“I’m fine with watching anything,” Thelma said once the fervor died at their table. “If it’s at your place.”
She had said the magic words. Apparently, it really was that easy to make Gretchen reenact the three phases of a woman’s confidence and embarrassment melding into one.All in five beautiful seconds.
Yet those seconds weren’t as beautiful as the genuine gaze meeting her halfway across the table. For five more preciousseconds, Thelma forgot everything: her predicament, her family, her entire past.
Everything but her fluttering heart.
Although twilight had only begun outside when they made the slow journey through traffic, Gretchen’s home was darker than the day.Suppose it helps that she likes to use those heavy blackout curtains.She didn’t open them when they walked inside. Thelma met the sleeping, blinking eyes of Barry, still perched in his favorite chair. Gretchen only acknowledged him to ask if he wanted his dinner.
Gretchen provided sparkling water and trail mix as they settled onto the couch to watch the movie that piqued Thelma’s interest, if only because she put two and two together to realize that Gretchen suggested this movie. After all,Audrey Hepburnstarred in it. Even Thelma was captivated by the black dress and pearls Audrey sported in the opening scene, where she literally supped on a breakfast donut in front of the iconic New York jeweler’s.“I never put that together,”Gretchen said when Thelma pointed it out.“Well, did you know she was an escort?”
No, Thelma didn’t know that. She didn’t know anything except what she saw before her, her imagination brewing with images of Sandy sitting in the theater to watch this in 1961.Did she think about me?Had she taken another woman out on a date to see it?Did she still think about me when they got drinks afterward and probably went back to her place?Had Sandy still lived in a cozy Malibu apartment? Could Thelma go see it today?
She couldn’t help but think about Sandy as she sat with Gretchen on the couch and watched Audrey Hepburn and an actor named George Peppard navigate their mundane, everydaylives that were filled with vacuous parties and Mickey Rooney playing a Japanese caricature. (Thelma burst out laughing at his first appearance, and Gretchen assumed it was because of how ridiculous it was.)How do I tell her I was a big Mickey and Judy fan when I was a kid?Gretchen had to pause the film—a wonder, to be sure—while Thelma waxed poetically about Judy’s illustrious career and her deep love for movies likeTheWizard of Oz.But, of course, there was alsoMeet Me in St. Louis,which never failed to make Thelma cry. AndA Star is Bornwas a classic even when Thelma disappeared four years after it premiered.
Gretchen flipped a coin to determine which movie they would watch next. It was theWizard of Oz,and while she searched for it to stream, Thelma got up to use the bathroom.
How are we doing?she asked her reflection after washing her hands. She removed the bow in her hair and tucked it into her jacket pocket. After popping open her green purse, she touched up her makeup and gave her curls a little bounce with her hand to ensure she was still presentable to her date… who had the same uncanny ability to make her heart race as Sandy.
Thelma braced herself against the bathroom sink, eyes peering into the swirl of water as it raced down the drain.
Sandy wasn’t here anymore.
She had never been a viable contender for Thelma’s eternal devotion.
There was nothing wrong with Thelma now exploring romance with another woman.
So…
Why does this feel… wrong?
Thelma’s body called to Gretchen’s when they were in the same room, let alone sharing a couch. Their arms, hands, and shoulders brushed together as they animatedly discussed the movies and the actors who made them come to life. Thelmacouldn’t help but share how distraught she was to learn how Judy died while carefully concealing that it was a recent realization.She’s so easy to talk to. She doesn’t ask many questions. I wonder if she could handle the truth…
Lord have mercy, Thelma’s troubles went deeper than that. They were beyond fears of Gretchen’s reactions to learning about time travel—Thelma had to rein inherreaction to possibly falling in love again.
So soon after losing everything she knew.
But could she help it? One thing the group discussed was how imperative it was to put on a stiff upper lip and embrace what had happened to them. They couldn’t go back. The people they had known and loved were either long dead or no longer as the time traveler remembered. It was fine to take some time to adjust to a new world and to grieve everything—and everyone—they had known, but the only way to survive as a sudden fish out of water was to hold one’s breath and attempt to find footing in a strange land.If all I think about is how I can’t breathe, then I’ll suffocate.Everyone, from Crystal the therapist to the group sessions, confirmed the theory of mindfulness: that when a time traveler was overwhelmed, the best thing to do was to close her eyes and take a few deep breaths until the anxiety passed.
She had made it this far. Heck, Thelma was doing better than some other chrononauts she had read about, such as Ramona Patterson, who had traveled from 1964 and ended her life a few weeks later.She left behind children, too…Most of whom had already passed by the time Ramona emerged in 2012.
Thelma braced herself against the sink. She closed her eyes. She took a few deep breaths.
And she returned to the living room, where the first scene ofThe Wizard of Ozbegan to play. Gretchen looked back at her over the couch and invited her with a tweak of the mouth that was neither smile nor sneer.
I’m safe.Thelma took up her spot on the other side of the couch and made herself comfortable again.I’m with pleasant company.More than pleasant, really.
“Thanks again for today,” she said to Gretchen, who turned down the volume slightly to hear Thelma. “It was sweet of you to think of me when you first visited that vintage place. Charity was… kind.”
“I thought she was going to kidnap you and make you her muse,” Gretchen said. “Not that I could blame her. You really rock the look.”
“Guess you could say it comes somewhat naturally to me.”
There was a palpable tenderness between them as they watched Dorothy and Toto get swept up in a Kansas twister and land in Oz. Thelma appreciated how “clean” the footage looked on the digital television while admiring Judy Garland’s singing and acting.Such a shame she died as young as she did.Thelma was glad she didn’t have to see the headlines about the star’s passing in the ‘60s, but she would have liked to have seen her live just once.
“I haven’t watched this movie since I was a kid,” Gretchen said as everyone proceeded down the yellow brick road. “Yet it’s like I just saw it yesterday. Guess it really stays with you.”
“It was an incredible product of its time.” Thelma still remembered how full her heart felt the first time she saw it in the theater with her mother.Such an indulgence.Such a mind-bending feat for a little girl whose whole world had been centered on Depression-era Los Angeles. As she rearranged herself on the couch, her hand brushed against Gretchen’s, causing them both to stare at one another while pulling their hands away.
