Page 24 of Follow My Voice
Friday
9:04 A.M. Good morning, K. Hope you’re doing all right today. I was waiting for you to text me when you felt ready, but I grew impatient. I hope that’s okay.
5:57 P.M. Ready for today’s show?
8:16 P.M. No messages sent today either, huh? It’s okay. Hope you’re feeling better.
Saturday
10:35 A.M. I know answering messages should not be your priority right now. I just hope you’re doing okay.
1:57 P.M. Now I get how listeners must feel when they send messages to Follow My Voice with no response.
7:03 P.M. I’ve decided to send you quotes, like you used to send to the show and brighten up my afternoon. Maybe they’ll have a similar effect on you.
8:46 P.M. “Come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day,” from Shakespeare. Good night, K.
Sunday
7:56 A.M. “No matter how long the storm, the sun always shines behind the clouds,” by Kahlil Gibran.
2:47 P.M. “The thing in the world I am most afraid of is fear,” by Michel de Montaigne.
9:39 P.M. “How sweetly sounds the voice of a good woman! It is so seldom heard, that, when it speaks, it ravishes all senses,” by Philip Massinger.
Today
11:24 A.M. “Like a dream the echo of her voice rings forever in my ears,” by Ramón de Campoamor. I hope Google translated it correctly.
What are you doing, Kang? What are you hoping to find in someone like me? And why does your insistence buoy me up and make me want to feel again?
13Lift Me Up
KANG DOES NOTgive up.
I thought he would get tired of waiting for me to reply and stop sending messages, but two days have gone by and his texts are still coming steadily.
Kang:Good morning, K.
I stare at the chat thread, scrolling up and down with my thumb on the screen. I’m sitting on the bed with a pillow on my lap. Yesterday, as much as I loved reading Kang’s messages, I couldn’t bring myself to respond. The cruel voice inside my head began taunting me every time I even considered it:You’re going to write back? Really? You think a guy like him wants to get mixed up with someone who has as many problems as you?
I recall my last conversation with Dr. B.
“And what have we said about those kinds of thoughts?”
“They are not facts, they are beliefs rooted in fear.”
I take a deep breath and process those thoughts.There is noevidence he is sending those messages out of pity. Kang may just be curious about me.
I have to make more of an effort. I can do it. I’ve been eating better, trying to find my way back to the path I’d charted with my life before everything that happened.
The doorbell rings and I know who it is. I stand up, feelingalmostcheerful.
You can do this, Klara, I say to myself.
I open the door for our next-door neighbor Paula, carrying a puppy in each hand.
“Good morning, Klarita.” Paula is a woman in her forties exuding elegance and style. Her makeup is always flawless and her hair is high in a perfect ponytail. She has never married; her dog, Drew, and now these puppies are her family. “Donky and Sappy have really missed you.”
