QUOTE : That’s nice.” Nicole’s hands are trembling. She grips her coffee mug hard to make them stop. “That they’d do that for strangers.”<br /><br />“Yes. Maybe. I mean, I don’t see it as people helping strangers.”<br /><br />“What do you see it as?”<br /><br />“I see it as people helping people who can’t help themselves at a particular moment in their lives. We all have times that we fall down and hit the dirt. Sometimes it’s just harder to get up than others. That’s where they come in. Helping hands I guess you could call it.”<br /><br />Nicole nods, thinking about that. Agnes makes it sound so normal, to check out of life and give up, to stay in John’s house and suffer the abuse for another week, another month, another year. Just like falling down and having a hard time getting up. Yeah, right. Wouldn’t you like to believe that.<br /><br />Nicole snorts in disgust at herself.<br /><br />“What? You don’t agree?” Agnes turns to face her.<br /><br />“No.” Nicole stares into her cup. “It’s one thing to fall down in the dirt. It’s another to lie down in it and refuse to get up.”<br /><br />“The point is, you do get up. You got up. You’re up.” She smiles and nudges Nicole’s leg. “Right?”<br /><br />Nicole wants to smile. She really does. But her face will only twitch. “I got up because someone picked me up, not because I did it on my own.”<br /><br />“Pish posh. Up is up. Doesn’t matter how you got there. Besides, doesn’t it feel glorious to know that someone cares enough to do the heavy lifting?” She sighs loudly and dramatically. “Oh to be young again and have a strong, handsome Galahad to come by and sweep me off my feet.” She looks at Nicole and smiles. “You’re such a lucky girl.”<br /><br />Lucky is the very last word in the English language Nicole would have used to describe herself a month ago, but now that Agnes mentions it, it’s impossible to deny how much it applies today. “Are you talking about Brian?”<br /><br />“Of course I’m talking about Brian. Do you see any other Galahads around these parts?” She sweeps her arm out towards the yard.<br /><br />The smile won’t stay away now. Nicole feels her face turning pink with it. “It’s not like that with him.”<br /><br />“Fiddlesticks. That boy is ripe for the picking. What’s stopping you?”<br /><br />Nicole’s smile fades. “I would think that’s fairly obvious.”<br /><br />Agnes stands. “You know, there’s a reason why certain expressions never go away and endure the test of time. It’s because they’re as real today as they were a hundred years ago.”<br /><br />“What expressions?” Nicole asks, confused.<br /><br />“Love is blind.” Agnes reaches out a hand and strokes Nicole’s cheek. “Love sees inside the person. It doesn’t stop at the surface. That stuff is all just window dressing, anyway. It says nothing about what you’re really getting. If a man loves you when you look your worst, you know he’s a keeper. They’re a rare breed, too, so I don’t recommend walking away from it easily.”