leather boots on their feet. Then very slowly, one by one, they began turning around in a circle, and soon they were all whirling around and around, faster and faster, all over the stage.
At first, Maggie could tell this must have been a beautiful sight: all these tall, handsome, graceful men twirling all at once with their skirts flaring in and out, like waves in the ocean. Unfortunately, all Brenda and Maggie could see as they twirled by was straight up their skirts: the loose white pants and leather boots; and as they twirled faster, the wind from their skirts blew dirt and dust from the stage all over the people in the first row. But even the little bit that they could see of the twirling was terribly beautiful and exciting. For a while however as the twirling went on and on, after waiting so long see them whirl, Maggie now couldn’t wait for them to stop. Her neck was killing her, and her eyes were burning from looking straight up into the lights, and she was getting a headache and a sore throat from all the dust and dirt blowing in her face. Maggie calculated that if they had twirled in a straight line instead of a circle, they could be all the way to Atlanta by now. As she sat hoping that this would be their last twirl, she began to notice a pattern. As they twirled, they always wound up right back at the same spot where they had started. In a way, it reminded her of her own life. All that twirling, and in the end, she hadn’t gone anywhere at all.
After another painful forty minutes, the twirling finally ended, and the Dervishes put their capes back on and left as slowly and as quietly as they had come on, followed by the musicians, leaving nothing but a row of empty wooden chairs and a grateful, but confused, audience. They wanted to applaud, but were afraid it would not be fitting. It was clearly a somber religious event, not what most had expected.
Brenda was deeply disappointed. “I thought it was going to be fun,” she whispered. Maggie nodded with a stiff neck. “Me, too. Oh well, who knew?” But Brenda was still hopeful. In the lobby, when she saw Cathy Gilmore, she asked, “Is there a cast party?”
“No. They have to leave right after the show.”
“Oh shoot, what a bummer. Did you get a chance to meet them before the show?”
“I met the bus when they arrived.”
“What were they wearing?” asked Brenda.
“Wearing? Oh, just regular clothes. Why?”
Brenda looked at Maggie. “We just wondered.”
AS THEY DROVE home, Maggie quietly opened Brenda’s purse and slipped Hazel’s lucky penny inside as a sort of private going-away present. When they pulled up to Maggie’s door, Brenda laughed and said, “Yeah, thanks to Cecil we sure didn’t need those binoculars tonight, did we?”
“No, we didn’t.”
“It was different, I’ll say that.”
“It was… Anyhow, I’m so glad we went.”
“Me, too; at least now we don’t have to go to Turkey.”
“No, we don’t.”
“Well, see you in the morning.”
“Well, actually, no. I’m taking tomorrow off, remember?”
“Oh, that’s right. I forgot… and what is it you’re doing tomorrow?”
“Just a few things I need to take care of.”
“Ah… well, have fun. See you on Tuesday then.”
Brenda started to drive away, but Maggie said, “Wait-wait a minute.”
Brenda stopped. “What is it?”
Maggie stood there and looked at her for a moment and then said, “Oh nothing, I guess I just wanted to say… good night again.”
Brenda smiled. “Well, good night, don’t let the bedbugs bite,” she said as she drove away.
Maggie stood there and watched her until she was out of sight. Sadly, the show had not been quite as exciting as she had hoped for, but still, she was glad she had spent her last evening with Brenda.
Inside, she got undressed and packed her dress and shoes in the box and looked over her last list for tomorrow morning.
Things to Do, Morning of November 3
1. Cancel
2. Empty refrigerator and freezer
3. Take out garbage
4. Call Dottie Figge about unit
5. Call phone company and have phone disconnected
6. Leave money and watch for Lupe
7. Make bed and do laundry
8. Check under sink for ants
9. Sweep off back patio and clean out bird feeder
10. Don’t forget to leave note on counter
11. Leave spare key under mat when you go
When she got into bed, she wondered why she was suddenly feeling so good. It seemed so wrong. My Lord. To wind up this way, she should be feeling just terrible around about now, but she wasn’t. She’d noticed that as the day had gotten closer, she had begun to feel better and better. Was it because she wasn’t watching the news anymore? She was certainly sleeping better than she had in years. It was amazing how nice it was to not have to worry about the future. Wouldn’t you know it, just as she was getting ready to leave, she felt better than she had in years.
Oh, well.
D-Day
As she waited for her sheets to dry, she put her goodbye letter on the counter, along with her watch and Lupe’s envelope, cleaned out the refrigerator and brought out the garbage, and at nine-thirty on the dot, two boys from Boots’s theater rang her bell and took the boxes. So far, everything was on schedule. She ran out and swept off the back patio, pulled the sheets out of the dryer, and made the bed.
She walked around and did a last-minute check. Everything looked in order. Just as she was ready to leave, the phone in the kitchen started to ring. She figured it was the phone company calling back, checking the number, so she just let it ring. She locked the kitchen door, put on a scarf and her sunglasses, grabbed her purse, and walked out the front door. She placed the extra key under the doormat and headed down the block to wait for the cab, hoping that she wouldn’t run into anyone she knew. Thankfully, the car was already there waiting for Doris Day, and she quickly jumped into the backseat and slammed the door. What a relief. Nobody had seen her. Safe at the plate! After she informed the driver which way to go, she settled back in the seat and was just starting to relax a little when the cell phone in her purse rang. Oh Lord, she was taking the stupid thing to throw in the river, but had forgotten to turn it off. She didn’t want to talk to anyone now, much less Brenda or Ethel, so she just let it ring. But then, she suddenly wondered if it could be Dottie calling with some question about the
