"Me?" I felt choked. I felt the word was choked out of me. Heat fillled
me, tightened me. What was she saying?
"Yes. She expected you to come."
"Why would she ever expect that? I haven't had anything to do with that
family for years. I wouldn't ever be a caregiver, I can't stand--" I
stopped.
"Nevertheless, she expected you. She watched you when you were little,
you see, and she knew you quite well. She thought you would come with
your questions. She wanted you to have a place to work and create
freely. She knew what you felt about this house."
"How could she? I don't even know myself. Sometimes this house drives
me crazy!"
"Cella wanted to leave the house to you. But the Ripley lawyer twisted things
round, confused things, and Cella saw she must leave it to Flo. Flo
promised to leave it to you. But then their friendship was broken and
Cella could not be certain that would happen."
"I don't see how anyone could force Flo to do anything."
"Weariness and starvation can change a person."
She didn't say hopelessness. Age, dissolution, hopelessness.