The telephone booth

Chapter Twenty-six Anna

Chapter Twenty-six
Anna
 
    It was night, Anna was asleep in her bed. She felt bad and still had a slight fever.
The doctor came to Mr. Collins' house and after examining Anna, he told Mrs. O'Brian in front of her, "She has a mild illness, but I think it's caused by nervous tension."
    Robert was there too, after the doctor left, he went into Anna's room and sat on a chair next to the bed and said, "Anna, how are you feeling? The doctor said it's a simple illness."
    Anna, who was lying on the bed with one hand connected to an IV, said, "I told my doctor that I'm not sick and I just got a little nervous."
    "The doctor said the same thing. But Mrs. O'Brian didn't believe it."
    "Is mom worried about me?"
    Robert, who was a little surprised, wanted to answer Anna when he saw that she was crying. He said, "Anna, why are you crying?"
    "Because I'm sure they know something that relates to me and my past, but they don't say anything."
    "Are you sure?"
    "I'm absolutely sure; I heard mom say that she was tired of enduring my nightmares; and that I have the right to know something."
    "What thing?"
    "I don't know, but Mr. Collins said that it's not time for me to know."
    "Why don't you ask Mrs. O'Brian?"
    "I can't; my voice doesn't come out. I have a thousand questions that I want to know the answer to, but my voice doesn't come out, I'm afraid mom will be upset."
    "Do you love Mrs. O'Brian so much?"
    "She's like my mother."
    "Is Mrs. O'Brian's sadness more important than knowing where your real parents are now?"
    Anna, who had no control over her tears, said with great difficulty, "I'm scared."
    "Scared? What are you scared of?"
    "I'm scared that my parents are not who I thought they were."
    "What are you thinking? You're hurting yourself; you made me worried."
    "I'm afraid of the truth."
    "You know that your past doesn't matter to me, whatever it is."
    "I know; but it's important for me to know about my past."
    "If it's so important to you, don't be afraid of it."
   Anna said, "I'm talking to my mom." Then she made up her mind and said, "I doubt that I should ask mom about Beatrice."
   "Who is Beatrice?"
   "A name that I'm very curious about; I wish you could research it for me?"
     A few moments later, Becky, one of the servants, knocked on the door; she came in and put a hot chicken soup dish on the bedside table and left. Robert Dixon sighed and said, "Too bad I wanted to come see my fiancee's concert."
   "What? You're not coming?"
   "I wanted to come but it seems that the orchestra conductor got sick and the concert is probably canceled."
   Anna, while trying to get out of bed quickly, said, "I'm fine, this concert has to be performed."
   Robert stopped her and said, "What are you doing?! You have to stay in bed and rest; you have an IV attached to you."
   Anna, as she lay down, turned her head toward the pole that the IV was attached to, looked at it with a sad look and said softly, "You know I'm not sick."
   "But the doctor said 'you have to rest.'"
   "But I will perform that concert anyway."
   Robert said, "So you're fine." Then his eyes fell on the partitioner, the sheet on which a few notes were written; he said, "You wrote a new song."
   "It's half-finished."
   Robert picked up the violin and started playing according to that sheet.
   After a few minutes, Anna said, "You're playing it wrong."
   Robert stopped playing and said, "It seems like I wasted a lot of money on music lessons."
   "Actually, you're a professional musician who deliberately makes mistakes in front of me as if you want me to criticize you."
   "So I got caught."
   "Even your father said 'you hated music.'"
   Robert said, "It's a sad song." Then he said, "My father was right."
   "But it's still strange."
   Robert lowered his head and said, "The past doesn't matter, what matters is that my taste has changed now."
   Anna felt a little heartburn when she heard this; she didn't know why she felt that behind this sentence and this reaction there was something bad hidden, like a lie, a concealment or something worse.
     The Saturday of November 5th also began and Anna proved to Mrs. O'Brian that she was not sick and continued her work and activity as before; Anna didn't want to put her mother under pressure for an important but scary secret yet. Both for her mother's sake and for her own sake. Anna lacked self-confidence, Anna was both thirsty for knowing the truth and afraid of facing the truth; it might sound ridiculous but it was not far from reality.
Anna thought about this issue all the time she was at work whether to bring it up or not. What answer would she get from Mrs. O'Brian? This work at that moment meant raising this question was perhaps the hardest thing in her life.