Cannot Wait to Get to Heaven - Fannie Flagg [15]
Tot suddenly stopped brushing Norma’s hair. “God, I hope not, this one has wore me out. I just want to sleep.”
“Oh, Tot, you don’t mean that. What if you had a chance to see your family again?”
“Hell no, I didn’t want to see most of them when they were alive.”
Tot then picked up a can of Clairol hard-to-hold hair spray. “What’s life all about anyway, that’s what I want to know, and I don’t want to have to wait until I’m dead to find out either,” she said, spraying Norma’s hair with a vengeance. “Is that too damn much to ask?”
After she finished, Tot looked at Norma’s hair in the large glass, rearranged a few curls, then handed Norma a hand mirror and spun her chair around so she could see the back. “There you go, hon, pretty as a picture!”
After her hair appointment, Norma felt a little uneasy, so when she arrived at Aunt Elner’s house, she was happy to see her sitting on her porch with a big smile on her face. As she came up the stairs, she said, “You look mighty cheerful today.”
“Oh, I am, honey. I just saved a butterfly! I walked out here a little while ago and saw the prettiest butterfly caught in a spiderweb and I was able to set it loose. I’m sorry that spider missed out on his lunch, but butterflies only have one day to live, now at least he’ll have the rest of the day.”
Norma cleared off a chair and sat down. “I’m sure he’ll be happy about that.”
Elner said, “Did you know a turtle lives to be a hundred and fifty years old and poor little butterflies just get a day? Life doesn’t seem fair, does it?”
“No,” said Norma. “Tot was just saying the same thing a few minutes ago.”
“About butterflies?”
“No, that life was not fair.”
“Ah…what brought that up?”
“She’s worried about not being able to collect her social security before the end of the world.”
“Poor Tot, as if she didn’t have enough to worry about with those children of hers. What else is she carrying on about this morning?”
“Just her usual this and that, and she’s mad because she doesn’t know what life is all about.”
Aunt Elner laughed. “Well, join the club, who does? That’s one of those sixty-four-thousand-dollar questions, isn’t it, I’d say it’s right up there with the chicken or the egg, wouldn’t you?”
“I suppose.”
Elner said, “You tell Tot if she finds out, to let me know.”
Suddenly, as loud bells began dinging, Norma was abruptly jerked back into the present moment with a start. Back to the horrible present moment at hand, when only five days ago, Aunt Elner had been happy and laughing, and now she was in the emergency room at a strange hospital in God knows what kind of condition. As Norma sat there and waited for the bells to stop clanging and the red and white arms of the railroad cross stoop to finish lifting, she too joined the club and wondered, “What is life all about anyway?”
The Waiting Room
9:58 AM
Because of the delay at the train crossing Norma and Macky arrived at the hospital about eight minutes after the ambulance. The woman at the admittance desk told them that Elner was in the emergency room and she had no information on her condition, but the doctor would meet them in the waiting room and give them a report as soon as he knew something. Meanwhile Norma had to fill out a bunch of insurance forms and answer all the medical questions as best she could. Her hands were shaking so badly she could hardly write.
Of course she never really knew what to put down as Aunt Elner’s age. Like most people back then, she had been born at home and the only evidence of her birth date had been recorded in the family Bible, but the Bible had disappeared years ago. Norma’s mother had always lied about her own age, and was most likely the one who had gotten rid of the Bible, so now there was no telling how old Aunt Elner was, so she just put down eighty-nine.
She turned to Macky. “Do you think she’s allergic to any medications?”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.”
She went down the list of all past or present ailments and was