p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""So," Lucy said companionably while she sat dissecting an orange with her pen-knife. "Aren't you going to ask me what I've been doing all these years?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"It had only been twenty-four hours and change since their reunion, but already Lucy had transformed the grim hospital room with a multitude of considerate touches. She'd sent over a small forest of flowers and greenery, a bright coverlet, and an enormous hamper of fruit; she'd also provided a stack of trade magazines pilfered from her own father's study - and a new pair of glasses. Lucy was in a gown of pale yellow dimity, with a bunch of forget-me-nots at the waist, looking as much like a breath of Spring as it was possible for a person to be. /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""No need." George shook his head, and accepted an orange slice. Three days out from abdominal surgery, he couldn't have anything substantial to eat, but the bit of fruit tasted like manna from heaven. "I read the papers, same as everyone else." /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Do you, now." Lucy was amused. "Why don't you tell me what you've heard, and I'll tell you if it's true or not."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"If George was embarrassed by his forwardness, he hid it well. "Your garden is the envy of the entire north side, and you're quite busy with your charity work - widows and orphans, that sort of thing." He sucked his orange meditatively, then added, "I don't mean to sound flip, Lucy. I admire you greatly. Certainly you're doing more with your station in life than I ever did with mine."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""You'll have to see my garden, just as soon as we can get you up and about," Lucy said. "Did you know, I've been tasked with developing a new rose varietal for the state centennial?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""I did not." He raised his orange slice in salute. "Furthermore, I check the society pages every Sunday, to see whether or not Mr. Eugene Morgan is pleased to announce the engagement of his daughter Lucy to a Mr. So-and-so, yet."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Lucy threw her head back and laughed. "emDo /emyou, now."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Yes, and I'm sure it's only a matter of time - perhaps this Sunday will see it done!"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Lucy passed him another wedge of orange. "And what if I told you there emwas /emno Mr. So-and-so?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Then I'd wonder what possessed the lads of the better class of people - if they're fools or merely blind!"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Lucy laughed around her own bite of the orange. "Suppose I preferred it that way? If I'd rather be an old maid than hitch myself to one of those young bucks society is always throwing my way?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"George shrugged. "You'd get no judgement from me - I've no intention of marrying, either." /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Then when we're elderly, and I wear lace shawls and you've got a beard down to here -" Lucy pantomimed chin-whiskers at least two feet in length, eliciting a smile from George - "you'll have to come and sit by my fireside, and we'll have our rocking-chairs and you'll smoke a pipe, and we'll reminisce about the 'good old days'!" /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""You paint a pleasant enough picture," George said, "but I'm sure you'll have half-a-dozen grandchildren climbing on your knees - and you'll spoil them within an inch of their lives!"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Perhaps." Lucy smiled like the Sphinx. "Anyway, you've got the advantage of me - I've no way of knowing what you've been up to all these years, without asking."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""I've stayed out of the papers - excluding the present situation. But haven't you been visiting Fanny?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"If Lucy was surprised by the revelation, she did not show it. "Yes, but not very often - and anyway, we didn't really talk about you, not until yesterday."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Really?" George peered at her. "Then what emdid /emyou talk about?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Oh, this and that," Lucy said airily. "She's dreadfully proud of those dishes you've been buying her - whatever gave you the idea?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""All the dishes from the old place -" to Lucy's surprise, he was able to say emthe old place /emwithout wincing - "were lost in a smash-up, right before we moved. So she was in need of new ones anyway. And I thought she ought to have something nice. She's keeping house for me, you know, and I'm about the most dismal housemate a person could want."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""You can't be emthat /embad."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Oh, then I emknow /emshe hasn't told you a thing about me," George chuckled. "Poor Aunt Fanny has asked me nearly every night for two years if I won't go in and take a hand at bridge with her, in the evening, and I haven't joined her once! But still she asks - I think it's gotten to be a habit; I don't think either one of us would sleep at night, if she didn't." George smiled fondly - and Lucy, not forgetting the antagonism to which he had subjected his aunt, in his youth, smiled at the fondness./p
hr style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;" /
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"George had other visitors too; he was well liked at Akers', for all he kept to himself. They did not know, nor would they have cared, that he was an Amberson – they only knew he was a good honest worker, and a fair boss. The freckle-faced, jug-eared youth who served as George's assistant fairly adored him. He didn't know until much later, when it was too late to be embarrassed by it, that they'd passed the hat around to keep Fanny in room and board - the exact charitable impulse predicted by Fred Kinney's father, only it was done not by his old enemies but his new friends! /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Four or five days in, they received a letter from George Amberson; Fanny sat at her nephew's bedside and read the first of several densely typewritten pages. It was thick with excuses – his work in Washington was terribly busy this time of year, and he couldn't possibly get away, and he was dreadfully sorry but he couldn't spare Georgie more than five or ten dollars, which was hardly worth the cost to have it wired – George finally raised his hand and signalled Fanny to stop, which she was only too glad to do./p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""I wasn't –" said a red-faced George, "I wasn't emasking him for money /em!"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""I know you weren't," Fanny agreed, folding the letter into its original squares. "Perhaps I'll just – we can finish reading this a bit later, when you're feeling stronger."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Yes," George agreed, "that would probably be best!" And he knew then that he would never have contact with his Uncle George again if he could help it. As for Fanny, she dropped the letter, envelope and all, in a dust-bin on her way out of the hospital that evening and never mentioned it again./p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"From Sydney and Amelia, though Fanny had wired them the same day of the disaster, they heard not a word./p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Lucy leaned on her familial connections to effect a reconciliation with Fred Kinney. The latter, now balding and a father of two, left George with ribs sore from laughing and a standing invitation to dinner. Frank Bronson came too, looking infinitely more aged and stooped than he had two years before. His new apprentice, he lamented, had probably twice George's intellect but only one-half his vigor. Bronson would have preferred the proportion be reversed./p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Eugene stopped by infrequently, and for short periods, not wanting to test the thin ice of their new friendship too often or too soon. But Eugene was finding to his surprise that George had plenty of intelligent things to say, although he was circumspect on behalf of his employer's confidentiality. Morgan found, on more than one occasion, that he hadn't realized he was talking to the hated Georgie Minafer, so thorough was the younger man's transformation. And he supposed he had better get used to George's presence, as his daughter didn't show any indication of being willing to give him up a second time. /p
hr style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;" /
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"The orthopedic surgeon had apparently mistaken Fanny for being George's mother; neither of them thought it necessary to disabuse him of the notion, and so it happened that Fanny was there to lend moral support when George was dealt the harshest blow of all./p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"The orthopedist was not encouraging and he didn't mince words. The left leg would heal, though it would be some time before it was able to bear weight, but the right leg was an unmitigated disaster. Both of the bones in the lower leg had been broken, one of them being a compound fracture, and there was nerve damage as well. Looking at the X rays, George was thankful he had been unconscious before they cut his trousers off in the ambulance, so he'd been spared emseeing /emthe jagged bone poking through his flesh. Still, he found the idea tremendously unnerving. /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"George was told he shouldn't expect to be back on his feet in anything less than eight or nine months, but more likely a year - if he were able to get back on his feet at all. And George was told to go ahead and excise the word 'normal' from his vocabulary right then and there. He'd need a crutch or more likely two, and he could expect to be in pain, for the rest of his life. That was it. The great surgeon was in and out of the room in less than five minutes, leaving George literally gasping for breath in his wake./p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"He could barely feel Fanny squeezing his hand, and he wasn't entirely convinced that the room wasn't spinning. In all of the financial turmoil they'd experienced, in the loss of almost everyone he loved, at least he had been able to rely on his physical strength. Now, at twenty-eight years old, it seemed that his life was over./p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Fanny was looking at him like she was waiting for him to say something, so he attempted a feeble joke. "Well… I suppose it's a good thing our building has an elevator."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Fanny did not laugh. "It's all right if you want to cry, George," she said, as kindly as she knew how. "I won't think any less of you."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"He emdid /emwant to cry, and it went on for quite some time. Fanny had fortunately come prepared with two handkerchiefs; as it turned out she had some tears to shed of her own. /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""What," George said eventually, "what are we going to do?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""I don't know," Fanny admitted. "I've been giving it some thought, and I have a few ideas, but nothing definite, yet."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"George shook his head. "It's not your job - I don't want you to worry -"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""em Let /emme worry," Fanny interrupted. "You've taken care of me admirably these last two years. I don't mind doing the same for you."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"George was shaking, from both emotion and exhaustion. "I can't allow you to-"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Just for a little while. We'll figure something out, I'm sure." Fanny patted his cheek tenderly. "I signed up for a cooking class, you know." /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"George actually grinned at that, chuckled despite his pain and despair. "Oh, thank God." /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""So you see, we're going to be just fine. Now get some rest, please. You're no good to anyone worn out like this."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Rest sounded good. It was practically the only comfort he had left. "All right."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""I love you, Georgie."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"He nodded, eyes already sinking shut. "I love you, too."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"strongauthor's note./strong Aunt Fanny is the only one who's allowed to call him 'Georgie' now, FIGHT ME./p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"It had only been twenty-four hours and change since their reunion, but already Lucy had transformed the grim hospital room with a multitude of considerate touches. She'd sent over a small forest of flowers and greenery, a bright coverlet, and an enormous hamper of fruit; she'd also provided a stack of trade magazines pilfered from her own father's study - and a new pair of glasses. Lucy was in a gown of pale yellow dimity, with a bunch of forget-me-nots at the waist, looking as much like a breath of Spring as it was possible for a person to be. /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""No need." George shook his head, and accepted an orange slice. Three days out from abdominal surgery, he couldn't have anything substantial to eat, but the bit of fruit tasted like manna from heaven. "I read the papers, same as everyone else." /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Do you, now." Lucy was amused. "Why don't you tell me what you've heard, and I'll tell you if it's true or not."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"If George was embarrassed by his forwardness, he hid it well. "Your garden is the envy of the entire north side, and you're quite busy with your charity work - widows and orphans, that sort of thing." He sucked his orange meditatively, then added, "I don't mean to sound flip, Lucy. I admire you greatly. Certainly you're doing more with your station in life than I ever did with mine."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""You'll have to see my garden, just as soon as we can get you up and about," Lucy said. "Did you know, I've been tasked with developing a new rose varietal for the state centennial?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""I did not." He raised his orange slice in salute. "Furthermore, I check the society pages every Sunday, to see whether or not Mr. Eugene Morgan is pleased to announce the engagement of his daughter Lucy to a Mr. So-and-so, yet."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Lucy threw her head back and laughed. "emDo /emyou, now."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Yes, and I'm sure it's only a matter of time - perhaps this Sunday will see it done!"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Lucy passed him another wedge of orange. "And what if I told you there emwas /emno Mr. So-and-so?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Then I'd wonder what possessed the lads of the better class of people - if they're fools or merely blind!"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Lucy laughed around her own bite of the orange. "Suppose I preferred it that way? If I'd rather be an old maid than hitch myself to one of those young bucks society is always throwing my way?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"George shrugged. "You'd get no judgement from me - I've no intention of marrying, either." /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Then when we're elderly, and I wear lace shawls and you've got a beard down to here -" Lucy pantomimed chin-whiskers at least two feet in length, eliciting a smile from George - "you'll have to come and sit by my fireside, and we'll have our rocking-chairs and you'll smoke a pipe, and we'll reminisce about the 'good old days'!" /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""You paint a pleasant enough picture," George said, "but I'm sure you'll have half-a-dozen grandchildren climbing on your knees - and you'll spoil them within an inch of their lives!"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Perhaps." Lucy smiled like the Sphinx. "Anyway, you've got the advantage of me - I've no way of knowing what you've been up to all these years, without asking."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""I've stayed out of the papers - excluding the present situation. But haven't you been visiting Fanny?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"If Lucy was surprised by the revelation, she did not show it. "Yes, but not very often - and anyway, we didn't really talk about you, not until yesterday."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Really?" George peered at her. "Then what emdid /emyou talk about?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Oh, this and that," Lucy said airily. "She's dreadfully proud of those dishes you've been buying her - whatever gave you the idea?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""All the dishes from the old place -" to Lucy's surprise, he was able to say emthe old place /emwithout wincing - "were lost in a smash-up, right before we moved. So she was in need of new ones anyway. And I thought she ought to have something nice. She's keeping house for me, you know, and I'm about the most dismal housemate a person could want."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""You can't be emthat /embad."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Oh, then I emknow /emshe hasn't told you a thing about me," George chuckled. "Poor Aunt Fanny has asked me nearly every night for two years if I won't go in and take a hand at bridge with her, in the evening, and I haven't joined her once! But still she asks - I think it's gotten to be a habit; I don't think either one of us would sleep at night, if she didn't." George smiled fondly - and Lucy, not forgetting the antagonism to which he had subjected his aunt, in his youth, smiled at the fondness./p
hr style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;" /
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"George had other visitors too; he was well liked at Akers', for all he kept to himself. They did not know, nor would they have cared, that he was an Amberson – they only knew he was a good honest worker, and a fair boss. The freckle-faced, jug-eared youth who served as George's assistant fairly adored him. He didn't know until much later, when it was too late to be embarrassed by it, that they'd passed the hat around to keep Fanny in room and board - the exact charitable impulse predicted by Fred Kinney's father, only it was done not by his old enemies but his new friends! /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Four or five days in, they received a letter from George Amberson; Fanny sat at her nephew's bedside and read the first of several densely typewritten pages. It was thick with excuses – his work in Washington was terribly busy this time of year, and he couldn't possibly get away, and he was dreadfully sorry but he couldn't spare Georgie more than five or ten dollars, which was hardly worth the cost to have it wired – George finally raised his hand and signalled Fanny to stop, which she was only too glad to do./p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""I wasn't –" said a red-faced George, "I wasn't emasking him for money /em!"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""I know you weren't," Fanny agreed, folding the letter into its original squares. "Perhaps I'll just – we can finish reading this a bit later, when you're feeling stronger."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Yes," George agreed, "that would probably be best!" And he knew then that he would never have contact with his Uncle George again if he could help it. As for Fanny, she dropped the letter, envelope and all, in a dust-bin on her way out of the hospital that evening and never mentioned it again./p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"From Sydney and Amelia, though Fanny had wired them the same day of the disaster, they heard not a word./p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Lucy leaned on her familial connections to effect a reconciliation with Fred Kinney. The latter, now balding and a father of two, left George with ribs sore from laughing and a standing invitation to dinner. Frank Bronson came too, looking infinitely more aged and stooped than he had two years before. His new apprentice, he lamented, had probably twice George's intellect but only one-half his vigor. Bronson would have preferred the proportion be reversed./p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Eugene stopped by infrequently, and for short periods, not wanting to test the thin ice of their new friendship too often or too soon. But Eugene was finding to his surprise that George had plenty of intelligent things to say, although he was circumspect on behalf of his employer's confidentiality. Morgan found, on more than one occasion, that he hadn't realized he was talking to the hated Georgie Minafer, so thorough was the younger man's transformation. And he supposed he had better get used to George's presence, as his daughter didn't show any indication of being willing to give him up a second time. /p
hr style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;" /
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"The orthopedic surgeon had apparently mistaken Fanny for being George's mother; neither of them thought it necessary to disabuse him of the notion, and so it happened that Fanny was there to lend moral support when George was dealt the harshest blow of all./p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"The orthopedist was not encouraging and he didn't mince words. The left leg would heal, though it would be some time before it was able to bear weight, but the right leg was an unmitigated disaster. Both of the bones in the lower leg had been broken, one of them being a compound fracture, and there was nerve damage as well. Looking at the X rays, George was thankful he had been unconscious before they cut his trousers off in the ambulance, so he'd been spared emseeing /emthe jagged bone poking through his flesh. Still, he found the idea tremendously unnerving. /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"George was told he shouldn't expect to be back on his feet in anything less than eight or nine months, but more likely a year - if he were able to get back on his feet at all. And George was told to go ahead and excise the word 'normal' from his vocabulary right then and there. He'd need a crutch or more likely two, and he could expect to be in pain, for the rest of his life. That was it. The great surgeon was in and out of the room in less than five minutes, leaving George literally gasping for breath in his wake./p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"He could barely feel Fanny squeezing his hand, and he wasn't entirely convinced that the room wasn't spinning. In all of the financial turmoil they'd experienced, in the loss of almost everyone he loved, at least he had been able to rely on his physical strength. Now, at twenty-eight years old, it seemed that his life was over./p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Fanny was looking at him like she was waiting for him to say something, so he attempted a feeble joke. "Well… I suppose it's a good thing our building has an elevator."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Fanny did not laugh. "It's all right if you want to cry, George," she said, as kindly as she knew how. "I won't think any less of you."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"He emdid /emwant to cry, and it went on for quite some time. Fanny had fortunately come prepared with two handkerchiefs; as it turned out she had some tears to shed of her own. /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""What," George said eventually, "what are we going to do?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""I don't know," Fanny admitted. "I've been giving it some thought, and I have a few ideas, but nothing definite, yet."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"George shook his head. "It's not your job - I don't want you to worry -"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""em Let /emme worry," Fanny interrupted. "You've taken care of me admirably these last two years. I don't mind doing the same for you."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"George was shaking, from both emotion and exhaustion. "I can't allow you to-"/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""Just for a little while. We'll figure something out, I'm sure." Fanny patted his cheek tenderly. "I signed up for a cooking class, you know." /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"George actually grinned at that, chuckled despite his pain and despair. "Oh, thank God." /p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""So you see, we're going to be just fine. Now get some rest, please. You're no good to anyone worn out like this."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"Rest sounded good. It was practically the only comfort he had left. "All right."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;""I love you, Georgie."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"He nodded, eyes already sinking shut. "I love you, too."/p
p style="font-family: 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"strongauthor's note./strong Aunt Fanny is the only one who's allowed to call him 'Georgie' now, FIGHT ME./p