Blackwood Farm - Anne Rice [198]
“Mona told them all laughingly that Oncle Julien had ransacked the pantry for Royal Antoinette to serve me the hot chocolate, and I told them about the poem by Christopher Morley which I had loved so as a child, and about the cocoa and animal crackers, which I had altogether forgotten to tell any of them until then, and they were impressed with it, and we speculated as to how spirits make up what they do.
“ ‘But it means God exists, doesn’t it?’ asked Mona. There was the most poignant tone in her voice.
“ ‘God or the Devil,’ said Dr. Rowan.
“ ‘Oh, it would be too cruel if the Devil existed without God,’ said Mona.
“ ‘I don’t think so,’ said Rowan. ‘I think it’s entirely possible.’
“ ‘Nonsense, Rowan,’ said Michael. ‘God exists and God is love.’ And with a very deliberate nod to Mona he cautioned Rowan, and I saw at that moment that Mona was looking anxiously away. Then Mona spoke up.
“ ‘I guess I’ll know soon,’ she said, ‘or I’ll know nothing. That’s the hard part. Blinking out like a burnt-out bulb.’
“ ‘That’s not going to happen,’ I said. ‘When you have your treatments at Mayfair Medical, is it tiresome? Can I come and sit with you? Is it possible we could talk or I could read to you? What is it like?’
“ ‘That would be lovely,’ said Rowan, ‘until you get tired of it, which would happen at some point.’
“ ‘Rowan, for the love of Heaven,’ said Michael. ‘What’s gotten into you?’
“Mona started to laugh. ‘Yes, Quinn,’ she said, laughing still, ‘I have to be there for hours. I take the treatments intravenously, that’s why I wear long sleeves, to hide the marks. It would be wonderful if you were with me. It doesn’t have to be every time. And Rowan’s right. When you get tired, I’ll understand.’
“ ‘I’m ashamed that I’ve never asked if I could visit you during these treatments,’ said Stirling. ‘We’ve had so many suppers at the Grand Luminière Café. Why, it never crossed my mind.’
“ ‘And don’t think that you have to,’ said Mona. ‘I watch the worst television imaginable. I’m hooked on vintage sitcoms. Don’t give it another thought.’
“I wanted to vow that I would never get tired. I would bring flowers, and books of poetry to read. But I knew that the realist among us would think all this very lame, and so I let it go for the moment, thinking that later, when it came time to leave, I would ask when I could see Mona again.
“ ‘I know one thing,’ Mona announced, quite suddenly. ‘When it comes my time to die, I don’t want it to be at Mayfair Medical. I still cherish my dream of going out like Ophelia, on a boat of flowers in a softly running stream.’
“ ‘I don’t think it works very well,’ said Michael. ‘I think the flowers and the floating part of it are wonderful, but then comes the drowning and it’s not so peaceful at all.’
“ ‘Well, then, I’ll settle for a bed of flowers,’ she said. ‘But there has to be a lot of them, you know, and no tubes and needles and bottles of morphine and such things as that. I can imagine the water as long as I’m on a bed of flowers. And there are no doctors around.’
“ ‘I promise,’ said Michael.
“Dr. Rowan said nothing.
“It was an extraordinary moment. I was horrified. But I didn’t dare to speak.
“ ‘Come on, everybody, I’m so sorry I made it glum,’ said Mona. ‘Quinn, let me cheer you up. Have you ever read Hamlet? Will you read it to me sometime at Mayfair Medical?’
“ ‘I’d love to,’ I responded.
“We had all seen Kenneth Branagh’s landmark film of Hamlet and we’d loved it, and of course I knew the Ophelia underwater scene so very well. It had been a still shot after Gertrude’s long description, all of it beautifully done, due to the fact that Branagh is a genius, we all agreed. I wanted to tell them all about Fr. Kevin’s warning about speaking to ghosts, based on what happened to Hamlet, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about it so I let it slide.
“The remainder of the evening was marvelous. We talked of so many things. Michael