| When I was a child, my aunt used to visit her friend Marie. My aunt didn’t work on Mondays, so she took care of me that day. Marie was a ladies companion; the woman she cared for was an invalid. The old woman (Margaret?) slept on the main floor, and she got around in old large wheeled cane chair and wielded long scissor-like pincers to pick things up. Marie herself was unusual – she had a fur coat, sparkly jewelry and often wore lacy, decorative underwear around the house. I recall an incident of black bloomers in the grocery store, but I can’t be sure. She applied makeup in this dark house, so when she got outside she had big red circles on her cheeks and overly-dramatic eyes. The house had black brocade curtains (I eventually ended up with them) that reached from floor to ceiling over extremely narrow windows. It was in a word, eerie. I liked going there because it was so spooky and cool (temperature-wise). I liked the exotic Marie, a lot. The old woman eventually donated the house to the church and it was used as the convent. |
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