Before Mildred could tell me how she planned to introduce the touchy subject, the doorbell rang and LuAnne joined us. She was nervous, but excited, about our plan to straighten Helen out and immediately began talking.
“Just what will our main points be?” she asked. “The way she treats Thurlow? Or her obsession with that house? Or just plain spending too much? I think it ought to be the money. I mean, if it runs out, what she does to Thurlow or the house won’t matter. And, let’s face it, Thurlow is certainly better off than he’d be in a nursing home somewhere, which would probably eat up his money faster than Helen would. But tell me what I ought to say. I mean, give me a clue as to how an intervention is supposed to go. I’ve never been a part of one before.”
“None of us have,” I said as she finally paused for breath. “But let’s remember that Helen is a friend and we’re doing this for her own good. I mean, we have to be kind and let her know that we care for her. We don’t want to end up alienating her.”
“That’s right,” Mildred said, “and I intend to make that plain from the beginning. I’ll just say that Thurlow has expressed concern about the money, and we’ve wondered if perhaps she has let having a free hand with that house go to her head. And at that point, Julia, why don’t you say that all we want to do is to reassure Thurlow that all is well? Although you might want to get in that we know how easy it is to let redoing a house become the main focus.”
LuAnne broke in, saying, “And what about me? What should I say?”
“Oh, tell her how much we admire her for taking care of Thurlow and for making a decent place for him to live. Pile on the compliments to ease her mind.”
“Well,” LuAnne said right sharply, “I want to do more than that. Just think. She’s gotten rid of his dog, and she’s got a muscle-bound man watching Thurlow all the time so he can’t do anything, and she’s just using him to get what she wants. I think if we’re going to do this, we have to really lay it on.”
Mildred rolled her eyes. “Don’t get carried away, LuAnne.”
“Well,” LuAnne said again, “Helen has lorded over us all for years. I think it’s about time that she’s taken down a peg or two.”
“No,” I said, sitting up straight in my chair, “that’s the wrong attitude, LuAnne. We want to enlighten her, make her rethink what’s important—Thurlow’s well-being, both physically and financially—not make her mad. If we put her on the defensive, we’ll have failed in accomplishing anything.”
“Well,” LuAnne said for the third time, “I intend to say what I think, because she needs to hear it.”
As Mildred and I looked at each other with some dismay, I wished we’d never started an intervention. Too late, for the doorbell rang and Helen was with us.
—
Lillian had prepared an elegant meal of fried chicken cutlets, served King’s Arms Tavern style, on slices of country ham—a delicious, if slightly heavy, entrée. A sweet potato soufflé and green beans, along with her yeast rolls, were the accompaniments, and lemon sherbet with a raspberry sauce rounded out the repast.
Helen looked lovely in candlelight, and it was obvious that she was enjoying a respite from Thurlow’s demands. As well as, I thought to myself, a respite from deciding between valences with swags and cornices with fringe for the dining room windows. I kept glancing from one to the other of my three friends, wishing that the evening could end when the meal did.
But it didn’t and we finally adjourned to the living room, leaving the table for Lillian to clear. I closed the dining room’s pocket doors, having earlier told Lillian that we had some personal problems to discuss. Then I’d told her just what those personal problems were. She’d frowned and shaken her head. “I don’t know ’bout that, Miss Julia,” she’d said. “All I know’s nobody likes to be told they wrong.”
Wasn’t that the truth? As soon as we’d settled ourselves in the living room, things went from friendly and comfortable to tense and acrimonious in a hurry.
Mildred took her cue from Helen, who said, as soon as she was seated in a wing chair beside the fireplace, “This has been such a relief from Thurlow and that house. I didn’t realize how heavy those burdens have been weighing on me.”
And Mildred jumped right in. “I’m glad you recognize that, Helen. We’ve been concerned that you might’ve taken on too much. We all know how hard it is to get along with Thurlow, and we know what a tightwad he is. I expect he’s concerned with the amount of money that’s being spent on the house.” Mildred paused, then said, “Frankly, we’re worried that you might be overspending a little, and where would he be if it runs out? In fact, where would you be if it runs out?”
Helen looked stunned for a second. None of us were in the habit of openly discussing money, and certainly we’d never questioned how anyone spent it—to their faces, I mean. That was something that just wasn’t done among genteel people.
She quickly recovered with a little laugh. “There’s no need for you to worry. I’m very careful with what belongs to Thurlow.” But then her mouth tightened as if she wanted to add “if it’s any of your business.”
“We’re sure you are,” I said. “It’s just that Thurlow is worried. He’s not used to seeing so much go out—so much being spent on the house that he’s never bothered to care for. We’d like to be able to reassure him that you have things well in hand.”
Helen gave me a cool glance, so I hurriedly added, “We’ve all refurbished
