Read Online A Minute to Smile by Ruth Wind, Barbara Samuel - Free Book Online Page B

of her favorites was
The Haunting of Hill House.
”
    “Oh, that’s a wonderful book!” Esther leaned forward eagerly. “Have you ever seen the movie? It’s terrifying!” She shuddered for effect. “There’s a scene where the woman reaches out to hold hands with her friend, while this child is crying and crying and crying…and when it’s over, she looks down and she is holding hands with nothing. It’s great!”
    Abe shook his head. “You’re one sick puppy, Esther Lucas. Horror novels.” He looked at Alexander. “What do you read?”
    Comfortably he leaned back. “History, of course.” He winked at Esther. “But I’ve got my own secret addiction to suspense and murder mysteries.”
    “Ha!” Esther cried, slapping Abe’s shoulder playfully. “See? You’re the only stuffed shirt around here.”
    “America,” Abe pronounced in an exaggeratedly droll voice, with a shake of his head. “In thirty years, literary fiction will be dead, killed by indifference.” But he smiled as he said it, and Alexander realized it was another long-standing argument between them.
    “I’m too stuffed to debate with you,” Esther said with a sigh. “And it’s much too nice an evening. I’ll just let you screen out all the boring stuff so that I don’t have to waste my time.”
    Alexander smiled, then excused himself for a moment.
    Although they had all been laughing and talking through the meal, by the time the sun had dropped to shine like an impaled ball on the points of the mountains, Esther noticed the lines of strain around Abe’s mouth. She waited until Alexander stepped inside for a moment, then touched her friend’s hand. “You don’t look well.”
    He managed a wry grin. “Trying to get rid of me?”
    “You know better.” She squeezed his hand. “And I know you too well to be fooled by that brave expression. If you’ve had a bad week, you’d best get home and get to bed.”
    “I guess I should,” he said without enthusiasm. His dark eyes fixed on the horizon and Esther saw the loneliness in them.
    “Why don’t you stay here tonight?” she suggested. “You can sleep in one of the boys’ beds and in the morning, we’ll have brunch.”
    “You always see right through me,” he said. “I’ve been stuck in that apartment a lot lately.” He stood up stiffly and kissed her head affectionately. “Thanks for the offer. Does it matter which bed and can I go up right now?”
    “I’ll come up with you.”
    “Nah.” The answer was firm. “I’ll find my own way.” He gave her a wink. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
    He disappeared inside and Esther picked up her glass of wine reflectively. Through the pale amber liquid, the herb gardens were a blur of leaves and paths, as inviting as an Impressionist painting. The sun sank abruptly behind a mountain peak and the world was plunged into a pale purple dusk. She sighed, sated with food and quiet and good company.
    So when Alexander noiselessly joined her, she looked at him comfortably, at ease with him in a way she hadn’t been before tonight.
    “Are those your herb gardens?” he asked, gesturing.
    “Yes. Would you like to see them?”
    “Will you tell me all their magical properties?” he asked with a quirk of his lips. “Or is that sacred wisdom, passed only into the hands of women?”
    Esther stood, cocking her head as if in serious consideration. “Well, if men had not overtaken the medical establishment with such bluster, they’d have had this knowledge themselves.” At the edge of the garden, she slipped off her sandals and glanced over her shoulder at Alexander. “Since you are simply a good man of letters, I suppose I won’t be shattering any secret trust.”
    “Is it holy ground?”
    “Pardon me?”
    He pointed to her bare feet. “Shall I remove my shoes in order to walk more gently upon holy ground?”
    “Oh!” She laughed. “I don’t know why I always take them off. I guess I just like the way the earth feels.