08 09 10; 3:00 p.m. Carley R. as ‘Thelma’
Scott: Hello Thelma.
Thelma Barnes: Hello Scott.
Scott: It's been a tough day.
Thelma Barnes: I'm sorry to hear that.
Scott: Kid problems. Client headaches. The usual.
Thelma Barnes: I'm sorry.
Scott: Oh, I don't mind. Sort of comes with the territory. Speaking of territory, this park looks so lovely. I really enjoy the chance to break away and visit you here.
Thelma Barnes: Yes, I particulary like the leaves this time of year.
Scott: So you're an early fall fan, eh?
Scott: It's such an emotionally challenging time of year for me.
Thelma Barnes: Yes, there is something about the air right before winter that seems to relax me.
Thelma Barnes: Oh. I am sorry.
Scott: What might require you to need relaxation? I mean, you're not quite 14.
Thelma Barnes: I think everyone can use relaxation.
Scott: Have you been stressed lately?
Thelma Barnes: A little, but nothing to worry over.
Scott: Oh? Do tell. Really, I'd like to know. I guess I'd like to see how you handle it. I'm not sure I've ever really mastered stress after all these years.
Thelma Barnes: I guess it is just stress over not knowing, a questioning of sorts. The air here in the park seems to clear my head of such wonderings.
Scott: Not knowing? Not knowing about what, if I may?
Thelma Barnes: Not knowing of the things my new friends have mentioned. Odd things I have never heard of. The television for example.
Scott: You have a television?!
Thelma Barnes: No. A friend of mine inquired about one, but I had no knowledge of sucha strange object.
Scott: Ah, of course. Yes, I imagine it would seem strange. Stranger still is why Emilia sits in front of it for hours, almost as if in a trance.
Thelma Barnes: A trance? Like a hypnotist does? That does seem strange.
Scott: She might as well be sitting -- or rather lying -- before a hypnotist. That big screen really does seem to put her (and her sibs) in a trance. I need to figure out how to break her from it. I keep thinking about how much time she's losing, how much of life she is missing.
Thelma Barnes: The television does not seem as though it would be a good invention if it keeps people from their lives.
Scott: It's a little like a small movie theatre. Actually, screens -- television screens, that is, those one-way windows upon which dramas play out -- are getting bigger all the time. Have you ever attended a movie (a motion picture)?
Thelma Barnes: I suppose that I may have. Although I don't seem to recall a time that I did.
Scott: I've been doing a little research on your time period. I understand that sometime around 1902 or 1903, perhaps a year or two earlier, people throughout the country were captivated by the motion picture A Trip to the Moon. Do you recall ever seeing that picture?
Thelma Barnes: Faintly, but not well enough to remember how I felt about the picture.
Scott: Well, this might come as a surprise to you and your friends: would you believe we've actually been to the moon? I mean really been there -- landed on it, planted a flag and everything. Crazy, huh?
Thelma Barnes: That is unbelievable! The moon is so far away.
Scott: Apparently it's close enough to send a few men there and bring them back to Earth. Although some people, yes, even when faced with a lot of evidence, believe we never really went there. Sometimes I wonder myself if it really happened. I mean, if they can make it look like we've been there in a motion picture...maybe the whole matter was faked?
Thelma Barnes: That certainly would be quite a scandal. Surely, if people landed there, they would know what happened. You should just ask them.
Scott: I'm not even sure where I would look or how I would find them. It was 1969. I was only something like 5 or 6 years old.
Thelma Barnes: I see how that could be problem.
Scott: Thelma, how old were you when you're father died?
Thelma Barnes: I don't remember. Actually, I dont remember my father at all. So, I suppose I must have been young.
Scott: Ah, I see. No pictures? Not even from one of those Kodak 'Brownie Box' cameras?
Thelma Barnes: I do believe he left us before the brownie box was invented. Mother bought one, she took a lot of pictures, but I can't recall one of my father.
Scott: I lost my father too, now some three years ago. I'm okay with it, I guess. I keep waiting for some breakdown, but it never comes. Sis says everyone works on their own time frame. Do you agree?
Thelma Barnes: I agree completely.
I am sorry for your loss.
Scott: Thank you. Ehh, no big deal. Like I said, I'm okay with it. But I wonder, as do a lot of sons and daughters who have lost one or both parents I suppose, whether I'll ever be 'good enough' or as loving or as giving or even know instinctively how to run a family.
Thelma Barnes: I do believe that such a thing comes from within, and that everyone has the potential to be 'good enough.'
Scott: Well that's certainly hopeful. I suppose you're right. But whatever that 'thing' is that comes from within, it's sometimes very elusive. You know, the few times I've been to this park, you always seem to be here. Coincidence, perhaps? I dunno. What do you do with yoursself when you're not here?
Thelma Barnes: When I am not here I like to walk around, just to wander. Also, Mother and I talk, she is always telling me stories.
Scott: Oh? What kinds of stories?
Thelma Barnes: Fairytales. The kind that always end in 'happily ever after.'
Scott: Ah, of course! If only life were so. I keep hoping that Emilia and I will end or rather reach 'happily ever after,' but I confess that she is a handful at times. I try to relate, but I feel thwarted at times.
Scott: What is it with you teens anyway?
Thelma Barnes: Though, I cannot speak for her. I believe that it is only a phase, since most of the adults I see all seem to get along spectacularly.
Scott: Does your mother have many friends?
Thelma Barnes: She's friends with many of the women in our neighborhood. I don't know if she has other friends, I have never met them.
Scott: What is life like in your neighborhood?
Thelma Barnes: It is rather peaceful. The younger children always play on the streets, they are really good at making up games to play. The streets are never too busy, but it is never eerily silent, either. At night it is quiet. I like it in my neighborhood.
Scott: Do you ever join them in their play? Do you have friends your own age with whom you hang out, or rather, with whom you enjoy activities?
Thelma Barnes: My friends and I rarely joined in the younger children's play. We tried to form a sewing circle once. But the turnout was humorous, no one who showed up knew how to sew! I suppose that is what we get for trying to act like our mothers.
Scott: Ha ha! Yes, I think I follow. So the adage 'The apple never falls far from the tree' is not necessarily valid when tested in real life?
Thelma Barnes: I suppose not, though there are many people who pass on the streets who look identical to their mothers. And sons to their fathers. Maybe it is just sewing where the adage seems false.
Scott: I see. We should investigate that further the next opportunity we have to converse. I see by the time -- egads! it's after 4 o'clock! -- that we have to end for now. I do so look forward to our next chat.
Scott: Will I see you soon?
Thelma Barnes: I sincerely hope so. Until then, I bid you good-bye.
Scott: And I bid you adieu Thelma. Thank you, again, for meeting with me. Cheers! S
(4:05 PM)
