Carol Anne explained to me that with her four boys and Mary’s three boys (not counting Little Mark), she and Jerry had thought seriously about making Carol Anne’s former home into a permanent home for the boys, with Denise and Dennis as chaperones, leaving the four girls and Mark at Carol Anne’s new house. ‘I still think of this place as Mary’s house,’ she said, looking around the kitchen where the two of us sat at the breakfast table. I looked where she looked, and couldn’t help agreeing with her. ‘This is Mary’s house,’ I said. ‘You need to make it your own. If you’ll excuse my saying so, your house was very different from this one – more lively, more exciting. You need to make your mark on this one, even if it means moving some of your stuff over here. Or,’ I said, grinning at her, ‘maybe just mess up some stuff in these cabinets. That would be a start.’ Carol Anne laughed. ‘Sister Mary was very neat,’ she replied. ‘It’s like pulling teeth to keep all this the way she had it.’ ‘You’re too young to have your teeth pulled,’ I said.
