Thelma parked the Impala on the far side of the lot, right beneath the shady tree. She didn’t like to run the air conditioner more than she had to, and leaving the windows down meant unscrupulous characters might make off with her “vintage” car with so few miles. She did leave the window open a crack, though, before exiting in the same outfit she had worn when she traveled into the future.
She brought with her some modern confections, though. In her reusable Ralph’s shopping bag were store-bought cakes and some homemade cookies she baked the night before.Snickerdoodles. Her favorite.Thelma maintained her classic stiff upper lip as she approached the nursing home and spoke to the woman behind the front desk.
“Mama!” That was how Debbie greeted her when Linda the nurse walked her out of her room. Debbie broke free from Linda’s grasp and hobbled toward Thelma, who primly sat at one of the large tables in the all-purpose room that bridged the many hallways leading to the residents’ dorms. “Mama came!”
“Hello, Debbie.” Thelma got up to take her daughter by the bony, shaking shoulders and kissed her gaunt cheeks. “It’s so good to see you! Oh, whoops! Left some lipstick on your cheek there.” She pressed her cloth handkerchief to her tongue before wiping it against her daughter’s skin. The red lipstick easily came off.
Debbie rocked back and forth in delight as her mother paid such special attention to her. “You should see…” She motioned to Linda to hand her something. “Look at this.”
She presented a piece of art that was made with watercolor paints and auto-stick glitter. Already, it covered some of Thelma’s hand before she had the chance to avoid it. “It’s very lovely,” she said. “Who’s this?”
Debbie pointed to a blobbish woman with yellow hair and a green dress. “Mama.”
“Just me? Where’s your daddy?”
Chirping like a bird, Debbie turned away, holding her breath.
“What is it?” Thelma asked Linda, who was about to walk away now that she had delivered Debbie and her art. “Something about her father?”
The nurse shrugged. “Deb always gets a little out of sorts when talking about her dad. By the way…” Her lips attempted to smile. “Nice dress. My grandma had one just like it.”
Thelma thanked her before Linda wandered away, but she knew that was a sarcastic comment.They think I’m strange.Thelma had been coming dressed as Debbie remembered her for the past few months, even taking her out to sit in the Impala as if it were 1958 and they were on their way to church. More than once, Thelma overheard Linda and some of the other staff whispering about her.“She comes dressed like that… cosplaying as her grandmother.” “Well, it’s weird, but if Debbie likes it, who cares?” “I know, right? Just be nice. Debbie’s been so much easier to handle since her ‘mother’ started coming to visit.”
In a way, it wasn’t too different from how Debbie handled nursery school back in the ‘50s. Thelma still remembered the first time she dropped her daughter off with the teacher before rushing off to run errands.She screamed and cried… screamed and cried…Mrs. Fraser had said Debbie only calmed down when told Thelma would be back in ten minutes at the end of the day.She didn’t fare much better in Sunday school later.The doctor said that it wasn’t uncommon for kids Debbie’s age to have over-attachment to their mothers, and the best thing to do was simply “toss them into the water.”Turns out, they have other ways of handling this now.
So, Thelma came every other week—every week if she could swing it. She put on this dress, did up her makeup, and arrived with candies and soft drinks that Debbie had always loved. They often ate lunch together in the main room, Debbie given a tray by the nurses and Thelma eating a Wonder Bread sandwich from her bags.Bologna and mayonnaise, of course.She often let Debbie eat some of it for nostalgia’s sake.
Everything was about curating the past for Debbie, who was trapped in it for hours at a time. According to the nurses, she had been promising everyone for “months” that“my mama is coming to visit.”Megan explained that she and Robbie had to come up with plausible deniability stories about Thelma’s continued absence. The most common lie was,“Mom’s visiting her cousin in Phoenix.”That placated Debbie every time.Now, they don’t have to lie to her.Thelma was here, mostly on Mondays.
It was becoming harder to pencil in these sojourns to the memory care facility, though. As the months had gone by, Thelma was granted more freedom, both by the FBI and, quite frankly, herself. She wasn’t about to get a job anytime soon, but she was no longer filling her days with housework and fretting over what had happened to her. She was taking moreclasses—after her initial, mandatory history lessons concluded, she signed up for the next round that delved into grittier details and touched more on world events instead of concentrating on America. More than one chrononaut in her unit had gone on to get college degrees in History, and Thelma considered herself not too far behind.I’m not going back to proper school anytime soon, but…It gave her something to aspire to. She didn’t even mind starting all over again since there was no way for her old credits in 1949 to transfer!
She had begun volunteering at the library, too, hitching rides with Robbie—who still did not care to talk to her much. At the library, she learned more about using technology from a patient woman named Kim, who had the decency not to treat “young” Thelma like an idiot because she struggled with using the internet and doing anything else on the computer besides typing. The library made it easier, though. There were specific, repetitive tasks now that the world was in the post-card catalogue era.
She even had a phone now. A “dumb” phone, as Megan called it, that only allowed calls and texts, but that was more than enough for Thelma. It also meant the leash was fully extended now that she had retaken her driver’s test and could contact help when necessary.
Stay busy. Just stay busy.It was what she knew in her heart, and it was what Crystal the therapist and the rest of group agreed. Staying busy meant her brain didn’t fret over every little thing. It meant she gained confidence through everyday interactions with her new environment. And it, more importantly, meant she felt like she contributed something to her life.
Every night before bed, she prayed, counting her blessings.Just like when I was a girl.She knelt by her bed, hands clasped, nightgown (or shirt, since they were quite comfortable, weren’tthey?) clinging to her as she thanked God for her life and for watching her loved ones.
But she was careful not to bite off more than she could chew. Having most of her days taken up with housework and volunteering was vital. Especially since the Lutheran church, headed by Pastor Liz, had welcomed her with open arms. Thelma was still slowly integrating herself into modern church life, especially since Megan thought she was nuts for doing so, but it was nice to know it was there. Crystal and the others couldn’t help with Thelma’s spiritual conundrums, after all.
One of them flared up when she looked into her daughter’s wrinkled, confused face halfway through their lunch. “Huh?” She blinked so hard that Thelma worried her daughter had something in her eye. “Who are you?”
Thelma steeled herself. This wasn’t the first time Debbie suddenly didn’t recognize her halfway through a visit, and she assumed it would only get worse as time went by.
“I’m just here for a visit,” Thelma said through a practiced smile. “How’s your lunch?”
Debbie blinked again, this time refocusing on the half-eaten food in front of her. “Good!” She leaned in toward her mother, but in a way that implied she was conspiring with a school chum instead of a family member. “The cook here is very…” Her mouth twisted up and down as her fingers rubbed together, and her hair fell in her face. “Cute.”
Her girlish giggles garnered the attention of Linda, who watched them through judgmental eyes. As soon as Debbie ate more of her lunch, the nurse came over.
“What’s she up to now?”
Thelma would take her daughter’s secret to the grave. “We’re just talking about something that happened a long time ago,” she explained to the cautious nurse. “She’s feeling very nostalgic today.”
Linda raised one eyebrow before walking away again.
“Mama…” Debbie put her hand on her mother’s arm. “She doesn’t… she doesn’t like…”
