{"id":3735,"date":"2020-07-18T10:01:56","date_gmt":"2020-07-18T17:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/?p=3735"},"modified":"2020-07-19T08:19:34","modified_gmt":"2020-07-19T15:19:34","slug":"the-same-woman-helen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/archives\/3735","title":{"rendered":"The Same Woman (Helen)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Every so often in his life, Andrew meets a woman he recognizes as someone he has known forever, though he has never seen her before. The first time this happened was in 1955<\/a> when Andrew was six-years-old, and it happened again in 1962<\/a>, 1966<\/a>, 1970<\/a>, 1978<\/a>, 1987<\/a>, 1993<\/a>, 1998<\/a>, 2002<\/a>, and 2006<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2206<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2012. Andrew and his wife Luisa are both sixty-four,\nAndrew\u2019s short brown hair mostly gray, Luisa\u2019s long black hair showing strands\nof gray and white. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writers and musicians, Andrew and Luisa have been\nmarried for twenty-five years and live in a four-bedroom house Andrew built\nthirty-six years ago a couple miles from the beach and ten miles north of\nVancouver, British Columbia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew has published eight collections of short\nstories and written several plays and screenplays with Luisa, six of them made\ninto movies, with eight of their plays now staples of the worldwide theatre\nrepertoire. Luisa has published two collections of short stories, a novella\nthat was made into a movie, and two popular Children\u2019s books. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew\u2019s son Owen is thirty and lives in Ireland\nwith his wife Miyoshi, both of them employed by the movie producer and director\nNicolas Thorsen. Owen is Thorsen\u2019s First Assistant Director and Miyoshi is Thorsen\u2019s\ncinematographer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luisa\u2019s daughter Lily is also thirty. She and her\ndaughter Jalecia, who is two-and-a-half, have lived with Andrew and Luisa since\na few months before Jalecia was born, though now it would be truer to say that Jalecia\nlives with Andrew and Luisa, and Lily comes to visit when she has a free week\nor two between acting gigs, which is not often these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for the last four years, Andrew and Luisa have\nbeen two of the three parents of Teo and Rosa, delightful five-year-old\nfraternal twins Andrew fathered with Adriana who, when she conceived Teo and\nRosa, was partners with a woman named Maru. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Adriana and Maru asked Andrew to contribute his\ngenes to make a baby with Adriana, the plan was for Andrew and Luisa to be\nuncle and aunt to the progeny while Maru and Adriana would be the parents. But\nwhen the twins were nine-months-old, shockingly, Maru fell in love with another\nwoman and shortly thereafter Adriana moved with her babies from Maru\u2019s house in\nVancouver to the other house on Luisa and Andrew\u2019s property. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that Teo and Rosa are in kindergarten, and\ngiven Andrew and Luisa\u2019s willingness to shoulder much of the parenting duties, Adriana\nhas returned to fulltime work as a jazzercise instructor and percussionist. And\nfor the summer months, Andrew and Luisa are the primary every-day parents of\nRosa and Teo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2206<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a warm and sunny morning in July\u2014Lily in New York playing the part of a psychic policewoman in a big budget thriller, Adriana booked all day at the recording studio, and Luisa needing a morning sans children to catch up on business correspondence\u2014Andrew loads the trusty red Prius with beach supplies, secures the three children in their car seats, and drives them to nearby Lions Bay Beach for a morning of playing in the sand followed by lunch, a nap for Jalecia, and story time for Teo and Rosa until Jalecia wakes up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2206<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are only a few other people on the beach today\nas Andrew and Teo and Rosa and Jalecia trek across the sand to set up camp\nunder their big yellow beach umbrella a hundred feet back from the incoming\nwaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Umbrella planted deep, Andrew slathers the trio\nwith sunblock and reminds Teo and Rosa not to go into the water over their knees\nunless he is right there with them. When everyone is sufficiently slathered,\nTeo and Rosa race to the water with Jalecia in pursuit and Andrew close behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2206<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After building three mighty sand castles to defend\nthe coast against monsters and pirates, they toss Frisbees for twenty minutes,\nwalk a mile south and back, and hunker down under the umbrella to have lunch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And at the height of their picnic, an attractive middle-aged\nwoman with shoulder-length gray hair dressed in khaki shorts and blue\nsweatshirt, expensive camera in hand, approaches their encampment, takes off\nher dark glasses, and says with a pleasing British accent, \u201cWould you mind if I\ntook some pictures of your children? They are my dream come true.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo you mind having your pictures taken?\u201d asks\nAndrew, consulting the kids who are engrossed in their almond butter and banana\nsandwiches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t mind,\u201d says Rosa, her recent growth spurt\nmaking her a few inches taller than Teo, much to Teo\u2019s chagrin, both of them\ntall for five. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll show you my muscles,\u201d says Teo, his mouth\nfull. \u201cAfter story time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWonderful,\u201d says the woman, taking pictures of\nJalecia who is about to fall asleep as she always does after chasing Teo and\nRosa around for a few hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJoin us for cookies and lemonade?\u201d asks Andrew,\nwho feels certain he knows this woman from somewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLove to,\u201d she says, coming under the umbrella and\nkneeling a few feet from Andrew. \u201cI\u2019ve seen you and your children here many\ntimes, often in the company of a beautiful woman with long black hair. We\u2019re\nrenting a house, my daughter and I, just a half-mile north of here and I walk\nthis beach every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHalf-mile north?\u201d says Andrew, looking in that\ndirection. \u201cIn the little enclave of houses just back of the dunes? I ask\nbecause I helped build three of those forty years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, in the enclave,\u201d she says, gazing intently\nat him. \u201cOurs is the one with the observation tower accessed via the spiral\nstaircase. My daughter and I call it the crow\u2019s nest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was the last of the three houses we built\nthere,\u201d he says, recalling those difficult years when his initial success as a\nwriter lasted but briefly and he returned to carpentry to support his first\nwife, Owen\u2019s mother, and Owen. \u201cBest of the three by far.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful house,\u201d she says, raising her\ncamera to capture Teo and Rosa gazing solemnly at their father. \u201cWe\u2019ve lived\nthere for five months now, my daughter and I, and every day we marvel at where\nwe are. We\u2019re from London and plan to be here another year and a half.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPoppy?\u201d says Teo, continuing to gaze solemnly at\nhis father. \u201cCan we go see the house you built?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, we\u2019ll go by there,\u201d he says, noting the\nchildren have finished their sandwiches. \u201cAre we ready for cookies?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want a cookie,\u201d says Jalecia, her face and\nhands smeared with almond butter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst we wash,\u201d says Andrew, extracting a washcloth\nfrom one of his bags, dousing it with a splash of water, and deftly wiping\nJalecia\u2019s face and hands. He douses a second washcloth and gives it to Teo who\ncursorily wipes his face before passing the washcloth to Rosa who takes a bit\nmore care washing her face and hands before handing the towel back to Andrew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cookies dispensed, Jalecia takes a bite of hers and\noffers the rest to the woman. \u201cWant my cookie? I tired.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you,\u201d says the woman, taking the cookie.\n\u201cMy name is Helen. What is your name?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJalecia,\u201d she says, yawning majestically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with that the little girl lies down and\npromptly falls asleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust like me every day at three,\u201d says Helen,\nlaughing merrily. \u201cThe requisite nap before tea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m Andrew, by the way,\u201d says Andrew, certain now\nhe has never met her before, but feeling he knows her. \u201cAnd this is Rosa and\nTeo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s our father,\u201d says Rosa, pointing at Andrew,\n\u201cbut he\u2019s Jalecia\u2019s grandfather.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat means I lose the bet,\u201d says Helen, looking\nfrom Rosa to Andrew. \u201cI guessed your were the father of all three, and my\ndaughter guessed correctly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo be explained further when young ears are\ndistracted,\u201d says Andrew, dispensing two more cookies to the twins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know<\/em>\nwhat that means,\u201d says Teo, giving Andrew a disparaging look. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan we tell stories now?\u201d asks Rosa, nodding\nexpectantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSuch is our tradition,\u201d says Andrew, smiling at Helen.\n\u201cYou\u2019re welcome to stay, but I warn you the stories go on for a good long\ntime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you, but I should go,\u201d she says, handing him\nher card. \u201cI so appreciate the opportunity to photograph your children, and should\nyou want to show them the inside of the magnificent house you built, please\ngive me a call.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2206<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the kids are asleep that night\u2014Jalecia in her\nbedroom in the big house, Teo and Rosa in their bedroom in what the children\ncall the little house<\/em>, Adriana in the\nliving room of the little house entertaining her current love interest, a\nMoroccan woman named Hadiya\u2014Luisa googles Helen\nLesser photographer<\/em> and learns she is a photojournalist and fine art\nphotographer, sixty-four, and has a forty-two-year-old daughter, Diana Isaverb,\na poet and painter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to meet them,\u201d says Luisa, coming into\nthe living room. \u201cShall we invite them for supper?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think maybe we should go look at the house\nfirst,\u201d says Andrew, sprawled on the sofa, exhausted from his long day of\ntaking care of the kids. \u201cI know you\u2019ll like Helen, but something tells me we\nmight want to meet her daughter on their home turf before we have them over\nhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d asks Luisa, sitting down to rub Andrew\u2019s\nfeet. \u201cYou think Diana might be crazy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, not crazy,\u201d says Andrew, yawning. \u201cJust\u2026 there\nwas something about the way Helen said my\ndaughter<\/em> that made me think Diana was a child and not an adult, though Google\nsays she\u2019s forty-two. Do you know what I mean?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do,\u201d says Luisa, wistfully. \u201cI have a daughter\nwho\u2019s still a child at thirty and gave us Jalecia to raise because she doesn\u2019t\nwant to stop<\/em> being a child.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe could put our foot down,\u201d says Andrew, loving\nLuisa rubbing his feet. \u201cDemand she spend more time here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luisa laughs at the absurdity of demanding anything from Lily, and Andrew laughs with her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2206<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two days later, Andrew calls Helen to make a date\nto bring Luisa and the kids to see the house, Helen invites them for lunch a\nfew days hence, Andrew accepts, and Helen says, \u201cThere\u2019s something I need to\ntell you about my daughter Diana before you come. Is this a good time?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, fine,\u201d says Andrew, going out on the deck\noverlooking the garden where Luisa and the children are picking snow peas and\npulling carrots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was a single mother and Diana my only child. She\nnever knew her father. He was a charming Turk who seduced me when I was on\nholiday in France and I never saw him again.\u201d She laughs self-consciously. \u201cBut\nthat\u2019s not the main thing I wanted to tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTell me as much as you like,\u201d says Andrew, loving\nthe cadence of her speech. \u201cI have at least<\/em>\nanother five minutes before the kids come charging in from the garden.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood,\u201d she says, clearing her throat. \u201cSo\u2026 Diana\nand I were extremely close until she was eighteen and took up with a much older\nman I didn\u2019t approve of. We quarreled and she left and didn\u2019t speak to me again\nfor thirteen years, though I was aware of her because she became a fairly\nwell-known poet and artist, and then we got to be friends again when she was in\nher early thirties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat prompted the reunion?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe came to a show of my photographs,\u201d says\nHelen, opening a sliding glass door and going outside, the ocean roaring faintly\nin the background. \u201cThen she called and said she liked the show and wondered if\nI would take the author photo for her next volume of poetry, and I did, and we\ngot close again. And then six years ago she had a child, a boy named Nathan,\nand two years ago when Nathan was four\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew waits for Helen to stop crying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSorry,\u201d she says, clearing her throat again. \u201cHe\ndied in a car crash and Diana had a breakdown from which she has largely recovered,\nbut she\u2019s still quite dependent on me. I tell you all this because I know meeting\nyour children will be very emotional for her, in a good way, but if you would\nrather not come, I completely understand. She\u2019s a lovely person, but still\nfragile, so\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019d love to come,\u201d says Andrew, wanting more\nthan ever to visit them. \u201cWas your daughter involved in the accident?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo. Her ex-husband was bringing Nathan home after\nhaving him for his one weekend a month and didn\u2019t put Nathan in the car seat\nand\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWas her ex-husband killed, too?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes,\u201d says Helen, whispering. \u201cI don\u2019t think Diana\nwould ever have recovered if that horrid man was still alive and Nathan gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2206<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having been warned multiple times by Luisa not to\ntouch anything without first asking permission, Teo and Rosa climb out of the\ncar and gaze in wonder at the spectacular two-story house with a fanciful\nobservation tower rising ten feet above the peak of the roof, the ocean\u2019s roar\nmuted by massive sand dunes to the west of the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a castle,\u201d says Teo, running ahead of\neveryone to ring the doorbell\u2014Rosa and Jalecia and Luisa and Andrew catching up\nto him just as the door opens and here is Helen in a blue paisley dress, and\nDiana, a strikingly beautiful woman with dark olive skin and black hair in a\nshort ponytail, wearing red pedal pushers and a black T-shirt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWelcome,\u201d says Helen, beaming. \u201cYou must be Luisa.\nThis is my daughter Diana.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHi,\u201d says Diana, her eyes darting from child to\nchild. \u201cCome in, come in. We just took the bread and cookies out of the oven.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teo follows Diana and Helen into the house and\nstops abruptly to gawk at the immense room with a vaulted ceiling and huge\nwindows looking out on the dunes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou<\/em>\nbuilt this, Poppy?\u201d he says, gaping at his father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did,\u201d says Andrew, entering with Jalecia holding\nhis hand. \u201cWith Max and Rico.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou built a temple,\u201d says Diana, smiling shyly at Andrew. \u201cFor those who worship the dunes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2206<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They dine on the big deck outside the kitchen,\nDiana sitting between Rosa and Luisa, Jalecia on Luisa\u2019s lap, Teo across the\ntable from Diana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helen serves lunch and explains, \u201cI\u2019m finally taking my sabbatical after twenty years of teaching Photography at Westminster College. We\u2019ve wanted to come back here for thirty years, ever since Diana came with me on an assignment to take pictures of the orcas for a nature magazine and we stayed in a beach house near Nanaimo for a few days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was twelve,\u201d says Diana, watching Teo happily devour\nhis chicken sandwich. \u201cBut I never forgot the wonderful time we had here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A moment later, Luisa transfers Jalecia from her\nlap to Diana\u2019s lap, and the little girl stays with Diana for the rest of the\nmeal, Diana overjoyed to be holding her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2206<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After lunch everyone goes up the spiral staircase\nto the observation tower where Rosa and Teo take turns looking through the\ntelescope and complaining the other is hogging the telescope, and from there the\nparty moves outside and everyone climbs to the top of the dunes from where Teo\nand Rosa race down to the seaside bottom and trudge back up to the top three\ntimes, Jalecia watching from her perch on Poppy\u2019s shoulders and Helen taking\npictures of the kids while Luisa and Diana return to the house to set the table\nfor tea and cookies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve made us very happy today,\u201d says Helen, as\nshe and Andrew trail Teo and Rosa and Jalecia to the house. \u201cThank you so much\nfor coming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur pleasure,\u201d says Andrew, taking her hand.\n\u201cLet\u2019s do this again soon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe would love that,\u201d she says, bowing her head\nand weeping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve had a hard go,\u201d says Andrew, resisting his\nimpulse to embrace her. \u201cIt\u2019s good to cry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh we cry every day,\u201d she says, looking up at\nhim, her face radiant. \u201cWe flood the temple with our tears.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2206<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After tea and cookies, Diana takes the kids to see\nher studio adjacent to the house, a large rectangular room with\nfloor-to-ceiling windows facing the dunes, two large tables in the center of\nthe room, and seven large canvases hanging on the walls, none of them yet touched\nwith paint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Andrew and Luisa and Helen arrive in the\nstudio doorway, Rosa rushes over to them and says, \u201cGuess what? We\u2019re going to draw\nand paint with Diana and make things with clay. Not today, but maybe soon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to paint a gigantic spaceship,\u201d says\nTeo, defiantly. \u201cAnd make rockets out of clay for blowing up aliens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat if the aliens are friendly?\u201d asks Andrew, sounding\nconcerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen we\u2019ll invite them for lunch,\u201d says Teo, frowning\nthoughtfully. \u201cOnce we find out what they like to eat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2206<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the rest of the summer, every Tuesday and\nThursday morning after breakfast, Andrew or Luisa drops Teo and Rosa and\nJalecia off at Helen and Diana\u2019s house to make art and play on the beach,\nfollowed by lunch, and then Andrew or Luisa picks the kids up and brings them\nhome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When kindergarten resumes in September, Teo and\nRosa and Jalecia spend Tuesday and Thursday afternoons with Diana and Helen and\nsometimes stay for supper, sometimes not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Andrew and Luisa these hours without the\nchildren are golden hours of writing and music making and interacting with\nother adults and lolling around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the children, these hours with Diana and Helen\nare golden hours of drawing and painting and making things out of clay and playing\non the beach and eating sugary things forbidden at home and being adored by the\nwonderful Helen and Diana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Helen these hours with the children are golden\nhours of taking pictures of the kids and reading stories to them and feeding\nthem and being the grandmother she loves to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Diana, these hours with the children are her\nsalvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2206<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once or twice a week, Helen and Diana come to\nAndrew and Luisa\u2019s for supper, and when the kids have gone to bed, the adults\ngather in the living room to talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a stormy evening in October, the kids fast\nasleep, Andrew and Luisa and Helen and Diana sit by the fire enjoying tea and\npumpkin pie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHard to believe,\u201d says Helen, gazing into the\nflames, \u201cthat a year from now I\u2019ll be in London again, teaching Photography and\nwishing I was here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut you\u2019ll be staying, won\u2019t you?\u201d asks Luisa,\nlooking at Diana with whom she has grown very close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d says Diana, anguished. \u201cI love it\nhere so much, but I can\u2019t imagine staying without Mum, so I might go back, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOr you could stay here and I\u2019ll be back in the\nsummer,\u201d says Helen, smiling bravely. \u201cBut lets not think about it now. We have\nall winter and spring and summer again before I have to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know, of course,\u201d says Andrew, sounding very serious,\n\u201cthat you\u2019ll have to take the kids with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey much prefer you to us,\u201d says Luisa, sipping\nher tea. \u201cThey tell us every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt least twice,\u201d says Andrew, nodding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause we spoil them,\u201d says Diana, smiling\nsublimely. \u201cBecause we give them candy and chocolate and aren\u2019t the ones who make\nthem go to bed before they want to. Because we are doting Aunty and Grandma and\nnot Mama and Poppy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe love that you spoil them,\u201d says Luisa, getting\nup to put another log on the fire. \u201cWe are too overwhelmed to spoil them, and\ntheir mother\u2026 as much as we love Adriana, is like my daughter Lily and prefers\nher children in small doses and not all day every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The humans fall silent, rain drumming on the roof.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve started writing again,\u201d says Diana, glancing\nshyly at Andrew and Luisa. \u201cFirst time in\u2026 three years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s exciting,\u201d says Luisa, resuming her place\non the sofa beside Diana. \u201cWe could have a reading. Andrew just finished the\nrough of a new story and if we set a date he\u2019ll feel compelled to rewrite it. You\ncould read some poems, I could read a story, and Helen could give a slide show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you say a\nreading<\/em>,\u201d says Diana, anxiously, \u201cyou mean\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA few friends here in the living room,\u201d says\nAndrew, reassuringly. \u201cWe\u2019re introverts. Quite the opposite of our children, the\nolder ones and<\/em> the younger ones, but\nwe do like reading for our friends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSpeaking of slide shows,\u201d says Helen, pausing\nmomentously, \u201cI showed my publisher some of the pictures I\u2019ve taken of Teo and\nRosa and Jalecia, and they absolutely love them. So what we\u2019re thinking, with\nyour permission, is to make a book of photos of the kids accompanied by Diana\u2019s\npoems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAssuming I haven\u2019t lost the knack,\u201d says Diana, feeling\na sudden resurgence of doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure you haven\u2019t,\u201d says Luisa,\nmatter-of-factly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure, too,\u201d says Andrew, nodding in\nagreement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy are you both so sure?\u201d asks Diana, on the\nverge of tears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything about you makes us sure,\u201d says Luisa, smiling\nat her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou speak in poems, Diana,\u201d says Andrew, raising\nhis cup to her. \u201cYou are<\/em> the knack.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2206<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As often happens when Andrew and Luisa decide to\nhave a party, a few friends quickly becomes more than a few, and on a cold\nclear night in December, forty people crowd into the living room for hors\nd\u2019oeuvres and wine and beer as prelude to the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew and Luisa open with a song, Andrew reads a funny\nstory about a sour old man sweetened by the coming of a cat into his life, and\nLuisa reads a story about fishing with her grandmother when she was a girl and\nhow her grandmother tried to teach her the facts of life by describing how pike\nprocreate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And lastly Diana reads a lovely narrative poem\nthat begins with the first time she saw Teo and Rosa and Jalecia on the beach\nwith Andrew, and ends with her arriving at Andrew and Luisa\u2019s house to read the\npoem to those who are here, the body of the poem telling how making art with\nthe children has empowered her to release the spirit of her son from the prison\nof her grief. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2206<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six months later, in June of 2013, Adriana informs\nLuisa and Andrew she is moving to Spain with her partner Hadiya and will take\nTeo and Rosa with her unless Andrew and Luisa want the kids to stay with them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew and Luisa insist<\/em> the kids stay with them, and in mid-July, Adriana flies away,\nafter which Teo and Rosa move permanently into the big house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while Andrew makes needed repairs to the little\nhouse before they have the interior repainted, Luisa informs several friends that\nshe and Andrew are looking for someone wonderful to live in the little house\nand help with cooking and cleaning and shopping and taking care of the\nchildren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2206<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two weeks after Adriana flies away, Andrew goes to\npick up the kids at Helen and Diana\u2019s and finds Diana waiting for him in the\ndriveway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFeels like I\u2019ve been out here for hours waiting\nfor you,\u201d she says, laughing anxiously. \u201cThe watched pot and all that, only in\nthis case I watched the road.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d he asks urgently. \u201cKids okay?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, there fine. They\u2019re with Mum in the\nkitchen.\u201d She fights her tears. \u201cI want to live in the little house, Andrew,\nand help take care of the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe thought you were going back to England with\nHelen,\u201d he says, opening his arms to her. \u201cThat\u2019s the only reason we didn\u2019t ask\nyou.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I can live with you and Luisa and the kids,\u201d\nshe says, stepping into his embrace, \u201cthen I won\u2019t need to go back. It was\nliving alone I was afraid of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2206<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helen stays with Diana in the little house for the\nlast week of August before she flies back to London, and during that week she\ntakes another thousand pictures of the children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2206<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the beach the day before she is to leave, Helen\nstands with Andrew watching the kids playing in the shallows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will miss the children,\u201d says Helen, raising\nher camera to capture Rosa holding Jalecia\u2019s hand as a gentle wave breaks\nagainst their bodies\u2014Teo much further out than the girls, the water above his\nwaist. \u201cBut I will miss you most of all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll miss you, too,\u201d he says, keeping his eyes on\nthe children. \u201cVery much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad to know you\u2019ll miss me,\u201d she says, lowering\nher camera to gaze at him. \u201cHaving missed you all my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou mean someone like<\/em> me?\u201d he asks, looking at her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo,\u201d she says, raising her camera and taking\npicture after picture of his face. \u201cSpecifically you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 fin<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Last Time<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every so often in his life, Andrew meets a woman he recognizes as someone he has known forever, though he has never seen her before. The first time this happened was in 1955 when Andrew was six-years-old, and it happened again in 1962, 1966, 1970, 1978, 1987, 1993, 1998, 2002, and 2006. \u2206 2012. Andrew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5994,5997,1645,5996,5998,3910,76,5999,51,5995,5993,5973,9,33,6000,109],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3735"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3743,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735\/revisions\/3743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underthetablebooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}