The School for Good Mothers(93)

Tucker said the fathers were never given talking points. Sunday calls were never canceled due to technical difficulties. Frida wants to know if Tucker’s ex-wife will allow her near their son, if Gust will allow Tucker near Harriet. She needs to be patient. Soon, she’ll be free to have her own thoughts and feelings. She has a year of crying stored up. Sometimes it feels heavy in her body.

In the gymnasium, the mothers watch videos on poverty. There are segments on the global refugee crisis, homelessness in America, natural disasters. They must learn to speak to their children about world events. If they’ve had personal experience with poverty, they’re encouraged to share these experiences with their doll.

Back in Morris, the instructors distribute tablets loaded with conscience-provoking imagery: homeless camps, refugees washing ashore on a rubber boat, children in third world slums. The mothers begin teaching their dolls new words. Humanitarian crisis. Migration. Borders. Human rights.

Frida narrates the images like a picture book: Why is that man dirty? Why doesn’t he have shoes? Why is he sleeping under a pile of garbage?

“He bad,” Emmanuelle says.

“No. It’s because his life took a wrong turn and sometimes when people don’t have anyone to help them, they end up on the street.”

“Sad-sad.”

“Yes, sad like the birdie. But big-sad, because he’s a person.”

Ms. Khoury praises Frida for making connections, the praise so rare it feels imaginary.

Frida teaches Emmanuelle about shelters and soup kitchens, halfway houses and rehab programs. She says, “Imagine what it’s like to be homeless in winter, imagine when it’s raining.” She discusses the universal right to food and shelter.

Emmanuelle points to the door of the equipment room. “Home.”

Frida says, “Not everyone is so lucky.”



* * *



Frida is thinking about hearts and minds, towns and houses. Light that comes in sideways and not at all. Another house in another city. Seattle or Santa Fe. Denver. Chicago. Canada, always a fantasy. If Gust and Susanna would agree to relocate. If Tucker’s ex-wife and her new partner would agree. And that man’s ex-wife and her new partner.

More family data is added to Frida’s file. Susanna’s baby arrived early. Born at thirty-five weeks. A boy. Susanna needed an emergency C-section. Her placenta ruptured. She lost a significant amount of blood. Frida finds out from the counselor, who’s impressed that Gust bothered to inform them.

“You haven’t asked the baby’s name,” the counselor says.

“Please excuse me. What did they name him? I didn’t know they were having a boy.”

The baby’s name is Henry Joseph. He was five pounds and one ounce. He has jaundice, will likely spend a month in the NICU. Susanna might be in the hospital for several weeks.

“But she’s okay?”

“She’s recovering. I suggest that you brainstorm ways to make your return easier on them.”

Frida says she will. She wants to ask who’s watching Harriet. Gust must need to be at the hospital all the time. Have their parents flown in? Gust has arranged for Frida to stay with Will after she leaves, has given these instructions to the counselor.

Frida wants to tell Roxanne about the baby. Susanna might be swollen from a blood transfusion. Can she see Henry? Will she be able to nurse?

During their first week in the hospital, the nurses pressured them to give Harriet formula. Frida’s milk was coming in too slowly after her C-section. Harriet had lost more than 10 percent of her birth weight. The nurses said they’d send her home without Harriet if Harriet didn’t start gaining.

“It would be heartbreaking,” the nurses said, “if you had to go home without her.”

That’s not what she wanted for Susanna.



* * *



To practice poverty awareness, one of the women in pink lab coats has been dressed to look like a beggar, with tattered clothes and dark eyeshadow rubbed on her cheeks. Each mother-doll pair must walk past the pretend beggar, who’ll ask for money. The doll will be trained to notice the beggar and tug on her mother’s hand, signaling altruistic intent. The mother will give the doll a coin, which she has to deliver, saying “Be well,” or “Take care.”

What follows is a day of confusion, negotiation, and tears. No altruistic intentions are signaled. No coins are delivered. The mothers can’t undo two months of stranger-danger lessons in one day.

When the beggar asks for help, Emmanuelle shouts, “Go away!”

Frida corrects her, but Emmanuelle insists that the beggar is bad. Frida explains the difference between badness and misfortune, badness and suffering.

“What have we learned about suffering?”

Emmanuelle hangs her head. “We help. I help. Help bird. Help lady.”

Frida explains the concept of charity. To Emmanuelle, charity is like baskets. Like Red Riding Hood. The story from months ago. Frida is surprised she remembers. Emmanuelle pretends to hop with her basket through the woods.

“Red Riding girl,” she says. “Food food. Basket.” The coin is a basket she’ll give to the lady.

Emmanuelle listens to the beggar’s plea and says, “Baskets. Bye-bye!”

Frida asks if they’re allowed to substitute words. Ms. Khoury tells her to keep trying for the correct language. Emmanuelle drops the coin near the beggar’s head and shouts, “My did it!”