Free Ten Days in the Hills by Jane Smiley Page B

to reality? Had he been an older man falling in love for the first time with a younger woman and gone a little crazy? Or was it just pure Hollywood? She could have asked him about that when he was talking about his joke film,
My Lovemaking with Elena,
but she had forgotten to. Or not dared.
    Paul and Isabel offered the last strawberry to Zoe, who took it and said, “I could eat a piece of toast. What kind of bread do you have around, Max? Dear one, do you want a piece of toast?”
    Elena said, “I bought some of that nine-grain loaf that they have at Gelson’s Friday. That’s good toasted.”
    “Do you have any hummus?” said Zoe. “We’ve been eating that instead of dairy products.”
    “Oh, for God’s sake, Mom,” said Isabel.
    “I thought you were a morally superior vegan,” said Cassie.
    “I am, but not being greedy is a moral category that trumps vegan. Sometimes, when the virtues you want to promote contradict one another, you have to choose one over the other. In this case, I notice that Mom came into the house, made herself the center of attention, asked for food, didn’t like what was offered, and then asked for what else we might have as if this were a restaurant.”
    “No one minds,” said Elena.
    “We’re used to it,” said Delphine.
    “Are you joking, Isabel?” asked Zoe.
    “What do you think, Mom?” said Isabel.
    “I don’t know,” said Zoe. After a short, meaningful pause, she went on, “Honey, why don’t you show Paul where the bread is.”
    “I’ll do it,” said Elena.
    “Do you know how irritating you are, Mom?” said Isabel.
    “I irritate you because you can’t give me a break, Isabel,” said Zoe, and as Elena passed her to go into the kitchen, she thought that that was probably true. She herself would have never gotten along with a daughter. However, had she been Zoe’s daughter, she would have found her irritating also.
    The nine-grain bread was in the freezer. She took out the loaf and broke off four of the frozen slices. While she was putting them in the toaster, Paul came up behind her. He said, “Let me do that. We meant to pack some food, but we forgot, and then we meant to stop for something to eat on the way over, but the traffic was terrible and there wasn’t anywhere I was willing to eat. Probably Zoe’s a little annoyed about that.”
    Elena considered how not to offend by showing that she knew more about him than she had learned from actually talking to him. Finally, she said, “Are you on a special diet? I mean, other than the organ meats?”
    “Well, the organ meats are temporary. I only do that once a year, for about four weeks, for the iron mostly. Zoe never did it before, so it’s a big deal to her, but I’m so used to it I just think, ‘March—organ meats.’”
    “Why March?” The toast popped up. Elena picked out the slices, turned them over, and put them back in so they would toast evenly.
    “By now, it means spring, I guess. I used to live in Ohio, where spring actually came in March, but if I remember correctly, I just happened to do it the first time in March, and so I did it a year later, and so on.”
    Elena opened the refrigerator and took out a container of roasted-garlic hummus. The toast popped. She opened a drawer and took out a knife. He took it from her in a smooth, courteous way, and began to spread hummus on the toast. It was awkward to stand there not knowing anything significant about him and to make assumptions based on someone’s saying that he was a “healer” and that he ate organ meats before six in the morning. He was too vivid in her mind to be a stranger, and yet he was a stranger. So she said the wrong thing. She said, “If it’s too late to leave for the monastery, you ought to spend the night here. I mean, if you go back to Zoe’s house, that’s going to add an hour to your trip starting out again tomorrow.”
    “We could stop somewhere along the way, though my idea of a good place to stop isn’t going