Nancy came in with a tray of cups, etc.; and sat them on the coffee table. She sat down beside me, took my hand in both of hers and said quietly, "Welcome, Vivian. I hope we'll be seeing a lot more of you.” I assured her she would be. She was wearing a pink shirt-waist dress, black mid-heeled shoes, a beautiful gray wig properly styled for a middle- aged matron, pearl earrings and necklace. Her face was unadorned except for lipstick.

I looked around at no one - yet at everyone and cried out, “Thank you, you wonderful people!" My eyes suddenly filled with tears and I blubbered "I think I'm going to cry I'm so happy."

Bert came in just then, wearing a turtle neck sweater, sport coat and slacks and brown loafers. His hair was parted and combed back. He came over, took Betty by the ear, moved her to the end of the divan and sat down beside me.

"Well, what do you think of my family?" he asked in a surprisingly deep voice.

—

"Look," I said, “I just got one batch of tears dried up don't let me start another flood. They're marvelous, Bert. Thank you so very, very much for bringing me here." I stood up, walked over to Betty, took her face in my hands, kissed her lightly on the lips and said, "My special thanks to you, Betty, for starting all this." Then over to Jack. I looked at him, smiled and said "Jack, I know we're going to have some awfully good times together." He smiled back and replied, "I know so, too, Vivian, but I've got to study for a test tomorrow. Believe me, I'm not always this quiet."

I approached Sam, kissed him lightly on the cheek and said, "Thank you, Sam, for not getting Betty's tooth repaired. It was that little chip that made this possible." When I stopped in front of Nancy, I was so choked with emotions that I could only look at her through misty eyes and hug her. I sat down again a took a sip of coffee.

We talked and drank coffee until almost midnight, when I finally — after having said several times that I had to go-got to my feet and started for the door. As Bert helped me on with my coat, the family all gathered around and insisted that I come back for dinner Friday - and if I wasn't busy over the weekend we'd all go to their mountain cabin. I happily accepted and drove home by way of clouds 7, 8 and 9.

13

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