“Good evening, Betty.”
“Good evening, Maureen.”
“Do you hear anything from my Mum?”
[Though Maureen has spoken but ten words, Betty — or any listener — can already surmise that she is upwards of 55 years old, might have been raised in Ireland, and is a generally jovial person or at least tonight is in a happy mood. As distinct from other categories of caller, she does not sound recently bereaved, or as though she is seeking advice on a personal problem.]
“Yes, I can, [Betty gushes.] because I have the most smiling lady here beside me! You know, Maureen, she used to put her hands together in glee, didn’t she?”
“Yes.” [A note of hesitation.]
“And she almost jumped up and down!”
“That’s right” [With more confidence.]
“That’s what she's doing at the moment! [Betty’s voice reaches a peak of excitement, and then becomes more serious.] Now, just as I was saying that, she was giving me a feeling — in the abdomen, not in the stomache — and it’s all tight. It feels emaciated but blown up. And she's having trouble breathing — it must have been that way at the end”
“That’s right.” [Betty’s spirits usually identify themselves by recounting their deathbed symptoms: vague complaints in the thorax region, difficulties in breathing, weakness, and occasionally head pains. Auto accident victims tell of “chest pains.”]
“Yes, yes, I was overseas when she died at home.” [It is now clearer that Maureen is Irish and closer perhaps to 65 or 70 years old.]
“Gosh, there is a crowd of people around her!”
“Is there? [Maureen is astonished.] Is Mum’s sister with her?”
“Yes, exactly.” [Betty replies with casual confidence.]
“And my father?” [Maureen almost shouts with excitement.]
“Yes, he’s there too.”
“And is my brother there?” [The eager client supplies the reader with all the material required.]
“Yes, your brother is there too. And look [Betty’s voice is almost embarrassed.], I know this sounds funny, but there are five grandparents here! [Betty often suggests a family friend, aunt, or uncle who was important in childhood.]
“Oh...[Maureen hesitates.] Oh! That could be my Mum’s English friend!
“And going back to that time, can we talk about a donkey cart?”
“Oh, yes!” [A donkey cart would be a memorable feature for almost any person of Maureen's age and Irish childhood. Such a reference exemplifies Betty’s broad knowledge of ethnic associations and general population stereotypes; but note the caution — not “your family’s” cart, but just “a donkey cart.” It is left to Maureen to remember which particular cart Betty must “mean.”]
“And the times that were associated with it — you can really feel the pleasure of that time.”
“That's right.” [Maureen is emphatic.]
“Now look — I”m being shown a row of houses, and they’re apartment houses.”
“Yes...” [Maureen hesitates.]
“And there are about four of them...”
[Silence from Maureen, indicating puzzlement.]
“Now bear with me here — and I’ve got a sort of red brick.”
[Longer silence — it must come as a surprise that an elderly Irish lady cannot relate some memory to a description of common brick row houses, but even the best utilized population stereotypes will occasionally fail.]
“Now, Maureen, this isn’t where you lived!” [Betty speaks firmly.]
“No...no, it’s not.” [Of course it isn”t; but an awkward miss is being cleverly converted to a hit.]
“But it’s where...ah...[Betty is groping.]...ah...a dear friend lived! Can you understand that?”
“Yes.” [Maureen speaks without conviction: she is trying to figure who the friend might be. Betty quickly changes the subject.]
“Also, I’m being handed a little posy of flowers. They’re almost like forget-me-nots, but I’m not sure that they are — and she’s handing those to you.”
“My mother is?”
“Yes, it is your mother.”
“Oh, how nice!”
“And you know, Maureen, there’s an anniversary coming up soon — a time of memory. It was somebody’s birthday.” [With Maureen’s many relatives, somebody, living or dead, must have a birthday soon.]
“Oh, yes...”
“And that one sends their love to you too.” [The ungrammatical “their” doubles the possibilities of either “his” or “her,” but this hardly seems necessary, as by now it clear that Maureen will accept anything that Betty says, making, as Larsen so aptly put it, the reading fit herself.]
“And my brother [Maureen’s voice takes on a melancholy tone.], is he happy?”
“He’s happy now, he’s telling me, and he’s stressing the word now. He says, “She’ll know — you don”t have to ask me more — she’ll know.”
“Oh, I know...I know.” [Maureen sighs.]
“I’m having trouble keeping up with all of them here — they’re all crowding in — and they’re all happy.”
“Here’s one — a prickly one. Is my mother-in-law about?”
“Yes, she is.”
“Is she happy?”
“Yes, she is. She was a little bit of a discontented lady, she tells me. [To the contrary, it was Maureen who told her that with the “prickly” characterization.]
“Yes! [Amazed.] That’s right!”
“But she says, “Well, you’ve got to learn contentment, and there’s no reason we can’t have contentment here, because we have everything we need.”
“Isn”t that marvelous!” ....
