Music in the Night (Logan 4)

"I still remember," Lulu said and glanced at me to see if I believed her. I smiled at her and she smiled back.

"Maybe you said a prayer first," Lawrence suggested. "Al my private school, the headmaster led us in saying Grace before every dinner."

"Yes," I said. "Maybe . . ." I nodded. "I think that's it," I added excitedly.

"Okay. I'll say it. Everyone wait. Hold your fork, Lulu." Megan stared ahead and raised her arms slowly toward the ceiling. "Grace," she declared, clapping her hands. Then she dug into her potatoes, laughing.

"Yes," I said, nodding. "Yes, that's it. You're right, Lawrence. I can remember that. I think I can remember . . . the Bible. We read from the Bible," I continued. Lawrence smiled, his eyes happy for me as he nodded softly.

"This is good," he said. "If everything comes back to you this fast, you can leave before you know it."

"Goody, goody for her," Megan said. She started to eat again and then paused to consider me. "Do you really remember something?"

"Just vaguely, someone reading. . . it's like I'm remembering myself reading." I shook my head. "It doesn't make any sense. I hear a different voice, but I see a face so similar to my own, it's like. . I'm looking at myself."

"That doesn't sound like anything," Megan said after a moment of thought.

"Sure it does," Lawrence said, suddenly assertive. Megan widened her eyes and he turned back to me. "You better have something to eat," he suggested softly. "You'd be surprised at how much strength all this mental work takes."

"Yes," I said and started. Even that tiny bit of memory returning filled me with encouragement and stimulated my appetite. I really am going to get better, I thought.

Halfway through the meal, I glanced at Mary Beth and saw she was eating, but after every bite, she wiped her mouth with her napkin and put the napkin on her lap. I caught sight of it after she took another mouthful of fish and saw that the napkin was filled with the food she had spit back into it. Actually, she was barely eating anything.

The attendant named Billy, who had greeted Clara and me at the door when I first arrived, had been standing on the side wit

h another attendant watching our table. Suddenly, he rushed over and pounced.

"Mary Beth, you're spitting out your food," he accused, his hands on his hips. He nodded at her plate. "No, I'm not!"

"Let me see your napkin," he demanded. "Come on. We've got strict orders from Doctor Thomas about you."

"I'm eating!" she cried, on the verge of tears.

"Leave her alone," Megan said. He turned to her. "Mind your own business, Megan. There's plenty to mind there," he said. He turned back to Mary Beth.

Mary Beth's panic had flushed her neck and face. She looked like she was trembling in her seat. I felt sorry for her. Her eyes were darting about, searching for some avenue of escape.

"You're scaring the hell out of her!" Megan cried. Billy ignored her and continued to hover over Mary Beth.

"The doctor said if we see you spitting out your food, we've got to tell him and then they'll put you upstairs and force-feed you," Billy reminded her.

"The Tower!" Megan declared. "Don't even think of trying it," she told Billy. She even poked him in the rear with her fork. He spun on her again.

"Look," he said, "if you interfere with our work with other patients, you'll end up there, too. And don't you ever poke me with anything. That's an exhibition of violence," he chastised with a smile that revealed his row of glitteringly white teeth. "And you know what that means," he threatened.

While he glared with fury at Megan, I reached under the table, took Mary Beth's full napkin off her lap and dropped mine in its place. She glanced at me gratefully. Billy turned back to her.

"Well? Hand up that napkin. Come on," he said, gesturing with both hands.

She reached into her lap and gave it to him slowly. He seized it. The disappointment registered on his face when he opened it and nothing fell out. Megan roared and then clapped.

"Billy Screwball screws up again!" she cried, clapping her hands over her head. Conversations throughout the cafeteria stopped and everyone looked our way.

"Cut that out," he told her.

Megan continued to clap, which caused one of the boys I had seen playing chess earlier to start clapping, too. His friend followed and then the whole table joined in. Soon, everyone in the cafeteria who could clap was clapping.

Billy's face took on a look of rage and he threw the napkin back at Mary Beth. Then he marched back to his position in the cafeteria, shouting at the patients to quiet down. Megan finally stopped clapping and soon everyone followed. One boy, however, kept breaking out into applause and laughter for no reason every once in a while during the remainder of the meal.