Linda Rochester - A Love Affair with Place: An excerpt from her story Parts of a Whole
The Rochester's Home
I. My parent's house.
Days last forever when I am living with my mother and father. I discover in their home that I will never be bored in life because there will always be interesting ways to spend time. A sample day involves waking in the morning on a summer day--cleaning out a drawer, straightening my room, reading a book, painting for a while. Daddy comes in, lunch--chicken and dumplings, a trip to town, a friend--maybe Judy Griffin or Jackie Jenkins--comes for the afternoon, we eat a snack of lemon icebox pie or popcorn, Judy /Jackie goes home, Daddy comes in--supper at 5:30. T.V. Daddy and I read a Bible story--talk as I get older-bed.
II. My grandmother's house.
I spend many days and nights there. My time goes like this: playing behind her rocker, in the ditch, under Mama's feet in the kitchen, in Mama's lap in her wicker rocker. I make a house behind her rocker and play there during Alfred Hitchcock. I see a snake in the ditch. I make a dough ball in the kitchen. I cry and cry over "The Little Match Girl" that she swears never to read me again. "Linda cries too much," she tells Jeanette. Jeanette, my unmarried aunt, takes me to work at her dress shop, then we are back for supper. Mama makes over-cooked green beans, corn, carrots, meatloaf, and cornbread. Jeanette gets me to eat my vegetables by calling them bugs and worms. "Eat that little worm," she says. Down it goes. Jeanette and I catch lightening bugs in the summer and make a snow man in the winter.
III. Bermuda x 5.
My honeymoon is here. Johnny and I come back by ourselves, with Mother, Daddy and Jeanette on one trip, with my daughter Katie as a two-year old, with Katie and son, Alex, when they are small, again when they are eight and twelve, and again when they are teenagers. Bermuda is magical every time. I ride on the back of the motor scooters with Johnny early on--I try driving with a child on the back when we come with children. They beg to ride with Johnny instead of me. I can't figure out how to stop the scooter so I stop with my shoes. I wear out a great pair of wedges. When the children are older, they refuse to ride with me--we all walk instead. On our last trip together, they drive their own scooters.
IV. New York x 20.
We come here every year for plays, dinner, museums and shops. I come first by myself--with my parents and husband--with my husband--with my children. Johnny is unlike himself. We are unlike ourselves. Romance is here. I wish for this place--for him in this place. I am tortured, for much of our lives, by what lives in him here.
V. My house.
We build a house, Johnny and me, that we both love. We have children, pets, friends, and parties here. I become a party expert. We give parties at all times of day and night. Swim parties, spend-the-night parties, breakfast for politicians, lunch for the Lady's Circle at the Church. At my favorite party, a bridal reception, we serve nine cakes and lemonade. The days that I love here the most are the ones where my children and I are at home, pursuing our own interests. We check in on each other, but we don't crowd-a replay of my time with my parents in my first favorite place.
"Parts of a Whole" 2003
