This was a fucking weird one
I am sitting on the couch with my Aunt Yolanda at my grandparents' house, but it is the present day, so they are still both dead. She keeps saying "Look out there (out the front window)! Any minute now, Robert (my grandfather) will be coming home!" and I just say "Oh, well! Maybe!" This goes on for a while. From time to time, she'll stand up, walk over to the wall, and say "There should be a breach in this wall, a door... But, look... They've changed it..." and then she'll come back and sit down. Then she mentions that Robert should be coming home soon.
I get her into the car, and we drive away. Now she starts asking me about movies I've seen. She quizzes me. Before long, I realize that she's recalling things well, and that the questions she's asking are actually sensible. One question she asks is for me to guess the title of a movie from the '40s, and says "It's about a green umbrella!" and I don't know, and she says "The Peridot Parasol! Starring William Crawthorn and Jean Mez! Oh, I just love that picture..."
I notice that she's getting more coherent as we drive, and seems to be getting younger, too. She's growing prettier by the second, but I never particularly thought she was pretty. She is starting to look like... Jean Mez. Why do I know this? I've never seen Jean Mez before. She doesn't even exist! Now I'm William Crawthorn... This is all feeling like an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
The narration, in my father's voice, says "I had heard about this, but I'd never seen it happen. It's a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence... I knew... When this was over, it would be all over, and she'd never go back again. I had to make it all worthwhile..."
So I take her on a picnic on the beach at Lake Erie, and then we are in the desert. There's a song on the radio... "This is it, the Arid Zone, call us up, on the phone!" is the chorus. It's some goofy song from the '40s, possibly the theme of "The Peridot Parasol." We pull into a drive-in. The movie they are showing is called "Dave Late."
It's about how Dave Whited is always late to the movies.
I get her into the car, and we drive away. Now she starts asking me about movies I've seen. She quizzes me. Before long, I realize that she's recalling things well, and that the questions she's asking are actually sensible. One question she asks is for me to guess the title of a movie from the '40s, and says "It's about a green umbrella!" and I don't know, and she says "The Peridot Parasol! Starring William Crawthorn and Jean Mez! Oh, I just love that picture..."
I notice that she's getting more coherent as we drive, and seems to be getting younger, too. She's growing prettier by the second, but I never particularly thought she was pretty. She is starting to look like... Jean Mez. Why do I know this? I've never seen Jean Mez before. She doesn't even exist! Now I'm William Crawthorn... This is all feeling like an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
The narration, in my father's voice, says "I had heard about this, but I'd never seen it happen. It's a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence... I knew... When this was over, it would be all over, and she'd never go back again. I had to make it all worthwhile..."
So I take her on a picnic on the beach at Lake Erie, and then we are in the desert. There's a song on the radio... "This is it, the Arid Zone, call us up, on the phone!" is the chorus. It's some goofy song from the '40s, possibly the theme of "The Peridot Parasol." We pull into a drive-in. The movie they are showing is called "Dave Late."
It's about how Dave Whited is always late to the movies.