in and closing the door behind me. And with all the noise from traffic and jackhammers, I thought I would surely have to shut myself in the booth and maybe put my finger in my other ear. There finally was a relatively clean working one on the same block as the restaurant. After I stepped in, I realized that I would need quite a few quarters, and I didn’t have that many, so I tried a collect call first.
Because it was late June, Julia was off work and answered on the first ring, like someone sitting there beside it and waiting for it to chime. She accepted the charges. Of course, I had no intention of revealing what had happened to me my first night in New York if she asked how I was. I was determined to sound happy and excited.
“Hello,” she said in a deep whisper.
“It’s me, Julia, Emma.”
“I know it’s you, you silly goose. Are you calling from New York?”
“Yes, of course.”
She sighed so deeply that I thought it might blow out the phone like some light bulb.
“Daddy’s going to know you called when he looks at the phone bill, and I’m going to get into trouble for accepting it,” she whined.
It was hardly the response I was hoping to hear.
“I’m sorry, Julia, but I wanted you all to know I had arrived safely. I thought you’d be concerned. I’ve moved into my apartment, but I don’t have a phone hooked up yet, and—”
“Come home, Emma. You made your point. We’ll get Daddy to forgive you. Just come home. Please.”
For a moment, I was taken aback by the way she was pleading. It was quite unlike her, especially when it came to telling me to do something. But I quickly recovered.
“I have no intention of coming home. I just arrived, Julia. I haven’t even begun to try, nor have I begun my job yet. You’re the silly goose. Where’s Mummy?” I demanded.
“She’s lying down. She refused to eat breakfast, even though I brought it to her. Daddy isn’t talking to either of us. He still blames us for what you’ve done. He thinks we knew for weeks and didn’t tell him. He called your announcement at dinner the night before another example of a family Pearl Harbor. Mummy couldn’t eat and cried all through dinner. Thank you, Emma Corey.”
“Is she all right now?”
“No,” Julia said, punching the word over a few thousand miles. “How can she be all right now? Daddy’s still not talking to her. Aren’t you listening?”
Julia was never one to sugarcoat anything, and in that way, she was far more like our father than I was.
“He’s not right blaming her or you. I’ll send him a letter and tell him so.”
“He won’t read it, Emma. He really will burn it first as soon as he sees the postmark.”
“Then I’ll call him at the bank. He’ll have to speak to me.”
“I wouldn’t make a wager on it, Emma. He’s probably already told his secretary, that nosy parker Mrs. Weeks, not to transfer any calls from you to him. He’s not hiding his anger from people, either. If anyone asks him what you are doing or planning to do, he says, ‘I wouldn’t know.’ That’s what he said to Mrs. Taylor already. If he could, he’d take an eraser to your memory right now, and I’d be an only child.”
“I’ll call and give a different name.”
“Brilliant. He’ll still hang up on you the moment he hears your voice unless you were calling from this house, and even then I couldn’t be sure. Meanwhile, Mummy’s upset, and it’s making her sick. Just come back.”
“I can’t, Julia. At least, please tell her I’m safe. I have my apartment, and I’m starting work today, and soon I’ll have a phone with a telephone number, probably today. I left a note for the landlord to have that done. He’s very nice, by the way, sort of like Mr. McGregor. Remember? The shoe repairman?”
“Telephone? Thanks for reminding me. This call is costing a fortune, I’m sure. Daddy will be even angrier that I spoke longer than a minute to you. Come home. You’re acting like a fool and a spoiled brat,” she said, and hung up.
The shock of hearing the click and the dead sound threw a chill over me as cold as a pail of ice water. I had been looking forward to hearing my mother’s voice and how I would comfort her and assure her I would be fine.