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“I thought of that, but it’s such a crowded field right now. You know my sister Rainbow?”
Julia sighs. The conversation is starting to echo the car ride: She has no idea where either is going. “The one with the long dark hair?”
“No, that’s Sunshine.”
Rainbow, Sunshine, and Poppy.That’s what happens when your parents grow up in a commune,Julia thinks. “What about her?”
“Well, I got the idea because of her. She went swimming in the ocean last month, and she was wearing a new bikini. A really nice one. Very expensive. And suddenly, along came this giant wave and knocked her flat on her face, and when she stood up, she discovered that her bikini bottom was around her ankles. Can you imagine?”
“I’m trying not to,” Julia says. She glances at her son, noting the big grin on his face.
“So, I decided that someone should design a line of swimsuits that stay up, no matter what. And then I thought, why not me?”
“Why not you indeed?” Julia repeats. Then because she can’t help herself, she adds, “But what if you have to go to the bathroom?”
“What?”
“I mean, if they’re that hard to get off—”
“Mother, please,” Norman interjects. “We’ll hire people to figure all that out.”
Poppy must be sensational in bed,Julia thinks, nodding and closing her eyes, grateful for the silence that follows.
“Mom…” she hears in the next instant. “Mother…”
Julia opens her eyes.
“We’re here.”
“What?”
“You fell asleep,” Poppy informs her.
Julia looks around, trying to focus. The car is no longer moving. The ocean is nowhere in sight. They’re parked in front of a sprawling white four-story structure in what appears to be the middle of nowhere. The sign on the lush front lawn identifies the building as Manor Born. “What the hell is this?”
“Now, don’t go getting all upset,” Norman says. “We’re just here to have a look.”
“I think you’re going to be very pleasantly surprised,” Poppy says, as the car doors lift into the air.
“I don’t like surprises, and I have no intention of setting foot inside that place.”
“Come on, Mother. I was talking to Dr. Wilson and he agrees this place would be perfect for you.”
“You were talking to Dr. Wilson about me?” So that’s what the good doctor was hinting at the other morning when he was ostensibly asking about her health and how she was managing.
“All I’m asking is that you keep an open mind.”
“I really think you’re going to be very pleasantly surprised,” Poppy says again, as if simply repeating what she said earlier will be enough to change Julia’s mind.
“We’re not leaving here until we do this.” Norman reaches over to unbuckle his mother’s seatbelt.
“This is ridiculous.” Julia refuses to budge until it becomes obvious that Norman means what he says, that they aren’t going anywhere until she complies, and that the sooner she gives in, the sooner she’ll be able to leave. “Remind me never to have lunch with you again,” she says as she gets out of the car, the outside humidity wrapping around her like a heavy wool sweater.
“Ah, come on, Julia,” Poppy says. “You know Norman just wants what’s best for you.”
“I thinkIknow what’s best for me,” Julia counters, brushing past her daughter-in-law and marching up the front walk, as eager to escape her son and his wife as she is the hot, oppressive air.
The front door opens automatically and Julia steps into the spacious, air-conditioned lobby.
