Bluegrass
I’m turning a corner, ducking under low beams, rummaging through a thrift shop by myself, when suddenly, I’m not alone. She is not really here, but I smell her scent on the air as if she has just come to lay her hand on my shoulder. Bluegrass Perfume. It’s too rare to be worn by another shopper. If you ask for it at the Elizabeth Arden counter, they may have one bottle, tucked away in the back of a cabinet. Besides, when I turn in a full circle, I confirm what I already knew. I am alone. It’s been fifteen years since we lost her. My sisters and I called her Nana and she was ours and ours alone. We had no cousins to share her with – my mother’s only brother died in infancy – but we shared her with everyone. Our friends, our dates – eventually our husbands – all felt welcome at Nana’s house, where the living room was cooled by the constant buzz of oscillating fans, the pristine kitchen smelled of Wrigley’s Double Mint and the pink ...