In appreciation for her bravery, she was given a $100 gift certificate to all the stores at the mall, including every restaurant at the food court. Later, she received a Civilian Hero award from the mayor and was given an honorary Deputy of Police badge by Chief Ralph Childress. For the occasion, Norvaleen bought a new large black dress at Ross Dress for Less and a pair of formal flip-flops with rhinestones.
That night, Billy picked her up in his police car to take her to the ceremony. As he was driving her back home, he asked, “Would you have dinner with me sometime?”
Billy had married one of the pretty girls in high school, but it had not worked out. He was divorced, and for the past three years he’d been living in a bad apartment complex across town.
At first, it was dinner a couple of times a week, then as time went by, Billy started staying overnight. Norvaleen was so happy, and without much effort, a year later, she was back to being only chubby, which was fine with Billy. He found out he really liked a big girl. A year later, Norvaleen used the gift certificate from Kay Jewelers to buy a wedding ring for Billy.
It takes time and a lot of suffering, but sometimes, when you least expect it, life has a strange way of working out. She had been heading to the drugstore to pick up some Cortizone 10 for eczema, and look what happened. She was the last person in the world she thought would have a happy ending.
2012
When Cathy Calvert ran into Norma at the drugstore, she was surprised to see her on crutches.
“Oh, Norma…what happened?”
“I broke my foot.”
“How?”
“Well, I was out at the mall shopping at the big Macy’s. Macky needed some new undershirts, and they had some on sale in the basement. Anyhow, I was headed down there when my cellphone rang, and I went to pull it out of my purse, and I must not have been paying attention, because when I went to step on the first step of the escalator, I missed it and the next thing I knew I was falling…rolling and tumbling with my dress over my head all the way down, and there wasn’t another person on it to stop my fall.”
“Oh, no!”
“Yes, and while I was falling, all I could think about was that when I got to the bottom of that escalator, that thing would grab my dress and pull me in it, and I would be chewed to pieces, so all the way down, I was yelling, ‘Turn it off! Turn it off!’ Well, thank goodness, some quick-thinking employee at the jewelry counter ran over and at the very last minute, flipped the switch and saved me from being ripped to shreds. But I had landed at the bottom sideways and was stuck upside down and couldn’t move. There I was, all cattywampus with my legs up in the air, and at that exact moment, who should walk by but my old school friend Kathy Gilmore, who I hadn’t seen in over twelve years, and she looks down at me and says, ‘Norma? Is that you?’ ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘It’s me.’ She said, ‘Well, what in the world are you doing here?’ I said, ‘I’ve just fallen down the escalator, and I’m stuck. Call 911.’ So she said, ‘I sure will, hon,’ and by then, a huge crowd had gathered all around, and me with my dress ripped to shreds. Oh, it was a mess. I was scraped and scratched from top to bottom. I was in the hospital for a week. And do you know what the worst part was? The person who was calling me on the phone that caused me to almost kill myself wasn’t even a person. It was a junk call…some machine! Can you imagine?”
Cathy said, “Oh my gosh, Norma, you could have been killed, falling down those stairs. Remember what happened to poor Hanna Marie.”
“Don’t think it didn’t occur to me. The whole time I was falling, I kept thinking, ‘Oh, no, don’t tell me I’m going to wind up like Hanna Marie.’?”
The headline read:
* * *
BELOVED CITIZEN FALLS TO HER DEATH
* * *
— IT WAS THE HOUSEKEEPER who found Hanna Marie at the bottom of the stairs in the morning, when she came to work. The coroner said she had died instantly. When the word spread all over town, everybody was upset and saddened. But later, when they found out that her husband had been in New York on one of his many so-called business trips, they had been infuriated.
As Norma said to Macky, “Imagine, leaving a poor deaf woman alone all night in that big house while you’re off somewhere living it up…and on her dime, too. I don’t know how he can live with himself.”
Considering her age and the condition of her health, everyone expected Irene Goodnight would be the next of their friends to arrive at Still Meadows. But to their surprise, the very next person was Hanna Marie Swensen.
—
HANNA MARIE’S DEMISE PRESENTED a problem Lucille Beemer had not faced before. How would she be able to speak to a deaf person?
As she had feared, when she spoke to Hanna Marie, there was no answer. “Oh, dear,” she said. “I feel so terrible. I just have no way to communicate with her and let her know where she is.”
Verbena said, “Well, Lucille, I don’t know what to tell you. We can talk our heads off until the cows come home, and she won’t hear a thing. And it’s too bad, too. I’d just love to chat with her and find out what she has to say about that no-good, two-timing husband of hers. He’s been cheating on her for years with every bimbo in town.”
Then, suddenly, a woman’s voice said, “I think I can hear.”
“Hanna Marie?” asked Lucille.
“Yes, I think so. Is that me I hear talking?”
An amazed Lucille answered, “Yes, it is most certainly you!”
“Am I making real words?”
“Oh, yes.”
“And saying them right?”
“Perfectly.”
“Am I too loud? I can’t tell.”
“No, not at all, and you have a beautiful speaking voice. What a delightful surprise….Oh, my dear, just wait until your parents find out.” Lucille then called out, “Beatrice! Ander! Say hello to your daughter.”
Beatrice spoke first. “Darling, this is Mother. Can you hear me?”
“Oh, yes, Mother, I can!”
Ander said, “Honey, this is your daddy.”
“Oh Daddy, I can’t believe it.”
Verbena Wheeler, who had been listening in, could no longer contain herself and started yelling at the top of her voice, “Oh, my God. It’s Hanna Marie and she can talk and hear!”
It was quite a moment. For the first time, Beatrice and Ander could talk with their daughter, and for the first time, she could hear them.
Elner waited for the three of them to talk a little while, then she said, “Hello, sweetheart. This is your big ol’ aunt Elner saying hello.”
Hanna Marie said, “Aunt Elner, I’m so happy to hear your voice. Oh, thank you for being so kind to me all my life.”
“Well, honey, that’s all right. You were always easy to be kind to.”
“Hanna Marie, this is your great-aunt Katrina Nordstrom speaking, and I just wanted to say that I know just how you feel. I had gone completly blind, but when I got here I could see.”
Suddenly everybody wanted to talk to Hanna Marie and weigh in on the miracle.
—
HANNA MARIE TALKED ALL DAY long with so many friends and family. At around six o’clock that evening, Old Man Hendersen said, “Good Lord, that girl is a talker. Is she ever going to shut up?”
—