Eleora

Eleora

I asked Eleora what she was reading. “Is it Science Fiction? You don’t read much SciFi,” I said.

“No, I started it but it is one of the most boring books ever written.”

It was one of those books from the late 1950’s with a lot of speculative technology, rocket ships, all male crews, and a lot of serious talk about space. I’m going into space honey. Have fun mopping the floor wearing heels and pearls. 

This was the fifth time Eleora had started reading it. She never remembered starting it before. I can’t figure out why she even picked it up. Maybe she thought it was about the Apollo program, or the films of Georges Méliès.

Eleora meticulous arranges the books in her home by subject. My favorite was when she put Ulysses by James Joyce in the ancient history section.

She and Tellias live out on the old river road among hundreds of acres of fruit trees. They’re old. They’re more than old. They’re ancient. Both are over 2,000 years old but nobody is sure exactly how old. They’re also Vampires. They look like they’re nineteen or twenty years old but they act like their age which is extremely old. By that I mean they ARE old. They have memory issues. Sometimes they have physical issues. They can revert back to simpler times and don’t always keep up. Like a lot of people they isolate themselves as they get older. Sometimes isolation is by choice. Unfortunately sometimes it isn’t.

I’d brought over a couple of bags of books for them to read. Eleora asked me about the books over the next hour no less than five times. That’s ok. I don’t mind.

We sat and talked for another hour. The old dog crawled up on the couch with me and put her head in my lap. A cat was curled up purring in the window sill. We listened to the heavy rain coming down on the roof.

I checked to see if they had enough to eat for the next few days. Tellias told me they were calling Grub Hub. They’d send someone right to your door. I didn’t ask for details. Sometimes it is better not to know.

Even if you can’t see them physically make sure to check in on your friends and family. Even a call, a text, or an email can make all the difference in the world to someone who is feeling the burden of isolation.

Stay safe. Stay calm.

~ Juliette aka Vampire Maman