Review, Revision, Edit and UpdateAnother coincidental Episode. Just as I am taking my own break, the sisters are taking theirs.
Situationally Theirs continues to evolve, developing into another aspect of the craft of writing. The writing muscle I've been exercising most recently is the 'revision' muscle. Not an easy exercise to engage in, it challenges the writer's fragile ego and old learning from school days. Only after a gap of time am I able to see a clearer, more creative sentence structure or wording, letting go of the questionable brilliance of my first words. I will never again say that writing is not work. It may be sedentary but it does work the 'little grey cells' as fictional Detective Hercule Poirot so kindly tells us.
Revision is throughout this episode, improving sentence structure, and removing redundant words or phrases.
A Second Reunion
“Where do we go from here, Dez?” Emelina had picked her sister up at 10 the next morning. Emmie had given Brigitte the day off so that she and Dez could spend some time together. They each wore their masks until they got to the park. Dez’s was hand-painted and fanciful. Her own, in light blue, coordinated with her outfit.
“Emmie, we do need to talk.” Dez, glad to see her sister, was troubled. “More and more people are coming and going to the Estate, Em. Most are necessary. People that work on the estate, sometimes service people. I am beginning to feel kind of uncomfortable. After all, I don’t know where people are coming from, who they have been in contact with and what their Covid hygiene has been.” Dez had thought a lot about it when she noticed that she was spending less and less time at the Estate. When she was there, she seldom went into the house, preferring to be out in the orchard. Samuel, the yard man, had been her only contact. “I’ve enjoyed spending time with him. We’ve finished building the beehives and are still waiting for bees. It’s so frustrating - they’ve been on order for months. One delay after the other with no date in sight.” Explaining more about her concerns to her sister, Dez continued “My work out in the orchard and building the beehives has gotten me out of Hartley and my apartment. Mr. Jorgensson hasn’t had much work for me lately. It’s become too easy for me to just stay home where I'm comfortable and feel safe.”
The sisters were strolling along the walkway in the park. There had been an early morning rain, the skies still grey but clouds were drifting slowly away, opening the skies to shredded sunlight. Emmie was pensive. “I thought I hadn’t seen you lately, but didn’t think much of it. Martha and Digby got married, all of us went on some kind of holiday or, for you and Brigitte, workshops. Once we were all back, I just thought maybe I’d been too busy. Brigitte and I have gone over every inch of the Upstairs to ferret out anything old and unnecessary. Clearing the place to get to the basics of the rooms upstairs…..remember that ‘big idea’ I had when you and I were in self-isolation. Or were we just getting out of the self-isolation? I still think something could be done for the community with all the space I have…. Anyway, back to you, Dez. You have been keeping your distance, haven’t you? I didn’t know you were so worried.”
“To be honest, Em, ever since Dr. Crawford was out here, I've developed this almost paranoid attitude about everybody. It was easy to be kind of complacent - is that the right word? - complacent about this pandemic when I was out at the Estate. Do you know of anybody that was even a little bit sick with this virus until Dr. Crawford came out here?” Emmie was stunned. She had had similar feelings, but they had almost vanished when Jeremy explained all the precautions required of health care workers. It never occurred to her to wonder about how everyone else was feeling about the potential dangers because of ……..What was the long word Jeremy used……transmissibility. What precautions had he taken before coming from the hospital after being in such close contact with so many with the virus?
“So how do we solve this, Emmie? Maybe I just needed to talk with you. The distance was getting too distancy - that’s not even a word. But that’s what it’s been feeling like.” Dez stopped in the middle of the path. “It’s been like we’ve been sliding backwards… .and going forward at the same time. I don’t want us to lose this sister thing we got back, because we’re too busy or too afraid. Busy building up our lives and too afraid of the virus attacking us from the middle of the air. We need a solution.” Dez was almost in tears. Emmie had the Estate and all the people on it and didn’t seem to know her good fortune. Dez was feeling incredibly sorry for herself, feeling alone and lost. “I’m sorry, Emmie. I’m just being irrational. Irrational and scared for me.”
“Well, little sister……..oops, I forgot, you don’t like it when I call you that.” Emmie did tend to get patronizing when Dez was frightened, even though the two of them were approaching 50. “Let me try that again. Here’s a suggestion. We could try a sort of ‘date night’ once a week. Or maybe just an afternoon?”
Dez was relieved. “Even a phone call if one of us hasn’t heard from the other after a week. It would be too easy to become strangers again. Getting close again was almost easy when it was just the two of us, but now we each have more people in our lives. More interests. You’re much busier with your house and staff and all…..” Dez let her words drain away.
The sisters had walked the loop in the park and arrived back at the parking lot. Emmie checked her watch “It’s just noon now. We can pick up some lunch here or…..and only if you feel comfortable…..you can pick up some overnight things and come out to the Estate. We'll go out to the orchard, so you can show me what you’ve accomplished. I know nothing about bees, but would wild bees be attracted to the empty hives?” They got into the car. Backing out of the driveway, Emmie turned towards, her sister's apartment. “And I'd like a sleepover in here every few weeks at your place.”
When her sister asked about the bees, Dez became animated. “As a matter of fact, they’re called foraging bees and the short answer is ‘yes’. I’ve been on google and found answers to that. I’d like to see what Samuel knows about it. I’ll bring my mask and hand sanitizer. It will take me a just a minute to get my things.” She got out the car, started up the walk….stopped suddenly, turned and said. … “Next sleepover here next weekend. Be right back.”
“Maybe we needed to break a little, so we could put
ourselves back together more beautifully than before.”
~ Leah Raeder, Cam Girl
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