vernissage
The end-of-year exhibition opened tonight. My wall is all 39 portraits in a row, #1 to #39, at eye height, plus the October one from the dark night at the very end, a bit apart. Pia hung them. She hummed the whole time.
Mamma came on the train with tulips. Hedda wore her one dress. Jun watched the first ten minutes on a video call from Manila at midnight his time, and the server has now seen my whole face 40 times, sorry.
Mamma walked along the row slowly. At the end she stood in front of #27 and the October one for a long time and didn't say anything, and then she hugged me too hard.
A man I didn't know, maybe seventy, with a cane, asked me, "Is that your sister? The ones at the end?" I said no, they're all me. He looked at me, and then at #27, and said "if you say so" in a very kind voice.
Afterwards we walked home along the river. It was still light at ten. Wine in plastic cups, Hedda singing, Mamma on the sofa bed. Best night of the year.