She said, “Hello, Wesley? This is Ellen. Do you remember back to the day of the fire alarm? Lillian is with me and she has a question about where I was after the alarm went off? Would you tell her, please?”
She handed the phone to me. I hate it when a person shoves a phone in my face because they want me to talk to somebody I am completely unprepared to talk with, but if I refused to take it she would win, so I said, “Hello.”
“Hello, Lillian? This is Wesley.”
“Hello, Wesley. This is Lillian.”
“Do you want to know where Ellen was after the fire alarm went off?”
“Why, do you know?” I hoped that answering a question with a question would give me the upper hand, somehow.
“Yes, she was with me.”
“The whole time?”
“Yes. We walked out together and we walked back in together. I remember because we talked about calligraphy the whole time. Calligraphy is a hobby of mine. Sometimes I wish I had lived back in the days when the monks made beautiful copies of the Bible by hand. Ellen is interested in it too. We had a fascinating conversation. She's seen some of those Bibles on her travels to Europe.”
So had I, but somehow I hadn't known that either Wesley or Ellen had an interest in calligraphy. I mumbled something about having seen Bibles and Wesley said, “What is this all about, anyway?”
“Oh, we were just playing a game called, 'What did you do when the fire alarm went off?' It's all in fun. Go back to your calligraphy.”
I hung up the phone and tried to clean the mud off me. The tug-of-war had ended and I had lost. Ellen still watched me. It was too late for me to make a graceful retreat. I said, “I guess you win this round.”
“I plan to win all the rounds,” Ellen said, as she showed me to the door.
I stared at Carol Grant, across her desk, and couldn't contain my astonishment and rage. “You're kicking me out of Silver Acres because I accused Ellen of murder?”
“We're asking you to leave,” Carol said, smoothly, her fingers playing with a pencil.
So this is what Ellen meant when she said she planned to win all the rounds. She must have phoned Carol immediately after my visit because here I was on the hot seat in her office barely two hours later.
When I had been the accuser and Ellen the accused she had been calm and I had been agitated. Now Carol was the accuser and I was the accused and she was the calm one while I was about to explode. In fact I was so infuriated that I wanted to throw myself across the desk and strangle her.
I remembered my blood pressure and tried to cool down. But my voice betrayed my feelings when I said, “Exactly what are the grounds on which you're asking me to leave?”
“Harassment,” Carol said. “It's all spelled out in the 'Code of Conduct' that the board enacted two years ago. I'm sure you have a copy.”
Of course I had a copy, but who reads those things? It would be one thing if I were kicked out for breaking and entering, because even I would have to admit that I deserved it in that case, but harassment? “Harassment? You mean like sexual harassment?”
“Harassment doesn't have to be sexual. Hate speech is a form of harassment because it creates a hostile environment.”
I didn't hate Ellen. “It sounds to me as if you're treading on the first amendment here.”
“I don't want to be legalistic with you, but I don't think you'll fight it. I've already talked to Albert and he agreed…”
“You called Albert at his office?”
“That's where he usually is at this time of day. He agreed that you could move in with him. He has several spare bedrooms, as you know, and a beautiful house. Your dog will have a good place to live. And you can help take care of Albert's flowers.”
I was never a flower child. So Albert was also involved in this conspiracy. I felt like Julius Caesar when he said, “ Et tu, Brute?”
“Tomorrow is Saturday so the timing is perfect. Albert said he'll rent a truck to move you. He mentioned something about getting Sandra's boyfriend to help with the big pieces of furniture, such as the couch.”
My God, they already had every little detail of my future all planned. Next, they would have me declared out of my mind so that Albert could take over my assets. But why would he bother? He was going to get them all, anyway. And Albert wasn't that kind of a person. And I wasn't squandering my money buying magazine subscriptions in hopes of winning the sweepstakes, like one woman I knew.
Albert was just trying to do what was best for me. But he had caved in to Carol, without even consulting me. Was he in love with her? That would be the final blow, getting her as a daughter-in-law, after the way she was treating me.
The events of this day had just about shattered my dignity completely. I wrapped about me what little dignity I had left, like a tattered coat, and said, “You don't have to worry about me causing you any trouble. I'll go peacefully. I'll even give Silver Acres a good recommendation, if anybody asks. I'll tell them it's a place where they can live in confidence that they won't be harassed.”
CHAPTER 21
“Gogi, why did you give in without a fight,” Sandra asked. “I've always looked up to you because no matter what problems you had, you never quit.”
“And just what exactly are you accused of?” Mark asked.
I had been alone with Mark long enough to tell him that I wasn't being kicked out of Silver Acres for breaking and entering or stealing Ellen's chair. But this was the first time all day that we'd had a chance to really talk.
We were sitting around Albert's round breakfast table. Sandra and Mark drank beer, supplied by me. I drank iced tea. Winston sat on the floor putting geometric shapes into a wooden puzzle. I was happy to see that he apparently had my mathematical ability. King played with Albert's dog outside. Albert was returning the rental truck.
We had all been slaving since dawn on the kind of humid day that made me wish I had a container of ice water strapped to my back with a hose leading into my mouth. All my belongings were now either here or in storage. At least the storage charges would be much less than the monthly bill at Silver Acres.
Sandra and Mark were dressed almost like twins, in sweaty T-shirts, shorts and sneakers. I still call them sneakers, although for the price people pay for them I guess I should use one of the fancier names invented by the shoe companies.
The kids looked cute together and it relieved me that they appeared to be getting along very well with each other. At the moment they were playing kneesie. However, I suspected that it was too soon to send out the wedding announcements.
I hadn't mentioned April's visit to Sandra because I didn't know what, if anything, Mark had told Sandra about her. He hadn't told me not to talk about her, which I considered a good sign, but once in a while I can be discreet.
“My case fell apart,” I said, not directly answering either of their questions. I briefly described my meeting with Ellen.
“An alibi!” Mark exclaimed in mock despair. “That's not supposed to happen. Do you trust this guy…Wesley, is that his name?”
“Wesley, yes. And yes, I trust him.” Even though he had been accused of having an affair with Ida, which might in some strange way have given him a motive for killing Gerald. In which case he might be using Ellen as an alibi and he might have put the shellfish in the casserole. No, that was too ridiculous and I was on the verge of losing it. Maybe I should just give Albert my power of attorney now and turn into a vegetable.
