The Journey Home Read Free

housecoat.
    â€œJeffrey will be there,” the nurse said, teasingly. “You know he’s really into you, right?”
    Antoinette shuddered at the thought of Jeffrey, or anyone, being “into” her. She was sure Jeffrey was a perfectly pleasant man – she couldn’t recall his face right now – but the last thing she wanted was that kind of attention. It was better if she kept her distance from everyone. She wasn’t sure what would happen if she tried to get to know someone at this point.
    Antoinette still liked her room. Her pictures were here, along with other things she recognized. She didn’t like the other side of the door anymore, though. Too many confusing things. Too many things she wasn’t sure if she knew. Too many people who were friendly to her but might just be trying to take
advantage of her in some way. She had everything she needed right here. The nurses would bring her food after a few minutes of trying to get her to eat in the dining room, and she had all the company she could want right here.
    â€œMaybe tomorrow, Diane,” Antoinette said quickly.
    The nurse tipped her head to one side. “Now, Antoinette, you know my name is Darlene. And you say ‘maybe tomorrow’ every day.” The nurse moved toward the calendar attached by a magnet to the refrigerator. “Now let me see – yes, it says right here that ‘tomorrow’ is today!” Darlene or Diane, or whatever her name was today – Antoinette was certain they kept changing it on her – held out her hand. “Come on, Antoinette, we’ll dance together. Everyone loves to watch you dance. You’re so graceful.”
    Antoinette stood from the couch and sat on her bed. “Maybe tomorrow. I mean it. I need to rest now.”
    The nurse let out a huge sigh, her shoulders rising and slumping in exaggerated fashion. “Okay, Antoinette. I’ll leave you alone this time. I’m not going to leave you alone tomorrow, though. Ice cream social tomorrow – and I want to see you there eating a huge sundae. I’ll put the whipped cream on it myself.”
    She left after that, which made Antoinette feel much, much better. She always felt so much pressure from this nurse. The other one – Jane, Judy, Angela, something like that – was much nicer and much more understanding. For a long time after the nurse left,
Antoinette stayed on the edge of the couch, thinking a little about tomorrow’s ice cream social and all the people who would be there that she wouldn’t recognize, and then not thinking about much. Finally, she stood up, removed her housecoat, and slipped into bed. The sheets hugged her and she warmed to their embrace. As she did, she let her mind drift, knowing it would take her someplace she truly wanted to go.
    . . . Today they were walking on a New York City street. Antoinette recognized it as the neighborhood near their first apartment, the place they rented after they married sixty years ago. It was late spring, the sky was clear, and pedestrians bustled around them as Antoinette and her husband walked at their own, very steady, very relaxed pace.
    â€œIt’s a beautiful day for a walk,” she said, “don’t you think, Don?”
    He took her hand, kissed the back of it lightly, and kept his clasped with hers as they strolled. “It is most definitely a beautiful day, Hannah.”
    Virtually from the moment they met, they’d called each other “Don” and “Hannah” after the couple played by Fred Astaire and Judy Garland in Easter Parade , the movie they saw on their first date. Antoinette was already in love by the time she went out with him for the first time – they’d been flirting for weeks – and when he took her dancing after the movie and called her “Hannah,” Antoinette was pretty sure that he felt the same way. From then on, he was her “Don” and she was