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Show Moon -193 Gloria's house is not far away. Inside it smells damp. Gloria pulls out her photo album before I have even set down my suitcase. She shows me a picture of my mother that makes me gasp. She was eighteen here, Gloria tells me. Her face is heart-shaped, tilted to one side. I can see why they called her sweet. Her hair is braided and wound around the top of her head like a crown. I had no idea. I was never half as lovely as that. On the facing page is Tommy in uniform. I touch my aunt's hand and say, "I remember him when he was little. He taught me how to climb trees." Gloria bows her head and nods, then snaps the album shut. "Time to fix dinner." Later, Gloria brings out a pot of coffee, and I settle back, ready for a long night of stories. "I know how James treated you." She pauses, gulps down some coffee. "Maybe it's one of those things that keeps on being repeated. Thank God Michael and I never had a daughter." I am unable to move, even to breathe. I'm not sure if she's saying what I think she is. Gloria brushes a strand of hair that has toppled from the nest. "Alice's girls have both married, did you know? They're doing well." "James-" I begin. She cuts in. "James was a wonderful man. He was so patient with your mother." "He wasn't really." "Oh come now. He stayed with her right to the end." "He wasn't nice to her. And with me, he-" |