Chapter 4
1522 Words
4
I parked in front of the garage entry to my grandmother’s three-story clapboard house. Gloria rarely drove and Kuan Lee, her first floor tenant and good friend never did. And since parking spaces are almost unheard of in North Beach, I didn’t have much choice. I rang the bell at the front door and used my key to let myself in. Kuan practices Chinese medicine and acupuncture in his first floor apartment and today the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign in English and Cantonese hung on his door.
I called out to announce my arrival and climbed the stairs. Gloria occupies the second and third floors of the house, with bedrooms and her sewing room on the top level. "I’m in the kitchen, Julia," she hollered back.
I entered the kitchen and kissed her cheek, "Hi." She was rolling out dough on the table. "What are you making?"
"This is for a vegetable pie, with layers of onion and spinach and carrots and lots of cheese."
"That’s a new one."
Gloria glanced at the bag in my hand. "Oh, good girl. You brought back my food containers."
"Yes, fortunately I remembered to throw these in the car." I carried the shopping bag into the pantry and stacked all the containers on an empty shelf. "When you called, I was at the Eye picking up a new book."
"Just give me a minute, dear," Gloria said, expertly dropping the pie crust on top of her baking dish full of vegetables. She trimmed the edges, then placed the dish on top of the stove. "I’ll put this in the oven when I get back." She rinsed her hands under the faucet and dried them on a dishtowel. "I’ll go get my coat." We headed down the stairs to my car and climbed in. I backed out onto the street. "Can we go to the big market near Fisherman’s Wharf? I’m sorry, there’ll probably be a lot of traffic this time of day."
"No worries, we’ll be fine. What is it you need to get?"
"I want to pick up the turkey for Thanksgiving. I didn’t feel like fighting traffic to drive down here and it’s such a long way to walk home with a heavy frozen turkey."
"Isn’t it kind of early to buy it now?"
"No, not at all. They go fast and I want to make sure I get a twenty pounder. I can keep it in the freezer and then it takes about four days to defrost in the refrigerator. I’m so looking forward to cooking a lovely dinner and I’m so glad Gale and Cheryl can be with us, and Kuan too."
"Well, that’s debatable," I said. "All that cooking, I mean. But you know you’ll have to fight Cheryl off in the kitchen. You know how she is."
"Oh, dear. I never thought of that. I don’t like anyone under foot when I’m cooking. I’ll put her to work setting the table."
"And we’ll bring flowers and wine and desserts, so don’t worry about that."
I followed Gloria down the aisle and waited patiently as she studied the frozen birds. She finally chose one and started to lift it into our cart. "Let me get that for you," I said. I groaned and slung the twenty-two pound bird into the shopping cart. "Cripes, this is heavy. Are you sure you want something this big?"
"Oh, yes, you’d be surprised what people eat, and we’ll have lots of leftovers too."
"Anything else you need while we’re here?"
Gloria shook her head. "No, that’s it. Let’s get in line." I followed her up another aisle. She stopped and glanced over at a rack of spices, studying them. I leaned against the cart and waited. I turned to say something to her and saw that her head was down and her shoulders were shaking.
"Nonni, what’s wrong?" I rushed to her side and put my arm around her. "You’re crying. What is it?"
She sniffed and took a deep breath. "It’s nothing, dear. I’m sorry," she said, brushing tears from her cheek.
"It’s not nothing," I insisted. I was thoroughly alarmed. "Tell me. What is it?"
She shook her head, her lips tightened to a thin line. "Mrs. Santangelo is moving."
"Oh! You’re kidding." Gloria’s next door neighbor. Their kitchen windows faced each other and they often waved and chatted across the gap. "She’s lived there for a hundred years. Where is she going?"
Gloria’s expression darkened. "Her daughter’s moving her into ‘Life’s Garden.’ It’s one of those horrible, assisted living places in Daly City." Gloria covered her face with her hands and began to cry again.
I dug some tissues out of my purse and passed them to her. "Oh, Nonni, I’m so sorry. You’ll miss her."
Gloria wiped away a few tears. "She doesn’t want to go, Julia. Celeste, her daughter, is bullying her and forcing her to go. Nina’s still ambulatory. All she needs is some help with grocery shopping and Kuan and I can do that for her. Celeste has money but she’s too damn cheap to hire a companion or a helper. Nina even has one of those medical alert bracelets in case of emergency," Gloria burst into tears again. "Oh, I’m so sorry to be crying and dumping my woes on you in the middle of the supermarket."
"Don’t be silly. We’re family. That’s what we’re here for. Of course, you should talk to me."
"Life’s Garden," Gloria spat. "How ridiculous is that? Life’s dumping ground is more like it."
"Any chance Celeste could be talked out of this?"
Gloria shook her head, "No. She’s as stubborn as a mule and she even has a buyer lined up for her mother’s house. That’s what it’s all about. She wants the money while the market is so high."
"Well, at least the money can be used to care for her mother."
"Ha! You think so?" Gloria glared at me. "Celeste will sell that house in a flash and make sure Life’s Garden can only take her mother’s Social Security."
"Ah, I see." Even though I had grown up in the house next door to Mrs. Santangelo and her daughter, I had never liked or trusted Celeste. She was mean-spirited as a kid and cruel to younger kids in the neighborhood. There wasn’t much I could say to make my grandmother feel better.
"She’s going to be stuck in the boondocks with no friends around. No one around who speaks Italian, no one to visit her. She’ll be miserable. She’ll hate it. She’s been crying every day."
I neglected to mention that Daly City, although not in North Beach, was only a few miles away and not in the boondocks, as my grandmother, the inveterate city dweller, believed. "I’ll drive you down there, Nonni, whenever you’d like to visit Mrs. Santangelo. We can even have a regular day we do that, maybe once a week."
"Really?" Gloria turned tear-stained eyes up to me. I gently wiped her cheeks.
"And I’m never going to let that happen to you. You and Kuan help each other out all the time and you both have years of independence ahead of you."
Gloria squeezed my hand. "I don’t want to be a burden to you. You have your own busy life."
"You could never be a burden. So, just stop that. If you ever do need help, I can move back in or we can hire someone to clean and help you out with things. We’re still going to Sausalito on the twenty-fifth, right? And maybe the following Sunday, we can drive down to the boondocks and make sure Mrs. Santangelo is settled?"
"That would be really nice." Gloria stifled a sob, "I just want to stay in my own home, Julia. I don’t want to linger if I’m really old. When it’s my time, I’d like to just go to sleep one night and not wake up."
"You better not do that any day soon. I still need you." I hugged my grandmother again.
"Look at me, crying in the supermarket. I’m such a ninny. And I haven’t even asked you what’s new." Gloria wheeled the cart toward the checkout line.
"Oh," I shrugged. "Not much to report. I met with a new client today and I have another one coming tomorrow. It was Maggie who recommended my client today and Betsy and Jacob Handler, remember them? They sent me the other woman."
"Oh, yes. I remember. So nice they thought of you." Gloria rummaged in her purse for her wallet. "How is Maggie?"
"Oh, no, put that away." I reached over to close Gloria’s purse. "I’m paying. Let me get in front of you." I wiggled in front of the cart before Gloria could object. "Maggie’s doing well. She’s living with her mother now and she’s back in school."
"Oh, that dreadful woman! Celia!" Gloria grumbled. "I’ll never forgive her for treating you so badly."
I shook my head, "Don’t worry about that, nothing we can do about it anyway." Gloria’s lips tightened, but she made no response.
- Writer
