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​Sacred Days

Excerpt​ (Chapter Two)

​"Invasion of Privacy"

​Days passed and Mrs. Duvall was noticeably absent. At various intervals, Lynda, Mia and Norman had knocked on her door. She did not answer and there had been no clear indication she was in her apartment. Lynda had decided to get the number from Norman and tried calling, but Mrs. Duvall did not answer the phone. It was the kind of brisk Saturday afternoon during which Mrs. Duvall would have taken her slow walk to the park. She would pause sometimes as she made her journey, and quietly watch the children play. One of them would always stop and ask her if she needed help. She usually declined and continued walking. She would sometimes sit on a bench, surrounded by children begging for more seeds to feed the birds. She had done none of those things for several days and Lynda was worried.
          Andrea played outside in the yard with a group of children who had been commissioned by Norman to rake leaves. They piled red, brown, and yellow leaves on top of Matthew, and he burst up from underneath the colorful, dry foliage yelling that he was the leaf monster. Another group of children rode bikes and roller-bladed up and down the street. One skater held onto the seat of a bike while the rider rapidly pedaled, pulling the skater down the street.
          “Have you all seen Mrs. Duvall today?” Lynda yelled over the children’s laughter. They stopped playing in the leaves long enough to shake their heads no. She yelled after the skaters and bikers as they zoomed down the street. None of them had seen Mrs. Duvall all day. Lynda went inside and knocked on Mrs. Duvall’s door again. Still, there was no response. She went first to Mia’s apartment; then the two of them went to knock on Norman’s door. They urged Norman to use his key and his authority as manager to go into Mrs. Duvall’s apartment and make sure she was not laying unconscious on the floor, or had not perished from one of the terrible illnesses that plague the elderly. Norman was not entirely comfortable with the idea because he thought it was an invasion of privacy. However, the two women had launched into a thirty minute dissertation about heart attacks and strokes, his responsibility, and the blame he would incur if something happened that could have been prevented. Norman had finally acquiesced. The three of them walked up to her door. Norman knocked loudly and called Mrs. Duvall’s name. They waited quietly, but there was no response. Norman put the key in the lock and turned it slowly. Just as they entered the small hallway leading to the interior of her apartment, Mrs. Duvall emerged from her bedroom clad only in a bra, panties, and a half-slip.
          “Is it your custom to enter a person’s home without notice or permission?” she chided, and clutched her walker. Even though she spoke in her usual quiet, mellifluent tone, intense anger emanated from her facial expression and demeanor.
          “No, Ma’am. It’s not.” Norman shot piercing, angry glare at the two co-conspirators. “We were just worried and wanted to check on you.”
          Lynda and Mia did not say a word.
          “Well, in the future, perhaps you could knock or use the telephone.”
     “We did,” he explained. “After we couldn’t reach you for so many days, and no one had seen you, we…well, we…”
          “You thought I had died or something,” she laughed. Her comment lightened the mood a bit, and Lynda took a deep breath. Still, she and Mia said nothing.
          “Well, no Ma’am. We didn’t necessarily think that.”
          “I’ve just been feeling a bit poorly. Couldn’t get out and take my walk.”
          Mrs. Duvall did not invite them in. She slowly made her way to where they were standing and shooed them out. Norman was the last to exit. As he stepped into the outer hallway, he turned and began to apologize again for walking in on her. Mrs. Duvall closed the door in his face.
        “Well, I guess that’s the end of that conversation,” Norman said to Mia and Lynda. “And you two let me take all the blame. It was your idea. You could have said something. I told you going in there like that is an invasion of privacy. I am not doing that again.”

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Novel

Author Contact Information:  

Titilayo Akanke
                ttakanke@hotmail.com          
       titilayoakanke@gmail.com
                P. O. Box 66453, Baltimore, MD 21239 

Heartbreaking, yet inspiring and wonderful, Sacred Days compassionately tells the stories of two elderly women struggling to maintain their dignity and independence as they grow older and increasingly need assistance, but refuse help from family and friends. The novel examines the sociopolitical issue of aging in America.

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Release Date: January 2017

$15.00  includes taxes, shipping, and handling
ISBN:13: 978-1503226036
ISBN: 10: 150322603

Titilayo Akanke