Elle stands before her bathroom mirror. For 78, she doesn’t look too bad. Maybe a little extra weight around the middle (okay, perhaps a lot of excess weight around the middle). She puts on some lipstick - you can’t go through a day without lipstick! And just a light foundation for makeup.
Her skin is so soft and pliable. She drinks collagen to keep her skin flexible. She eats oatmeal and beans and takes fiber pills and stool softeners to stay regular. She had a home treadmill, and she walked on her treadmill for at least 30 minutes a day. She generally watches “The Price is Right” while walking. It keeps her mind occupied while she walks.
Every month, on the second Tuesday, she is at the beauty shop getting her hair done. She floats out of the shop, knowing that she is pretty.
Wednesdays are her big days. On Wednesday, she meets up with her church group for Bible Study. The day after the beauty shop, she bakes something (generally cookies) for the girls. They have their lunch together in the church hall. Nancy loves to cook, and the girls kick in for the meal.
Wednesday evening, Elle is at the library for the weekly book club. She doesn’t like reading the books, but she likes the girls that show up, which gets her out of her house. They don’t always talk about the book, but they get off on politics and world issues. Elle watches Fox News so she can follow the discussion.
On Friday mornings, she goes to the grocery store. And, on Sundays, she goes to 9:30 Mass. She sits on the right side of the church, about the sixth pew back. There were some visitors three weeks ago that sat in her place. She was about to ask them to move but thought it was the Christian thing to be friendly and let them sit there. Instead, she walked to the center aisle, slid past the Keenans, and sat in the middle. (She did feel unforgettable.)
Elle never married and never had children. Her closest relative is her nephew, who lives about 20 miles away. She does have money - she was a school secretary for forty years - and other than a cruise twelve years ago, she doesn’t spend much outside her routine. Her car is a 2009 Nissan Altima - but it only has 36,000 miles.
*****
On Thursday morning, Elle felt an ache in her chest. She had a heart attack. The pain was so much that she passed out and fell on the bathroom floor. She came to about lunchtime - very thirsty and very hungry. She tries to crawl to the living room for her phone. She gets to her bedroom and stops with the pain. She falls asleep again.
She wakes up, disoriented. Where is she? It is dark. It’s night. She crawls more, but her strength is sapped. She passes out again.
*****
Sometime that night, Elle dies on her floor of a heart attack.
On Sunday, her priest notices that Elle is gone. Maybe she went with her nephew to some event. On Wednesday, the girls at the Bible Study wonder where Elle is. That night, the girls at the Book Club comment that Elle isn’t there.
On the following Wednesday, Nancy again notices that Elle isn’t there. She stops by the church office and tells Susan that Elle has missed two Bible studies. Susan tells Nancy that she’ll pass it on to Father McKenzie. But Father McKenzie is out visiting the hospital, and Susan forgets.
On Sunday, after Mass, Nancy asks Father if he checked on Elle. He comments that he hasn’t and wonders why Nancy asked. Nancy tells him that Elle has missed two weekly Bible Studies. On Monday, Father McKenzie asks Susan, and Susan says, “Oh yes, I was to tell you that Elle wasn’t at Bible Study.”
On Monday, Father McKenzie stops by Ella’s apartment and knocks. There isn’t an answer. He knocks again. No answer. He looks at the parking lot, and Elle’s Altima is still there.
He stops by the apartment office and mentions that he is concerned about Elle.
The apartment manager, Anne, sends out a maintenance man later that day who opens the door and finds Elle on the floor - dead.
*****
On Wednesday, Father McKenzie celebrates a funeral Mass for Elle (Eleanor) Rigby. The ladies from the Bible Study suspended their study for the morning.
The nephew has her will, which leaves her estate of 2 million dollars to the church. The money is used to reroof the church, which was damaged by a hailstorm last summer.
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
***************
Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles:
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby
Picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window
Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Father McKenzie
Writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working
Darning his socks in the night when there’s nobody there
What does he care?
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby
Died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie
Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved
All the lonely people (ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people (ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all belong?
The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby [ Lyrics ].
Yes - all the lonely people - where do they all come from?
*****
LOVE WINS
LOVE TRANSFORMS
KAREN ANNE WHITE, ©, NOVEMBER 4, 2023
