A Drop of Rain by Heather Kirk Page A

floor during the event.
    I should like to have contact with the person arrested, his lawyer and a woman who happened to be in front of Apartment ______ at the moment described above.
    I believe that I perhaps know the arrested person and could give testimony in his favour.
Joe
    Eva was crying on the phone this evening about her sister wanting to die. Eva seems so strong, then she suddenly breaks down. All I could do was listen.
    Gave Jill one thousand dollars—the last of the money earned by driving trucks all summer. And the academic year has barely started! I suggested to Jill that I should have some say in where she spends the money I give her, but of course she told me to “F--- off.”
    I can’t stand that woman’s vulgarity. How did I get involved? Forty-year-old, bald guy with no self confidence due to failed first marriage meets scheming female. That’s how.
    Eva is so selfless. I suppose she gets that from her role model, Hanna. Eva spends the minimum on herself. Naomi is such a contrast.
    I lusted after gorgeous alto cumulus clouds this morning while walking to work.

Week Five
Naomi
    Monday, October 11, 1999
    â€œGrey on grey!” That is what I said to myself when I first saw Mary. Grey hair, grey eyes, grey face. Her entire body beamed, “Unhappy! Unhappy! Unhappy!” She was like a lighthouse in the rain. But she was also stylish and graceful. Now I know that she makes her own clothes, and that she did gymnastics when she was young. She was even supposed to be in the Olympics when she was my age, but she got sick and couldn’t. Even though she is poor, she is always well dressed and attractive.
    Mary talked to me nonstop from the minute I started working with her. Even though I know some Polish words from listening to Mom and Hanna, I found Mary hard to understand at first. One day, for example, Mary talked on and on about some guy called “Pop-yeh-woosh-ko”. He was a Polish priest who was murdered. Mary’s English was so bad that I thought this was something that happened duringWorld War II. But later, when I asked Mom if she knew about “Pop-yeh-woosh-ko”, Mom explained that he was murdered only about fifteen years ago, in 1984, during the Solidarity Uprising.
    Mom said I should already know about the Polish Solidarity movement, because my father was involved in it. (Thanks, Mom. I did know this about my father.) Mom also said, “Pop-yeh-woosh-ko” is spelled
Popieluszko
. There’s a slanted stroke through the L which makes it pronounced like an English W.
    Mary doesn’t talk about politics much. She says she “hates” politics because it is only about “who is going to sit on the chair.” Mostly she talks about her life in Poland and Canada. About her parents and brother and sisters. About her kids. About being a doctor.
    While Mary talks, she also works. She’s a perfectionist, and she thinks the Rec Plex should be as clean as a hospital. She makes sure I’m doing everything right. She tells me to check that the buckets, mops and rags are clean before I start and after I finish. She shows me how to hose the shower area, how to use the institutional washer and dryer, and so on.
    My second day at work, when Mary covered for me because I was feeling sick, I realized that she is very kind. She is going to teach me how to sew fashionable clothes. And she doesn’t just talk. She listens too. She must have been a good doctor and mother. She has three kids back in Poland. I think she already suspects I am depressed about the situation at home. Of course, I am also depressed because Curtis is ignoring me. Plus Sarah ignores me after school now too. Sarah has a new boyfriend who playsfootball and goes to the college.
    It’s not that I don’t love Hanna. I do, even though she’s definitely weird. I know she’s always been there for Mom and me, even though I haven’t seen her for the past four