Pretence of Normalcy

Jeanne and Colette looked in the cupboards. The kitchen contained pots, pans, flatware, dishes, a pitcher and tall glasses. The laundry room, which also stored gardening supplies, opened into the backyard. Jeanne swung Colette in the hammock a few minutes. Inside again, they spent a while in each room and Jeanne imagined for Colette how their life would run day to day—in Colette’s bedroom and Jeanne’s with dimity curtains on the window; the things they would cook and eat (“We’ll need to buy cookbooks,”); Jeanne would buy flowers to grow near the front door. “Geraniums,” she said. “You can pick...