, hate to see Hanna in pain. I’m sorry. I overreacted,” she said. “Somebody woke me from the best sleep I’ve had in a long time. Now you may have to give me some more ... err, medicine, to help me get back to sleep!” she added, with a big grin.

“End of the line, Sister!” Grace told her quickly, and the three of them giggled like little girls. Hanna had quit crying and was watching them through her sniffles.

Anna noticed her again and told her, “We’re sorry, Hanna. I became angry because I thought Michael had been careless and hurt you.”

“Michael didn’t hurt me. I just overheard his thoughts. And the girls had told me about doing that last night. But we all assumed that I couldn’t. So when I did ... well, it shocked me.”

“It surprised me too!” I told her quickly.

Anna, Grace and Nicky all looked from me to Hanna and back again to see what would happen next. Hanna looked at me to see what would happen also.

“I’ll be damned if I know!” I thought to myself.

“I heard him again!” Hanna cried. “And he CAN’T marry me. How would I explain it to my momma?”

“Hanna, Honey,” Anna said as she held the small twenty-three-year-old. “No one said you had to get married.”

“But I was saving myself for my husband!” she cried. “For our wedding night!”

Anna tried to hide her grin as she realized what the problem was. Grace and Nicky giggled as they looked to me.