Thursday, May 17, 2007

Glen Smith's Diary (Page 55)

//Panel 1//
Anna:
No, Mama. No, Mama. Mama…
Elizabeth:
Anna, Anna, what are you saying? I am not going to do anything, Anna.
//Panel 2//
Anna:
I thought you were going to jump. Don't scare me, don't scare me.
//Panel 3//
Elizabeth's Narration:
Ah, crossing the sea as a bride, to the homeland of the man I love…
//Panel 4//
Elizabeth's Narration:
It must have been illness that caused me to feel down. It turned out my body was losing strength.
//Panel 5//
Julie:
Stay in bed if you don't feel well, Mama. Don't work.
I will leave the milk on the table in the kitchen.
//Panel 6//
Elizabeth's Narration:
The second oldest, Julie, would run home during a short lunch break from the beauty parlor
and take care of the household. It was she who looked the most like Tony.
//Panel 7//
Elizabeth's Narration:
Every now and then, I would ask Julie to read to me, in her soft voice, that old diary of Glen Smith…
…and I felt comforted somehow.

It is interesting to me that Elizabeth would find Glen Smith's diary to be comfort reading. To me it is a very strange, eerie tale, in particular one that had haunted her father for so many years (and has major impact on the next generation, and beyond, as you will eventually see). My husband surmised that she might find it comforting simply because the diary is a reminder of her childhood and old life in England.

No comments: