Eternal Journey Read Online Free Page B

flashes of the brilliant and tragic comedian and his companions in those now famous television skits
     danced before her eyes.

    “Annie, we shouldn’t be eating strawberry shortcake this late at night,” Beth had exclaimed as she piled a generous helping
     of ice cream and strawberries over the just-baked shortcake.
    “Oh, will you relax?” Anna retorted. “We’ll laugh off all those calories. Hurry up!
Saturday Night Live
just started. Besides, we walked all over the North End today, fought our way through Filene’s Basement, and practically
     ran down Boylston Street from Copley to Kenmore Square. You’re worried about a few calories?”
    After graduating from the University of Maryland, they had ended up in Boston. Eventually they both attended Boston University,
     with Anna studying psychology and Beth law.
Saturday Night Live
started out as a filler for those dateless Saturday nights and grew to become their favorite way to end the week. Before
     long, they had an apartment full of people every Saturday night, with their own cast of characters and wanna-bes, almost as
     funny as Chevy and Bill, John and Dan, Jane and Gilda. Back then, the silliness and satire created a perfect backdrop to the
     transition to adulthood that was challenging Anna and her friends. Anna would see patients all week and then be grilled each
     Friday morning by her supervising psychologist as to approach and intervention. Beth would spend hours in the law library
     each morning before she was off to the Legal Aid clinic in Boston’s South End. Anna would leave Boston City Hospital, meet
     up with Beth, and they would hop the MBTA back to Commonwealth Avenue. It was on one of those Saturday nights during the sparring
     between Jane and Gilda as they reported on the “news” of the day that Tom and Beth announced their engagement. They were married
     the week after Beth sat for the bar exam, and within three years had produced two beautiful baby girls. Even then, every Saturday
     night, either Anna or Beth would call the other as the guest host of the week appeared on the screen. That ritual abruptly
     ended the week John Belushi died. It was as if someone had pulled the plug on their escape route. Yet as the cancer ate away
     at her friend’s spirit, Anna had sent Beth a whole set of
Saturday Night Live
tapes from the early years, knowing that laughter was good for the soul.

    The fog was lifting slightly. Anna thought she heard a rustle and some footsteps. A brief but intense fear spread through
     her, until she realized she was on Martha’s Vineyard and not in South Florida. She turned to see the stranger for the third
     time now, and realized it was tears, not fog, blurring her vision.
    He had given her quite a start. Could he have heard her talking to the wind?
    The rain started softly as Anna stared at the stranger. This was now their third encounter, making her feel very uncomfortable
     and unusually vulnerable. Was he following her? Her guard was not totally down. Who is this man and why is he here? she wondered.
     How should she handle this? Conflicting thoughts clouded her consciousness, and then she began to feel angry. Anna had stood
     up abruptly and was looking directly at him when she suddenly realized this man must be the guest of the Duffys—the person
     staying at the house next door whom Becky had mentioned. Then she noticed the man’s bike.
    “An early-morning bike ride is good for the body, and the soul,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “However, I hadn’t planned
     on rain. I headed toward the light and here you are!”
    “Well, you show up at the most interesting times, and in the most unexpected places,” she said as she began walking toward
     the Explorer. “Come on, I can drive you back to the house. We’ll both catch our death”—she flinched as she uttered the words—
     “of cold if we stay here any longer.”
    They quickened the pace, reaching the Explorer just as the rain began in