Day by Day

 Day by Day.  

Not the devotional booklet. But Uncle Albert’s new old routine. Now that he’s staying with us. Part One: Breakfast.

Roz asks him, when she gets out of the shower, if he wants her to bring him a cup of coffee. She’s going down to get one - and a slice of toast - to bring up to her dressing table; she can nibble and sip while she dries her hair. Uncle Albert says, “No,” he’s getting up. He’s already up; he’s getting dressed. He’s almost dressed, he can go down to get his own coffee. “Ted will help me,” he says.

     He means I’ll help him get his slippers on. I’ll help him down the stairs. I’ll make sure he gets safely into the kitchen. I’ll pour his coffee, add his teaspoon of sugar and dollop-and-seven-eighths of cream. I’ll toast his English muffin. And I’ll concoct my coffee; I’ll toast my muffin; and we’ll sit down together. He’ll say,

     “How did you sleep?” I’ll say,

     “Fine. Or fine enough.” I’ll say, “How about you?” He’ll say,

     “Same.” I’ll say,

     “Have you written your morning sentence?” pronouncing it sawn-tawnce as in French (swallowing the n’s) because Uncle Albert isn’t writing sentences, he’s making sayings, like La Rochefoucauld. Sort of. That’s what he says,

     “Sort of.”

     “Lay it on me,” I say.

La Rochefoucauld
Somewhere in the south of France, 1992

“You won’t print this,” he says because he doesn’t want to offend anyone. He wants to say what he wants to say, but he doesn’t want one of his students to read what he wants to say and think less of him for it. He’s aware he isn’t always “politically correct”; it’s a category that he doesn’t quite understand. Or, he understands the category; only he’s not sure what goes under it and what falls out of it. I say,

     “No.” I won’t print it.

     “It’s nothing like the master this morning,” he says.

     I don’t say anything. I wait. At this point, he will take a bite of English muffin, and he’ll chew it until he can swallow it. Then, he’ll take a sip of coffee, and he’ll take his time swallowing that. Then he says,

     “What is this ‘objectivity’” - he makes air quotes: “What is this ‘objectivity’ you are always speaking of, kemo sabe?

     “There,” he says. “What do you think?”

     I nod.

     “You’re not going to print it, are you?”

     I nod.

06.30.20