Still there

I drive out to the old house at the end of a dirt road. She has seen me from the window. She has put on a kettle of hot water. We will have tea and talk.

She opens the door even as I gesture with agitation. "We must talk," I say. "And I, I did not know you would still be here."

Josette laughs at me with her green eyes. "Where would I go? You have set me up so comfortably."

I study her red apron trimmed in rick rack. I remember that fabric.

"I cannot do this without you," I say. "I simply cannot. My judgment is skewed. I have been a fool."

"But you are not a fool now," she guesses.

"As long as I am this person, I say I am a fool. But on a particular point I have been foolish. If only you had been there. You could have told me better."

"No one can tell you anything, madame."

"Actually I have been a fool on many points."

"As Hokei admonished Hofuku, 'That is enough talking. Let us have a cup of tea.'"