Decrease

Monday - September 13

Still embracing Claire's hand, Aunt Ruth says, "Well, dear, you must take care of yourself. You're young, and life is too short.

Which, I can attest to, by the way."

Claire releases her hand from Aunt Ruth's when the tea kettle begins to whistle. She stands up asking, "Do you take cream and sugar, Aunt Ruth?" Opening the cupboard to get cups and saucers, Claire turns around waiting for Aunt Ruth's response, but notices that she's no longer at the table. Claire goes into the living room and sees Aunt Ruth rocking next to the fireplace. She asks Aunt Ruth again if she would like cream and sugar with her tea.

"I always take my tea black, dear. Thank you for asking."

Claire smiles and continues to host.

Aunt Ruth rocks the rocker back to watch Claire return to the kitchen. When she sees that Claire is out of view, Aunt Ruth springs from the rocker like a young girl, and sneaks over to the bay window. Discreetly removing a small object from within her sleeve, Aunt Ruth inserts a small listening device into the hem of the curtains. With her wrinkled, elderly hands, she pushes the device in as hard as she can before Claire returns. Quickly finishing her unsuspecting deed, Aunt Ruth erects herself, brushes her hair back, takes a deep breath, and returns to the rocker to wait for Claire. When Claire enters with their refreshments, Aunt Ruth rocks contently, looking dainty, as if she was an example of angelic innocence.

"I'm sorry it took so long, Aunt Ruth," says Claire, as she carefully places the tea on the coffee table.

Brushing her skirt with her paper thin hands, Aunt Ruth replies, "No hurry, my dear. The day is still young, and I have plenty of time to sit and chat with my favorite niece," as she smiles like a doting parent. Claire nods her head politely and begins to sip her tea.

As the whistling of the cold wind outside blasts its way through the streets, Claire tries hard not to be overly anxious about her condition, and also about the key she found on the stoop. Taking another sip of tea before setting her cup down, Claire clears her throat as she commences to demonstrate some interest in the upcoming event of the Population Control Administration Conference.

"Aunt Ruth," Claire says, trying to verbalize calmly, "about the conference. I'm not sure John will be able to attend. He called today and said he will be late coming home. I can only assume that he has a special project or something at work that will be time consuming for him."

"Well, dear," replies Aunt Ruth, "if he's too busy, that's fine, but it shouldn't keep you from attending. The conference will be one of great importance this year, especially with the recent illegal pregnancies that have been surfacing lately. Don't you agree?" Aunt Ruth asks, waiting for a reply as she takes another sip of her tea.

Since Claire is now one of those illegal pregnancies, she doesn't care about the doings of the Population Control Administration and their repressive ways. In order not to draw any suspicion, she gleefully says to Aunt Ruth, "Oh, absolutely! I couldn't agree more!"

As Claire sips her tea, she steals a quick peek to gaze outside the bay window. As she watches the snow fall, Claire wonders how she'll be able to keep this pregnancy a secret if John doesn't help. Continuing to stare out the window, Claire nearly fumbles her cup when, unexpectedly, Aunt Ruth gets out of the rocker, and strolls over to look at an old family photo that sits on the fireplace mantel. Watching Aunt Ruth regally move across the floor reminds Claire of the women of history who held great titles. While most of them were women of compassion, many of them were guilty of great wrongdoing as well. She wonders which one of those women is Aunt Ruth.

Aunt Ruth takes the framed photo from the mantel, and looks at it intently. While the photo has been there since we've been married, Claire recognizes only three of its occupants. Claire joins Aunt Ruth and says, "I only know some of these people. John says that they are distant relatives. He remembers some of them when he was a child when they would come to his parent's home to visit. Do you recognize any of these people, Aunt Ruth?" Claire asks smiling.