Granny Ivy

VIII

     When the car stopped Matty dejectedly looked up. Nana Amy had not taken her home, her mind gleefully shouted. They parked outside Apple Hill House! Swinging her jubilant eyes toward her grandmother, she grinned at Nana Amy's huge conspiratorial wink. Together, they climbed out of the small car and walked along a sidewalk toward a side door. Nurse Emma Jean awaited them with smiling eyes over her mask.

"You must be very quiet, Matty, and keep your mask on," the kindly nurse explained, grasping the child by the hand. "No one must know you're here."

"Yes, Nurse Emma Jean," Matty gladly whispered. She placed the mask the nurse offered her over her mouth, nose, and chin. "Is Nana Amy going to come too?"

"No, dear, It's just you and me this time. Nana Amy is going to wait outside," friendly Emma Jean explained. "I'm breaking the rules to get you in, so you're the only one who can come. We have to be quick. You can see Granny Ivy for a few minutes, but then we must go."

"Ok." Matty smiled behind her mask. Her hand tightened upon the nurse's glove. Solemnly she walked down the corridor toward the elder Sullivan's room. When she came with mommy and daddy, she always skipped ahead to arrive first. Today was different, but it was all right. Granny Ivy awaited her.

For a moment, Matty shyly hovered in the doorway. Her somber grey eyes glanced upon her great-grandmother for the first time in many months. The older woman's wheelchair faced the window expectantly. She eagerly awaited a familiar face pressed against the pane.

Slowly, the little girl approached on tiptoe. She vowed to remain quiet as a mouse. Anxiously, she pressed her hand against her elder's thin, frail arm.

"I came to visit you, Granny," Matty earnestly whispered. "It's Thanksgiving Day." She lifted her fall coat and removed a construction paper turkey from her corduroy pants' waistband. "I made this 'specially for you." Gently she placed her gift on the blanket-wrapped lap.

"Matty." Granny Ivy pulled the child's name from her fragile memory.

It was all the little girl wanted to hear. Laughing joyously, she flung her arms around Granny Ivy's neck and kissed her wrinkled cheek.