While it was true their conversations about applied and theoretical science were frequent, they didn’t generally take place in Violet’s home, a place Annie had only been inside of a few times. She’d seen the kitchen, the living room, and Vi’s bedroom, but only in passing.
Carol probably should have made arrangements for Annie for this kind of thing. Carol met Vi’s mom—Annie always called her Susan, as this was one of those households which eschewed titles like ‘Mr.’ and ‘Mrs.’—two or three times and had nice things to say about her and all, but at no point did anyone discuss an emergency plan. This was (again) pretty much Carol’s fault, as her think positive! attitude sometimes precluded a but plan for the worst! corollary, but Mrs. Susan Jones could have also stepped up and volunteered.
This was what Annie was thinking as the parties Edgar/Annie and Violet/Susan met in Vi’s kitchen to work out the care and feeding of Annie Collins, Defenseless Child.
“You want her to stay?” Susan asked. She was literally repeating what Ed just asked, right after the two of them went through the hospitalization of Carol and Ed’s accidental guardianship. Susan came off as dully shocked at his temerity, which was a little odd given anyone could have figured out why they were there before they even made it to the kitchen table.
“Yes, you see… if that’s all right…” Ed stumbled.
“Of course she can stay,” Violet said.
“Yes, of course,” Susan said. She smiled.
Then nobody talked for a few seconds. It was incredibly awkward.
Annie had little direct experience with Susan. She was a thin woman with—according to her daughter—an enthusiasm for macrobiotics coupled with vitamin supplements that pushed her body somewhere past healthy and into so-healthy-she-might-be-unwell territory. There were moments, in speaking with her, in which she sometimes seemed to check out a little, as if her mind were on something more important. This happened at the oddest of times, such as this particular one.
“I’ll go get the room ready,” Violet said.
“I’ll help,” Annie said, very much ready to get out of the room.
“No, you stay. I’m sure you have to work out everything with… Edgar, isn’t it? It’s nice to meet you.”
“And you,” Ed said. “I’ve heard a lot.”
This was just him attempting to be polite, as he’d heard almost nothing. He was only slightly less socially awkward than Violet’s family.
Annie tried to shoot Vi a please don’t leave me here alone look, but Violet was already gone.
Ed was gamely trying to keep the conversation at the table going as he pulled the documents from his jacket pocket. “I understand Annie and your daughter have known one another for a long time, and…”
“Yes, yes, sorry,” Susan said. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Somerville, I was thinking about poor Carol.” To Annie, she said, “Are you all right, dear?”
She’d never called Annie dear before, or anything even distantly maternal. It was jarring.
“I’m okay, thank you.”
“Well of course, you can stay as long as you need. Violet will set you up in the guest room.”
“That would be great.”
“Good,” Ed said. He was visibly relieved.
“Do I need to sign something?” Susan asked.
“Yes, actually, I have a form here. I’m still her guardian and all, but… let me just add a little legalese at the bottom here. If you could sign it, that would be great.”
“Absolutely.”
Ed jotted a few words under his own signature, probably along the lines of, if something happens to me, check with these people for Annie. Then he drew a line on the bottom and handed it over.
Susan skimmed what he’d written, signed it and handed it back.
“Great, thank you so much, Mrs… Jones?” He was reading her signature.
“Susan, please. We don’t concern ourselves with formal titles around here.”
“Susan, then. And you can call me Ed.” He slipped the paperwork back into his pocket, and stood. “Annie, are you okay with all this?”
“Sure, Ed, I’ll be fine.”
“Great. I’ll be back Tuesday, usual time, but call me if anything… you know, with your mom. Or anything at all.”
“You’ll be by to pick her up?” Susan asked.
“Yes, on Tuesday. We have a busy day ahead.”
Already, Annie was thinking of ways she could continue to live at her house but get picked up at Violet’s when Ed needed her, but she couldn’t come up with an uncomplicated way for that to work. At minimum, she would need Susan to be complicit, which was a pretty big ask.
Ed stepped around the table to say goodbye to Annie, which was another species of awkward because he wasn’t sure what halfway between a handshake and a hug was supposed to look like, so it managed to be a little of both. Then he saw himself out.
“Thanks for this, Susan, I appreciate it.”
“Don’t worry yourself. I just hope everything will be okay with Carol.”
“I’m sure it will. I… I’ll need to go home and pick up some things, though. All my clothes and stuff are there. And my bike.”
“Of course,” Susan said. “Violet can take you. She needs to run to the store today as it is.”
“I’M SORRY,” Annie said, as soon as she and Violet were alone. They were in the car and on the way to the grocery store, as it turned out one of the things Vi’s family didn’t have enough of was food. Guest bedroom, yes. Food for guest, not so much.
“It’s fine.”
“I didn’t know where else to go.”
“It’s okay, I understand. A call ahead would have maybe been cool. A text, even.”
“It happened fast. I didn’t know what else to do. One minute I was like, looks like I’m dipping into the frozen pizza stash for the next few weeks, the next minute Ed was looking to make me a ward of the state or something.”
“He’s just looking out for you. He seems like a good guy.”
“You talked to him for all of ten seconds.”
“Are you saying he is not a good guy?”
“No, no, just you didn’t have a lot of time.”
“I’m a quick judge. Mom seemed okay with him.”
Annie didn’t want to point out that Violet’s mother was perhaps the most inscrutable person she’d met in her life, as that seemed rude. But it was impossible to tell, without employing precise scientific equipment, what reaction Susan had to Ed, good or bad. Perhaps her dad was the expressive one in the family.
“Well I don’t want to disrupt anybody or be a burden or whatever. I’ll stay out of everyone’s way, so you guys can do… you know, whatever.”
Violet laughed.
“Yes, the goat sacrifice at midnight is really a family thing.”
“I mean… I don’t know. Whatever home-schooling you’ve got going on.”
“It’s summer.”
“I know, but still.”
“Is this your way of saying you think my family is a little weird?”
“No, no. Not a little.”
“I’m scandalized! I’ve a mind to just bring you right back home for that.”
“And that’s where I wanted to be in the first place.”
“Okay, forget that, Brer Rabbit. No guest bedroom now. You can sleep under the stairs.”
“All right, I take it back. Your family isn’t weird.”
VI LIVED in an actual cabin in the woods. To get to her place one had to head down Liberty Way to a left turn at an unmarked, well-hidden dirt road, right to the point where you reach the conclusion that you’ve made a navigational error and decide it’s time to turn around. Her place was another two hundred yards past that.