Maudie

A very long time ago, a very old woman told me her story. She didn't start at the beginning and tell it through to the end, like reading a book. If you took that book, ripped all of the pages loose, clipped two or three together here and there, cut some in half----then played 52-card-pickup with a couple of hundred pages and fragments, gathered them all in a box, and began to read them out in the disorder you'd made....that was how this story came down to me. I didn't know her for long. But I valued her very much. In the spirit of honoring her, I think I need to tell her story. A lot of the details are lost to my memory. Others I never knew. But she'll forgive me I think for filling the gaps with my imagination. She always liked my imagination.

As I said, she was very old when I knew her. She'd had a hard life, lived through some history you learned in school. She'd seen many changes, adapted to a world unimaginable in her childhood. She was a strong old lady, tough in mind and in body. She'd worked hard for most of the life I hadn't witnessed, and she wasn't inclined to slacken much when inevitable infirmity began to battle with her expectations of herself. Her name was Maude, a white-haired, arthritic, neighborhood caretaker. If someone had a loss, an illness, a shocking reversal of their lives, count on seeing her at the door with something to soothe. Besides her compassionate presence, and willingness to pitch in and keep the household running, she most likely had a food item or a balm to offer. Her major contribution to my life was the healing, comforting massages that held debilitating pain at bay. As her twisted fingers worked, she sang old, old songs, or she told me of her life.

I'll be starting her story at the beginning, as I know it, not telling it as she did. Those scattered pages and fragments trickled into my knowledge from up and down the time line, and through a haze of fever and delirium. But I'll try to do justice to Maude over the next few weeks. Please come back and meet a truly wonderful lady.