Sunday, July 8th, 1956
12:15 p.m.
"Rindy, you hungry?"
Seated on one of the outdoor lounge chairs on the balcony, Rindy turned to look behind her to see Therese holding out two plates with sandwiches. "Yes." She placed the bookmark inside her well-worn copy of Charlotte's Web and moved it onto the small table next to her chair so she could take a plate in her lap.
"Would you like a lemonade?" Therese asked as she handed one of the paper plates to Rindy.
"Yes, please." She took the plate and placed it in her lap, looking at the sandwich, but making no effort to pick it up to eat. Therese put her own plate on the table by Rindy's book and walked to the kitchen to get the pitcher of lemonade and some glasses. The moment after she stepped out of the kitchen, she remembered that they had a can of potato chips that Abby had sent them the week before. Therese stepped back into the kitchen to get the can, trying to balance the lemonade and two glasses in her hands. She managed to wedge the two glasses under her arm, hold the lemonade in the other, and then carry the can of chips in her free hand.
Somehow she made it back to the balcony, and when Rindy saw her quickly reached for the potato chips. "I got it!" Rindy said as she took it from Therese's hand and placed it on her chair.
"Thanks." Therese muttered. She put down the glasses and then poured some lemonade for herself and Rindy. After she poured the drinks, Therese realized she forgot to cut them and scurried back to the kitchen to get a knife. She felt forgetful and scattered as she made her way to the cutlery drawer, sighing heavily as she found a serrated knife and returned to the balcony where Rindy had already opened the chips and was snacking on one at a time. "Sorry, I forgot to cut the sandwiches in half." Rindy looked at her sandwich and shrugged. "Down the middle, right?"
Rindy nodded and waited for Therese to cut the sandwich for her. "You know, your mom likes her sandwiches cut down the middle too."
"Yeah?"
"Yup."
Rindy had arrived early in the morning, driven over by Abby who usually delighted in taking the little girl for a ride in her car with the top retracted to enjoy the summer breeze. On this day though, it was bring Rindy to permanently live with Carol and Therese at the apartment on Madison Avenue, and sadly not under the best of circumstances. Abby stayed for coffee and cake, then scampered off back to New Jersey for brunch with her latest ginger fling.
"Do you know what time Mommy will be home?" asked Rindy.
"Very soon." Therese answered. "She said around one."
Rindy leaned over and picked up Therese's right wrist to look at her watch. Therese was completely thrown off by Rindy's action as the little girl took her arm to check the time. She paused for a second to wonder if Rindy had ever seen Carol do that to her before and picked it up from her. Or, maybe it was simply an instinctual, genetic trait of the women in their family. Rindy let go of Therese's hand and then went for the glass of lemonade that had begun to sweat in the sun. "It's almost one now." Rindy noted.
"Soon then."
It had been difficult to get Rindy to say much of anything since she had arrived at the house three hours earlier. She spent most of her time sitting out on the balcony, reading in the sun, and sipping a glass of orange juice Therese had given her as soon as she got there. Therese had to keep reminding her to stay in the shade, otherwise Rindy would come down with a serious case of sunburn and that was the last thing she and Carol needed to worry about at the moment.
The moment Carol walked in the door, she kicked off her heels and padded into the entryway to remove her hat and drop her purse. Therese heard the commotion at the front door and made her way over to Carol. Rindy practically ran to the door and up to her mother, who fiercely grabbed her and held Carol around her waist, unwilling to let go. She put her arm around Rindy, holding her and stroking her back as she clung to her. Carol was horribly sweaty, eyes puffy, the heel of her left stocking ripped, and desperate to remove the warm top she was wearing.
Carol crouched down and whispered something to Rindy. After a quick kiss on the forehead, Rindy ran back to the balcony to continue reading her book.
"How'd it go?" Therese asked once they were alone.
"Nothing like everyone shooting daggers at you for hours." Carol calmly mentioned as she unpinned the hat from her head. "How's she been?" She peered back over to the balcony where Rindy sat and read her book.
"Alright. We just finished lunch and I was about to start on unpacking more of Rindy's things." Therese replied. "She asked for you right after lunch."
Carol sighed. It was a sigh of worry that overtook her. "We should talk to her later."
Therese silently nodded in a agreement. Looking back to where Rindy sat, preoccupied with her book, Therese raised her fingers to the oversized black buttons of Carol's top and started to unbutton it from the top down for her. "There, I got you started. Go change, shower if you need to, then come back when you're done." Therese advised.
"I missed you, dearest." Before heading into the bedroom, Carol paused and wrapped her arms around Therese, kissing her cheek prior to letting her go. "I so wanted you there, even just to hold your hand."
"It's okay." Therese assured her. "You're home now. I'm here, Rindy's here. All together now, okay?"
Carol walked toward their bedroom, letting her black top fall to the floor of the hallway without a care in the world. Without a word, Therese picked it up and carried it to the closet hamper by the washing machine.
As she walked back into the living room, she observed on the mantle the framed photograph from one of the last times the four of them had gotten together.
Everyone smiling, everyone jovial. Everyone perfectly aware of the inevitable.
hr
7:50 p.m.
During the afternoon, Therese and Rindy set up the train set in an out-of-the-way space in the corner of the living room. It was better than having it set up in Rindy's bedroom, which was slightly smaller than the one she had back at her father's house. The two of them played with the train, put away clothes and other items in Rindy's room, and then watched Lassie together before bedtime. After the program, they played with the train set again and watched the little train glide around the corner of the living room. The gentle movements of the train were helpful for lulling Rindy into a sleepy mood most of the time, but not on this day. Carol walked over to the two sitting by the fireplace to announce it was Rindy's bedtime.
"Oh, Carol, just give us fifteen more minutes. We'll get everything put away." Therese asked.
"No, Rindy needs to get to bed now. It's getting late."
"Just let her stay up. At least today, please." Therese stood and walked over to Carol standing by the dining table. With a somewhat stern demeanor, Therese tapped on Carol's chest to emphasize her point. "You say no to her now, I'll say no to you later, Carol." Oblivious to the conversation happening in the dining room, Rindy played with her train and adjusted the figures in the little village at the center of the track loop.
Carol looked over Therese's shoulder to spot Rindy playing with her train, and immediately softened. She walked over to the sofa near where she was playing and sat down near her. "Fifteen minutes more, alright? Don't forget to also start putting away your toys."
"Okay, Mommy." Rindy answered.
Even if it was the middle of summer, she still needed something relaxing to calm her nerves and Rindy's. Therese wandered over to the kitchen to make some warm milk for the two of them; she loved when Rindy stayed over because she didn't need to make milk-for-one. This was altogether different. Rindy wasn't just spending the night. She was spending every night and Therese could make them a glass of warm milk every day if she wanted to.
After a few minutes, Rindy began to put away her train set without having to be prompted by her mother. She began to pack up the train tracks and put the figures into the little carrying case she kept all the smaller items in. Carol watched with curiosity as her daughter placed everything carefully into the case.
"What are you doing, Rindy?"
Rindy stopped and looked up at her mother, placing one of the figures carefully into the case. "Putting away my toys."
Carol hadn't realized that Rindy was so accustomed to having to completely put away her toys every time she visited. She only meant that Rindy needed to tidy up the space; it wasn't as though Rindy had to go back to New Jersey the next day. She was already home. "Sweetheart, you don't need to put everything away like that. You just need to clean up your toys and put everything into one place."
Rindy stopped and assessed her train set to see if it was neat enough for the corner of the room. It was tidy and organized, not in the way at all and no small pieces stuck to the carpeting for anyone to trip on or get stuck to their feet.
"I'm not sleepy, Mommy," Rindy announced once she was content with the toys she had neatly put away.
"You're usually so sleepy when you stay up after eight."
"But I don't want to go to bed."
"Why, darling?"
Rindy looked back at her somewhat dismantled train set then back at her mother. "Every time I sleep over, Therese can't sleep in her bed." She tried to peer into the kitchen, but couldn't clearly see Therese. "Now I'm here all the time, where is Therese going to sleep? Where's her room?"
At first, Carol was taken aback by Rindy's words, and stared at her, unsure of how to possibly explain any of this to an eight year old. It wasn't as though she hadn't to have enough tough conversations with her daughter over the course of the past five days. Either way, it was inevitable that Rindy would ask given the new arrangements. There were only the two actual bedrooms, with the third one converted into Therese's darkroom with impossibly thick blackout curtains and a blocked window. She was already accustomed to seeing the two of them sleeping in the same big bed whenever she wandered in there in the middle of the night with her teddy bear.
"That's your bedroom now, Rindy. That's where your clothes and toys are now, right?"
"Yes."
"So that's your room, and just your room - no one else's."
Rindy walked over to her mother and looked at her, still confused. "Yes, but where is Therese going to sleep now?"
Carol carefully patted her lap and Rindy crawled up onto it as Carol wrapped her arms around her neck. "Ever since we moved here a few years ago, Therese has been sleeping in the big bed with me in the big bedroom," she softly explained over the little girl's shoulder. "When you're a grown-up, you can share your bed with another grown-up who you love the most in the whole world. And you can kiss and cuddle and hold them to show them exactly how much they are loved."
Just as Carol finished speaking, Therese rounded the corner into the living room with a tray holding a plate of cookies and two glasses of warm milk. She placed it on the coffee table by the sofa where Carol and Rindy sat, completely unaware of the conversation mother and daughter had recently had. Rindy scooted off her mother's lap and immediately ran to put her arms around Therese, holding her tightly and smiling.
"Mommy loves you more than any other grown-up in the whole wide world, and I love you too."
Therese had never had the occasion to smile so much before in her entire life.