Opal

Character study, page 63, “Writing a novel”

1^st study

“An old woman is opening a letter from her son. He is suggesting she moves into a home for old people. She doesn’t want to go.”

Opal carefully slit the letter open with one of her long, dark-purple nails.

            The porch swing she sat on swayed back and forth in front of her beloved home; her adoring young husband, Eli, had built the small, pristine white house as a celebration of their marriage. He had died more than four years ago, but Opal still felt the gaping hole that had been left in her life after his passing.

            She began to read the tidy penmanship of her eldest son.

            “Dearest Mother,

                        “I know you have reassured me that you’re quite fine; I still worry about you living all alone in Vermont, so far away from my brothers and myself. Since you won’t consider my offer to come and live with me and my family in California,” Too damn hot, Opal thought to herself before she continued to read the letter with trepidation;

“I decided to research homes for the elderly in Vermont. I’ve found a very promising institution, with minimal rules, and it’s close enough to your neighborhood that you won’t feel out of place.

Please consider this offer, Mother, I truly want the best for you.

            Your loving son

            Michael.”

            Opal set the half-open letter down on the porch swing, the edges of the paper trembled slightly in a spring breeze.

            If that well-meaning, persistent, eldest-son of mine thinks I’ll move into an ‘old folks’ home’, he’s as crazy as the kaizer. She thought, while a fond and annoyed grin stretched her wrinkly mouth. Though her face was as creased as a Shar Pei puppy, she was a beautiful woman.

            She sat up from the porch swing, her joints creaking more than a little, and stalked through her front door to fetch a pen and paper, a determined look giving strength to her face and stride.