On Our Way

September 2, 2024

By Paulette Studley

My mother thinks people are breaking into her house. Leprechauns. She tells me they’ve stolen her eyeglasses and supermarket receipts. At eighty years old, she sits beside me as I dole out antipsychotics to her pillbox and remind her that it’s not true. She shrugs and turns away, thumbing my unfinished knit project: a sweater I’d recently abandoned after decreasing the stitches too severely, giving the sleeves a leg-of-mutton shape. She giggles at this, shifts her weight, and begins to work the wool.

Mom has always loved knitting up yarn that came from the source. As a kid, I’d go with her to the local farm for lambing and sheep-shearing season. I’d stare at the shearers as they tossed the coats in single pieces over the paddock fence. Then they’d stuff them into garbage bags that Mom hefted into the backseat of our Mercury Cougar. Later, she’d soak the fleece in our porcelain sink and spread it onto sheets in the front lawn to dry. I watched silently and didn’t ask questions, until one day she bought a spinning wheel, the workings of which I couldn’t understand. She said that wool was a magical raw material, like us, always on its way somewhere.

Making room for me beside her on the couch, she hands me back the perfectly fixed sleeve and says, “See? I told you. Those leprechauns know a thing or two about fixing mutton.”

She winks, spreads her small fingers over the perfect stitches, the smell of lanolin lingering.

 

Paulette Studley earned her undergraduate degree in Creative Writing from Trinity College in Hartford, CT. While there, she won the prose prize for short fiction and published a flash fiction piece in The Litchfield Review. She is now a practicing psychotherapist and is currently at work on her first memoir.

Image by Annie Spratt courtesy of Unsplash

13 Comments

  1. Kathy Fagan

    Beautiful, ty!

    Reply
    • Christine Vanderberg

      Loved this!!

      Reply
  2. Brandy B

    This is beautiful. Reminds me of my mother’s early days of dementia. Really illustrates how we retain muscle memory for certain skills even if our minds aren’t as cooperative.

    Reply
    • Summer Maraio

      Beautifully written! You inspire me everyday Paulette! Such a creative mind and soul!

      Reply
      • Rose Elena

        Heartfelt. It was a beautiful journey reading each sentence. Such an inspiring piece. Proud of you P 👏🏽💜

        Reply
  3. Priscilla Davenport

    A “magical raw material, like us, always on its way somewhere.” What beautiful imagery!

    Reply
    • Janice Roberts

      You have a way with words. So happy about your publication!

      Reply
  4. Bethany Reid

    I love this. My mom had leprechauns, too. Or something.

    Reply
  5. Mary Fillmore

    This reminds me of my Aunt Rosa skillfully cutting strawberries into eighths long after she could remember so much else.

    Reply
  6. Robin Hemley

    Lovely and moving. Yes, that “magical raw material” line is inspired, and I also love the tender humor, especially the leg of mutton. I’m reminded of my own mother’s passage through dementia.

    Reply
  7. Jenny Alzate

    So beautiful. I could feel the energy in this 😘🥰

    Reply
  8. Natasha Feliciano

    You pulled me right in. I imagined myself with you as she spun that wheel magically. Great story!

    Reply
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