Saving Anna Karenina

Part 47

Start with Part 1, and read a short synopsis of the original book.

It wasn’t easy to find her. The Chapman woman had no idea what had happened since Anna went into the psych ward, and that had been three months ago. The couple had given up on her, apparently. So much for bleeding hearts.

The hospital wouldn’t give him any details of course. But Pete did finagle the number for the patient payphone. A shrill voice answered after one ring. He asked for Anna.

“She left,” said the woman. “Why? Who are you?”

“A friend,” said Pete.

“Oh yeah? She never had any visitors. What kind of a friend are you? Well it’s too late now. She went to Kathleen’s.”

“Oh?” said Pete. “Listen, I need to find her, I really owe her an apology. Do you know Kathleen’s last name?”

“You certainly do owe her an apology. I hope you bring her champagne, and chocolate covered strawberries.” The woman cackled maniacally.

“Good advice. Any other suggestions?”

“I have plenty of advice,” said the voice. “But you don’t want to hear my advice. So, were you her boyfriend? I didn’t know she had a boyfriend in New York. We only heard about Vronsky. Oh, Vronsky.” The woman put on a dramatic English accent when she said his name. Pete heard a commotion on the other end of the line now, some people shouting. He waited, hoping she wouldn’t hang up. He heard shuffling over the speaker, and then she was back on the line.

“Kathleen ordered caviar for the whole ward. But she was an anti-Semite.” She paused. Pete held his breath. “Greenblatt.”

The line went dead. Pete wondered how could a woman named Greenblatt could be an anti-Semite. Kathleen. Probably an Irish broad who married a Jew and then divorced.

This is part 47 of a serialized novella being published each Thursday. It is a speculative sequel to Leo Tolstoy’s novel, Anna Karenina.

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46

I’m the author of Oh, the Places Where You’ll Have a Nervous Breakdown.