They Laughed When I Left, So I Came Home the Town's Doctor novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: Sunday Supper

Tuomas asked me for supper on Saturday morning, and he asked it from the sidewalk.

"My mother wants to have you all to the house tomorrow," he said. "At her table. She says she'll be civil."

"She said that?" I asked.

"She said, and I quote, I can sit at a table."

"That isn't the same," I said.

"No." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I told her what you told me. She didn't say it was true and she didn't say it wasn't. I want her to see them, Sanna. In her own house, with a fork in her hand."

I looked at my mother on the porch, pretending to water a dead fern.

"It's a bad idea," I said.

"I know."

"I'll come."

I went because I wanted to see her face.

I should be honest about that.

The Ahola house on Ridge Street was white clapboard with green shutters, and the front hall smelled of floor wax and cardamom.

It hadn't changed.

Even the clock was the same, ticking in the corner.

Kaarina opened the door in a good navy dress and pearls.

"Come in," she said. "Wipe your feet."

She looked at me, and then at my mother, and then, for a moment, at the twins.

Helmi stuck out her hand.

"I'm Helmi. I'm five and a half."

Kaarina took it with two fingers.

"How nice," she said, and let go.

The dining room table was set for six with the good china, the old Finnish pattern with blue birds.

Tuomas had made the roast.

He carried it in with a towel over his shoulder and set it down, and caught my eye across the platter.

I looked away.

We sat.

My mother and Kaarina had known each other for forty years and spoke to each other with great courtesy.

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