The Saving Graces Read Online Free PDF Page A

thing is, call Jill. Because you really need her right now." "Yeah, butldon'tknow..."
A little red light on the telephone starts blinking when the supervisor wants to break in. We're supposed to put the caller on hold, hit the button, and see what she wants. My red light had been blinking for about two minutes.
"I'm just saying, I think you should probably go for it with Jill. That's what I'd do if I were you. Do you really love her?" "Yeah. I guess." She started to cry again. Really cry- she was sobbing. What a nerve I'd touched that time.
"Hey, Stephanie, it's all right. Oh, baby, it's okay, it's okay. Shhh, you're all right." The red light kept flashing, flashing.
"Rudy?"
"What, baby." "Are you really okay nOw?" "I am, I really am." We're allowed to lie. And if we're not, we should be.
"Well, but... what about your mother?" Stephanie asked in a small voice.
"She's around. We both survived. She lives in Rhode Island with my stepfather, and we talk on the phone sometimes." No point in mentioning I haven't seen her in almost five years, not since my wedding. "She says she's sorry. Well, she said that once." "She did?" "Yeah. That meant a lot to me." "God, Rudy." She heaved a sigh. "It sounds like your family's more fucked up than mine is. Oh-I'm sorry-can I say that?" Oh, sweet Stephanie. "My family. Steph, if I started to tell you about my family, you'd be late for school tomorrow." Tickled laughter. I liked her so much. I had an idea. "Hey, do you live in the District?" "Yeah, Tenley Circle. I go to Wilson." "You know, if you wanted to, I could meet you sometime and we could talk some more. Would you like to? It's just an idea-" "I'd like it. Like some Saturday or something?" "That would be great. My husband usually works on Saturdays, so we could have lunch-" "Oh Jeez, I forgot you were married." "Yeah, I'm married." "So-is that cool?" "Being married? Very cool. You know. Usually." "Yeah, usually." Her voice dropped one whole, cynical octave. It broke my heart.
"So," I said, "how about Saturday? Do you want to meet?" "Oh, that would-" Click.
"Hello? Steph? Stephanie? Hello?"
I stared at the dead receiver in my hand. On my console, six or seven green lights flickered, indicating callers talking to volunteers. Had they transferred Stephanie to somebody else? I pushed a button at random.
coming out at this particular time, it's inconvenient, and that queen knew-" Click.
"Mrs. Lloyd." I jolted up straight. Mrs. Phillips never called me "Mrs. Lloyd"-I called her Mrs. Phillips and she called me Rudy. She's a large, beautiful, statuesque black woman, and she scares the hell out of me. She was standing over me, looming, really, her intimidating bosom heaving. I couldn't do anything but stare up at her. I felt like a guilty child.
"Mrs. Lloyd, hang up that phone, get your things, and get the hell out of this office." "Wait, I know I was-" "Out." She pivoted sideways and pointed through the window to the street. She had painted, one-inch fingernails and a lot of rings, a lot of clattering bracelets. She reminded me of a goddess, an Amazon.
"Please, Mrs. Phillips, if I could just talk to that girl for two more minutes, I think she-" "Lady," she said, incredulous, "you are fired. What were you thinking of?" She wasn't indignant, she was furious. Until now I'd never even heard her raise her voice.
"Mrs. Phillips, I was wrong, I know that, and I'll never-"
"We serve clients, Mrs. Lloyd. What do you think we're here for, to give you therapy?" "No, I -"You're lucky if I don't decide to have charges brought against you." "Charges!" It was every nightmare come true. Access your anger, Eric tells me-but if I had any now, it was buried too deeply, under too much guilt and remorse and misery and mortification. This was-this was one of the most classic failures of my life.
Poor Stephanie, I agonized all the way home. What would happen to her now? What if she went back to Spider Man? If I could find her somehow-she lived in Tenley Circle, she