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In truth ht, has good teeth, and though his hair is receding, it’s dark and curly He has a strong jaw and beautiful eyes, or they used to be, before the light went out in the down"

We enter a cool, dark interior, furnished with a leather settee and ed blue lamp, the kind David and I had in our little house in Brattleboro, and a flowered blue carpet

Mr Maddock indicates the closed door of a downstairs bedroom "That way," he instructs me "Can the doctor drink sarsaparilla? I have soe"

"Sure, just set the bottle in front of hiive him the idea And can you take off his boots?" I lay my hat and wool coat on the sofa and tap on the door "Sarah? It’s Nurse Becky How are you doing?"

"Oh, co nothing You kno Mr Maddock is! He’d have hs and I can’t help old and silver hair pinned back on the sides, and she wears a hand-knit blue cardigan with darker blue flowers embroidered on the front

"So, are you okay? Your husband seems awfully worried"

"Kiddo, I’m ecstatic When I became paralyzed and lost my first baby, we never tried to have another one, but eren’t trying not too, either I assu my illness had just iven birth before?"

"Yes, years ago We don’t talk about it"

"Was it stillborn or a e?"

"No, the baby was fine, but I was terribly ill I had polio and the paralysis was ht I was certain to die, so they talked Mr Maddock into letting theirl to nant"

She recites all this without emotion, but when she ends I see the side of her mouth twitch one time, an expression that tells ht I would live, and then when I slowly recovered over the next twelve months, I couldn’t ask for the baby back, could I? What’s even sadder is that boththe Spanish flu epide on the carpeted floor "May I?" I say, indicating the bed

"Sure" Mrs Maddock smoothes the covers so I can sit down next to her "So here we are with another chance," she goes on "My husband’s terrified, won’t let ood for wonancies, don’t you?" We both look down at her skinny withered legs, white against the white coverlet She shrugs and covers them with a lap robe

"Well, as active as I can be anyway It’s not like I can go out and throw hay to the cows" Here she givesthat she has a sly sense of huent woman, someone I would like for a friend, if I had ti or having pain, you should be upare you?"

"I don’t know I haven’t had a ht I was having hot flashes, though, looking back, it was a horrible summer, maybe I was just hot"