Hadrian's Wall by Felicia Jensen Read Free Book Online Page A

other items were already stored in the closet, to be tried on
the next day. Never had I seen so many designer clothes at once.
They fit me perfectly, as if she had taken my measurements before
choosing them.
    I was not the type of person who could
accept gifts like these. I wanted to work for my own clothes, the
roof over my head, and the food on my table. I wasn’t an invalid or
poor so that I would become the target of pity for the rich and
beautiful people of the town. I already felt sufficiently
constrained by the VIP treatment that I was receiving in the
Caledonia Hospital. I often asked myself, ‘Why do they want to take
care of me—a stranger who can’t pay for their services?’ Curiosity
burned me like a hot iron. Despite my probing inquiries, both
Bernice and Charity were unwilling to enlighten me as to the
reasons.
    When I told Adrian about the clothes that
Bernice had given to me, I never imagined that he would send me a
truckload of skirts, pants, shorts, blouses, shirts, dresses,
shoes...and it was no use to try to reject them. Charity almost had
a heart attack when I refused to accept them. She said that she’d
be offended if I did, especially after she’d taken the initiative
to get her name in the “little book of good deeds” is how she put
it—as if the fact of distributing new clothes was a fun or
commonplace thing.
    In the end, Charity stated
that I should take pity on her and accept everything without
complaint, otherwise her cousin would be upset. What a drama queen!
In the end, she finally got her way. Now, here I am, sitting on the
bed that not long before had housed a jumble of colorful garments.
Of course, I would use very few of them. Chic clothes, with brilliant, intricate details were simply not my
style, so I separated the less tawdry items and kept the more
demure—but the shoes were still a distinct issue.
    I sighed, turning my head to look out the
window. The full moon bathed my bedroom in silvery light, making it
unnecessary to turn on the light. After a few minutes of
distraction, I looked at the door of small closet where my old
suitcase was kept. I decided that I could not wait to open it. I
had to do it now and for some reason, I needed to do it alone,
without the intrusion of witnesses.
    Forgetting Charity and her
troublesome shoes for the moment, I got out of bed and walked
slowly to the closet. I leaned forward with caution because of the
brace and started to pull the
suitcase out. I still felt occasional
twinges in my ribs, but the bandage that pressed my chest was no
longer bothering me as much. The case was very heavy. Wow! I
carried this through two states?
    I set it on the coffee table with a thud,
knocking the clothes that Charity had given me onto the floor. I
felt another twinge in my ribs, stronger this time. Adrian will
kill me if something happens to my damaged ribs. Well, I can’t
worry about that anymore...what’s done is done.
    I turned on the lamp and took a deep breath.
It’s here—the moment of truth! I wanted to prepare myself, but try
as I might to concentrate on breathing slowly, my heart was racing.
Well, I can’t wait indefinitely. On the other hand, I wasn’t
feeling a crisis coming on, so perhaps it was better to end it for
good.
    It was better to end the
suspense once and for all. I pulled the zipper. The opening gave way slowly. The plaid was so worn that it
seemed more gray than blue. I folded the sides back as best I
could, hoping to prevent the decals of my childhood from
reactivating the symptoms that Dr. Talbot had classified as
psychosomatic. Greek again. Amen!
    Clothes and books were
first things that I saw. They were carefully folded and stacked to
make the most of space. The clothes were practical—a pair of jeans,
frayed at the hem, tracksuit pants, three shirts in basic colors, a
pair of black shoes with a hole in the right sole, two pairs of
cotton panties, and a bra. Wow, I traveled with very little clothing. Where
was my faded