Marion Goldstein

Visiting Rita

Visiting Rita on a cold and rainy Sunday, I climbed the narrow stairway
behind Elissa, the other visitor. Brigette the aide was in the bedroom on
the phone, and Gabby, the official usher, yipped and rushed the open door.
and there was Rita, her white face an open flower on the brown suede sofa.
Lila purred on a pyramid of pillows that rose behind her. An uneaten egg-
salad sandwich, hidden under a napkin, betrayed nothing. The sheep and cows
stenciled on her sky-blue pajamas were not asleep but seemed to be bearing
witness. I could not help but notice her exposed feet, her perfectly straight
toes and translucent skin, slow dancing on the cushion. When Rita to my
surprise, asked if I would like to sing a Gershwin duet, I deferred and confessed
I’m the girl Miss Etts told to move her lips in choir. I didn’t mention I was
there to stare down death with platitudes and promises. Or perhaps walk Gabby
round the block, spoon cat food in a dish or dead head the wilting sunflowers.
I volunteered to be the audience. As the radiator below the window hissed
an e flat, Elissa and Rita found the pitch. Old friends, Soprano and Alto, heads
touching above the score, I listened in awe as Someone to Watch Over Me
washed over the refrigerator humming in the alcove, over the plastic bottles
of  pills, over Gabby, over the cat , over me, held still and forever in the glow
of Rita’s face, lit from within, in the unbearable light of being alive.  

Marion Goldstein is a psychotherapist from New Jersey. She has published two memoirs, Hard to Place, Embracing the Sign, and a poetry collection, Architecture of the Unpronounced.(North Star Press) Her recent novel Hoops of Steel as published in 2024. Her poetry and essays have been published in literary journals including Ars Medica, The Watershed Review, America, Friend’s Journal, Adanna, Memory House, The Christian Science Monitor, Presence, and Tiferet. Her web site is mariongoldstein.com