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Mary [Shiff] Francis
(c) 2000
�That�s how we determine the depth of the color,� the young man explained. �We remove the grape skins when the pink is just the right shade.�
Alice looked like her skin had been left on too long. Her face was way beyond pink. I almost told her so, but I hadn�t had quite enough wine. I decided to quit before I lost my ability to stay between the white lines on the freeway. Mumsie tried a white Pinot and a red one just to see what the difference was. Then she asked to taste Chablis. I couldn�t believe she was able to stand up and keep drinking, much less ask for another taste of anything. Alice had retired to a dusty wooden chair near the door and was fanning herself with a folded brochure. I had enough of a buzz on to know that I was in danger of letting secrets fall from my lips. I suggested to Mumsie that she make a selection and leave it corked until she got it back to New York. She bought the �98 Merlot, the first wine we had tasted. With great effort, we managed to appear fairly sober as we left the tasting room. Then Mumsie yelled back at the young man, �Tell Davy we were here.� I thought red Alice was going to burst into tears. I leaned against the car and laughed and laughed. Mumsie glared at me and said, �What makes you so sure he doesn�t know who I am? I was young and single at the same time he was.� I stopped laughing.
Alice went around to the back of the car and threw up. I gave her Mumsie�s package of moistened towelettes. �I wish we had gone to the beach,� she said. We tucked her in the back seat with the blanket around her.
I got behind the wheel. �Home?� I asked and looked at Mumsie.
�Beach,� she answered. Lovers and idiots are the only ones who go to the beach after dark. We weren�t lovers. I wondered if Mickey was having as much trouble sleeping alone as I was. I headed the car toward Santa Monica. Alice was sleeping by the time we parked near the beach. Mumsie wouldn�t wake her up. �We�ll tell her tomorrow that she was here tonight.� Mumsie took off her shoes and got out of the car. I watched her walk toward the water. She turned back. �Come.�
I took off my shoes and followed her. We stood at the edge of the wet sand and watched the waves roll in. The wind whipped our hair loose and an occasional wave dumped icy water over our feet. �Alice is afraid of this,� Mumsie said as she swept her hands in an extended circle to indicate all of southern California. �I made her come out here.� She turned to look at me. �You�re not afraid of anything.� I silently vowed that the next time she dragged Alice out here for a visit I would tell Mumsie and Alice that Mickey and I nearly always slept together. And Mumsie would sleep in the bed in my bedroom, and Alice would sleep in the bed in Mickey�s room, and Mickey and I would sleep in the third bedroom on the bed with our lesbian germs lurking in the mattress stuffing.
Mumsie was silent for a long time while I froze slowly from the toes upward. The numbness had risen above my knees by the time she sighed and said, �California is going to fall into the ocean some day.� She looked straight at me and explained, �Some day it will start shaking and shaking and then down it will crumble under the water.� She looked up at the stars and whispered, �But, oh, what a glorious ride that would be.�
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