The Therapeutic Effects of Tea
Part 1
by sloanranger
The old woman slid the chamber pot beneath her bed, climbed up and got under the covers. Settling in, she took a book from the night table and opened to where she had left off the evening before. Addressing her sister, similarly situated in the bed next to her own, she said:
"Isn't Mr. Sibley rather late this evening, Vern?
The other woman, engaged with her own book answered but did not look up. "Don't you remember dear, Ernest said he would probably stay the night with his father."
"Lumbago?"
"Mmmm."
"Well, I am sorry about his father but I do dislike when Mr. Sibley stays out all night; makes me nervous not having him here."
"Nonsense dear, we got along fine before he came."
As a rule, the ladies took their chamomile at 8:30 and went upstairs around ten. They still shared the larger of the two upstairs bedrooms in the house left them by their father in Manchester, England.
Sleeping in the same room since childhood, they saw no reason to change at his death. The empty room their father had slept in next door was used primarily for storage now, except when a distant cousin chose to visit and that was rare.
The lamp that separated their beds sat atop an old-fashioned Queen Anne table. Their habit was to read for about 45 minutes, Verna, her mysteries and Viola, the Victorian romances she so relished. They turned out the lamp around 11 o'clock but Verna was tired and had her hand on the lamp chain now.