Hurrying through the quietly shushing doors of the entrance, Lilia slowed her careening pace to a much more respectable walk. No matter how old she got, Granny’s voice would always be in her head telling her to mind her manners. A pang of loneliness slowed her even more. It had been too long since she’d last jumped back for a visit. She missed them all so much.
Her heart lifted a bit at the brightly lit interior of the gift shop and the glass door propped wide open for customers. Thank goodness.The pink-coated volunteers were there today and the store was open. Now to find poor Graham some drugs. She went straight to the cluttered square of glass countertops hemming in the cash register and an elderly volunteer deeply engrossed in the daily paper’s crossword puzzle.
“Excuse me?” Lilia shifted her weight from side to side. She didn’t want to be rude but Graham needed help and she needed to get him stabilized so they could get up to Eliza’s room without him gagging his way through the hallways.
The silver-haired matron peered up from her folded paper, her ink pen frozen in space mere centimeters from the black and white squares of the puzzle. “Aye? Can I be a helping ye then?”
“Do you have anything for nausea?” Lilia fished her wallet out of her purse and waited.
“Nausea, ye say?” The elderly lady pushed her glasses up higher on the bridge of her nose and, in painstakingly slow motion, tapped the nib of her black ink pen against the blocks of the puzzle in front of her. “First off, I need to ask ye a question. Four letters. Strongest power in the world. Ends with an ‘e.’ What say ye?”
Lilia curbed the urge to drum her fingers on the glass counter. She needed to be polite and respect her elders or Granny would reach through time and tan her hide. “Uhm . . . I’m not sure. Now about nausea cures, do you have anything? More specifically, something for motion sickness?”
“Ends with ane,” the volunteer repeated, frowning down at the crossword puzzle, her arthritic fingers slowly tapping against the paper.
Holy crap. Was this old woman serious?Lilia bit her tongue to keep from raising her voice. She had to mind her manners. Granny would somehow know it if she didn’t. The answer easily came to mind—thank heavens—maybe if she helped volunteer finish that damn puzzle it would speed things along. “It’slove.”
“Eh?” The old woman peered up at her, her thin silvery brows drawn together in a confused scowl.
Lilia pointed down at the puzzle. “Four-letter word. Strongest power on earth. Ends with ane. It’slove. L-O-V-E.”
“Well, look at that. So, it is.” The little old lady blocked the word into the squares with a happy chortle. As soon as she’d written the last letter, she laid her pen on top of the paper and patted it with a contented swat. Sliding off her stool, she toddled over to the cluttered wall behind the counter and snatched down several pale blue packets. She deposited them into a tiny paper bag and handed it over to Lilia.
Lilia smiled at the kindly volunteer and took the bag. “How much?”
“Oh, not a thing, dearie.” The little old woman struggled to resume her perch on the wobbly stool and took up her pen.
Frowning down at the bag, Lilia opened it and looked for some sort of price on the packets of pills but there weren’t any numbers to be found. She leaned over the counter, lowering her voice as she looked around. “I don’t want to get you in trouble. I know these can’t be free.”
The old woman looked up from her paper and winked. “Trust in the power of love, dearie. ’Tis the greatest power of all.” Then she returned to her puzzle, softly humming under her breath as she slowly filled in the rest of the squares.
What a weird old lady.“Well . . . okay then . . . thank you for your help.” Lilia tucked the bag into the crook of her arm and backed out the door.
“Think nothing of it, dearie.” The old woman glanced up from her paper and smiled.
Lilia stopped by the alcove filled with vending machines, popped in the required change, and pushed the button for ginger ale. Perfect. Ginger ale and anti-nausea pills. Pair those with the peppermint oil and Graham should soon feel a lot better than he did right now. She snatched up the bottle from the machine and hurried back to the car.
Graham still leaned against it, bent over with both hands propped on his knees. He didn’t appear to be retching anymore but remained extremely pale. In fact, against the backdrop of his inky black shirt, he looked ghostly white.
“Here.” Lilia twisted the cap off the bottle of ginger ale and fished one of the pill packets out of the brown paper sack. “This will make you feel better. Swallow these then sip at the ginger ale.”
“Ginger. Ale?” He scowled at the bottle as though it held poison.
Lilia ripped open one of the packets with her teeth and shook two pills out into her palm. “Here. Put these in your mouth then wash them down with this.”
Graham frowned down at the pills, then lifted his leery gaze to her.
“Just do it.” She shoved the pills into his mouth and handed him the opened bottle.
He obediently took a swig and swallowed, then held up the bottle, glaring at it with a narrow-eyed expression while he smacked his lips. “That is not ale.”
“Gingerale,” Lilia stressed, doing her best to keep from laughing. The poor guy had probably never come across such a sweetly fizzy beverage before. “Sip it. It will help settle your stomach.”
Instead, he took a long draw off the bottle then thumped his chest and belched.
Lilia couldn’t help but giggle at the surprised look on his face. “It’s the carbonation. Sip it slower.”
He stood straighter, settling his stance as he squared his shoulders and took another deep draw from the ginger ale. “So, this elixir stops the illness caused by the wicked machine?”
