Hello

The phone rang for the third time, when Gloria raised herself up off the couch and shuffled over to it. An old landline, but it still worked well. Her cell did not work as well at home. She occasionally lost signal, and like so many other people, she hated when that happened. 

   "Hallo," she said, tiredly. 

   "Gloria," said her younger sister," Leslie. "Finally you answer the phone! I've been trying to reach you for days." What's going on?" 

   "I've been too tired. Working too hard. The owner is pushing like there is no tomorrow. Just busy, busy, busy." And a pounding headache, as well. 

   "Well, do I have something to tell you. You won't believe this." 

   With her usual inimitable, breathless style, Leslie took a deep breath and blurted out, "The boss ran off with someone from the company. His wife is a trainwreck. No one can believe it." The office is a disaster zone. Incredible!" 

   "Really," responded Gloria already uninterested. Her headache and the 

accompanying nausea overtook her completely. She felt her stomach roil. 

   'The things that fired up Leslie's imagination,' she thought. 'Why would she even think I'd be interested in this? So what. Who cares?'

   "It is the talk of the entire company. Nobody can talk about anything else." Leslie stopped to draw a second deep breath, and Gloria took full advantage.  

   "Leslie I find it fascinating, but I was taking a nap. Could we talk about this later? And I need to eat something as well. Can I call you back?" I've been working way, way too hard and I need to take better care of myself." 

   "Well," said Leslie a teasing tone audible, " Don't say I didn't warn you!" 

   "Warn me about what? Do I need to be warned?" 

   "W-e-l-l," drawled Leslie," "consider it more of a head's up..." 

   "Leslie, I really need to hang up. I need to use the bathroom. I need something to eat and I need to rest. Please--"

   "Good Lord Glo, I just wanted to chat a bit. What's the crime with that? You are sour today. I thought you might be interested in this."

   No. Not at all. Why would I be? 

   She was met by total silence. A small burst of static. 

   Then, "Well I thought circumstances considered, you might be interested."

   "What circumstances?" Gloria asked sounding mildly irritated. 

   " You know. The circumstances," pressed Leslie. 

   Gloria stood completely still for a moment. Her mind flew backwards to a moment she had been trying for years to drink away. A terrible terrible event that had sent her running for the easiest anesthesia she could think of. A bottle of whiskey. 

   It had been an accident. A true accident, and she saw no reason to destroy her life over it. Selfish, you bet. But scared as well.Terrified. 

   Yes, a life had been lost, but she would have to live with it for the rest of her life. She would have to carry it forever. She would have to drink it away forever. And it hadn't been her fault. A hit and run. Slippery conditions. A faulty steering column. Couldn't control the car. Almost an act of fate. And someone was dead. 

   Only it hadn't turned out to be "someone." It turned out to be her employer's daughter. His only child. The police had not had any leads, but the case remained open. 'Unsolved', they'd said. She had been a basket case. Lived on pins and needles. And alcohol. But successfully so. A skillful closet drinker. She hid it well. And thank God for that. If there was one thing Gloria was good at it was covering her tracks. She had learned that early in life. Her and Leslie had suffered through a very difficult childhood. Their mother had been a drinker, and their father coped as well as possible, mostly by ignoring it. Everyone had lived in denial. Denial was the absolute key to survival. Gloria and Leslie had learned early to just deny, deny, deny. And blame each other for anything if blame for anything needed to be assigned. if it became necessary. And that was how they survived in a troubled environment. That was still how they survived. 

   The police investigated, of course. But after a while the police closed their notebooks with a sigh, and left. No more questions for any of the employees. No one had seen anything. No one knew anything. Unsolved. 

   And months went by. Gloria continued drinking herself into a stupor night after night after night. 

   But something had broken inside her. She needed someone to talk to. She needed to talk. So she told Leslie. Her younger sister. She had needed to talk. Leslie had handled it perfectly. She had listened quietly, seriously and given Gloria a tight hug at the end.   "Not your fault, Glo. Sometimes things just happen. No way to prevent it. Not your fault."  

   "Thank you," Gloria had responded. "Thank you." 

   The subject had been closed ever since. Gloria never brought it up and neither did Leslie. Early training counts. Until just now. 

   She and her sister both worked for the company. Both had the same employer...the same Boss. They both worked in the same Division, actually. 

   Leslie had left early that terrible night. Gloria had been working late. Her employer's daughter had been visiting her father. And Gloria had paid little if any attention. 

   When it was time to quit, she had grabbed her jacket, her briefcase, and took the elevator marked "Down." 

   In the parking garage she hit the button on her key fob, threw her briefcase in the back, and slipped behind the steering wheel. She swung off the ramp, turned a hard left, and immediately went into a skid. She did not see the young woman crossing in front of her. She had a vague memory of someone holding her arms up, a look of horror on her face, and the sickening bump. She had known. And horrified she had kept right on going. Just couldn't stop. Over tired. Overworked. Horrified. Terrified. She had fled the scene. She had no idea who it was that she had hit. It happened so fast, she remembered more about how it felt, than about how it looked. 

  She continued driving. An act of cowardice she knew. But the damage was done. She had knowingly left the scene. There was no way to change anything, now. Too late. It now was what it was. And that was it. Period. 

   She realized in many ways she had cornered herself. She was caught in her own trap. Belatedly, she realized she hadn't answered Leslie. 

   "Gloria, are you there?" Are you still there?'

   "Yes. I'm here," she said tiredly. "Yes. Let's have a chat." She leaned against the wall next to the phone stand. Why would Leslie choose to bring this up? They never talked about this. The subject was closed. 

   She held the receiver tightly her knuckles turning white.  

   "You know Gloria, if the truth came out," . . 

here she hesitated. 

   Gloria froze. She straightened up. "Leslie," . . . she began, her throat thick. 

   "I made a mistake Gloria but it's going to be alright. Our boss David, asked me out to dinner and we both had too much to drink. You, especially, understand about that. Right, Gloria? I slipped and told him that you were the one who hit his daughter. He understood that it was an accident. He's not vengeful Glo. We both agreed nothing would bring her back. Well, to be honest we've been seeing each other for a while. I'm not at home. I'm calling you from a hotel room in Rome. I'm the woman he's been seeing. I wasn't comfortable telling anyone about it. You and I are great at keeping secrets. We kept a lot of them while we were growing up. More of the same."

   Gloria's legs turned into jelly. She sank to the floor still clutching the receiver. 'What had Leslie done? What had she done?'

   Her ear filled with static. "Leslie," she said. "Leslie." More static. 

   A recording came on. "Your connection has been interrupted. It may take several hours to be reconnected. Sorry for the inconvenience. The operator will ring you when your call can be resumed." 

   Gloria leaned forward and projectile vomited, hitting the couch and nearly covering it. She dropped the phone, the receiver hitting the floor with a solid thunk. She sat down again, hard and stared straight ahead glassy eyed. Now what? Now what?