“I’ve studied up on the beginning years of the Second World War in this country and the massive changes that those years between 1941 and 1945 brought to America—well, to everyone, really.”
“Times change, and that’s the truth. As it has been doing since the beginning of time. My father told me how everything was different after the end of the first Great War. He told me how, after that conflict, the entire world changed.” She sat back and met Mary’s gaze. “Not as quickly, I would bet, as the world changes now, simply because of our modern technology, allowing instantaneous world-wide communication. But regardless of all that, I’ve often wondered if the real question isn’t, do the times change, or do we?”
Bernice brought their beverages. Kate noted that Mary hadn’t looked at the menu, yet. She apparently realized that, too, because she quickly grabbed it up and began perusing the selections. Kate allowed a couple of moments to pass, just in case something jumped out at the young woman. It didn’t look as if anything was.
After another slow count of five, Kate leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Do you know, when I’m feeling stressed, I come here and I order some of Tracy’s cream puffs. There are times when self-indulgence is the medicine that’s needed.” She nodded her head as if closing the lid on that secret and then turned to Bernice. “I’ll have two, please, sweetheart.”
Mary met her gaze, and Kate loved the spirit she saw there. Mary nodded, closed the menu, and handed it back.
“I’ll have the same, please, Aunt Bernice.”
“Wonderful.” Bernice grinned then stepped closer. “I’m usually pushing salads, especially on the younger folk, but there are just times we need to feed our souls, first.”
Kate watched Bernice walk off toward the kitchen then turned her attention back to Mary. The young woman’s smile had disappeared. All pretense gone, Mary Judith Kendall let Kate see her true emotions.
“I feel like I’m the only one who’s on the verge of falling apart.”
“Oh, sweet girl, of course you’re not the only one.” Kate leaned over and laid her hand on Mary’s. She felt her trembling, and her heart broke, just a little, for the young woman.
“I’m scared, Grandma Kate. I can’t explain it. It’s just this sense, deep down…like everything is spinning out of control. I don’t know what to do.”
“I’ll let you in on a little secret. Me, too.”
Mary’s eyes went wide. “You’re not afraid! You’re strong and smart and…”
“Everything you just said about me applies to you, and if we weren’t afraid right now, then what good, pray tell, would being strong and smart do us to begin with?”
Mary blinked, a sure sign the young woman was listening, but most important, she was thinking.
“We all should be afraid,” Kate said. “But sadly, it appears that some people don’t even believe what’s happening. I shudder with fear for them, I really do. I’m not afraid for myself. First, I’ve lived a good long life. Of course, I sure as hell intend to have more, don’t get me wrong.”
“Yes, please.”
Mary’s quip made her grin. “This family has been blessed with both money and power, and we don’t tend to use either out of hand, which means people don’t tend to realize how much of both commodities we really have. What good would they be, if they couldn’t be used to keep us safe? I really worried about the difficulty of that at first, until we learned this virus is primarily spread by human contact and wasn’t carried on the wind. That is a much easier threat to deal with. So, let’s look at what you’re afraid of and what we can do about those fears.” Kate took Mary’s hand in hers. “Are you afraid of getting sick and dying?”
She knew already there were pictures being shown on televisions around the country, around the world, of the virus’s affect in Europe. Pictures of hospitals filling to the point that people were being left in corridors, some on the floor because there were no beds. That’s the stuff of nightmares right there.
Those images were necessary but hard to watch. Kate thought that beyond a certain point focusing on what was happening was nothing more than self-torture. It was one thing, in her mind, to keep informed. It was quite another to dwell on every single heart-wrenching detail. Know what was going on, certainly. Then do what you could about it.
The rest is just useless worry that will do nothing good but could very well end up pushing a body into the grave sooner, rather than later.
I’ll take later, thank you very much.
“No.” Mary inhaled deeply. “No, I’m not afraid for myself. I’m afraid for others, for…”
“For the ones you love. Those two detectives, I’d wager, are at the top of that list, as are your folks back in New York.”
“And the family here.”
“And the family here.” Kate nodded. “What else?”
“I read up on the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. Five hundred million were infected, and fifty million died! Fifty million!”
“Horrendous, to be certain. Very frightening. My own father actually lost his mother and sister in that pandemic. He told me there was practically no one who didn’t have at least someone they were close to who got sick and died.”
“So, this time, it should be better, right? Because we have more developed science, better medicines, better contingency plans. Right?”
“We have all of those things going for us, yes. We also have something going against us. As I mentioned, apparently, there are some people who don’t believe there is a virus. Those at the highest levels of government are saying, publicly, that it will
