Hom: More Familyarity

The jewel of the visit was Lyn's Aunt Marie, Dick's sister, who lived in an old house in Hull on the coast. Ri was one of the neatest people I ever knew and I could see why she was Lyn's favorite relative. She was quiet and funny and unpretentious and great to be around. We ate supper there, and the first course was salad with cucumber slices on top. Lyn ate the cukes off her salad while I just stalled, not being in the mood for cucumbers. When she got up to get something & Ri glanced away I switched plates. When she came back, she did a double take and mumbled something about "I thought I just ate them!" Ri realized I'd made the switch and watched Lyn eat the second batch of cukes with a gleeful twinkle but never ratted me out. She wasn't married at the time, but lived with a man named Frank. Lyn said Frank had been a wonderful guy but after he suffered a crippling stroke turned both inward & bitter. Shortly after I was there, Ri & Frank went their separate ways. Ri had been married once. I don't remember how it ended or any of the details but because of religious repercussions or pain she never remarried. That was a shame, she was a great lady. She died of cancer a few years ago. She gave me a pewter mug for Christmas one year that sits on my desk as I type: I think of her often. We visited one of Lyn's uncles. When we walked into the living room, my first thought was that they had a bearskin rug. My second thought was "Whoa!' when the "rug" stood up and shook -- I had just met my first Newfoundland, huge, shaggy, and lovable. For White Collar families, her relatives were mostly okay. TBC (Me) (Blacktail Books)