Bates endured a few of the visits in silence,
then she turned to Kate and said after her latest callers: "I
wonder what in the name of all possessed ails the folks? Are they
just itching to start my funeral? Can't they stay away until you
send them word that the breath's out of my body?"
"Mother, you shock me," said Kate. "They come because they LOVE
you. They try to tell you so with the little things they bring.
Most people would think they were neglected, if their children did
NOT come to see them when they were not so well."
"Not so well!" cried Mrs. Bates. "Folly! I am as well as I ever
was. They needn't come snooping around, trying to make me think
I'm not. If they'd a-done it all their lives, well and good; it's
no time for them to begin being cotton-mouthed now."
"Mother," said Kate gently, "haven't YOU changed, yourself, about
things like Christmas, for example? Maybe your children are
changing, too. Maybe they feel that they have missed something
they'd like to have from you, and give back to you, before it's
too late. Just maybe," said Kate.
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