After their ice cream in the park, Franny and Beverly went back to the Edison Hotel.
In the lobby she asked him, “Do you intend to go back to Toronto tonight?”
Looking at his watch, he shook his head. “It’s getting late to start back. I think I’ll stay over.” He headed for the newsstand and then stopped, “Say, we could drive up to Stratford tonight.”
She hesitated only a moment. “What’s on?”
“King Lear.”
Franny laughed. “How appropriate! Not just two daughters fighting over their parent but three!”
“You’d make a great Cordelia.”
“Yes, I certainly would.” She gave an impish grin. “The good and kind daughter, of course.”
“So? If we leave in half an hour we’ll have time to get tickets and a bite to eat before the curtain.”
“Let’s do it. Shall we meet back here then?” As Francine got ready in her room, she thought—at least it will get me out of this town for a few hours.
The next morning, Aunt Ev smiled at Maggie over breakfast. “I’m so pleased, dear, that you’re spending the day with Franny. Just two sisters together.” Ev rose to tend to the eggs on the stove. Chattering over her shoulder , she continued, “When our mother died years ago, Martha and I did the same thing. Spent the whole day talking. It was wonderful. I think that’s when we really got to know each other. Sometimes, I think, it takes a loss like that to bring sisters together. Now you may be worried what the two of you will have to say to each other, but....”
“Auntie Ev? Please don’t talk.” Maggie muttered.
“Why on earth not, sweetheart?”
“If I’m gone all day, you’ll know we’re having a good time. But I may well be back by noon.”
“Give it a chance, dear. Franny may be just as lonely as you are at this time. Two women lost without their mother....”
Maggie jumped from the table and ran upstairs. Ev winced when Maggie slammed the bathroom door.
Franny sat sipping her second cup of coffee in the restaurant of the Edison Hotel. She had not yet seen Beverly this morning.
King Lear had been an amazing production. Shakespeare, the master of human nature and emotion, could write plays which were so fresh, immediate and relevant to human experience today –four centuries later. Goneril and Regan were King Lear’s other daughters, consumed by ambition and greed. Cordelia, although she truly knew and loved her father, was banished by him through the old man’s folly and pride. How timeless were such forces driving humanity down through the centuries and right into Toronto and Hammersmith. Driving back from Stratford after the play, Beverly had been vague about when he would head back to Toronto.
With an invitation from Maggie to spend the day together, Franny found old questions surfacing. I actually have no idea who my sister is. Is that my fault or is it hers? Or does it matter?
She checked her watch and then headed for her car. They would spend the day together—doing what? Within ten minutes, she turned onto Aunt Ev’s street and pulled up in front of the house. Sitting in the car she looked along the street half expecting to see King Lear’s daughters emerge from one of the houses. Trying to relax, she took a deep breath.
