Knitting by Anne Bartlett

Author:Anne Bartlett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

IN THE car, Kate and Sandra had been talking.

“Martha’s strong, you know,” said Sandra. “She’s really robust. You wouldn’t think it to look at her, but she is.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Imagine, a young woman, and her husband killed like that. Sure, sounds like she was pretty disturbed at the time, but she moved through it OK. She’s never remarried; she’s quite content to live her single life, be responsible for herself. She’s not grieving. She might have been weak once, but now she’s as tough as an old boot.”

“Everyone’s got their vulnerabilities,” said Kate. “Maybe you just don’t know Martha well enough.”

But Sandra had made up her mind. “No, she’s a healthy survivor. I wish I was strong like her.”

“You’re too hard on yourself,” said Kate. “Jack’s only been gone twelve months.”

At that point Martha and Tony opened the doors and climbed in. Martha leaned toward Sandra as she reached around for her seat belt.

“Ugh! Martha, you’re all wet. What did you do, go swimming?”

Martha’s skin was blotched purple with cold.

“No, I got baptized.”

“You are really weird, Martha,” said Sandra, then bit her tongue.

“Yes,” said Martha cheerfully. “Just like you.” She turned to look at Sandra. “Only your trouble is you don’t know how to enjoy it.”

Like a child, Sandra gave Martha a little shove. Martha pushed her back, gently, but with a lot of body contact, so that a good deal of wetness was transferred.

“She’s wetting me, Mum,” complained Sandra to Kate.

“Stop fighting, you two,” said Kate. “Martha, move over to your side of the car. Does anyone want a mintie?”

“Yes,” said Tony. He chewed it stoically, looking straight ahead over the steering wheel, pretending to ignore the commotion in the back seat.

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