“Please, Mom.”
“It’s better this way. I don’t want you to have a broken heart.”
“Love can’t kill me,” I say, parroting Carla’s words.
“That’s not true,” she says. “Whoever told you that?”
NURSE EVIL
MY NEW NURSE is an unsmiling despot with a nursing degree. Her name is Janet Pritchert. “You may call me Nurse Janet,” she says. Her voice is unnaturally high, like an alarm.
She emphasizes the word Nurse so that I understand that simply calling her Janet will not do. Her handshake is too firm, as if she’s more used to crushing things than caring for them.
It’s possible that my view of her is biased.
All I see when I look at her is how much she’s not Carla. She’s thin where Carla was stout. Her speech is not peppered with Spanish words. She has no accent at all. Compared with Carla, she’s altogether less.
By the afternoon I’ve decided to adjust my attitude, but that’s when the first of her notes appears, stickied to my laptop.
My mom has reinstated my Internet access but only during the school day. She says I’m only supposed to be using it for schoolwork, but I’m sure the fact that Olly has started school and only gets home after 3 P.M. has something to do with it.
I check the time. It’s 2:30 P.M. I decide not to adjust my attitude. Nurse Janet could’ve at least given me a chance to break the rule before assuming that I would be a rule breaker.
Things don’t improve the next day:
Over the next week, I give up any hope I had that she could be persuaded to my cause. Her mission is clear—monitor, contain, and control.
Olly and I settle into a new rhythm. We IM in short bursts during the day in between my Skype classes. At 3 P.M., Nurse Evil turns off the router and our communication ends. At night, after dinner and after my mom and I spend time with each other, Olly and I stare at each other out the window.
I plead with my mom about the rule, but she refuses to budge. She says it’s for my own protection.
The next day Nurse Evil finds another reason to leave me a note:
I stare at the note, remembering that Carla had said the same thing as she was leaving: Life is a gift. Am I wasting mine?
NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH #2
OLLY’S SCHEDULE
6:55 AM – Stands at window. Writes GOOD MORNING on the glass.
7:20 AM – Waits for Kara to finish her cigarette.
7:25 AM – Leaves for school.
3:45 PM – Returns home from school.
3:50 PM – Stands at window. Erases GOOD MORNING and writes HI on glass.
9:05 PM – Stands at window. Writes a few questions.
10:00 PM – Writes GOODNIGHT MADDY on the glass.
MADDY’S SCHEDULE
6:50 AM – Waits for Olly to appear at window.
6:55 AM – Is joyful.
7:25 AM – Despairs.
8:00 AM–3:00 PM -Ignores Nurse Evil. Attends classes. Does homework. Reads. Compulsively checks for IM messages. Reads some more.
3:40 PM – Watches for Olly’s car to arrive.
3:50 PM – Is joyful.
4:00 PM – More homework. More reading.
6:00 PM–9:00 PM – Dinner/hang out with Mom.
9:01 PM – Waits for Olly to appear at window.
9:05 PM – Is joyful. Pantomimes answers to questions.
10:01 PM – Despair, cont’d.
HIGHER EDUCATION