THE BENCH

"There's something very enticing about an empty bench.....And if it's facing a river, that's the bench for me...."  -Joyce Rachelle

APRIL 5th was my mother's 113th birthday. Well, would have been. Her birthdays came and went. Cause it was always spring. And she loved that. 

She had a few friends who made her silly paper hats and such. One year my father gave her pearls. Luminescent. From the sea.

And one year, her friend, Iris Leed, gave her a singular teacup. It had a barn on one side and a donkey on the other. Could have been a horse, but it was a grey donkey, with buck teeth. Ugly thing. And the donkey had its mouth open .  I think my mother said thank you....

Iris Leed and my mother always met on the bench that overlooked the ocean. Spring and summer. In the fall and winter Iris Leed travelled. Everywhere. She loved to travel. Her husband left her quite wealthy. He died many moons ago after a trip to the Amazon. Picked up some sort of  parasite that ate into his brain. Shudder. She bought teacups everywhere she went. Before he died and after.

She would meet my mother on their bench. She would wave enthusiastically. "Guess where I went THIS winter??" she would call out. My mother made the appropriate queries.

"Oh heavens, dear, " Iris Leed would sputter loudly . She was always loud and happy.  " It was quite atrocious in Athens, but Sweden was divine. And this year I went to Whiskey a Go Go in New York. EVERYONE was there...." Iris Leed laughed loud and long.  "That's where I got your tea cup!"

Iris Leed had picked up 32 teacups this last trip. Had them all shipped to her house.  She made gifts of them to her friends.

She thought my mother would like the  teacup with the barn and the donkey. There was no saucer. (thank goodness)

Until a few years later........

They met again on a windy day in May. On their bench. Iris Leed was positively beaming. She handed my mother something wrapped in tissue paper. My mother opened it.

"The Saucer!!" yelled Mrs. Leed. "I found  the saucer ! It goes with the teacup!" My mother looked at it in horror. "Now you have a perfect piece! Isn't that wonderful?! We shall have to have tea and you can use it!!" She bellowed.

The saucer was just as hideous. It had a farmer holding a hoe in the centre. "Isn't it smashing?" yelled Iris Leed. "One of a kind.! I think Gary Cooper used to own it!"

Then they would sit on their bench. And watch the world sail by. Iris Leed talked effortlessly about  her travels. The famous people. She wanted my mother to go with her next time.  Meanwhile, my mother  worried about  the donkey teacup. 

 

It had become the scoop for dirty kitty litter. It lay significantly scratched by its task,  beside the  cat box. When she got home, my mother cleaned it up and placed it on  the saucer.  the donkey looked a little bemused.

Iris Leeds died a few weeks later. Her ashes were scattered off the cliffs by their bench. My mother sat on the lone bench one last time.She thought of her friend.  She kept the teacup, now free of cat litter, kept it on top of the windowsill for many years. It reminded her of Iris Leed. Her goofy, wonderful friend who thought she would love a donkey teacup.

"There's always that one bench with a great view. Where you can sit, think and plan your tomorrow. And when your tomorrow arrives, you come back to add memories to your memories..." -Maria Boria

Photographs 2021