Norman Levine Soap Opera PHONED my mother in Ottawa just after 6 p.m. tion, of two rowing-boats by a blue pier with the moon No reply. A few minutes later I tried again. out. The room had another room within it. A private I Then I took Fred, mostly beagle, out for his walk bathroom. All the walls were orange and cream. And . through the small park ... (at twelve he still has the doors light blue. The large front door was opened this rapid acceleration and expects me to throw a ten- back as far as it could go. And on it a name-plate: nis ball for him to chase) . around the reservoir and Donated by Mr Thomas Sachs. the wall of green trees that hide the ravine. In front, She opened her eyes. by the path, were the four saplings planted a few years "Hello, Mother." ago with the name-plates: In Memory of My Beloved "Have you been here long?" Papa Joseph Podobitko. I wondered who Joseph "No. It's a nice large room." Podobitko was. I had asked the Portuguese gardener, "I paid into Blue Cross", she said weakly, "for semi- who looked after the grounds, if Joseph Podobitko private. But they put me in here. Do you think they had worked here. He told me that Joseph Podobitko made a mistake?" didn't work here. He didn't know who he was, and it "I wouldn't think so." cost $300 to put up one of those saplings. She looked up at the two standing metal forms I came back to the house with Fred and phoned beside her. One had a bag that was giving her blood. again. I tried the Civic Hospital. I asked if she was a It was almost empty. The other, water. And that was patient. Silence. Then her voice (slow and shaky) said full. She watched closely, as I did, as the drops "Hello." appeared. "When did you go in?" "What did the doctor say?" "This morning at ten." It was an effort for her to "That I have jaundice. That I'm bleeding inside. But talk. "I'm just played out." they say they can stop that. He's a very nice man." "I'll see you tomorrow", I said. "I'll take the early "Was Sarah here in the morning?" train." "Yes." That evening I phoned my sister Sarah in Carleton "How is Sarah?" Place. She had come to Ottawa and had been staying "Hysterical. She looks at me and laughs. Then she with Mother for a week. cries." "I couldn't take it any more", Sarah said. "She We were silent. doesn't want to live. She has given up." "Help me up." "A person who calls an ambulance and gets herself I put my hand behind her back and eased her for- admitted as an emergency case hasn't given up." ward. I was surprised at the thickness of the spine, "But you don't know what she talks about." how much it protruded, and how light she was. She "I'll take the early train", I said. "It gets in around sat, with her head down, as if waiting for strength to noon." return. "I'll be with her in the morning and you will be with "I can't eat", she said in despair. her in the afternoon." "Yes", I said. "We'll get together later." My mother was on the fifth floor of the surgical THERE WERE small cardboard containers on the table ward in a room by herself. When I walked in she was by her bed. "Would you like this?" It was prune juice. asleep, propped up by pillows. I was dismayed at how "This one?" Orange juice. "This?" A white purple she had changed. I brought one of the grey leather thing labelled Ensure. She answered by an almost chairs to the side, sat, and waited. imperceptible movement of her head. I put in a stubby It was a large air-conditioned room with two straw, bent it near the top, and held the Ensure while windows. The blinds were half-way down, the curtains she sipped it all. Then she reached, slowly, for the box half-way across. On a small table, by the bed, a tele- of Kleenex on her bed and, carefully, dried the cor- phone. On a chest of drawers some flowers wished her ners of her mouth. a speedy recovery. On the wall a painting, a reproduc- Again we were silent. PRODUCED 2005 BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Norman Levine "You will stay in the apartment?" Then the difficult early years in Ottawa that she "Yes." doesn't want to be reminded of. And for the last With a finger she pointed to the dresser by the wall. twenty-one years on her own, in a Senior Citizen I opened the top drawer and saw a large beige purse. building, opposite a small park. I thought again of her "Take the keys. Have you got the keys?" generous nature, how independent she was, and how I showed them to her. she came out with unexpected things. "In the fridge . help yourself. There is coffee. Eat Her eyes opened. whatever you like. You have my permission." "I need a bed-pan", she said in a low voice. "I'll water the plants." A white flex, with a white button on it, was held to "It would be better if I didn't have them." one of the pillows by a safety pin. I picked up the flex "How much water do you give?" and pressed the button. A snapping sound and a slight "Not too much. Every two or three days." electric shock. "Anything you want me to bring?" "When the nurse comes I'll go", I said. "And I'll "The small key is for the mail-box. See if any come tomorrow. Sarah said she would be here as mail. In the dining-room ... in the drawer . are well." two cheques. Six hundred dollars and something. Take I went over and kissed her on the forehead. the bank-book . pay in my account." "With jaundice I don't think you should kiss." I said I would. She wanted to be eased back to the way she had been. "Mrs Tessier, across the hall, takes in The Citizen. OPENED the door of her apartment. In the half- Tell her you are in the apartment and you will have light I could see the three small rooms. Brought the paper. I have paid three months in advance. I the suitcase in, quickly drew the curtains, opened I don't think I'll go back there. I'll go to some other the windows. All the clocks had stopped. place for a rest." The place looked as if it was left in a hurry. In the The large blue eyes. The grey hair, usually neatly kitchen, dishes on the draining-board were upside combed up, was loose on the sides. She did not have down. In the bedroom the large bed was not made. A her teeth in and her mouth looked small. I thought of dress was on the back of the rocking-chair. Two-tone, her independent nature, the quick intelligence, and beige and brown shoes were under the bed. The cal- how she coped with things. endar, by the window, had not been changed in two "I'm all played out", she said. "But I'm not tired of months. living." She had kept everything neat and clean. Now a thin She watched the blood and the water drip. layer of dust was on the furniture and on the wooden "It's working", I assured her. floor. And on the leaves of the plants in the front But she continued to watch. room. The earth was dry. I watered the plants. "Another doctor came", she said. "A young doctor. Looked in the fridge. A few potatoes were sprouting. He asked me questions about my operations. He said The pears were bruised and had started to go rotten. I had some kind of anaemia that only Jews from East I couldn't understand why Sarah hadn't tidied up. Europe have. Did you know about that?" There was some half-used cottage cheese, a bottle of "No." apple juice, a tin of Ensure. The cupboard, by the "He said the mother passes it to her siblings. Does sink, was packed with tins as if for a siege. I made a that mean daughters?" cup of coffee, brought it into the front room, sat by "Sons and daughters." the table, and started to relax. We were silent. I had not been here on my own before. How small "Do you want to see anyone?" and still. And full of light. The chesterfield set, from She said no with her head. the house, was too large. She brightened the settee "If anyone phones. If anyone in the building asks. with crocheted covers—bands of red, yellow, green— Say I have gone in the hospital for tests. Don't say that kept slipping down. And cushions with embroi- anything more. Just tests." dered leaves of all kinds. The same was on the chair, "Yes." by the side of the window, overlooking the street and Again we were silent. the small park. (The Lombardy poplars are gone. But "I'm going to close my eyes now", she said. the gazebo is there. And kids throwing a ball around.) The closed eyes made the socket bones more visible.