After the Reunion Read Free Page B

write down butter,” Adeline said.
    Emily sighed. “Do I really have to go back?”
    “Can’t cook without butter. I’m sorry, sweetie.”
    Emily drove back down the winding road resentfully. She does this all the time. I don’t know why she does this to me. And I like my cookies better than hers anyway; hers are all greasy. Mine are soft and chewy and wonderful … She stopped at the superette that was closer than the market and bought two pounds of butter, making sure it was Adeline’s favorite kind, even though it wasn’t her favorite kind. She didn’t want to risk being fixed with Adeline’s gimlet-eyed glare and listen to her banging pots around for an hour. By the time Emily got back to the house it was time to rush off to her job at the hospital.
    Children’s Hospital was new and beautiful, decorated in cheery primary colors to cheer up little children whose lives were filled with sickness and pain they could only partly understand. The other volunteers were mostly Emily’s age, the nurses were young, and the Play Lady, Suzanne, who was Emily’s boss, was twenty-eight. The Play Lady was allowed to wear street clothes, but Emily had to wear a silly pastel pinafore. The Play Lady was almost twenty years younger than she was. It was the kind of authoritative job Emily had had years ago, when she was first married to Ken and had been a psychiatric social worker, respected. Now she was just the general flunkey. But still, it made her feel fulfilled for a few hours to help the children act out their fears and anger, and to hope she’d made life a bit more bearable for them. They liked her and she got along well with them. If one was missing she always got frightened—you knew if they were going to be allowed to go home because they talked about it beforehand, but if they just disappeared you knew something terrible had happened. She was relieved today to see that everyone she knew was still here. There was one new small scared face, under a baseball cap pulled way down. Bald: chemotherapy. Cancer. She glanced quickly to see if he still had both legs.
    “Hi! My name is Emily. What’s yours?”
    A sad little mumble. Emily hugged him.
    “Emily, go get the paper and paints,” Suzanne said. “We’re going to play Matisse today. Or Star Wars . Depending.” Emily went to the wall of cupboards and brought out the supplies. “Oh, we’ll need a lot more than that,” Suzanne said.
    “I’m getting more,” Emily said, trying to sound pleasant. Why did everybody order her around? But still, she was so lucky to be healthy and to have healthy children, and to be out of the house, she shouldn’t complain about anything.
    The hours passed quickly. The new little patient told her his name and she painted gold stars all over his baseball cap. She let him paint a monster on her arm and hair on her hand and claws on her fingers. Soon he was laughing. After the play session was over Emily and Suzanne went into the lounge to have coffee.
    “Hey,” Suzanne said. “One of the women told me you’re Kit Barnett’s mother.”
    “Yes.” This was the first time anyone at the hospital had spoken to her in a tone of respect.
    “I didn’t know. The name’s different.”
    “It’s still Kate Buchman. She calls herself Kit Barnett professionally.”
    “I think she’s terrific,” Suzanne said. “I saw her in a couple of things on TV. When I read she’s going to be in something I try to watch it.” This was also the first time the Play Lady had spoken to Emily at such length. “What’s she like?”
    “Like?”
    “In real life. What’s she like?”
    I’m not sure I know. She’s my daughter but I don’t really know her either . “Just a normal young woman,” Emily said lightly. “Hard-working, dedicated. I’m very proud of her.”
    “Well, when you see her, tell her she has a fan.”
    “As a matter of fact,” Emily said, “I’m going to see her tonight.”
    “Hey. Well.” Suzanne nodded and smiled,