Page 52 of Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening Society
Anyway, telling Terry to read a book didn’t work because apparently books areboring. He’d grabbed his skateboard andslunk out of the house, ignoring her demands to tell her where he’s going. It’s a weird sensation when your son is now taller than you and therefore just slightly intimidating when he’s brooding.
She tried to ask Cora what that felt like when Mike grew but Cora cluck-clucked like Lorraine had a problem for even thinking it was weird.
Lorraine wanted to tell Cora that it’s weird she can live in this house with all its expenses and not contribute one single sou. But she didn’t. Because if you want a peaceful life you don’t say things that are going to antagonise an elder. Or anyone. Which means you just push down your feelings and let them take root and grow like a clump of ugly old weeds which then need to be pulled out …
Yeah, doing all this gardening has got her thinking. She’s really shoved her problems with Cora deep, deep down – but that hasn’t helped. They’re still around. It’s just that now they’re all tucked up inside her, growing, and they’re definitely weeds, not some bush that’s going to sprout pretty flowers. She’s started to think about what to do with those weeds; even mentioned them to Cynthia the other day.
‘You’re asking me, the person who let her mother die while she stayed overseas and didn’t even come back for the funeral?’ Cynthia said.
She had tears in her eyes but that wasn’t going to stop Lorraine. ‘So why didn’t you?’ she said.
‘Because when I left Max I left pretty much everything at the house.’ Cynthia’s face fell. ‘Including my passport.’
‘Well, that was silly.’ Lorraine likes to call things as she sees them.
‘I didn’t know I’d need it!’
‘Not right then, maybe, but you would’ve eventually. I mean … you’re here now, right?’
Cynthia sighed. ‘He finally let me back in to pack everything up. But it was too late. For Mum.’
Then she looked like she was really about to cry so Lorraine had changed the subject. Not that she’s afraid of Cynthia’s tears but she knows Cynthia is.
Later, Lorraine remembered what Shirl had said about replacing weeds with natives so the weeds don’t grow back. But what’s the human equivalent? What can she plant in her own life to stop these Cora weeds growing?
Then she realised she was trying to be a bit tricky with herself and maybe she should just stop worrying about it. That’s when she thought it was time to get her mother over for a lunch, so at least there’s one person on her side in the house. Mike is on her side most of the time, but when it comes to Cora he’s torn. Rose, at least, will never betray her.
So here her mother is, trying not to show how much Cora irritates her, but Cora can tell and even seems to be enjoying it.
‘Hello, Rose,’ she says, offering her own thin-lipped smile in return. ‘Nice to see you.’
Rose holds up the cake she’s brought. ‘I’ve made a quince cake.’
‘Yum!’ Lorraine declares, because she loves her mother’s cakes.
‘Quinces are for poor people,’ Cora mutters, then smiles as if they haven’t all heard her.
‘What are quinces, Mum?’ Simon asks.
‘Fruit, Si.’ Lorraine glares at Cora. ‘And they’re delicious in a cake.’
‘Yum!’ he says and Lorraine could kiss him.
‘G’day, Rose,’ booms Mike as he walks into the room. He grabs his mother-in-law and plants a noisy kiss on her cheek. ‘Quince cake? Yum!’
Mike takes the cake and walks into the kitchen, and Lorraine wants to kiss him too. She is so conscious of her mother being the second-run grandparent because Cora gets all the time with the kids. Or time with Simon, because none of them sees Terry much any more.
Yet here is her eldest, loping into the room looking positively gleeful.
‘Hi, Gran!’ He wraps his arms around Rose and holds on for a good few seconds.
Who is this boy? Lorraine hasn’t seen him for months. But maybe her mother has … Maybe that’s where Terry goes when he disappears for hours on end. Wouldn’t her mother tell her, though? And if not, why not? Are they conspiring against her?
Gawd, she really has to stop being so paranoid. She’s convinced Simon is ganging up with Cora, and now it’s Terry with her mother. Although if it turns out they’re all against her she’ll feel smug about being right.
‘Why don’t you sit down, Mum?’ she says, making a mental note to raise the subject of Terry later.
Rose goes to sit in the armchair near the window, but Cora makes a noise and Rose looks up. ‘Hm?’
