Gwen. E. Lippert
hear ya,” agreed Gwen. “I usually go the library for my books, but if you don’t mind, this is even better!” Gwen liked the idea of being able to browse shelves of books without having to wait on one of her parents to drive her to the library. Then they had to stand around waiting for her to make her selection. She always felt rushed. “I see you like history.”
“I do. Those are probably my favorite, but I like other types too. I like books that are either true or seem like they could be true.”
“Me too.” Gwen looked at her new friend. She felt comfortable with Claire. “Do you remember most of these after you read them?”
“Yes, especially if I enjoyed them.”
Gwen had an idea. “If you pick out a book or two that you liked, I’ll read them, and then we can talk about them.” She stopped for a second and looked at Claire, worried that she had just said something dumb. “Does that sound stupid? If you think it’s stupid, we don’t have to.”
“I think it’s a great idea! Sometimes, I talk about books with my mom, but she doesn’t have much time for that anymore.” Claire walked to her books and started looking through the titles for what she wanted.
“I hear my mom and dad discussing books or articles, but those are usually science related, new discoveries, stuff like that. I like to read them too, but when I join in, they want me to hear their opinions but aren’t really interested in mine.”
“Yeah, I guess that kinda takes the fun out of it,” Claire replied without judgment. Claire grabbed a paperback. “How about The Thin Red Line? Have you read that? It’s sad but really good. Takes place during World War II.”
“No, I haven’t,” she said, taking the book from her friend. “Thank you.”
“Let’s stay with the WWII theme…hmm…here we go, The Diary of Anne Frank.” Claire looked at Gwen.
“Read that one, really sad too.”
“Yeah, it was. Well, we can talk about that one today. How about The Naked and the Dead?”
“No, that’s on my ‘to read’ list though! I heard it’s really hard to read.”
“It is,” said Claire, handing Gwen the book. “That gives us three to start with!”
Gwen continued to scan the bookshelves. She noticed a leather case sitting on top of the books on one shelf. “What’s that?”
“That’s my mah-jongg set.”
“Your what?”
“Mah-jongg. It’s a Chinese game my mom taught me to play.”
“Never heard of it.”
“It’s fun!” declared Claire. “It takes a while to learn, but once you get the hang of it, it’s fun. Old people play it a lot.” Claire smiled. “There are a few ladies at the senior center that play. I go down there every once in a while to play with them.”
“That’s nice,” Gwen said doubtfully.
“It’s fun. They enjoy it. They give me soda while I’m there, and I think they just like having someone young come in and hang out with them. Maybe you can go with me sometime?”
“I don’t know, maybe.” Gwen wasn’t convinced that it would be much fun. “I need to learn to play first, I guess.” Gwen thought that should buy her some time.
“Okay, then let’s start today!” Claire pulled the case down and led Gwen out to the kitchen. “Maybe in a few days, once you have the basics, you can go with me and play at the senior center. We can play together as one player, and you can learn while we play. Those ladies are awesome.”
“We’ll see,” said Gwen. She wasn’t sure she would like the game yet, and she surely wasn’t sure she wanted to play with old ladies.
They sat at Claire’s kitchen table, and Claire opened the case and started right in explaining the game. Gwen quickly realized that Claire wasn’t kidding when she said it would take time to learn! For one thing, it was a game for four people, so they each played two “hands.”
They had been playing for about an hour when Claire’s mother came in. Gwen’s first impression of Mrs. Lambertson was that she looked so young. She had long blond hair, pretty blue eyes, and a perpetual smile. She was also very short, not much taller than Gwen herself. “I’m home, my love!” she called as she walked in the door.
Claire jumped up from the table and ran to her mother, giving her a big hug. Mrs. Lambertson hugged her daughter back tightly, lifting her off the floor, and kissed her on the top of the head. “How’s my angel?” Gwen felt a slight stab of jealousy. Her parents never greeted her like that.
“Good, Mom. Come meet my friend.” Gwen broke out in a sweat. She had wanted to be out of here by now.
“Mom, this is Gwen…Gwen…Gee, I don’t even know your last name, Gwen!” She laughed.
“Marsh.”
“Well, hello, Gwen Marsh,” said Claire’s mom, reaching out to shake Gwen’s hand.
“Hi, Mrs. Lambertson.” Gwen wasn’t quite sure what to do, so she stood up and shook the woman’s hand.
“Please call me Miss Ann. Mrs. Lambertson makes me sound too old.” She smiled at Gwen. The smile seemed genuine to Gwen, and she allowed herself to relax a bit.
Gwen sat back down. “So, Gwen, is that short for Gwendolyn?”
“No, ma’am, it’s short for Gueneviere.” Gwen smiled. “My parents thought that a pretty name would make a pretty child.” She shrugged her shoulders.
“Well, they were right!” exclaimed Miss Ann, coming over to Gwen and giving her a quick hug. Gwen stiffened; she was not used to anyone touching her, certainly not someone she had just met.
Sensing Gwen’s discomfort, Miss Ann quickly released the hug and changed the subject. “So have you girls been playing mah-jongg all afternoon?”
Claire answered, “Yes, I’m teaching Gwen. She’s learning fast too. We also like the same books, so we’re going to have a book club. We’ll read books and talk about them.”
“Awesome!” Miss Ann seemed pleased to hear this. Gwen watched this woman closely as she removed her coat and listened with enjoyment as her daughter talked excitedly. Gwen noticed that she was wearing scrubs.
“Are you a doctor, Miss Ann?”
“A nurse. I work at Saint Joe’s Hospital, cardiac care. Do you know what that is?”
Gwen smiled. “Sure, I do. That’s for people with heart issues.”
“That’s right! Aren’t you smart?” Miss Ann smiled, and Gwen knew that her comment had no malice, no sarcasm. She was genuinely pleased that Gwen understood. “Well, that’s what I do. I help take care of people with heart ailments.”
“Do you like it?”
“Most of the time,” said Miss Ann. “Sometimes, it can be difficult, but mostly, it’s very rewarding.”
Gwen nodded and tried to think of something to say. She liked Miss Ann, but she was still nervous. “What does Mr. Lambertson do? Will he be home soon?”
Claire looked at her mom. Miss Ann thought for a second and replied, “Mr. Lambertson passed away two years ago.”
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” Gwen stammered. She had just met these people, and already she was screwing up. Her eyes filled with tears.
Miss Ann walked back to Gwen and hugged her tightly. “It’s okay, sweetie. You had no way of knowing. And we like to talk about Dan. So thank you for asking about him! You are such a sweet girl.”
Gwen was shocked. She didn’t