Silence Of The Hams

room down the hallway. “Oh, how lovely of you,“ she said, when she saw them standing there with their flowers. “I’ll just take them to her room. She’s sleeping right now. She’ll be so pleased.”
    Jane and Shelley waited patiently for Grace to return. “You look exhausted,“ Shelley said when Grace rejoined them. “Let us buy you some lunch. I’ll bet you didn’t get any.”
    Grace smiled. “I don’t think I have eaten, come to think of it. But not here. The food in this place makes me think of that old movie Soylent Green. There’s a pizza place across the street.“
    “You’d eat pizza?“ Jane said in amazement. “On purpose?”
    When they’d walked across the street and were seated on remarkably uncomfortable rigid plastic chairs, Jane asked, “How is your sister doing?”
    Grace lifted her shoulders. “Still sedated. The doctor thinks it was just exhaustion, topped off by that awful man dying in the storeroom. He says a couple days of enforced rest ought to put her right.“
    “Meanwhile you’re doing her work and yours,“ Shelley said.
    “The work’s not bad. I’m not much of a cook and Conrad found someone to help him from a restaurant that’s shut down for renovations. It’ll really screw up our budget, but mainly I’m concerned with Sarah.”
    Jane said, “Is there anything we can do for her? Bring her magazines or newspapers or some kind of craft project to occupy her?“
    “I can’t think what,“ Grace said. “Certainly not newspapers. Conrad would flip. He won’t even allow that little local rag in the house because he didn’t want her to know about the zoning battle.”
    A perky waitress came and took their orders. When she’d gone, Shelley said hesitantly, picking her words with care, “I’m a little surprised at the change in Sarah. I remember her in high school as very outgoing, bubbly—“
    “—and I was the shy, nerdy one,“ Grace said.
    “Not nerdy, but shy—yes. It’s like you’ve changed roles. What happened?“
    “With me, it’s simple and not very interesting. I married a jerk and finally got up the courage to divorce him. I’d taken all those bookkeeping classes in school and found out that I was pretty good at numbers and could earn my own living. Once I’d done that, it was like a great revelation that I could control my life! Funny how some of us have to be slapped upside the head with something traumatic to understand that, while others—“
    “Like Sarah—“ Shelley prompted.
    Grace nodded. “Of course, Sarah’s trauma was so much worse than mine.“
    “I don’t mean to pry,“ Shelley said, “but I have no idea what you mean by that.“
    “You don’t know? Really?“ Grace asked. “I’d have thought the old school grapevine reached everybody.”
    Shelley shook her head.
    “You haven’t heard about the baby?“
    “I heard they lost a child, but I didn’t know if it was a miscarriage or what and I wasn’t sure it was true.”
    The waitress brought their salads and Grace picked at hers. “They had a child with severe brain damage. Extremely severe. Unable to survive without a hideous array of machines. Constant convulsions. It was unbelievably awful. Sarah had been trying to get pregnant for years, desperately wanted the child, had a devastating delivery that made it impossible for her to have more children. In spite of that, and because she believed the child was suffering horribly, Sarah wanted the life support removed. The hospital agreed. Unofficially, of course. But they couldn’t allow it without a court order. Sarah never left the baby’s side. The hospital had to put a guard on her to make certain they couldn’t be accused of having benignly ignored the possibility that she might turn off the machines. So she never even had any private moments with the baby.“
    “How awful for her,“ Jane said, knowing ordinary words couldn’t begin to express what it must have been like for the grieving mother.
    The waitress arrived with their pizza and the subject was dropped while they divided it up and sampled it. Finally, after eating only one slice, Grace continued. “They had to go to court to get an order to disconnect the machines. But the judge refused to agree. The baby lived another month.“
    “I’m sorry,“ Shelley said, handing Grace a packet of tissues from her purse. “I had no business asking about this and upsetting you more.”
    Grace mopped her eyes and blew her nose. “No, it’s okay. I