Seven Minutes to Noon

worried about the store, I’m worried about you. You’re a complete mess. Haven’t you slept?”
    Alice shook her head. “Not much.”
    “But the sleeping pills.”
    “I’m pregnant, Mags—”
    “Didn’t your doctor say they’re safe?”
    “Thalidomide was safe too, remember?” It was thefirst time in days Alice had voiced that particular concern, it having slipped beneath so many others. She brought her hands to her face, rubbed off a new grip of anxiety, set them back in her lap. “All those babies born with partial limbs.”
    “That was decades ago.” Maggie touched Alice’s cheek with a soft fingertip. “And the car accident. Your insomnia is dangerous. You must keep some perspective.”
    “I’ll take one tonight,” Alice promised halfheartedly. “I will.”
    “Tell you what.” Maggie uncrossed her legs. “I’m taking you out to lunch.” She stood up. “Come on, get your purse. It’s a lovely day outside. Let’s go.”
    “I’m already out to lunch.” Alice tried to joke but her effort fell flat. “Anyway, Mags, I can’t leave. Frannie told me to stay home.”
    “Right. Well, then, let’s see what I can rustle up here.” Maggie got up and began to search the refrigerator and cupboards. “Personally I’ve never understood the American obsession with tuna fish, but when necessity calls, one makes do.” She opened two cans of tuna and began mixing in mayonnaise, washing lettuce, toasting bread.
    “Maggie, I have a confession to make,” Alice said to Maggie’s back as she worked.
    Maggie swiveled to look at Alice briefly enough to say, “Yes?” then returned to her lunch making.
    Alice told her everything: her visit to Frannie, the crying baby, the stalker. When she was finished, she felt tremendously relieved. “I don’t know why I didn’t speak up sooner, Mags. I’ve been getting tied up into knots. I’m sorry.”
    “Oh, nonsense,” Maggie said. She delivered two plates with sandwiches to the table, along with a small bowl of carrot sticks, which she placed between them. “I am, after all, the queen of nondisclosure. But really, Alice. You’ve been hearing a baby ? And you have a stalker ? You are discreet.”
    “Not really,” Alice said. “Just tired and overly hormonal.”
    “I think you’re doing beautifully,” Maggie said, “considering.” She reached across the table and patted Alice’s hand.
    “What do you mean?”
    “This thing with Lauren has been a nightmare for me too. I can’t sleep much either, knowing little Ivy could be out there somewhere. But Alice dear, you are six months pregnant and living under the same roof as Lauren’s evil landlord. Frankly I don’t know how you do it, why you don’t just pack up and move anywhere this instant.”
    Alice knew Maggie’s comments were fair — Mike himself had voiced the same idea — yet she felt a swell of defensiveness. She remembered Maggie’s words to Lauren on their last afternoon together. If I were you, I’d get on with it and move. It isn’t worth fighting over scraps. Maggie didn’t really comprehend the costs of Lauren’s battle, or Alice’s for that matter. Thanks to an inheritance, she had always had anything she wanted; nothing was ever hard-won.
    “Actually, Mags, we’re trying to move,” Alice answered, aware of the sharp cut of her tone. “I’m trying not to get too hysterical about it, though obviously I’m not succeeding.”
    “Listen,” Maggie said, pushing aside her sandwich. “I say a lot of things I don’t mean, just for a laugh, but don’t let it fool you, darling. I know what you’re going through. You and Lauren had a special friendship. Your mutual American seriousness, I suppose. But I am here for you now. I love you. You’re my very best friend and if I say anything to hurt you, a pox on me! Agreed?”
    It was the straightest Maggie had ever been and there was no possible argument, nor did Alice wish for one. Maggie was right — bottom line, once you weeded through the tangles of her sharp-edged commentary, Maggie usually was right — it was just the two of them now.
    They finished their lunches and waited together for the phone to ring, for Frannie or Giometti to call and explain Alice’s house arrest in light of everything broadcast in the morning paper. It calmed Alice immensely to have Maggie there as a comrade in her obsession, defused it somewhat, and she was grateful. Maggie made some herbal tea for Alice and strong coffee for herself,