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“I’ve been good,” I say. “Very good, actually.”
Her smile grows bigger.
“I’m so glad to hear that,” she says. “So, you like your new job? What was it again?”
I clear my throat, lowering my eyes for a moment, as most people do when they’re about to lie.
“I’m an editor for an online magazine.”
It’s the perfect lie, because Mrs. Warden has no clue about anything concerning the Internet.
“So, you write articles, you said?” Mrs. Warden implores.
I nod. “Yeah, pretty much.”
“About wha—”
She is interrupted by another coughing fit, shaking her body with such force that she almost spills hot tea on the chubby cat in her lap. Johnny sets back his ears and throws her an annoyed look.
“Mrs. Warden, are you okay?” I inquire, sliding to the edge of my armchair. “I’m really worried about you. You don’t look well, if I may say so, and it looks like you have lost even more weight since the lasttimewe saw each other.”
She waves me off. “Oh, don’t you worry about me. I’m in good care.”
Her face freezes as if she’d just said too much.
“In good care for what?” I implore. “Mrs. Warden, what’s wrong with you?”
She lets out a heavy sigh and rolls her eyes. “It’s nothing really, Katherine, please don’t concern yourself with my issues.”
I frown at her. “After all you’ve done for me? What would you have done if I had said that to you on the many, many occasions you helped me out?”
“Well, you did tell me to stay out of your business more than once!”she remembers, chuckling. “Remember that time I called you into my office after you handed in that excellent writing assignment, only to inform me a day later that you’d be quitting school to earn some money?”
I can’t help but smile at the memory.
“Yes, I remember very clearly,” I say. “You tried everything to convince me to stay in school.”
“And yet, you didn’t,” she reminds me. “See, sometimes we can try as hard as we want to help other people, but in the end they’ll always have to want to help themselves. That’s what really matters.”
I look at her, noticing the sadness that overcasts her expression now. She’s hiding something from me, something bad. And if I’m not mistaken, she’s been hiding it for quite a while.
“And do you want to help yourself?” I ask.
She nods solemnly. “Yes, I am now.”
“Help with what?” I probe. “Please tell me what’s going on. Maybe I can help!”
She laughs and shakes her head so wildly that her whole body shakes, bothering the mean cat on her lap. Johnny flaps his ears, once again glaring at me as if I was responsible for his discomfort.
“Oh no, dear. You certainly can’t help, which is why I shouldn’t even bother you with—”
“Please,” I interrupt her, placing my hand on hers as I lean in closer. “Please don’t shut me out. Let me be there for you.”
She sighs again, placing her other hand on top of mine as she regards me with a benevolent but sorrowfulsmile.
“You are such a lovely girl, Katherine, but there’s nothing you can do, really,” she says. “It’s cancer, dear. Colon cancer, stage three.”
My jaw drops at her words, and my heart drops into the abyss, leaving nothing but grief and pain in its place.
