Free Nora and Liz by Nancy Garden Page A

explained grimly.
    “I’ll see to the toast and the tea,” Marie announced with her usual competence, releasing the doorknob and bustling inside. “And Charles, you go with Nora and get Ralph up.” Shaking her head, Marie strode briskly down the hall to the kitchen.
    Ralph was sitting up, leaning against his bed, when they reached his room.
    “Father!” Nora exclaimed angrily. “I’m sorry,” she said, turning to Mr. Hastings. “How did you manage that?” she asked her father.
    “I didn’t want Charles to strain himself lifting me,” Ralph said.
    “What about your poor daughter straining herself?” Charles said severely. He bent from the waist, grasped Ralph under the arms, pulled him up with surprising strength given his slight build, and seated him on the edge of his bed. “Hmm? Did you expect her, a mere slip of a girl, to get you up without help?”
    “No, no. I realized she couldn’t. We decided to wait till you came, but I didn’t want to trouble you.” Ralph seized the minister’s hand. “Thank you, Charles,” he said. “You’re always so kind.”
    “Ralph, are you hurt or not?” Charles demanded.
    “My back aches and my head aches and I think I scraped my arm. But it’s not bad,” he added bravely, closing his eyes and wincing.
    “Do you need the doctor? X-rays?”
    Ralph’s eyes flew open. “Not X-rays. Not the hospital! If I go there, I won’t come back alive. You know what they do there. There was that woman they gave the wrong pills to, and she died. They make mistakes all the time.” His voice dropped conspiratorily . “I know. I won’t go there, ever. Nora’s promised neither of us will, haven’t you, Nora?”
    “I’ve promised to try,” Nora corrected him. “To try to keep you out. But I can’t promise you’ll never have to go.”
    “There are portable X-ray machines.” Charles turned to Nora. “I can arrange for one if you like.”
    “I don’t think that’s necessary. Is it, Father? I don’t think you’re really hurt. Right? Tell the truth now.”
    Ralph closed his eyes. “I can’t tell,” he said weakly. “My back does ache. Ohhhhh !”
    “In most nursing homes,” Charles said quietly, pulling Nora into the doorway, “they X-ray patients automatically when they fall. It’s hard to tell with some old folks whether they’re hurt or not. As you can see.”
    “What?” called Ralph. “What? I can’t hear you!”
    “Mr. Hastings is just saying it might be a good idea for you to have some x-rays anyway. He can have a machine come here. I think it would be a good idea, Father, just in case.”
    “No. Too expensive. I won’t hear of it.”
    The minister went back to the bed. “It’ll be paid for, Ralph. I’m sure Medicare will cover it, or most of it. I really do think it would be wise. Put your mind at rest, and Nora’s, and mine.”
    “Tea’s ready.” Marie appeared in the doorway, filling it with her large frame. “Well, Ralph, there you are back on your bed! Feeling better?”
    “Yes,” Ralph said gruffly. “Thanks to your good husband.”
    “And your good daughter, too, I should think,” Marie said. “Shall we have our tea in here, make a little bedside party of it?”
    “No tea for me.” Ralph closed his eyes. “I’m feeling dizzy again. You go on, though. Enjoy yourselves.” He swept his arm dramatically across the bed, dismissing them, and leaned back against the pillows. “Nora…”
    Nora moved to his side, swung his legs up onto the bed, this time without incident, removed his shoes, and covered his feet lightly with a summer blanket that she kept draped over the chair by his window.
    Ralph sighed and opened his eyes again as the three of them retreated to the newly cleaned and aired parlor.
    ***
    “I really think,” said Charles, putting down his cup so carefully that it made no sound against the saucer, “that you must have a telephone now, Nora. What if he really had been hurt?”
    “Or what if your mother has