A Family Affair(16)

He smiled. “Good. Talk to you later, then.”

It was part of Anna’s routine to visit with Blanche every week. Sometimes twice if her workweek wasn’t jammed. Anna and her mother were very close; after all, it had been just the two of them all of Anna’s life. She talked to Blanche almost every day and made it a point to run her errands and visit her mother on the weekend.

Anna always brought a bouquet and maybe a book. On this Saturday she brought flowers and cookies even though Blanche wasn’t supposed to have cookies. She was prediabetic and watching her sugar levels. She kissed her mother’s papery cheek and hugged her close. Then she found a vase for her flowers.

It was always a relief to see Blanche. Blanche still had her nails manicured even if her fingers weren’t perfectly straight and kept her hair colored bright red. It was teased and fluffy. She had her lipstick on, though she wasn’t planning an outing. It was her habit. In fact, she was much flashier when she was younger and had toned it down quite a bit.

“Let me look at you,” Blanche said. Blanche held Anna’s upper arms and looked at her face. “I expected you to look better by now. More rested at least. How do you feel?”

“Okay,” Anna said. “Having someone die is a lot of work.”

“I’ll try to go quietly,” Blanche said.

“Try not to die, that would be better. How are you feeling?”

“Ach, just cranky. Have you talked to his family?” Blanche asked.

“I called his sister and she talked about herself for a while and how much she misses Chad, though I can’t remember the last time she actually saw him. I think they spoke on the phone maybe five times a year.”

“They put on a big show for weddings, funerals and graduations but the rest of the time were invisible.”

Anna sat on the edge of Blanche’s bed while Blanche sat in her leather chair with her feet up. Blanche reached out an old hand and touched Anna’s cheek. “Are you sleeping?”

“I’m sleeping okay but all day long I’m distracted and it’s hard to concentrate on work. I’m checking on the kids frequently, though I think they’re getting comfort from their friends. They check on me a lot. I have a bunch of calls every evening. More than I want or need.”

“Some people just won’t go away after they die, if you know what I mean.”

“Please, Mom. Don’t start in on Chad...”

“I was trying not to speak ill of the dead but I’m very annoyed by Chad. At the end there he wasn’t exactly good to you. He had a great life and a good wife and what did he do? He complained! The bugger.”

“But we’re not going to go there now, are we? Because he’s dead and I’ve been remembering some of the good years. And there were good years. Many. And he was good to you.”

“When it suited him,” Blanche said. “He was uppity.”

“He wasn’t uppity. He was very accomplished, had a thriving practice, was active in the city and community, helped a lot of people... Tell me how your visit with the doctor was? Is your blood pressure okay?”

The look on Blanche’s face was one of shocked surprise, which she immediately shook off, probably embarrassed by not remembering that she saw the doctor just a couple of days ago. Her doctor visited her at the home; he saw a lot of his patients at the assisted living center.

“Everything is fine,” Blanche said.

Anna would make a point of asking the supervisor before leaving.

Ten years ago, when Blanche lived in her own little house and managed her own life, Anna would have told her about the will, about the pregnant woman she still suspected had some connection to Chad. They had been able to talk about anything. But in the last few years Blanche proved unable to keep a confidence and sometimes she’d mix up the order of events.

“I talked to Jessie just the other day,” Blanche said. “She was going on about something at work, something about being at her office for twelve hours straight or something. And tell Mike to come by sometime, will you? I haven’t seen that boy in months.”

It hadn’t been months. They were all together the day of the celebration of life for Chad, and Mike had driven Blanche home to her little efficiency apartment before all the guests arrived because large crowds tended to bring out the worst in her. But rather than remind her, Anna just said, “I’ll tell him. Have you heard from Bess?”

“I think she called last week. She still hasn’t heard about law school, has she?”

She’d been in law school for a year, but Blanche clearly didn’t remember that.

“All is well. Did you play mah-jongg this week? Or bridge?”

Blanche immediately launched into some of the same stories she told regularly. Her friend Joyce was having trouble with her son; he was threatening to take over her finances because she’d made a few small mistakes in her budget. She was certain that Karen was stealing food again; she thought that mean old woman stole everyone’s food, and since none of them locked their doors and all of them slept like the dead, it was easy enough to do. “The ambulance came for Mr. Wilson, took him away, and he’s been gone a long time. I don’t think he’s coming back.” And Clarice was flirting with all the men. “She’s disgusting,” Blanche added. “What that wrinkled old woman wants with a man at this late date, I’ll never know.”