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Show Moon - 216 Mom, I'm tired. It isn't easy talking about these things. I need to gather my energy for the drive to the cottage some eight hundred miles away. I need to go back into my Third Person self in order to get a little distance and get on with this trip. Soon, I hope, we'll be caught up to each other. And maybe I'll be able to gather up the you I need to keep and the Joy I hold at arm's length, and bring us together into a now-moment I can live with. Then I'll be able to say once and for all: My name is I. Now that the Delaware doctor was finished with her, Anne had somehow persuaded James to take the rest of the summer off and move her to the cottage. She must have known it was soon going to be time, and she wanted to be in the home she loved. It may have helped to tip the balance that Alice had volunteered to move in with them to help. Her daughters were away at summer Bible school, and time must have been heavy on her hands. Alice's decision released Lee, and he would be staying at Caleb's group house in Washington until he decided what he ought to do next. James drove Joy from the train to the cottage in angry silence. Once at the cottage, he hurried her inside. Her mother was in the rocking chair in front of the cold fireplace. The afghan was tucked around her shoulders. She was sleeping, her chin resting on her chest. The boys were driving up together and would arrive any time now. Joy never visited her parents now unless she knew |