Page 15 of Sensing Selma
“When I was a little girl, Grandma Selma would sleep here. I never understood why, but she liked this room. I think she enjoyed how small and cozy it was.”
“Yes,” he said, his eyes warming me. “There is a definite appeal...small and cozy.”
FOUR
Susan
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OVER THE COURSE OFthe next few days, Bradley came to Selma Sanctuary with his brother, and he always found time to come chat with me a bit.
It was pleasant, and easy, and comfortable.
“I brought you some strawberries,” he said on the fourth consecutive day at the house.
I was putting the noonday dishes away when he surprised me in the kitchen. “Oh,” I said, turning to him. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I thought I overheard you telling your mother you were fresh out of strawberries yesterday, so...”
“That’s sweet. Really, very sweet.”
“I ran into your mother yesterday evening as I was leaving. Very nice lady.”
I chuckled. “She has her moments. She can be very testy when things go wrong, and since her legs aren’t as cooperative as she would like, she’s testy most days. But lately, she’s just been sad.”
“Yes. I saw that. She didn’t have many kind words about my brother.”
Again, I chuckled. “Well, she did have a few kind words about you. She told me this morning that she’d bumped into you. She said you were better looking and better behaved than Jeremy.”
He laughed. “I’ve yet to meet your sister, however. Are you sure she lives here?”
Once again, I chuckled, something that I was doing more and more these days. Sometimes it was a soft giggle, often a boisterous laugh and on several occasions a heartfelt chuckle.
“Yes,” I said. “She still lives here, although I can understand why you would question that. She’s been spending a lot of time in town with her friends. With the threat of having to soon leave, she wants to see them as much as she can.You know how it is with girls her age.She’s barely out of her teens.She’s 20.”
“And you?”he said. “Don’t you want to go and spend time with your friends before having to move?”
