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THE NEXT MORNING, on a whim, I went to Peachtree Leisure Apartments, a sort of independent old folks&039; home, as Neecy Dawson had so cheerfully pointed out I&039;d been there before to visit various people, but not in a long ties Before, there&039;d been a directory in the large lobby, and you could just walk in and take the elevator to the floor you needed Now, there was a very large black man with a narrow one There was a television camera pointed from one corner that e robbed," the e "People was co a nah the building till they found who they wanted They&039;d sell theht the old person was senile enough, or they&039;d just rob theht, from five until eleven, there&039;s another man Noho did you come to see?"

So the halls in Peachtree Leisure Apartments, I told hi you, Miss?"

"Mrs No, Ms" What was I going to callpresent"

"She gave you so?" The brown eyes widened in a burlesque of surprise

"You must be a friend"

"I take it this is unusual?"

But after his little joke, he wasn&039;t going to say anything else

"I&039;ll call her, if you just wait a minute," he said He picked up the phone, dialed, and told Melba Totino about my presence in the lobby She would see et too many visitors" The elevator s alcohol and disinfectant and cold steel The guard had told me there was a physician&039;s assistant actually in residence; and of course a doctor on call There was a cafeteria in the building for those who "enrolled" for that service, and groceries could be delivered fro was very clean, and the lobby had been dotted with old people who at least looked alert and comfortable, if not exactly happy I supposed, if you couldn&039;t live entirely on your own, this would be a good place to live Mrs Totino&039;s apart of the doors that soer than others Hers was one of the s open alht in the eyes, so she wasn&039;t more then five feet tall Her eyes were dark brown, sunk in wrinkles that were thee nose and a s frolasses, which surprised e striped dress was covered with a gray sweater and the air that rushed out s

"Yes?" Her voice was deep and pleasant, not shaky as I&039;d expected

"I&039;arden, Mrs Totino"

"That&039;s what Duncan said Nohat kind of name is Duncan for a black man? I ask you" And she backed into her apartment to indicate I should enter "I asked hi "I said, &039;I never knew no black man called Duncan before&039; He said, &039;What you think I should be called, Miz Totino? LeRoy?&039; That Duncan! I laughed and laughed" Who-hat a knee-slapper I bet Duncan had thought so, too

"Have a seat, have a seat"

I looked aroundwas so busy I wasn&039;t sure if they were occupied or not The sofa and e and brown and cream The table between the chair and the sofa contained a TV Guide, the ugliest la hard candy, a pair of reading glasses, a box of Kleenex, and a stunningly senti a cuddly puppy with the legend across the base, "My Best Friend" I finally decided one of the couch cushions was eerly down

"This apart is very nice," I offered "Oh, yes, the new security et you a cup of coffee? I&039;m afraid I only have instant decaffeinated" Then why have coffee at all? "No, thank you"

"Or a - Coke? I think I have a Coke stuck in the refrigerator"

"Okay, thanks"

She walked bent over, and haltingly In the jammed tiny roo into the kitchen and one at the right into the bedroo in the kitchen and took the chance to look around me

The walls were covered with doodads of every description Gold-tone butterflies in a group of three, one rather pretty painting of a bowl of flowers, tful prints of cherubic children being sith cute ani dried flowers that looked extrean to feel dazed at the s that presented theht of all the roouilt

Then the television caught my attention All this time it had been on, but I had not paid any attention to the picture I realized now that the scene I was seeing was the apart lobby An old man with a walker moved slowly across the screen as I watched Good Lord I wondered if many of the residents chose to watch life in their lobby

Mrs Totino tottered back into the roo hand The ice was tinkling against the glass with a quick te

"Did you like the placeotiated the transfer of the Coke from her hand to mine

"I&039;ve never seen any like them," I said sincerely "Now, I know you won&039;t be offended when I tell you that they edding presents for TC and Hope They&039;d been packed away in a drawer for these ht, why not let someone else enjoy theave you a used gift!" "Recycled," I suggested

"Right, right Everything&039;s this recycling now! I recycled them" I had hoped to see a picture of the Julius faraphs, in a double fraraphs were very old One showed a stern s stiffly beside a sohter hair and a thin-lipped shy face They earing clothes dating froht In the other picture, two girls who strongly resembled each other, one about ten and the other perhaps twelve, hugged each other and smiled fixedly at the caault, isn&039;t that a pretty name?" Mrs Totino said fondly "I&039;ve always hated my name, Melba And the other picture is the only one ever taken of my parents"

"Your sister is still does she live close?"

"New Orleans," Mrs Totino said "She has a little house in Metairie, that&039;s right by New Orleans" She sighed heavily

"New Orleans is a beautiful place, I envy her She never wants to coo there every now and then Just to see the city" I wondered why she didn&039;t just move "You have relatives here now, Mrs Totino?"

"No, not since not since the tragedy Of course you know about that"

I nodded, feeling definitely self-conscious

"Yet you bought the house, or your husband bought it for you, I understand from Mr Sewell"

"Yes, ma&039;am"

"You aren&039;t scared? Other people backed down fro it at the last minute"

"It&039;s a beautiful house"

"Not haunted, is it? I don&039;t believe in that stuff," said Mrs Totino robustly I looked surreptitiously for a place to deposit lass The Coke was flatter than a penny on a railroad track

"I don&039;t either"

"When that laith the stupid name called to say someone really wanted to buy it, and he said it was a couple about to be ht, I&039;ll just send the after all these years, the house will be lived in again What kind of shape was it in?"

So I told her about that, and she asked me questions, and I answered her, and all the while she never talked about what I was hter, her granddaughter, and her son-in-law had to have been dreadful, but you would think she would edy" she didn&039;t bring it up Of course she was es we had e, the one built for her, the one she&039;d inhabited such a short time Then she moved to the house, conversationally Had we repainted? Yes, I told her Had we reroofed? No, I told her, the real estate agent had ascertained that Mr Julius had had a new roof put on when he bought the house

"He came here to be near relatives?" I asked carefully "His relatives," she said with a sniff "His aunt Essie never had any children, so when he retired from the Army, he and Charity moved here to be close to her He&039;d saved for years to start his own business, doing additions onto houses, carpentry work, stuff he&039;d alanted to do He could have gone anywhere he wanted, but he picked here," she said gloomily "And asked you to live with them?"