This is Mabel, in The Chestnut Apartments, in Long Beach, the temporary place where she lived for over twenty years. The building and the neighborhood were inhabited by people like herself, old folks from the Mid-West. They called it Iowa by the Sea. I liked it there. I liked the claw foot bathtub where I wash away the sand after a visit to the beach. I liked the smell of old books. I remember the wall behind her covered in quotations about death. She must have put them up later, or maybe they had been covered up by a new paint job. I called it Long Beets, and it was a long drive before freeways. I remember the elevator to the third floor where she lived. It was only after riding other elevators that I knew it was very slow, with its workings exposed in a fascinating way.
I loved her, especially when I was very young, but I didn't know her until years later. After my father died, I found her papers in his garage, and now I love her even more. Those blue eyes had seen plenty.
This blog is all about the things she left behind.
No comments:
Post a Comment