First Loves
I knew Dolores wouldn’t approve my decision to have a child coming regularly to the apartment. Ours was like a marriage; she had started working for me right after my wife had moved out, and, as I liked saying, I had found myself committed to this very valuable lady of Irish origins. Every day she took care of my apartment, watered my plants, and cooked my meals. To her that meant she was entitled to control my diet. I found that annoying at that time but I have to admit that, if it hadn’t been for her, I would have probably followed the recently separated man’s diet, i.e. junk food at breakfast, junk food at lunch, and junk food at dinner.
Ours had also been an encounter of two solitary planets. Widowed at an early age, Dolores had raised four children all by herself. Now all of them had moved away from Portland, and, even though they would phone her very often (the girl who was studying at UCLA called her daily), she had started feeling her house was too big and empty, so she had looked for a job that would take her outside it for most of her day. And she had found me, a lonely university professor in love with the stars, only partially aware of having a body that needed feeding and resting when deeply involved in research. I was all she needed and she was all I needed too.
I knew she would make a big fuss about having Gwendolyn coming to my place regularly but I was also sure she would fall in love with the child as soon as she met her. Things went as I had foreseen: when I told her I was going to tutor a girl who would come to the apartment every day she looked at me in disbelief. She said she was worried I was going to embark on something I would quickly regret but the expression on her face meant You are going to embark on something I will quickly regret. Don’t you like having a perfectly polished floor under your expensive shoes? This apartment was intended to be for adults only.
I declared I was feeling like having a drink before going to lunch with David and asked if she would like to have an aperitif too. As I was pouring a little sherry in her glass I told her I knew our routine practically perfect and a girl would certainly make things different, but I was also convinced a slight change (I tried to emphasize the adjective) would make us good. She didn’t look too persuaded so there was nothing left for me to do except drain my whiskey and leave.
As I was parking in front of the restaurant where I had agreed to meet David I realized I was a little drunk. I oughtn’t to have drunk so early in the day, but I had felt a little embarassed with Dolores and I knew she enjoyed our alcoholic breaks from work as I did so I thought it could have been a good idea. Now I knew it hadn’t been. My head was gently spinning as I was making my way in the restaurant. It was a place average students couldn’t afford, so it was empty with the exception of a group of Chinese students giggling in the table next to the one where David was sitting waiting for me.
After I had apologized for being late and asked how he was we were both quiet for a minute, studying the menu. After a fake-tanned waitress had taken our orders I asked David what was new. He cleared his throat and said:
- Well, it seems Jett is dating someone. I don’t mean he has a special friend or something like that, I mean he goes to the movie with her, holds her hand in public, practises French kissing and hopefully nothing else….how old does that make me??
I chuckled.
- He’s 15, it’s pretty normal he’s got a real date, don’t you think?
-I know, it’s just they grow up so quickly. Yesterday we were watching cartoons together and now he’s dating someone, ready to have his heart broken for the first time.
My senses were still a little blurred and I realised I was giggling a little too much.
- You don’t seem to be very optimistic about love, I said. -And of course everybody remembers their first love because it’s so intense but it is usually as intense as it is short so one gets over it quite quickly.
- I suppose that’s true in general. That’s certainly not true in my case.
-Did your first love last a lot?
-My first love was Linda. I met her was I was fifteen, just like Jett. We had him when I was seventeen and we had Gwen when I was twenty.
I felt I was completely awake now. David had all my attention.
The Sourcils were no normal family, that much had been clear to me since I had first met them. But it seemed as if the more I got to know them the more there was to be discovered.
