Valley of the Moon (8 page)

“You were happy?” she asked.

“We were happy.”

Clarification:
most
of us had been happy. The O'Learys hadn't been happy. Paddy's last words? “If we stay any longer, we'll never leave.” How right he had turned out to be.

“So. That's not a crime. That's what everybody wants.” She took another deep pull on the cigarette. “I have a joint back in my tent. I wish I'd brought it.”

“A joint?”

“Pot. Marijuana. Um, cannabis—I guess that's the proper name. What do you call it?”

“Hashish.”

“Is it illegal? It's illegal now.”

“You could mail-order maple sugar hashish candy in the Sears, Roebuck catalog.”

Lux laughed. “You're kidding.”

“No, I'm afraid I'm not.”

She flicked the ash of her cigarette over the railing.

“Are you married? Do you have children?” I asked her, changing the subject.

She sat down in the rocking chair next to me. “I'm a widow. I live with my son, Benno. He's five.”

She said this dryly, with very little emotion.

“My condolences.”

“Yes, well, it was a while ago.”

“Still, that must have been very difficult.”

“He was in the army. He died in the war.”

“The war with Vietnam?”

“Yes.”

“Where is your son right now?”

“He's with my mother.”

“You live with your parents, then? Siblings as well?”

She gave me a strange look. “I live alone. Well, I have a roommate, Rhonda, but she's barely ever home.”

“Where do your parents reside?”

“In Newport, Rhode Island.”

“Across the country? Why aren't they with you? However do you manage on your own without help?”

She stood, walked down the stairs, and threw her cigarette in the dirt. “I manage just fine. Nobody lives with their parents anymore. Everybody leaves home. Everybody. It's just what you do.”

This was the moment when I fully believed she was from a different time. She could relay an encyclopedia's worth of historical facts to me; she could tell me of every scientific, mathematical, and medical advancement; she could describe the plots of award-winning novels that hadn't yet been written, hum the tunes of unheard operas and symphonies, tell me of new planets, new cocktails, new styles of clothing—but none of it would convince me more than this simple fact. She was alone, she and her son. This would have been a very rare scenario in my time.

Lux walked back up the stairs. “I've got to get some sleep. What time do you wake up in the mornings?”

“Five.”

“Everybody gets up then?”

“It depends on the crew.”

“What crew will I be on?” She tipped her chin up, looking defiant, as if I were about to deny her the opportunity to be put to work.

“What crew would you like to be on?”

“Garden,” she said.

“Fine. Garden starts at seven, but the breakfast bell rings at six.”

“I'll be up at five-thirty,” she said.

“Do you have a watch?”

“No, do you?”

“I don't need one. I wake up the same time every day.”

“Same,” she said proudly. “See you at dawn.”

I
woke to the sound of something being poured, Martha filling the washbasin with hot water. Through the window I could see the first streaks of red in the sky. The sun hadn't risen yet.

I sat up in bed. “You don't have to do that. I can do it myself.” I didn't want her to wait on me—it made me uncomfortable.

“It's chilly in the mornings. You won't be used to the cold house.”

I pulled back the covers and put my bare feet on the floor. The wood was freezing. I gave a little gasp.

Martha dragged the rag rug to the side of the bed. “That's where it belongs, not in the middle of the room.” She scowled and I felt guilty, as if I had been the one who moved the rug, though I wasn't.

“Joseph says you want to join the garden crew today.”

“Yes, if that's okay. Unless I'm needed elsewhere.”

She looked impeccable, her hair swept back neatly into a bun. She wore a gray skirt and a spotlessly clean apron.

“Where you work is entirely up to you, as I'm sure Joseph explained.” She eyed my skinny ankles suspiciously. “Although it's a busy time of year in the garden. You'll be harvesting. It's backbreaking, repetitive work. Kneeling. Stooping over, picking, hauling baskets to the wagon.”

“That won't be a problem. I'm a waitress. I carry platters of food all day long. I can even carry a keg of beer up from the basement.” A pony keg, but still.

She cocked her head as if trying to imagine me with a keg of beer on my shoulder. “The water's getting cold,” she said.

“Thank you. And next time—”

She waved dismissively at me. “Yes, yes, you'll get your own water. Don't worry, I have no intention of being your servant.”

I dressed in the same outfit I'd had on yesterday. Skirt, blouse, and hiking boots. When I got downstairs, I found Fancy waiting for me.

“Good morning!” she piped. “Did you sleep well?”

I hadn't slept much at all. I'd been too revved up after my conversation with Joseph, which for some reason had left me feeling exposed. Also, I couldn't stop thinking about Benno. Day three without him. I missed him desperately.

“I slept okay.”

“Wonderful,” said Fancy. “Let's go to the dining hall. I'm starving.”

“Should we wait for Joseph and Martha?”

“They left ages ago,” she said, linking her arm through mine.

A few minutes after we set out, the bell rang. Families streamed out of their cottages and the dormitories emptied. Children ran ahead of their parents, dogs at their feet. Roosters crowed. Horses pushed their velvety noses into fresh hay.

I could smell the pancakes from a hundred feet away. My stomach grumbled.

“Everybody's looking at us,” said Fancy. “At you.”

They were looking at me but something had changed since last night. Their faces seemed more open, less guarded.

“It's odd, isn't it?” said Fancy. “How quickly something unbelievable becomes believable.”

I was thinking the very same thing. Yesterday I'd spent the day riding waves of surreality and shock. Thinking
This can't be happening
. Today, just twenty-four hours later, those waves were still coming in but the time between sets was much longer. This
was
happening. I
was
here. I saw the same acknowledgment on people's faces.

“What crew are you on?” I asked Fancy.

“Much to my brother's dismay, I'm a flutterbudget. I just can't seem to settle on one thing. Where are you working today?”

“The garden.”

“Oh,” she groaned. “Poor girl.”

“I chose it.”

“Mmm, let's see how you feel about it tonight, shall we? When that lovely complexion is the color of a beet and your clothes—my clothes—are soaked through with sweat.”

“You should come with me,” I said.

“How I wish I could. I have just the perfect hat, with a lovely blue satin ribbon.” She looked at me sadly. “Alas, I've already committed myself to the entertainment crew.”

“The entertainment crew. Joseph didn't mention that.”

“That's because I'm starting it today. You're welcome to join—I have all sorts of things planned. I thought our inaugural event would be an old-fashioned country dance. The Scottish reel, lots of lively skipping up and down in rows just like in
Pride and Prejudice
. Then a strings concert; as it happens, the beekeeper is a violinist and there are two cellists on the building crew. And perhaps a bimonthly lecture series. There is a great deal of untapped knowledge here at Greengage. And why, you, Lux! Oh my goodness, why haven't I thought of you? You must be our first lecturer. You can fill us in on what we've missed. Tell us all about the twentieth century. Will you do it? Please say you'll do it. Please?”

“Fancy,” said Joseph. “She hasn't even had her tea yet.” He'd suddenly materialized beside us.

“Good heavens,” said Fancy. “Must you always be popping up like that? It's so uncivilized, not to give a person some warning. And stop interfering. We're the most bosom of friends already. Isn't that right, Lux?”

Nobody had ever referred to me as a bosom friend before. I felt tears come to my eyes, which was completely ridiculous, especially under the circumstances.

“You are overwhelming her,” said Joseph, peering at me with concern.

Twice now he'd seen me tear up. What was wrong with me? Why was I so emotional here?

“I am not overwhelming her.”

“She's not. She's not overwhelming me,” I said, although the idea of giving a talk to 278 people made me feel faint.

Fancy squeezed my arm.

“Come on, you two,” said Joseph, leading us into the dining hall. “Fancy, make sure you eat a proper breakfast. You have a long day ahead of you, installing the new privies.”

Fancy snorted, “I will be doing no such thing.”

Martha was right. Being on the garden crew was backbreaking, repetitive work—but I loved it all the same. They started me in strawberries, me and all the kids; I guess they thought I couldn't be trusted with proper vegetables yet. The children sat in the dirt, and for every strawberry they picked, another went into their mouths. None of them spoke to me for a while, although they did their share of staring, and then one little boy asked, “Don't you like strawberries?” and that broke the dam of silence.

“I love strawberries,” I said.

“Then why aren't you eating them?” asked a girl.

“Because I'm not hungry.”

“Why aren't you hungry?”

“Because I just ate breakfast.”

“What did you have for breakfast?”

“Pancakes, just like you.”

“Do you have pancakes at your house?”

“All the time.”

“Do you have children?”

“Yes, I have a son, just about your age, maybe a little younger. His name is Benno.”

“What kind of a name is Benno?”

“It's short for Bennett.”

“Why isn't he with you?”

“He's on vacation.”

“Vacation?”

“A holiday. With his grandmother.”

They looked horrified, their faces smudged with dirt, their fingers sticky with strawberry juice.

“Then why are you here? Why didn't you go with him?”

Why, indeed? Suddenly I was hungry. I stuffed three strawberries in my mouth.

After lunch I graduated to tomato picking. Nobody spoke to me for an hour. Finally a woman who looked to be in her fifties said, “You don't have to be so gentle.”

She was referring to the way I was handling the tomatoes. Tenderly placing them in the basket, being careful not to bruise them, which slowed my picking down quite a bit.

“They're just going in the pot,” she explained. “Those”—she pointed a few rows away—“we baby.”

She walked over to the other row, picked a tomato, came back, and handed it to me. “Taste.”

“I don't have a knife.”

“Just bite into it,” she instructed me.

I bit into it like an apple; juice splattered on my chin. The skin was warm. It tasted of sun and earth and rain.

“Now eat this,” she said, handing me one of the tomatoes I'd picked.

Even though it was a deep red, it had none of the depth of flavor. It didn't explode on my tongue, it just sort of sat there.

“You see the difference? These are for canning. Those are for eating.”

“Yes.”

“Good.” She knelt down again. “My name is Ilsa.”

“Hi, Ilsa, I'm Lux.”

“I know. You don't have to introduce yourself. Everybody knows who you are.”

My basket was nearly full. I picked more tomatoes, quickly this time, and stood. The wagon was a good quarter mile away. I arched my back and stretched, preparing for the walk. The basket weighed at least twenty pounds.

“Do you have moving pavements in San Francisco?” asked Ilsa.

“Moving pavements?”

“Sidewalks that carry you everywhere so you don't have to walk,” she explained. “You just step on them and—whoosh!—off you go.”

This was what people in the early twentieth century thought the future would bring? I guess it was similar to me wishing that one day there'd be a tiny record player I could carry around in my pocket so I could have music wherever I went.

“Oh. God. No. That would be nice, though, wouldn't it? There are so many hills in the city. But there is something close. Moving stairs. Escalators.”

“What about personal flying machines?” asked a man who'd been eavesdropping on our conversation.

“You mean like a car—an automobile that flies?”

He nodded.

“No, but we have commercial airlines. TWA. Pan Am. They fly hundreds of people in one airplane. You can travel from San Francisco to Boston in around five hours.”

He cried out in surprise. From then on, the rest of the afternoon flew by. I was deluged with questions. People gasped at what they heard. They also laughed and made fun. How strange. Why would anybody need to blow-dry their hair? Or use an electrified toothbrush? Or sit in front of a small screen in their living room watching something called
The Rockford Files
?

At the end of the day, the garden crew climbed into the empty wagon. I didn't know what time it was, but it had to be well after six; the sun was low in the sky and the air had a hint of coolness in it. Slowly we made our way back to the dining hall. My fingernails were edged with dirt, my back was tight and my calves sore from all the bending and lifting, but I felt a kind of grounded satisfaction that I hadn't felt in years. A pleasant ache in my solar plexus. The steady thrum that only comes from working outside.

We were packed into the wagon, sitting thigh to thigh. I now knew everybody's name. Claudette, a six-year-old girl with a red birthmark on her neck in the shape of China, crawled into my lap, and in the ten minutes it took us to get to the dining hall, she fell asleep.

“Do you mind?” asked Ilsa.

“Not at all.” I enjoyed the weight of her head on my shoulder. It reminded me of my sweet Benno. I wondered what he was doing this very minute. How many days was it until I'd see him again? Eleven? Twelve?

“Is she yours?” I asked.

“She's my granddaughter.”

“Oh, your daughter is here, too?”

Ilsa looked off into the distance. “She was.”

Later I'd learn that Ilsa's daughter had left Greengage the night before the earthquake to spend a few days with her cousins in Alameda. Would Claudette ever see her mother again? No matter how enchanting a place Greengage was, what had happened to them was ghastly.

After dinner that night, when nobody was looking, I stepped into the fog. I was anxious to confirm that nothing had changed—that time was still passing regularly in my world. Once again, I heard the hum of the highway. And once again, I caught the briefest snippet of a song from a car radio. “The Hustle.” An image of Benno and me in the kitchen popped into my mind, the two of us doing the bump. The happiest of memories. He was fine. I was fine.