Page 113 - The Geography of Women

The Geography of Women 99

the edge a the lawn standin alone shrouded in the fra-
grant greenery a honeysuckle an wisteria. Take a picture, I
always said to folks, it’ll last longer. But what lasts longest,
a picture or a vision? I was experiencin visual uncertainty
in my heart a hearts an my head a heads. I was doubtin
I could much longer hold my focus, cuz while absence
makes the heart grow fonder, outa sight is outa mind, an
Vivienne Chastaine never waited for anyone.
Jessarose, I realized, must be, like me, a different per-
son after so much time, but, like all the advice colum nists
say, nobody changes, especially if you marry them. So if
two people are separated, cuz one a them was settled an
one was a traveler, maybe if those people are lucky, they
change in the same way at the same speed toward the same
direction, an then what happens is bigger n both a them.
Things bein simple star-crossed what they are, an
double-star-crossed when you’re girl-to-girl, you get philo-
sophi cal. First you’re born. Then you die. Just like taxes
you can’t do much about your beginnin or your endin. But
I got to believe that you get a chance, one fair chance at
least, against all the bad chances an worse breaks, in that
brief season between your birth an your dyin, when the
enchanted summer night smiles, just like in the movies,
an lets you take your life in your hands, an use all your big
plans, if you only just don’t lose your nerve, or your envi-
sionin certainty, at the last moment an stumble an collide.
My Daddy always said my angel mama, who he mar-
ried on July 12, the hottest day of 1938, always told him
you gotta be ready an keep your eyes on the summer sky,
cuz your lucky stars’ risin an convergin all depend on you
to make even the smallest magic you need come true.
Maybe your only chance only happens once.
You gotta always be ready, an if you’re very, very lucky,

©Jack Fritscher, Ph.D., All Rights Reserved
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