<p>Chapter<br />

Mrs. ]ugson&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; according to her own diagnosis&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; was an<br />

opossum&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; pure and simple. The reason was not that she<br />

like eo le but that she did not sufficiently hate any<br />

didnt P P &iuml;&frac14;&OElig;&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; _t k.A o a cat it is unseemly<br />

of them. &quot;I suppose&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; sn~ ~ t<br />

to walk to the grave barefooted and hatless and uncon-<br />

cerned. Better in sabots and a turban and a turmoil. But I<br />

am not concerned.&quot; When people knocked at Mrs. ]ugson s<br />

door and asked if she were at home&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; she would answer no&iuml;&frac14;&OElig;<br />

she was not at home. They went away wondering if Mrs.<br />

]ugson sat with a bottle beside her&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; rolling her eyes at the<br />

ceiling. Although she often did sit with a bottle beside her&iuml;&frac14;&OElig;<br />

rolling her eyes at the ceiling&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; there came a day when the<br />

ceiling rolled away from her and she noticed that the big<br />

top now was vast and blue. To the north it swung up over<br />

the glistening Alps&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; to the south it swept down to the deeper<br />

blue of the Mediterranean. The air was soft&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; the countryside<br />

riotous with flowers. The sweet scent of mimosa worried her<br />

and she kept trotting around in circles&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; in a huff or a funk.<br />

The pain in her chest&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; despite its dreary physio-illogical<br />

name&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; had a fancy accompaniment--as though the heart<br />

could also be inhabited by a conclave of leprechauns dancing<br />

in daisy chains. Loneliness? It could not be loneliness. Mrs.<br />

]ugson had been a recluse for twenty-odd years and had<br />

never known herself to be lonely&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; even when she was mar-<br />

ried. Could it be spring fever? But what a mournful afflic-<br />

tion for one of her age! Nevertheless she croaked in tune to<br />

the bells on her toes&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; 1<br />

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