Читать книгу A Thin Place - Jack Peterson - Страница 23

March 1, 1992

Angels Camp, California

Gently placing the phone back in its cradle, Crockett sat back in his den chair and stared at the ceiling. His spirit had just been torpedoed for only the second time in his seventy-two years. He looked down to the framed photo on his desk and read the inscription. It was a ritual he had followed every morning for the last twelve years…With love, Shirley. His wife had not only been his partner for life, she was his best friend. After her death, he eventually worked through some of the pain but it had taken years. While he managed to regain much of his lust for life, there was an emptiness inside that never went away. Today, more than any time since she passed, he wished she were still alive. There was battle to fight and he needed her help.

The call he just received from Elena had punched a large hole is his lifeboat and he was sinking fast. His grandson just had been diagnosed with an affliction that he thought only other people contracted and he had no words of comfort to offer his daughter. He needed help. He yelled downstairs. “Anna! Are you around?”

A voice filtered up the stairwell. “Yes!”

Crockett sighed deeply. “Come on up. I’m afraid I need a little help.”

Anna Johnson had worked for the Crockett family ever since she graduated from high school thirty-four years earlier. Initially hired to assist Shirley after Elena’s birth, the family somehow always found solid excuses to keep her on the payroll. During that time, Anna simultaneously raised her own family while expertly managing the entire Crockett household. Since Shirley’s death, she served a dual role, managing both the house and virtually every aspect of his life. When Anna’s husband was killed in an auto accident three years earlier, they were both alone. He was delighted that she accepted his suggestion to sell her house and move into the Crockett home. When Shirley died, Anna pulled him through the saddest time of his life. He returned the favor a few years later when Anna lost her husband. Now, they were like brother and sister, sharing an unspoken bond of trust that could never be broken.

When Anna reached the top of the stairs, Crockett made no attempt to hide the tears in his eyes as she sat down on the small sofa in front of his desk. Anna had become his crutch in a time of need, and he needed her now. He watched as Anna nervously fidgeted with her hair and marveled at his friend’s strengths. Fifty-two years old and barely over five feet tall, Anna was barely a hundred pounds. From the time they first met, he never had any doubt that every single ounce of her was tough as nails.

Crockett forced a smile, rubbing his eyes. “Anna, you know I’ve always tried to joke my way out of a sticky situation by saying something clever or silly but, right now, I am afraid I am at a total loss for words.”

Anna smiled. “I remember you once said something about enduring diversity was never difficult as long as it belonged to someone else. Well, you can forget about that. It’s not going to work, at least not today.”

“You listened in didn’t you?”

“Well, I did answer Elena’s call. I could tell from her voice that something was wrong. So, yes, I listened in a bit.”

Anna’s eavesdropping was nothing new for Crockett. She had been doing it for years. At times, he even encouraged it because forgetting small details, particularly those he heard over the phone, had over the years become all too common. Today, she listened on instinct, not because he asked, and he was grateful. “Good, then I don’t have to try and explain something to you that I know absolutely nothing about! I am not even sure I can spell it.”

Anna smiled. “It’s not so hard… A-U-T-I-S-M.”