They got up and walked down the hall toward a room with vending machines full of snacks and drinks. Sarah bought them Pepsi’s, and they walked back to the waiting room. The TV was on, so they spent the evening watching TV at the hospital. Carl finally fell asleep in a chair some nurses brought in for him. By then Aunt Kara had arrived. She moved to Westbridge in March 1940 when the Major brought the family from Green Ridge Valley. Dover Street continued for only a short distance after crossing Litchfield Avenue. There was a sharp bend, and then Dover Street became Ridgeline Road. Ridgeline Road ran all the way to the Larimore’s church and then became Victory Boulevard. It was originally Somerset Boulevard, but the name was changed after the end of WW II. The VFW had a facility a few miles down the Boulevard, including a small park. Carl and Ellen regularly attended events there for local veterans. Aunt Kara had lived a few houses down from Margaret, just on the other side of the bend. So she actually lived on Ridgeline Road. Her first husband, Gabriel Watson, died in a car accident while he was travelling for work. About a year later, she married Russell Simmons, a man the family knew from church. They moved north, about an hour drive from town. Sarah called Aunt Kara, who drove straight to the hospital. She arrived just as Sarah was getting ready to take David home. It was getting late, so she intended to call the school, explain what had happened and tell Mrs. Lowery that David would be home from school for a few days. Aunt Kara spoke with Sarah for a while and then she went in to see Ellen. Ellen’s cousin Otto left Green Ridge Valley to start a business in New York after Ellen’s uncle Jürgen died. Ellen hadn’t heard from him since she took Sarah to live with Margaret. Kara and Carl had no way of reaching him. By morning, Ellen was awake and able to speak. Kara declared that the Lord had “performed a wondrous miracle.” Ellen’s doctor was of the same opinion, although he didn’t put it quite in Aunt Kara’s terms when he pulled Carl aside to speak with him.

“Your wife is really very lucky. I think things are looking very promising. But it will be a little while before we know if there are any lasting effects. Sometimes there are coordination problems. But those can be managed, and we really must wait and see.”

“What caused this?” Carl asked.

“Well, did your wife have high blood pressure?”

Carl thought for a moment. “You know, I don’t really know. She never mentioned it. Sometimes she would get dizzy when she stood up.”

“I see. Well, her cholesterol is very high. Did you know that?”

Carl shook his head. “She never said anything about that either.”

The doctor put his hand on Carl’s shoulder. “We’re putting her on a medication for the cholesterol problem. And we’ll monitor her blood pressure while she’s here. We may put her on something for that too. It’s important that she be monitored when she gets home.”

Then he paused. “You know Carl, sometimes this kind of thing is genetic. I know about the mother. Do you know her father’s cause of death?”

“Well, as I heard it, he died in his sleep one night. Ellen’s grandmother found him dead when she woke up the next morning.”

The doctor nodded. “It could easily have been a stroke.”

Carl looked at the floor. “I guess it was a very blessed thing that we weren’t asleep.”

The doctor smiled. “Yes, it was. Your sister spent thirty minutes explaining to me that the Lord was watching over her. Maybe she’s right. But I am more than hopeful that this will come out well.”

Kara Larimore

Kara is the daughter of Grayson and Demetria Larimore. She was the middle child, younger sister of Margaret and older sister of Carl. Kara was a remarkably attractive woman and her mother often bragged that Kara was almost as good-looking as herself...well, when she was a "tad bit younger." She grew up in Green Ridge Valley, where Grayson and Demetria lived after moving from Boston. Kara was not big on school, and she was routinely absent. She definitely didn't like living in what she called "Farm Country." The nearby town had several "watering holes," as Demetria called them. Despite the rather rural name of Wheatville, there were plenty of places to party. Cinemas, restaurants, vaudeville theaters, variety shows, blues and ragtime performances, and burlesque clubs. Local owners, despite Demetria's term, billed their "watering holes" as "Jazz Clubs." This was fairly accurate since they did feature Jazz bands, and Kara was a big fan of Jazz, despite the fact that her mother saw Jazz as having a corrupting influence. But these clubs also served bootleg liquor. Kara and her friends spent much of their time in Wheatville and "road tripping." Before the family's move to Westbridge, Kara and Demetria had a fractious relationship, with Demetria constantly complaining that Kara wasn't taking life seriously enough, and lamenting Kara's frequent presence on the "wrong side of Wheatville." Once in Westbridge, Kara settled down, marrying the owner of a local hardware store named Gabriel Watson. After Gabriel died in a car accident, Kara married Russell Simmons, a real estate agent who was good friends with Carl and Zach. Kara was a good friend of Beatrice Masterson, sister of Millicent Monroe.  Kara and Russell later moved about 60 miles north of Westbridge. Kara resented her sister Margaret, believing that Margaret's endless health complaints were "all in her head," and often referring to her as a hypochondriac. But unlike Margaret, Kara remained a somewhat distant member of the Larimore family as far as Sarah and David were concerned. She is last encountered in the book as helping the family when Ellen has her stroke. Eventually, Kara and Russell move to the east coast.

Death became a topic that attracted his attention for much of his life. It is rather strange that this was not in a particularly personal way, emphasizing “particularly.” But it is the beginning of his quest that is important now. His quest to find peace with death began with an experience he had when he was 14. His parents dragged him to church every Sunday. Then, although not intentionally, they angered him even more by adding Sunday school on top of it. Death seemed to lurk everywhere at church as far as he could see, with a dying Christ nailed to the large cross hanging above the altar. He was a bit young, and the other kids in Sunday school didn’t care, but this interested him as much as it scared him. Of course, Christ lived again, and this interested him too. Aunt Margaret was always at church. She never married, and when David’s grandfather died in 1961, the year before, Aunt Margaret got most of his money. David’s father told him that his sister had been sick all her life, and so grandpa left his money to her. Dad never resented this very much. But Aunt Kara did, and said so whenever she had the chance.