Week 2 Coherence

My grandmother walked over to me.

"I would invite you in to see them, but they are not dressed yet."

She led my mother in to see my grandmother's friends, Nita and Suzie. The first I had heard of them together was when they went on a road trip across the U.S. in an RV a couple of years ago.

They entered the rented room, where Suzie was getting things ready, and Nita was still in her nightgown eating a sticky bun.

"Oh, hi!" she said, "Come in, I'm just eating one of Jean's cookies."

They talked for a moment.

"I think I should get out of bed soon," Nita said, "I wonder what I should wear?"

"Clothes," Suzie replied.

"Yes, that sounds good," Nita replied.

"Better than that saran wrap you wore yesterday. People stared."

Events such as this pointed out to me how much they remind me of Rinehart's Tish, Lizzie, and Aggie, three middle aged women who have adventures together.

Nita walked over and entered our car.

"Hi!" she said, "I've seen you a lot in the pictures."

Felicia commented about how it has not been picnic weather.

"Yes," Nita replied, "But I prefer eating inside anyhow. Away from all the ants. And uncles. Oh, I'm going to love you, you haven't heard all of my old jokes."

We reached the restaurant, and got out of the car.

"Suzie and Jean aren't here yet," my mother said, "They should be here soon-"

We turned around, and Nita was already off into the restaurant. We hurried in after her.

"Table for seven," my mother said.

"Six," I corrected.

"That will be just a minute," the cashier said.

We stood off to the side so that people could get by us, and Nita found an empty seat to sit down in next to us, with her back to someone else. We stood waiting, and then my grandmother entered.

"You should come in a little farther," Felicia said to her.

She moved in closer to us, smushing me between her, my mother, and a vending machine. We stood like that, with me on one foot, until they got a table.

Nita sat at the end because she was claustrophobic. My grandmother sat across from me, and Suzie sat across from Nita.

Suzie was interesting. She had long grey hair, and was definitely the youngest of the three, looking to be in her sixties. She reminded me a lot of Aggie from Rinehart's books. Aggie was always having things happen to her, like losing her false teeth, or falling over.

Suzie, on their rv trip, refused to sit down. She wanted to stand up. As a result, when they had to stop suddenly, she was hurled into the table, snapping a leg off of it. She was okay, though her back was sore from it. Upon hearing this story from my mother, I had said, "Well, at least she didn't break a leg- oh wait, she did."

Suzie ordered pancakes and eggs, and was disappointed that I wasn't going to help her eat them, as if I didn't help her, she was afraid she would eat them all herself. Which she did.

My grandmother stretched out her feet the whole time, so I kept my feet under my seat, which was almost where hers were. She reminds me a good bit of Tish from Rinehart's book. Tish is more of the leader of the group who decides to do things, some of which she probably shouldn't do, but once she determines to do something, she won't give up. She had not driven during the drive across the country because she was too slow. Tish was a very fast driver. My grandmother is a very slow driver, but a safe driver. But apparently not the safest talker. In I believe New Mexico, at a restaurant, Suzie took the piece of paper that covers up the straw, and stuck it up her nose. My grandmother was so surprised that she swore by accident. Swearing by accident was always something Aggie did, but I would have to say that Tish shares more characteristics with my grandmother.

But they had lots of fun with the straws then, which led to this day in the restaurant:

"Where are the straws?" Suzie asked, and they all fell to laughing.

Nita went out to take a cigarette.

"I'm down to one a day," she said. "I've quit tons of times. I'm an expert quitter."

"You must also be an expert starter," I said.

"We don't talk about that part," she replied.

Nita needed to brush her teeth, so we went back to their apartment, and she brushed her teeth, also showing us a stuffed bear who had accidentally come with them.

"It jumped in the bag. No jewelry is safe from it. It steals it all."

Suzie's ipad was not connecting to the internet, and despite not having never used an ipad before, I assisted her in figuring out what was wrong with it. Suzie was very good with computers, which would be another difference from Aggie, as Aggie lived in the early twentieth century.

Suzie was very happy she was on the internet again. We left to my grandmother's apartment, and on getting out, Nita borrowed my arm, to walk to the building.

Nita is about 84, and lively for her age having just recently had surgery. She seems to be the one who compares the most to Rinehart's character Lizzie, in that she is a little more normal, but she shares features of the other characters as well. It was the first time I had ever leant my arm to someone, and it was a little different.

"Make a muscle," she said. "Come on legs."

She was panting a bit, so I asked her if she wanted to rest for a minute.

"Oh no, I'm fine. I'll make it. I'll just pant a lot, like this."

She started gasping really heavily on purpose.

"Come on legs."

We reached my grandmother's apartment, and Nita sat down in a chair. Suzie showed us her iphone's radar application, that showed that the rain had just passed over us.

Nita requested a sculpted bear that she had made out of wood that she had apparently given to my grandmother at some point. I retrieved it for her, and she looked at it.

"What is it supposed to be?" Suzie asked.

"It's a medicine bear," Suzie replied. "It helps you when you don't feel good."

"Does it help mentally ill people like me?" Suzie asked.

"Maybe not for a case so severe as yours."

Suzie went on to tell us about how her husband had been accumulating cats. He had found one that was not doing too well, then found another one. He had named them all and could not go away too long or he would be afraid the cats would get hungry.

"My husband doesn't have any cats," Nita said, "We just have each other," hugging herself.

"Oh, isn't that nice," Suzie said.

"But he isn't that good in bed," Nita added, "Oops! I didn't say that!"

We were sitting on the couch, Nita was at a chair at the table, and Suzie was in a chair next to the couch. Nita was still gasping pretty badly, and my grandmother offered her something to drink.

"No, I'll be fine. I just need to rest."

"You could rest on the couch, you could lay down on it."

"No thanks," Nita replied, "All those legs would be bumpy. I could just lay down here on the table with my medicine bear."

We said good bye, and they went off to do some shopping, then to go whale watching the next day. And I was left with material for my english assignment, and memories of a very interesting trifecta.