CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
It had been six months since the accident. It was June 14, 1947. Connie was still in a coma. Ruby and Henry had just entered Connie’s hospital room. They stood at her bedside and talked briefly with Father Oliver before he returned to the solitude of his prayers, as was his habit. Ruby and Henry pulled up chairs to Connie’s bedside and made themselves as comfortable as they could for their daily visit. Sometimes they came in the morning; sometimes in the afternoon.
Connie’s physical condition continued to improve with the passage of each week, although her road to full recovery would be a long one—if she recovered. Her jaw was no longer wired shut, but it was heavily bandaged from on-going mini-surgeries. Her legs were still in a plaster cradle, and the bones were healing through several surgeries. She had healed quite a bit and no longer had any bruises. Even her scars, which had been everywhere, no longer looked like angry welts. No one had ever given up hope. They told themselves that she could snap out of it any minute—bingo!—just like that!
When Ruby and Henry visited, they spoke to her directly, as if she were fully involved in their conversation, taking turns telling her how many of her friends were asking about her and sharing their news, while wanting to believe that Connie could hear everything despite her inactivity. Dr. von Hoerner encouraged them to talk to her, and they did. Every day since their first time with her, they spoke with her. It gave them hope. Sometimes Ruby would sing to Connie. The song she sang most often was “Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral,” an Irish lullaby. It was a song that became a hit when Bing Crosby sang it in “Going My Way” in 1944. Ruby liked it; she thought it was soothing:
A Love Story with a Little Heartbreak Page 25