The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot

In London in July 1966, when Margot was 35, Jeremy the chicken—whom Meena kept as a pet when she liberated the animals at the farm 11 months earlier—went missing. As Margot helped Meena search for him, her memories about Davey resurfaced. She recalled how frightened she felt when Johnny first left her alone with the baby—and she remembered how Johnny looked at her with contempt when she awoke in a panic after Davey’s death and thought for a moment that he’d been kidnapped. She remembered how she wept when her mother-in-law unilaterally chose the wording for Davey’s headstone and how she hated the inscription because it seemed to suggest that God might not show mercy to her baby. When Margot and Meena reunited after their fruitless search, Margot started sobbing and at last told Meena about Davey. Meena took Margot home, kissed her, and pushed their beds together. However, when Margot awakened the next morning, Meena’s bed was on the opposite side of the room, and Meena was gone.

Back in 2014, Lenni asks Margot if she loved Meena. Margot explains that she did but that she tried to make herself stop loving her. As much as she admired Meena’s “constant evolution” (181) and desired it for herself, Meena was also stubborn and unpredictable. Margot hoped that if she could focus on Meena’s negative attributes, she could end her feelings for Meena. That way, she could leave London and stop wondering about the distance between herself and Meena, “the unanswered question of the gap between [their] beds” (181).

In London in August 1966, 35-year-old Margot returned home from work to find a man in her apartment. The man put a wedding ring in his pocket. Meena introduced the man as The Professor, her employer. Meena didn’t explain where she’d been for the past three weeks, and she asked Margot to leave. Desolate, Margot sat in the park, thinking about The Professor’s wife and Meena and wondering when she could go home.

Back in 2014, New Nurse approaches Lenni with an expression so guilty that Lenni playfully imitates Father Arthur and absolves the nurse of her sins. New Nurse asks Lenni to translate for Mr. Eklund, a Swedish patient. She agrees, but when the nurse brings her a wheelchair, she feels like her friend has become a “Judas—a slithering traitor” (186) because to Lenni, the wheelchair signifies that New Nurse no longer believes that she can make a recovery—but Lenni clings to her belief in herself. Mr. Eklund is an unhoused man who came to England looking for his daughter. He says that he’s a bad man, thinks he’ll die soon, and tells Lenni not to fear death because it “will be like sleeping” (192). Mr. Eklund asks Lenni to find his daughter and gives her a duffel bag containing her birth certificate and other items.

In September 1966, 35-year-old Margot awakened to find Meena holding her hand. Meena reminded Margot of the day that Margot said she loved her. Through tears, Meena tried to say that she loved Margot back, but she couldn’t form the words, and she left before Margot could say anything.

Back in 2014, The Temp’s mother tells her that her father, who vanished 22 years ago, has been found in poor health. The Temp feels a complex mixture of emotions at this news, unsure “whether she wanted to say goodbye or whether he even deserved a hello” (196). Before she can reach a verdict, the hospital calls to inform them that her father has died and that he left behind some things for her. Paul the Porter gives The Temp Mr. Eklund’s duffel bag and a copy of her birth certificate. The bag is full of Swedish money. Knowing that Lenni spoke with her father, The Temp goes to see her.

On May 11, 1967, Margot was 36, and Davey would have turned 14 on that day. Meena surprised Margot by throwing a party at the local pub complete with hundreds of yellow balloons. Margot was glad to see that The Professor was absent because Meena was more herself and “a little bit” (201) Margot’s when he wasn’t around. Margot hugs Meena close, loving her even more because Meena loves Davey.

Back in 2014, Lenni wants to spend as much time with Father Arthur as possible during the few weeks that remain before his retirement, so she decides to go to Mass. Lenni is one of only two people in attendance, and Father Arthur welcomes her joyfully. During the service, the elderly man who is the only other member of the miniscule congregation falls asleep, and Lenni and Father Arthur laugh when he awakens with a shout.

On March 18, 1968, Meena, The Professor, and 37-year-old Margot participated in a protest against the Vietnam War. The Professor left just as the crowd’s excitement and tension grew. Meena looked so crestfallen at his departure that Margot shouted at her, “Stop pretending it’s him that you want!” (208). Meena ran off into the crowd, and Margot was injured in the violence between protestors and the police. She returned home alone, packed her suitcases, and waited outside on the steps for Meena. Meena returned in the early morning hours, and Margot longed to tell her how much she loved her. Instead, they sat in silence until they both fall asleep. Margot was the first to awaken, and she admired the hopeful dawn. When Meena woke up, Margot gave her the next month’s rent and left to seek a new home.

Back in 2014, Lenni tells New Nurse about how The Temp found £35,000 in Swedish money in the duffel bag. The Temp offered to share the money with Lenni, but she declined because The Temp is the reason that the hospital has an art room and she met Margot. Lenni sees the events as “an exchange of riches” (214) between The Temp and the hospital.

In December 2013, 16-year-old Lenni had her first major surgery. As the weeks passed, her father grew increasingly mournful, and she came to dread his visits. Eventually, she made him promise to stop visiting her. She promised to have the nurses call so that he could say goodbye before she died, but she wanted to say her real goodbye to him then, while she still felt like herself. The next day, Lenni found her toy pig, Benni, and a photograph of herself and her father on her first birthday. On the back of the picture, her father had written a message: “I will love you forever, pickle” (218).

In February 1971, Margot, then 40 years old, was in Warwickshire and worked at a library in Henley. While she was driving along on a dark and windy night, her engine stalled when she swerved to avoid a man standing in the middle of the road. The 50-year-old cheerfully introduced himself as Humphrey James and invited her to witness “a once-in-a-lifetime astral event” (222). Humphrey had Margot’s car fixed and delivered to her door the next morning. On the passenger side, she found a letter from him that opened with an invitation to a night of tapas and stargazing and ended with Sarah Williams’s poem “The Old Astronomer to His Pupil.”