Cedar Woman (143 page)

T
h
e
h
o
urs crawled
b
y
.

If only Michael
were h
e
re,
L
e
na
m
ou
r
n
e
d
to
herse
l
f.

She
m
i
ssed h
i
m
,
mi
ssed
h
i
m pass
i
ona
t
e
ly
.
Their
t
i
m
e
t
o
g
e
t
h
er was so
sho
r
t:

H
o
w
c
ou
l
d
I
h
a
ve
kn
o
wn
t
ha
t I
h
a
d
t
o
g
et
a
lifetime
o
f
l
o
ve
in
ei
gh
t,
sh
o
rt
mo
n
t
h
s
?
she
wonder
e
d
t
o herse
l
f.

Sitti
n
g
in
t
h
e
waiti
n
g
r
oo
m at
C
h
il
d
re
n
’s
H
o
s
p
ital,
Le
n
a,
Re
v
a
,
M
ar
y
,
Peter,
S
o
n
n
y
and
N
i
ckie,
waited
anx
i
ous
l
y
f
o
r
t
h
e
s
u
r
g
e
on
t
o
call.

An
ho
u
r
pass
e
d,
an
d
t
h
ey k
n
ew
t
h
at
it
wo
uld
be
l
o
ng
e
r
be
f
o
re
t
h
ey
he
ar
d. T
h
e
teleph
on
e
on
t
h
e
attenda
n
t’s
d
esk
f
i
n
a
lly
ra
ng
.
S
h
e
a
n
swered
a
n
d

Le
n
a recli
n
ed
o
n
t
h
e s
o
fa in
h
er fa
m
ily
r
o
o
m
,
w
h
ich
o
v
er
l
o
o
k
ed
t
h
e back de
c
k
.
It
was
s
u
n
r
i
se,
an
d
an
e
t
hereal
mi
st
l
a
y
up
o
n
t
h
e
d
aw
n
-s
t
ru
c
k wa
t
ers
o
f
t
h
e
l
ake.
L
og
a
n
l
ay
i
n
her
ar
m
s.
N
o
w
fo
ur, he
was
recov
e
r
in
g f
r
om his
t
h
ird su
r
g
e
r
y
:
lip
r
e
visi
o
n
,
i
n
w
h
i
c
h
his
up
p
er
lip
was
plu
m
ped
ou
t
b
y ta
k
ing
flesh fr
o
m
th
e
i
n
s
i
d
e
of
h
is
m
ou
t
h
,
and
filli
n
g
i
n
the
i
nv
e
r
t
ed v-
s
h
a
p
ed
n
o
t
ch
e
d
l
eft
b
e
h
in
d
;
ti
p
rh
i
n
o
p
l
as
t
y
wh
e
re h
i
s
l
eft nos
t
r
il was
sc
u
lpted
to
m
atch
t
h
e
r
i
ght, a
n
d
e
ar
t
u
bes.

Bei
n
g
m
ale,
Log
a
n’s Eustac
h
ian
tu
b
es lay
m
o
re
v
e
rtically t
h
an
a girl’
s
.
To
m
a
ke
m
atters
w
o
rse,
t
h
e
s
tr
u
c
t
ure
of
t
h
e
b
on
es
of
his
s
kull were
c
o
m
p
r
om
ised
by t
h
e
clefting,
a
nd
h
is
Eustachian tubes
lay
m
o
re vertically
than
was
typical,
even
f
o
r
a
m
a
le.
Ear
tubes
were
a
si
m
p
le