Chapter 19 - Forty Hours Again
Clara suffered a minor heart attack at sixty-seven.
She survived.
Leo arrived at the hospital before the ambulance paperwork was finished.
“You scared me.”
Clara smiled weakly.
“Good.”
“That is not funny.”
“A little.”
He stayed beside her bed.
One hour.
Six.
Twelve.
At hour twenty, Clara woke and saw him asleep in his chair.
At hour thirty-one, she said, “Go home.”
“No.”
“You smell terrible.”
“Arthur stayed forty.”
Clara stared.
Leo smiled.
“I have nine hours left.”
Her eyes filled.
“You remembered.”
“I remember everything.”
At hour forty, Clara was discharged.
Leo handed her coat over.
“There.”
“What?”
“Forty.”
She laughed.
Arthur’s story had traveled full circle.
May you like
Not as tragedy.
As devotion.
