Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg

friend, and for a moment after she hangs up, she considers attempting the exercise herself. But no, here comes the same feeling she gets when she thinks about trying to write anything these days: a great weariness, a flat sorrow. Perhaps she will use the exercise for her class, though, despite the fact that she wanted very much to come up with an idea of her own. Her phone rings again, and again when she answers it, there is a hang-up. She feels a sudden sense of dread. Her father has been having health problems, and now she imagines her mother sitting at the edge of her bed, the phone in her hand, unable to say the words she needs to. Full of fear, Helen calls her parents' number. When her mother answers, she says, “It's me. Did you just try to call?”
    “No,” her mother says. “But I'm glad to hear from you. How are you?”
    “I'm fine,” Helen says. “But Dad, is Dad okay?”
    Eleanor laughs. “You're not going to believe this. He's off playing pinochle. Then he's going bowling.”
    “Are you kidding?” Two days ago, her father had refused to get out of bed and had told his wife he'd be staying there. He'd asked her to inquire about hospice care. Eleanor had said he was being overdramatic, and Helen privately thought her mother was being insensitive. But it turns out that her mother was probably right.
    Still, “Bowling?” Helen asks. The man isn't exactly a tower of strength.
    “Well, he won't bowl, himself. He's going to watch Ed Silver-man and Tom Larson and that other character, whatever his name is.”
    “Ernie Sanchez?”
    “That's it.” Her mother sighs. “Your aunt Caroline says we should rename your father Lazarus.”
    Helen hears the call-waiting signal, tells her mother they'll speak later, and hits the flash button. Silence, then yet another hang-up.
    Helen jerks the phone away from her ear and slams it down. Why didn't she get caller ID when it was offered to her? She enters *69 , and a recording tells her she can't access the call. Then her cell phone rings, and she answers it, only to be met with another hang-up. This time, though, she has the number, and she calls it back.
    A man answers, saying mildly, “Tom Ellis.”
    “Yes, I'm … Who is this?”
    “Tom Ellis,” the man says, and Helen writes his name down.
    “Do you keep calling me and hanging up?” she asks.
    “Who is this?”
    “It's … Mrs. Ames.”
    There is a long silence, and then the man says, “Could you tell me where I might find Dan? I've been trying to reach him for a while.”
    She draws in a steadying breath. “But who are you?”
    “I need to talk to Dan,” he says. “Would you ask him to call Tom Ellis? It's just a business matter.”
    No. Not now. She is not going to tell some irritating stranger that her husband has died. She hangs up and then sits staring out the window.
    Focus. Work . She turns to her computer and types, (1) Introduce self, include brief history of career . (2) Explain class will introduce themselves to each other by doing exercise “Who are you?” Then they'll read aloud and critique each other. Gently . She stops typing. What if they don't want to share their work out loud? Under step number one, she inserts, Explain concept of workshop . There. But what will she do while they're writing? She rubs her forehead, looks at the roses, rearranges them once more. When the phone rings, she looks at it as though it is a bull snake, then slowly picks it up.
    “What.”
    “Whoa!” Midge says.
    “Oh. It's you.”
    “Last time I checked. What's your problem?”
    “Somebody keeps calling and hanging up.”
    “Are you hungry? Because I need to go to Wendy's.”
    Helen is not hungry. She ate a late breakfast. And she really needs to get this work done. But she tells Midge she'll meet her in fifteen minutes. For one thing, she wants to switch problems. Instead of worrying about writing exercises or her father, she'll worry again about where the money went, now that it's fairly certain that