Chapter 26 - No More Scoreboard
Ramona eventually came to dinner at our house.
First time in four years.
Not because enough time automatically passed.
Because Nell said:
“Okay.”
Conditions were no longer formal.
They had become habits.
Ramona asked before photographing.
Nobody posted children without checking.
No appearance rankings.
No modeling talk unless Dulcie raised it.
No touching Nell’s hair.
That last one remained.
At dinner, Nell wore her bob tucked behind ears.
Ramona did not comment.
Dulcie arrived with blue paint on one sleeve from theater crew.
Ramona did not tell her to change.
Benedict burned garlic bread.
I commented extensively.
Normal.
Then Joan said:
“Dulcie, your set design pictures were wonderful.”
Dulcie smiled.
“Nell, how’s science club?”
“Terrible. We lost bridge competition.”
No balancing:
One child gets compliment, therefore another needs equal praise.
Conversation can be uneven without love being uneven.
That lesson took absurdly long.
After dinner, Ramona helped clear plates.
She looked at me.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Letting me come.”
“Nell let you come.”
Ramona nodded.
“I know.”
Good.
Then:
“Do you ever think we’ll be sisters?”
We had technically always been sisters-in-law.
She meant emotionally.
“I don’t know.”
“Fair.”
No promise.
Reliability over closeness.
Then Nell shouted from living room:
“Aunt Ramona?”
Ramona froze.
It was the first time Nell had called her Aunt again.
“Yes?”
“Dulcie says you used to have purple hair.”
Ramona groaned.
“Your cousin is dead to me.”
Dulcie shouted:
“I HAVE PHOTOS.”
Nell laughed.
I watched Ramona laugh too.
May you like
No one touched anyone’s hair.
The crisis had become history without becoming erased.
