Chapter Twenty-Three

They said at the hospital we could visit in a couple of days. We kept calling and pestering and finally they said we could come but only stay for a few minutes. Mr. Richards was in a ward and we must remember not to talk loud or anything.

After school we went to the florist and bought him a geranium plant. Then we took the bus to the hospital and asked at the desk for his room number.

“He’s in Ward D,” the girl said. “Please limit your visit to five minutes.”

Mr. Richards was in a room with a lot of other men. He looked awful white in the bed.

“We brought you a plant,” Al said. “It’s a geranium.”

He said, “I never saw a prettier one. Put it here.” He was there in the bed but his voice sounded like he was talking from a long way away.

I said, “How do you feel?” because I didn’t know what else to say.

He smiled a little. “Everything considered, not too bad,” he said. “How’s things at home?”

We both stood there and said things like, “Fine, fine,” and Al said she was going to polish his kitchen floor until he got back and I said I’d water his plants and then the nurse stuck her head in and said we’d better leave, visiting hours were over.

“Good-by,” we said. “We’ll come again in a few days.”

Mr. Richards lifted his hand and let it fall. We backed out of the room. Then we stood in the hall, not doing anything.

We heard the man in the bed next to him say, “Nice couple of girls you got there. They your granddaughters?”

His voice came, faint and far away. “You might say that. Yes sir, you might say that.”

We turned and walked down the hall. We rang for the elevator and went down in it and it wasn’t until we got to the street that Al said, “We should’ve kissed him. We both should’ve.”

“He probably knows we wanted to,” I said.

We walked out into the street. It was snowing again.

Al stuck out her tongue. ‘It tastes like chocolate,” she said.

I was tired. “Me too,” I said.